Two recent conversations with senior executives at similar, but different retailers, brought up an interesting discovery. These two companies, in the traditional sari retailing business, are both well known and their brands well received in the market, especially in south India. A visit to their several retail outlets in Chennai and other cities present a picture of energy, activity, and growth - at any time of the year. The contrast is with the "modern" apparel retail showrooms selling readymade western garments.

The origin of your business or entrepreneurial venture has been a creative idea. Some years have been spent in developing that idea, in seeking capital, in marketing the idea, in learning to focus and in making the idea a long-term goal. Through all this, your business has nested itself in one, or more than one physical environment. This may have been a garage to begin with, an office in a commercial building, two floors in an expensive location in town and today, you may be a company with its own building or about to occupy its own premises.

There’s so much happening on crowdsourcing across various verticals and geographies – whether its ideas, designs….you have people noticing the power of crowd. But an interesting question is whether the collective wisdom of crowd better than an expert. Asked time and again and multiple people have written on the subject, but i thought there's no harm in another one trying his hand on the same :)

When you tell entrepreneurs that relationships are the “key” to developing a personal and professional network, they often smile and acknowledge the concept without fully appreciating its true meaning. 

When a man like Steve Jobs talks, you listen. And this speech given at the Stanford University Commencement Address is something that will definitely inspire anyone on how to live life. He shares 3 stories which shaped his life and says that even a setback need not necessarily be one.