Category Archives: business

Sliders don’t convert

Sliders, image rotator, slideshow, carasoule (spell check: carousel 😉 ) or whatever you’re calling it, all look cool & make some fancy magic using JavaScript but sadly don’t convert.
Yes, sad but true. It’s bit tough to absorb but you can a/b test to draw your own conclusions; I’m sure numbers would convince you better. Or take a look at reliable source. Microsoft, Windows, Abode and many large/popular websites used to keep sliders on front page. Now they don’t.
Not only it’s bad for SEO, it’s not good for UX as well. Adds extra js files for ‘animation/lively effects’. Sliders are big distraction. Takes 75% of front page real estate. Confuses users as to where to go next (to choose user flow).
Now I know that our front page (of the business site amrute.me ) has a slider; and that is why I’m writing this post. I’m in process of building new site for biz http://aon.works & it was tough decision to discard sliders, but yes, most likely I’m not going to have it for new site.

5 growth hacking tips from AirBnB

Rebecca, Growth hacker at AirBnB, explains her success with the experiments AirBnB did at the early years of the startup. Here’s 5 tips to go extra mile when everything else fails or isn’t enough. or to use the title she used here’s :

5 Guerrilla Tactics When the Slick Stuff Fails

Ah! And by the way, if you noticed, this is not your ordinary YouTube embeded video (although it’s uploaded on YouTube!). The video is indexed on clipmine to easily navigate and skip to relevant parts. Cool!

Great insights and something new I learned today.
NPS stands for net promoter score!
Litmus for Email testing & analysis.
Thanks the internet & thanks Rebecca, & 500 Startups.

Idea to Prototype In50Hrs

In50Hrs is a hackathon (sort of) sponsored by 10,000Start-ups, and a brainchild of @VijayAnands. it’s full weekend programme (2 days & 1 evening) where in fifty hours:

  1. You propose your idea to the audience;
  2. Form a team;
  3. Fine-tune & Brainstorm;
  4. Work on building prototype
  5. Present at the end of the show.

Unique & interesting indeed! I used to follow such entrepreneurship, startup, VC funding events/ news/ seminars before I started my web hosting/ web marketing agency. It’s been more than 5 years and these guys are as active as they were before.

In above interview Vijay talks about entrepreneurship journey and when to seek funding. He insists that you should not get funds for your first startup, (because you don’t have the skill-sets or you’re over-leveraging yourself). Interestingly, I’ve been through a similar journey, as I made lil-bit of money to float here and now I’m on verge of building my 3rd startup (and eventually raising the funds …did not seek angel/VC funding for the first two). It’s a well thought plan and I may look for funding for this project. Before you reach that stage, In50hrs seems to be the perfect programme to validate your idea and try/test the prototype under the supervision of experts and get the feedback.
Do you have the ‘great idea’ that is lying around for months and years in your mind? And you’re not working on it because you don’t get time or a good co-founder? Well enough excuses! If truly that’s the case, you should consider participating in in50hrs now!

SMS? God! who reads them?

It’s a spam box. They’re full of bank, insurance, dth, mobile- voice/data, service junk messages, anyways! For messages from my near-dear ones, you’ve WhatsApp or hike (or whatever).

Stop reinventing the wheel

…It’ll save you time and money. Use what is already there in the market- ‘ready-made’, ready to use. I remember, in college, I used to derive the math formula (in physics and calculus exam) if it doesn’t come to me off by heart. How silly of me, wasting precious time during test, deriving (reinventing?) what is universally accepted and given.
Fast forward to adulthood (the business decisions & real life scenarios): Compared to ready-to-use solutions out there, the do-it-yourself approach looks cheaper and attractive. You’re always tempted to use custom solution, tailor-made exclusively for you. But these often cheaper (or free as what they appear on the surface) solutions cost you a lot of time and end up very expensive in maintenance. You’d rather want to spend your time where it matter more than building something that is readily available. The customization or specialization that you may achieve in developing would hardly hardly make a difference of 10-20%.
I learned from the experience and the experiments but now I agree with the Hindi phrase महंगा रोये एक बार, सस्ता रोये बार बार ! for most of the cases.

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid – Albert Einstein*

That sums the current state of the educational system of universal design for instruction and assessment.

einstein-quote

Assessing everyone using same test and scale proves totally unfair.

The examiner in pic says:

For fair selection everybody has to take the same exam: Please climb that tree.

I don’t want this measurement to be used in my company. We don’t have dedicated HR department for assessment and sometimes it’s convenient to use universal design. But that will unfair for some. #justsaying. I’m currently reading this thought-provoking book called Maverick
– related to HR and work culture.
*P.S. I cannot confirm whether the quote used above is Einstein’s or not but it conveys my point with the illustration below.