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On Pricing
Remember these points when pricing your product -
1. There’s always someone who would want to pay more for the product (and there’s also always someone who would want to buy for the cheapest price).
2. Subsegment the market based on what you think your customers care about and do not be afraid to have too many segments (as long as you have a software to take care of that aspect for you).
3. Make all permutations of combinations of features to get a spectrum of price points.
4. Give your customers incentives - based on time of booking (early-bird discounts) or loyalty, or group discounts.
5. Do not forget the frills. Add-ons, impulse purchases, same-day delivery make a fair percentage of profits for corporations.
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Homejoy shutdown and how it happened!
Homejoy, an on-demand cleaning service shut shop in July 2015, becoming one of the first casualties among the Uber-like models. Is it safe to say that this may be the shape of things to come for on-demand startups with contract workers? Perhaps not. Homejoy made critical errors in following up on their value proposition for both clients and contractors, and in defining where they made their margins. Homejoy also had flaws in both its customer and contractor retention strategies. The lack of a differential service provided by Homejoy over regular on-call cleaning services made their exit painless for both their clients and contractors.
Their marketing model failed to deliver on several pillars of the value proposition from the homeowners’ point of view. Customers want a squeaky clean house for the cheapest price possible, a cleaner they can trust, who understands their preferences and who they could possibly call again for upkeep or similar jobs. And it’s nice to have that service on an app in their phone. The model neither gave the customers a better price, nor a better quality of service over any city cleaning service. It simply gave them a UI to link up with a cleaner who may or may not be trained and experienced, which made the service a hit and miss, and possibly dangerous for homeowners.
They also did little to keep their contractors happy, and to attract skilled cleaners. For a cleaner, a perfect gig would be one where they get paid a reasonable price for the job, incentive to go the extra mile, and to land recurring jobs with homeowners. Homejoy, instead, decided to make their margins on their contractors’ low pay. This a) attracted cleaners with little or no experience or skill in this department, b) encouraged them to strike individual deals with homeowners.
Homejoy did not make significant efforts to establish trust, or build long-term relationships with either their customers or contractors. Measures such as bringing in aggressive initial discounts, steeply increasing prices for one-time users of the service, pocketing high margins despite the increase in charges, reflect discordant profit-making and relationship-building approaches. For a fledgling business out to build a solid clientele, making profits should have taken a backseat over establishing its position as a brand that does impeccable work for the best prices. This strategy would have allowed them to give the service at an economical cost, and also attract skilled cleaners if they cut their own margins.
Coming to the actual service, what again worked to Homejoy’s serious disadvantage and brought bad press, was the sloppy jobs done by their unskilled contractors. Unfortunately, there is no certification for cleaners, akin to a driver’s license. Cleaning is also a more subjective skill than driving. It has a personal aspect to it, and it’s very easy to do a half-hearted job at it than at driving. On the contrary, going the extra mile for a cleaner reaps much higher benefits than for a driver.
Homejoy would probably have excelled as a “Tinder” for home-cleaning as opposed to an “Uber” for home-cleaning, because the needs of both parties need to be met for this service, homeowners want someone who understands their preferences and aesthetic , and someone they can trust for future maintenance as well. The contractors need a price they think is perfect for a particular kind of cleaning job, and they need to find someone who’s willing to part with that price, or a reasonable enough price, and a recurring gig if possible. The marriage of both concepts can happen better over a negotiable, matchmaking kind of service. This however, could have possibly removed Homejoy from the middle, which could have been remedied with a careful discounting/ reward strategy. Homejoy could also have rewarded its contractors for retaining customers. This would have incentivized them to both, go the extra mile, and to pass on the lead to Homejoy instead of setting up an individual deal.
The key to a successful on-demand business with contract workers would be to make their contract workers happy first, and to maintain a close monitoring, vetting and rating system to ensure that skilled workers are rewarded and sloppy ones are weeded out. The contract workers in turn hold the key to making the clients happy. Startups with contract workers, should first and foremost focus on delivering great service in order to establish a customer base and a good name in the domain. Margins should not be made on already low wages. Also, mass launches in new cities should be saved for after the establishment of a level of excellence in the industry and without compromising on quality in any way.
