arpit105: “Good enough tech” Awesome article! http://tinyurl.com/ljsy2c (via @ankeshk @annkur)

annkur: @arpit105 @ankeshk this is the entire funda behind Wespro and chinese mp3 players.

ankeshk: @arpit105 hey buddy? hows work and Pune et al?

arpit105: @annkur I agree. I wonder what it takes to strike such an opportunity. How do I find one? @ankeshk Any clues?

annkur: @arpit105 @ankeshk I always put myself as the consumer n see. Bt that can be so wrong as we r power users,visualize the mass market consumer

arpit105: @annkur True. Being power users, we tend to think everything is mandatory. So, for which areas/products are we mass-market customers?

annkur: @arpit105 thats worth a thought. But todays power user, tomorrows mass market.

ankeshk: @arpit105 Find any industry. Select the top 1 and 2 product. List their qualities. Come up with the anti-product with opposite qualities.

@arpit105 Make sure the anti-product has the potential of a mass market. Or switch the industry…

@arpit105 Basically – a co. can distinguish only on price / product features / service / accessibility / overall experience… (contd)

@arpit105 Dominoes didn’t go for product differentiation. They went for accessibility differentiation.

@arpit105 Starbucks focused on the ambience and the overall experience to distinguish itself

@arpit105 And walmart went for product range and price differentiation

arpit105: @ankeshk I differ. If you select top 1/2 products, you may miss the opportunity of trying out a completely new approach. Think Pepsi/Coke

@ankeshk It is not so simple. ‘Anti-Products’ may never become market leaders. The point is to satisfy few needs that top products don’t.

@ankeshk Question is: How does one efficiently find out a big enough opportunity of solving such a need? Ethnography is one way. What else?

ankeshk: @arpit105 the goal is not becoming market leaders. The goal is creating new markets. No?

@arpit105 With Pepsi/Coke – you do the anti-product thing. And come up with Vitamin Water. And sell to Coke for $$4Billion.

@arpit105 Ethnography and research not really a good way of doing things as Steve Jobs tells us. People dont know what they want.

@arpit105 But if you want to start with consumers and not product positioning then this quote helps “Todays extreme is tomorrows mainstream”

arpit105: @ankeshk No. Creating new markets cannot lead to a market leader. You have to be mainstream-with-a-difference. iPhone is a phone too.

@ankeshk Vit Water story may work when the incumbents are desperate enough to buy anything they can’t kill. Oligopolic markets are not so.

@ankeshk Agree. If people knew what the want, product would be already be there in market na?

@ankeshk “A disruptive technology, often enters at the bottom of the market, Then grow in power and sophistication to eclipse old system”

ankeshk: @arpit105 A disruptive technology is almost always an anti-product technology… iphone is as anti-nokia as possible…

annkur: @arpit105 @ankeshk this discussion reminds me of victor maniackam’s speech at #ssmum. Remember the bit where he said .. reading a gals mind?

ankeshk: @annkur missed that ssmum – but I agree – if @arpit105 can read gals minds he can easily find a few big ass opportunities

arpit105: @ankeshk Well, if only I could read girls’ minds!! I read in 10th “Wherever women are concerned, unpredictable always happens”

annkur: @arpit105 @ankeshk request your permission to publish this conversation of ours on my blog plz

ankeshk: @annkur hahaha sure – no problem with me. But if @arpit105 learns to read gals minds – I want in!

ankeshk: @arpit105 I’m a big fan of Maslowing too. But I’m at a loss at how to use it to come up with a big opp. The choices are vast…

arpit105: @ankeshk Even I can’t fathom that. People say that the most innovation occurs when founders are users. How many products can one use?

ankeshk: @arpit105 There are more systematic approaches to innovation too. Eg: TRIZ. But users will know more about problems that need solving…

arpit105: @ankeshk I never heard of TRIZ. But this looks interesting. Of course, this doesn’t solve the problem too. Otherwise we wouldn’t be discsing

annkur: @arpit105 @vivekk @ankeshk tweaking and tweaking until it gets through. No hanuman will come in my dreams and tell what will work

arpit105: @annkur Of course, no Hanuman will come. But if tweaking could alone suffice, it would be trivial. Question is: how to shift the paradigm?

