Why Asklaila?

Actually why the name asklaila?
No one amongst us knew that this one question would need so much explanation, even after 2 years of starting up.
When we started up we knew that our business will be all about local information, and how well and efficiently we expose that information to the seekers. So there we were – working non-stop, defining the product and the usability, features and security, scalability and performance, uptime and scalability and all that jazz. And of course, a name!

The developers (4 in number then) were least concerned with the name, but the CXOs won’t let us rest without coming up with some. And then they would choose the best of the lot. Amogh had a natural instinct of coming up with the weirdest names and he came up with a list of names, which he thought were suitable for our baby. His list reads: searchwala.com, merafind.com, sahihey.com, sefigo.com(SEarchFIndGo), jstfnd.com and some others. Birla congratulated Amogh for his creativity for SEFIGO.com and topped him by suggesting sahibatao.com.

Some other names were toyed with in the meanwhile, 58989.com being the one which was closest to become the ONE name everyone agreed upon. Why 58989? Because that would be the sms shortcode for using our local search service. And we could not violently react against the bland website name 58989.com, naturally, who can hate a number? We actually got mockups from UI guys, and got our logo made for 58989.com. I thank the chinese guy who had blocked the actual domain 58989.com, and never replied to Sukrit’s emails for buying the domain.

In the meanwhile, our three CXOs were slowly nourishing their loves for 3 different website names. Kiran would not let go of totallocal.com. It was the exact name our website was all about! It was short, it was easy to remember, contained the word ‘local’, had an easy spelling and a host of other advantages. Birla was specially fond of SeFiGo.com(SEarchFIndGO), it was short too, but not too easy to remember, contained both words ’search’ and ‘find’ (although partially). But we had to convince him that you don’t want your customer to GO after they search and find. You don’t want a negative connotation in your brand name, do you?

Shriram had come up with ‘asklaila.com‘ in the same time, which was the naturally the most controversial one
Q) Why Asklaila?
A) When you want to know about a good bengali restaurant, how do you find it? Find a good beauty parlour? Search for an electrician? Which is the best gym in my locality? Naturally, you ask a friend. We wanted our service to become that one friend, who knows everything about your city, gives the best suggestions, is up-to-date, is omnipresent and is very reliable. And it doesn’t hurt if the friend is female, and has an enigmatic name The name sounds Indian, and would be good enough to take us international. asklaila.com would have an awesome recall value. People could love it or hate it, but won’t forget it!  Laila would replace the friend whom one could just call or dial for local information.

So Kiran organized a poll for the best name amongst five.  He eliminated Birla by not even having sefigo.com in the poll, smart move. To please Shriram he included only one of his own horses (totallocal.com) in the race and three of Shriram’s (asklaila.com, lailaknows.com, lailasays.com) and one neutral (4india.com, didn’t know how that cropped up). Even though he voted thrice, and we heard later that the booth was captured, in the end laila prevailed.

Evangelism v/s Marketing

If you walk into our office and wait for an hour, you are sure to hear atleast one Apple v/s Microsoft argument. So what’s with all the “Apple users being snobs” and Microsoft users really not caring much for usability, so on and so forth slogans on the internet? What is the actual deal?

I think it boils down to Evangelism v/s Marketing. Apple has the free power of evangelists, a quick example is our office where I started with a mac a year back and in a small team we have a total of 4 macs now and close to 6 iphones. On the other hand the rest of the folks are separated in Linux and a majority in Windows. So Microsoft does good marketing, which is why the product sells.

While the Apple slogan goes “Catch them young” and offers student discounts and pretty much makes them apple users for live, Windows would target our fathers who would rather use something which is tried, tested and has created brand awareness.

So in the long run, what would be the obvious choice? Evangelism or Marketing? If you think its only Marketing, think again. Wikipedia is a brilliant Evangelistic success model. To pick that special restaurant for your date would you trust a billboard or ask your friend laila? I think the trick lies in building a great product that you believe in and if its a great product for people around you too, then you just need to market enough to spread the word around.

Solving things the smart way…

One of the problem with a pure tech company where people only understand technology is that they think they can solve “world hunger and poverty” with technology and algorithms. But in a real world most problems are not technology solvable nor is technology always optimum.

A classic example is the Russian and American pencil/space pen story. In India especially, you need nifty little solutions that do the job and most times they are non-tech solutions. A classic case is, in India people ask others for directions, which is much more practical than carrying a map and trying to find your route when the city is always crowded and you are stuck in traffic.

One of the core competencies that companies can boast of is of having people who can think of problems in a holistic way, getting the big picture and solving the problem than deciding the methods to solve it beforehand. And for a company like ours working in the Indian domain, it is so very important to solve things the smart way, which works and is optimum.

4 Interactive?

Learning…

When I wanted to join a startup, most people were shocked. They still wonder why. Here’s my take on it.
The learning process, in a startup I feel is at its best. A few examples from my own experience might thrown in more light.

1. I’ve been more organized than ever (really can’t believe this myself..)

2. More ownership, means more responsibility (”With great power comes great responsibilities”)

3. I think I’m getting better equipped each day for the new challenges to come

4. I’m not dozing off at meetings!!

5. Its a very close set of people, means more interaction, more learning and more fun!

A few firsts

So here are a few *firsts* at 4i

1. Our first server is named goa (virtual fun!)

2. Our first code base was setup as a quick result of me losing 3 days work *dodges*, anyway I got to checkin first
3. Our first official team meeting was held in the board room, with a total of 4 people in it.

Cycling to office

So I’ve started cycling to work now, its around 3kms and sometimes takes less time than the car. Its quite refreshing, though the pollution is slightly high, I guess the exercise makes up for it.

I’m also convincing Birla to start cycling to work, he seems to be sold on the idea. Just need to wait and watch. More people are joining and I plan to convince all of them!

Few stats for trivia

1. 3.7 – Download speed(K/sec) I am getting while downloading Getright using e4e network
2. 150 – The money I spent on coffee for a candidate who was a total misfit for us
3. 53 – km of biking I have done today shuttling between candidates, consulting companies and loosing my way in Bangalore after a long time
4. 47 – the percentage charge of my battery when I first saw it

Genesis

Let there be light, and there was light”, so at 4 interactive the lights were switched on at 2pm, 24th October 2006.

It began with Birla and I waiting for the facilities admin to come over and show us our cubes, and the actual *start* was a 10min affair.

After that the ceremony was to follow: Rather humble I’d say, we both went to the closest bakery and had chocolate and coke! Over coke we spoke, the names of servers and such random things just to feel at work