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Crowdfunding my Travel - SO EXCITED!
I’ve started my first ever campaign to crowdfund my travel (I really really wish to travel to Nicaragua over the Spring break). It could be a solo trip, but given that I live in a big dorm where people go on trips all the time, I might just find some really cool travel buddies. Nonetheless, I’m excited about this and can not wait!
So here’s the link http://gofundme.com/td5wv868. Please knock yourselves out! This is a really huge opportunity for me to travel somewhere I’ve always wanted to (funny story on the page! I swear it was funny in my head :))
Also, I promise to blog, post pictures, take someone along if they wish to, donate the rest to a charity you want me to, and give back to this community because I really really believe in crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. Show me some love, Internet people!
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WHAT ARE THE KIDS SAYING THESE DAYS!!?
I started grad school last month and given that I was in the work force for two years, I feel obviously super old here. Also, I feel there’s a whole new vocabulary that I’m completely clueless about. So what are the kids saying these days? Here’s what -
1. BAE (unironically) Meaning - Significant other. I simply do not understand the appeal. The first time I heard it being used, I thought someone misspelt “babe”, but in addition to that it has other lameass meanings as well.
2. What’s good? Meaning - What’s up / How’s it going. I like this one. It’s a cool little change over “What’s up”.
3. Bump Meaning - acronym for Bring Up My Post. It’s a social media term used to bring a post up in a Facebook group. Basically used in sale posts so they’re not lost in the group and gather more eyeballs.
4. Turnt / getting turnt Meaning - to have fun/ freak out. With a word like that, I wouldn’t be surprised if it means getting shit-faced.
5. Ratchet Meaning - wretched/ too ghetto. I really want to do bad things to this one.
6. Fleek / on fleek Meaning - on point, as in- eyebrow game on fleek. This is soo annoying because it’s absolutely everywhere and it doesn’t even mean anything honestly. It has its roots in a random vine from nowhere.
Let me know if I’m wrong/ right/ on fleek.
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Saved my water damaged Nexus 5! You can do it too.
So a few weeks ago, I “placed” my phone very deliberately in a mug half full of water. Don’t ask me why!
So it was in the water, headfirst, for a few moments before I freaked out and made a few rookie mistakes. The lifesaver in my case however was that only the top half of the phone was exposed to water, for a good 2-3 minutes no less though. Anyway, DO NOT DO THE BELOW if you drop your phone in water!
1. Shake it around like a monkey.
Instead - Try to direct the water away from the battery case. Try to remove as much moisture as possible from the top of the phone. The camera is an exit point for sure.
2. Try to switch it on.
Instead - Switch it off as soon as possible, and control the anxiety. What is done is done. The most important part of damage control is to stay calm.
3. Try to charge it.
Instead - a) Check the water damage markers in Nexus 5. These are located in 2 places.
The color of the ldi may vary but a pinkish, red color indicates damage. And so long as the ldi is pink, try to avoid switching on your phone. In my case, it gradually lightened, and that was a huge glimmer of hope for me.
b) Place the device in an air-tight container in rice or silica gel crystals. These draw the moisture out if the container is sealed properly and can make a world of difference in 24 hours.
c) Be patient. Leave your phone there for 12-13 hours at least before you check on it.
Good luck! Your case may not be the same as mine but that should not make you give up attempts to control damage.
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How I picked my courses this Fall
Hi guys
I started grad school this semester in the US after working for 2 years :( and before that completing my graduation from Delhi University, India. Now, the format of choosing and picking courses was unheard of back in my school in India. We had a set of pre-decided courses we had to take, which was super-unfair for 18 year-olds who are just beginning to start making big decisions which would drive their lives. We tend to fall in and fall out of love with courses and areas of study, unless you’re really lucky and find your calling as soon as you start school.