annkur: @arpit105 oh you need to have some vision and direction to begin with. Dunno how to define that, but you never know where you end up…

arpit105: @annkur Vision and Mission can be about mundane things. Here we are talking about breakthrough innovations, that too ones which work

annkur: @arpit105 reminds me of the Paymate guy who got the idea when he had to make a small payment to a friend but had no chq, cash or atm

arpit105: @annkur Awesome example! That’s the thing I am talking about. That’s the origin of most innovative products. #ssmum rocks!

ankeshk: @arpit105 Oh TRIZ is very interesting. Very technical too. I got a book on it if you wanna read…

arpit105: @ankeshk Is it? Then I would need to read it. It did seem interesting on Wikipedia. Will borrow on thin book from you when we meet.

ankeshk: @arpit105 you know the story of how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was made?

arpit105: @ankeshk No I don’t. Read the Wikipedia entry just now. Not much clues there of anything very deeply interesting.

ankeshk: @arpit105 The artists asked: which are 4 hot current trends?

@arpit105 1. Cerebus the aardvark was a cult classic comic of the time. Its about a pig superhero who drinks and cusses. Misfit animal.

@arpit105 2. Ronin is a hit comic by Frank Miller. Ninja movies do well too. Ninjas.

@arpit105 3. Daredevil is a hit too. Its about a blind mutant whose other senses are heightened because of radio active exposure. Mutants.

@arpit105 4. The New Mutants is another comic doing very well. Its about teenage mutant super heroes under going training. Teenage. Mutant.

@arpit105 Mix the 4 trends. And you have teenage mutant ninja misfit animal undergoing training. Create it and voila – you have a hit.

@arpit105 Mixing already existing hits = recipe for a big hit opportunity too.

arpit105: @ankeshk Wow! Thanks for so much gyaan. Seems great products are built by deriving from strong social trends/changes + tech to enable it

@ankeshk completely agree. Mixing is origin of innovation. iPhone = touch tech + need for intuitive UI. So what trends are you mixing today?

ankeshk: @arpit105 oh my startup is all about mixing 3 ecommerce apps out there right now with 1 more twist. But too early to talk about it in public

arpit105: @ankeshk Awesome! Am curious to know! Will discuss in private!

ankeshk: @arpit105 (The authors of TMNT did send out 180 PR kits after their first issue too. Hit product needs aggressive marketing to succeed too!)

arpit105: @ankeshk Disagree. Disruptive products cause disruptive usage. They would do best through WoM: “I used it, found it great. Would you try?”

@ankeshk Landmark Education is an example of a disruptive technology. People who have gone through it, can’t talk enough about it.

annkur: @ankeshk @arpit105 WoM cn be backed with some nice media. Making good into Killer!

ankeshk: @arpit105 WoM can totally be hacked. Tipping Point + Made to Stick = WoM. No disruption necessary.

@arpit105 Also – Landmark Education does follow Toastmasters / Tupperware model to add fuel to WoM – no?

@annkur I think media is an essential element in WoM – they are still the biggest influencers out there!

…. certainly not the end

I was left as a mute spectator for most part of the conversation …. Arpit, Ankesh – you guyz rock!

and more….

Evangelizing twitter on juhu beach

Now since @iMBA is such a lazy busy ass, I would have to make this blog entry. One of my most memorable outings was this little Road Trip along with Mitesh, Amit and Rahul. The original trip starts from Belapur when Mitesh (@iMba) and Rahul take Amit (@abeoye) for Mumbai darshan. The first halt being Andheri where I connect with them and we head towards Juhu.

It was just a casual walk back to office after lunchtime when I decide to join these guys and I never knew that I would return home only 36hours later after loads of fun, action, drama, adventure, tweetup … you name it – we did it!

— incomplete — View the pics for now

The @asfaq lookalike

(If you are wondering what @imba @annkur and @abeyoye means … They are our Twitter IDs)

• Shall I buy a MacBook Air? = U know मेरे पास बहुत पैसा है / I am very rich!

• Girl: You know I had a fantastic outing, night out with friends, movie and this this this person was there. = Loser, you asked me out and I went with them (Jealous?)

• I am so excited I am going to meet my cousins. Its been 10 years since they shifted to US. = [I am going on a foreign trip]

• What is the best tool to do xyz … = Yeah go ahead and tell me what you use; I will prove m smarter than you!

• Scrap: Not seen you since long? Where have you been? = When the hell are you returning my BOOK!

Keeping it short as per feedback received; will post Part II soon (Suggestions Welcome)