So, getting down to business, I was new to the whole course cherry-picking business. How I did it was the following -
1. TALK, TALK, TALK - Talk to people about the courses they’re taking, or they wanted to take and couldn’t and why, caveats, what they think of a certain course you want to take but are unsure. Talk to seniors, PhDs, exchange students, teachers, undergrads. Everyone knows something you wouldn’t know about this.
2. Test the waters - Most schools allow a 2-3 week window within which you can add and drop courses. Take full advantage of this period to test the courses your really want to take, this semester or next. I would also suggest sitting for all the classes you find interesting, because workload is low in the first 2 weeks, and this experience may help you anywhere in the rest of your degree. Also, who knows you might just find that subject that helps you with another hard subject, or works seamlessly with your particular area of interest.
3. Be kind to yourself - The first semester is especially harder because you’re beginning to settle in, you’re new to the formats of teaching, homeworks, and quizzes. So I decided to be kind to myself and take just the bare minimum courses to stay on top of everything, and then wait for next semester to take the other courses I want to take.
4. Put knowledge above all - I decided to take only those courses which had something I really wanted to learn, which would help me somewhere in that job I really want to do, something that I hope to apply in life or in my other courses, basically something that adds that sprinkle of confidence in a new department.
5. Challenge yourself -Saving the best for last, I also made sure that I’m not repeating the same things that I already know just to add credits and graduate. I wanted to take courses which would teach me something new even if that requires a couple extra hours of study to get there. I wanted to take courses which would challenge me and add that extra level of complexity to how I already know things.
So these were my two pennies, I hope this helps you somewhere in your course selection. Thanks!
#fall15#fall#grad#graduate jobs#graduation#phd#masters#course picking#picking courses#list#lists#listicle#relevant
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I’m going to MARS! And so can you!
Okay, maybe not so much that, as my NAME is going to be on a chip that’s going to Mars. You can get your name on it too by going to http://go.usa.gov/3Aj3G and registering yourself. AND, you get a nifty boarding pass with miles and all. WHY AM I SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!?
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Online Shopping Coupons - India
Just putting her some coupons for shopping online on Jabong and Amazon India. You can use them if you're making your first purchase.
Jabong India - jabo.ng/agrima5267945
Amazon India - https://amazon.in/gp/join-and-earn?encoding=UTF8&ref=mrp_refl_cp_clbd_ind_snp_lnd&refcust=PZAL6OHJUU5MEN3AZTXRCYP2X4
#Online Shopping#OnlineShopping#India#Mumbai#Jabong#Amazon#Coupons#ShoppingCoupons#Discount#BestPrice
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Polythene-less in Mumbai
In the last one month I've decided to take matters in my hand and reduce my carbon footprint. I'm saying no to polythene bags and trust me it's hard hard hard. Now this may sound cliched, but I actually never really realized they're everywhere. My refrigerator is overflowing with them, so are my kitchen table and almirah. So I started by throwing everything polythene out of my fridge. But of course some things stay, I don't bake my own bread. Yet. So my bread wrapper stays. So do my maggi packets. I need to figure out an alternative for that. I'll keep this space updated when I do find appropriate work-arounds.
So just some tips, since this effort is a labor of love, but if you really do wish to be a better citizen of the world every small effort is worth it.
1) I'm not sure what the question is, but the answer is paper bags. So paper bags cannot hold everything and not everyone sells their wares in paper bags so I have found just the right set of stores around my house who do. You can do that too.
2) Use your own bag or buy a cloth carry bag for your shopping. You don't need to stow everything you buy in its personal plastic bag. Restrict the number of bags to about zero. Your grocer will thank you too.
3) Milk. How do you buy milk, or any liquid based utility without a plastic wrapper? Buy a steel can or a glass bottle, with a glass cap! Milk is actually an advanced stage challenge so plastic wrappers is fine for now but shun Tetrapak. They're the monster, trust me. You don't really need it if you ask me. So I guess stage 1 is move from tetrapak to plastic packets.
4) While shopping at supermarkets, do not accept their plastic bags. Same as point 3.
5) While shopping for clothes, you can again choose to use your own bags to carry what you buy.
6) Buy loose grains, masalas and vegetables. Not everything needs to be gift-wrapped and gift-wrapped is not always better. You can get a lot of variety in loose grains and masalas, nearly as much as the packed ones. Especially in Mumbai. Get everything packed in paper bags. Carry your own if you want.
7) If you order a tiffin, tie up with your tiffin person to pick up a dabba from your place before delivering or drop it off at their place.
8) There is no alternative for chocolates, packed cakes, cereal, packed snacks, Lays, Maggi, Horlicks etc. You just either need to stop using it, or make your own at home. Definitely, big huge labor but can be done. If nothing, the usage can be restricted and buying the bigger, savings packs may help.
Stage one is only plastic bags, but you can extend it to all kinds of plastic. Use your imagination. Go crazy. Remember your friends Glass, paper, wood, steel, aluminium, cloth. We can do it!
#mumbai#polythene#polytheneBags#paper#paperbags#glass#glassBottles#environment#environmentlover#envirofriendly#environmentfriendly
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Happy New Year Around the World!
Hey Guys
This post is to wish all of you a very Happy New Year full of love, success, luck and sprinkled with a lot of excitement and good decisions. So I've got a reading checklist of course, which I'll start working on as soon as I get done with some important stuff, and I'll tell you in confidence the list if LOOOONG!
Apart from that I also have another list. This is not exactly a checklist, more like a reminder, which goes something like this.
Try to put learning over everything else. This basically means taking on new work only if it would enrich me in the knowledge department.
Read read read a lot (since I've avoided this one this last year)
Get into college
Be kinder to everyone while I can
Eat healthier and cook for others often
Wish more people on their happy days
Be a more giving person
Develop richer relationships with friends and family
Not be shy about calling close friends every once in a while
Love with abandon and letting my ego go on a short vacation of 12 months
Be super careful with all that I send out and check everything 12 times
So that's my list, folks. Make your own and keep it on your phone and on your desk. Remind yourself to follow it every now and then.
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Sniping on eBay – 101
Hello Interneters,
If you love internetting as much as I do, I’d assume you know what sniping is too. For those who don’t online auction sniping means outbidding the highest bidder of the auction in the last few moments of a timed auction, giving the other bidders no time to outbid you. While this can be done manually fairly easily, I’m pretty sure I’ve been outbid by softwares a whole lot more than often.
So if you’re really serious about that waffle iron deal you probably won’t find anywhere else, it wouldn’t hurt to get a free or cheap sniping software. From there, everything should be easier.
It is absolutely not necessary to make the auction the centre of your universe but if you're really serious about a particular auction and you don't wish to go through the trouble of setting up a software, you can do this!
1. Add the item to your watchlist for easy accessibility.
2. Make sure that you wish to buy it and decide the maximum amount you're willing to pay for the item.
3. Set up a task scheduler for five minutes before the end of the auction and start weaving your magic from there.
As much as it's a great way to save some money on things you need, it's also a fun way to find cool, exciting, affordable things you have been putting off, while you have some free time on your hands. Happy Sniping!
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Mumbai Meri jaan
I moved to Mumbai from Delhi exactly eight months ago today, and oh I gotta say, I love it so much. I love the freedom, I love the speed, I love the people. I love the fact that my local fruit-seller opens till 11pm (a rarity in India) and opens up again at 6am. I love the amazing variety of fish species I've tried since I got here. I love the fact that there's a sea. I mean what's not to love.
So I thought I'd do a short list of places to eat, party etc in the Mumbai and suburban area.
1. Eat : As much as I love my local lunch home for my regular meal supply, I love eating out. Some must dos are Brittania & co. in Fort, Colaba, (try the mutton berry pulao and caramel custard!). Head to Cafe Madras in Matunga for some authentic South Indian cuisine, Farid Seekh Kebab centre in Jogeshwari and Firdaus Sweets in Andheri West for some mouthwatering kebabs and roast chicken. Definitely go to Muhammed Ali road (Grant road is the nearest local train station) and knock yourself out on the tandoori chicken and malpuas. Best place to get street food is the street of course! But Malad west, near the station is definitely the ultimate street food hub here. And let me just put out there that I go to Yacht in Bandra for some cheap alcohol more than I'd like to admit
2. Shop: Being a Delhi girl at heart, I generally hold my Sarojini Nagar and Kamala Nagar really close to the heart, but Mumbai is not far behind. I love shopping at Colaba causeway and Linking road, Hill road and the flea markets that keep popping up everywhere, for my thrift shopping needs. The best place to shop for Indian sarees or suit material is King's Circle or Matunga east. I also particularly love Karan Sarees on SV road, Andheri. Crawford market near CST is the local Mumbaikar's one-stop for wholesale prices groceries, dry fruits, gift items and cool stuff you never knew you needed.
3. Bored: Watch a play at NCPA or Prithvi Theatre. Head to Kalaghoda and walk about. Sit by the sea. Watch the documentaries at the Nehru Science Centre in Worli.
Caveats: Britannia & co. is only open till 4pm on weekdays and Saturdays and is closed on Sundays. Crawford is open on all days of the week but not all shops open on Sundays.
#mumbai#travel#mustdo#mustdos#gottado#seafood#eat#food#bonbay#bombay#crawford#crawfordmarket#boredinmumbai#bored#shopping#eating
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Book Piracy – Yay or Nay?
So being on a tight budget most of the times, as a student earlier and as a rookie graduate now, (rents are sky high here) I'm guilty of downloading illegally curated e-books of textbooks, fiction et al on several occasions. And then there's books that are banned for no real reason, so yea gotta get my hands on those every now and then. Technically, I've been breaking several laws for educational / intellectual entertainment purposes. Is it justified? Yes, no, it doesn't matter?
First thing first, let's examine how justified publishers are in coming out with a fresh edition every year with some twenty corrected typographical errors, factual errors, fresh question sets. So, there's absolutely new information added and you need to shell out an extra hundred bucks (INR) for the new, improved cover art. And now, while I understand that piracy has a negative influence on book sales, I believe it's hugely flattering for an author, writer that their works are so interesting that someone not able / willing to part with the cost is committed to reading them.
Honestly, I think it would be a great compliment if my book is being secretly shared on p2p networks, file-sharing services and again, I think the best way to make sure that piracy, online or otherwise, doesn't bother one so much or eat into one's paycheck is be a great writer because then your books are being read and loved anyway, piracy or no piracy.
On an unrelated note, I take a lot of pride in my amazing prowess at digging out completely mainstream, awesome and expensive books from some wonderful authors. And writers, thank you! Thank you for not wiping your wonderful works off the recesses of the internet, because so many of us would've missed on so many beautiful gems.
#books#bookpiracy#pirates#p2p#torrents#creativecommons#readers#writers#authors#publishers#digitaleditions#gutenberg
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Peak season or Off season
Are you a peak season person or an off season person? At a party, would I find you in the middle of the room surrounded by twenty people or in a corner talking animatedly to just one. Apparently, this year, Goa: the partygoers' mecca was definitely off season during peak season. While I was nowhere near Vagator, where the real action was at this year, Goa in peak season was just as personal as it is in off season. For a 2 day trip, we covered three beaches, Calangute, Baga and Anjuna, partied, swam and ate some amazing seafood. We chatted up some scientist types collecting barnacles on the Anjuna waterfront, checked out some cool crabs, hung out and took in the beauty of it all .
Reccos: If you're a complete party rat, definitely go to Love Passion Karma Waterfront (LPK) at Candolim and Club Cubana at Arpora.
And if you're a couch baby, haul your ass over to Morjim beach, kick back and relax.
If you're big on water sports, adventure yada yada, you'll find it everywhere but I'd suggest going to Arambol beach.
Regardless, head over to Anjuna, eat at Curlies and take a dip in the sea.
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As promised, please find the scene from The Interview which caused all that hullabaloo. (that rhymed).
THE INTERVIEW ~~~UN~~~DEATH*****KIM********JONG*~~~*~*SCENE. SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE
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