ProductCamp Pune is a free event that will give you an opportunity to meet people involved in product management and marketing. Click on the logo to be taken to the registration page.

The Importance of Product Management and Marketing

Have you ever wondered why some really cool products fail in the market, and some products that seem really stupid succeed? Have you ever noticed that some of the best features of the products you’re working on are hardly used by anybody? Have you ever completely failed to understand the roadmap of your product?

If you have experienced any of the above, you’re not alone. Most people, especially techies, and especially Indian techies, have a very poor understanding of what customers really want, what they need, and what they would be willing to pay for. This is the job of Product Management and Marketing. Most people’s career would improve significantly if they spent some time acquiring this skill, or at least understanding the basics.

Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of the incredibly successful Zynga Games (the creators of FarmVille), has this to say about what skills you should focus on acquiring for career advancement:

If you can be a product manager, you can acquire the experience of acting as a CEO. The skills gained in product roadmapping, prioritizing tasks, interoffice communications, customer understanding, and product marketing are absolute necessities for being an effective enterprise lead.

Similarly, Marc Andreessen, the creator of Netscape, successful serial entrepreneur, and investor points out that “the only thing that matters” for success of a startup is product/market fit. Product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market. If you don’t have product/market fit, then you’re bound to fail, no matter how great your product is, and no matter how great your team is. With a bad product/market fit, you’ll struggle for years trying to find customers who don’t exist for your marvelous product, and your wonderful team will eventually get demoralized and quit, and your startup will die.

This is a new area for techies in India

For obvious reasons. Most of the work in the software technology sector in India has either been software services for companies abroad (in which case your company has no control over the product roadmap), or product development for companies whose main markets are in the US/Europe (in which case, the people doing product management/marketing are in US/Europe).

However, as the tech industry in India slowly matures, more and more product management and marketing roles are becoming available.

Here’s your opportunity to get started along this path

ProductCamp Pune is a collaborative, user organized unconference, focused on Product Management and Marketing topics. ProductCamp is a great opportunity for you to learn from, teach to, and network with professionals involved in the Product Management, Marketing, and Development process.

And it’s free.

Just register here and show up.

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And all of this is in addition to our usual talks on open source (the Pune Linux Users Group), issues for small startups (the Pune Open Coffee Club), and Microsoft Technologies (the Pune User Group).

This weekend – try to get exposure to a different science & technology community than the one you normally hang out with.

Here are the details:

• Jul 2, 2010: Venture Center’s IP Center Event: IP overview by Dr. Tiwari of NCL IP Gropu at Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park
• Jul 3, 2010: Ancient Indian Combinatorial Methods – by Prof Sridharan CMI at Bhaskaracharya Pratisthan
• Jul 3, 2010: POCC Meet: “Contracts and Intellectual Property” at GrubShup
• Jul 3, 2010: Pune Linux Users Group – Monthly Meeting at Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research
• Jul 3, 2010: Microsoft Community Tech Day at Shekhar Natu Hall

• Jul 5, 2010: PuneCleanTech event: Probiotic applications in CleanTech at Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park

vodQA Nite: The testing spirit

Thoughtworks Pune presents vodQA Nite – THE TESTING SPIRIT! – an event for the software testing industry to strengthen the QA community by sharing and learning new practices and ideas.

‘vodQA Nite’ offers a unique opportunity to interact with people who are equally passionate about software testing and continuously strive to better the art. The format of ‘vodQA Nite’ is scheduled such that each speaker will have 10-12 minutes to present followed by a couple of minutes of “open” discussion with participants. The topics covered in this workshop will be appropriate for any level of testing experience.

Connect with like-minded peers, and gain insight from industry practitioners.

Please note : This is a free to attend event. Register as an attendee here.

Who should attend?

Quality analysts and testing aficionados who want to interact with the testing community. This is also relevant to those interested in the nuances of test automation and how testing works in an Agile environment.

If you have any queries, email vodQA-Pune@thoughtworks.com

PLUG Meet – Presentation on Unicode by G Karunakar

Tomorrow, Saturday, June 5, 4pm-6pm, 7th Floor, SICSR, Model Colony,

The Pune Linux Users Group’s monthly meeting happens on the first Saturday of every month, from 4pm to 6pm at SICSR, Model Colony. This month, the agenda includes a talk by G Karunakar on Unicode. Linux CD/DVDs will also be available at the meeting for anyone looking to install linux.

This is a great place to meet open source enthusiasts in Pune

For more details, see: http://plug.org.in

Mentoring Workshop on clean energy financing in Pune

Today, Friday, June 4, 10am-1:30pm, 1st Floor, Hotel Le Meridien

Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN) is a multilateral, public-private partnership initiated by the Climate Technology Initiative (CTI) and funded by USAID. PFAN seeks to identify clean energy projects at an early stage and act as a project financing coaching and consultancy service to facilitate financial closure of such projects. After establishing dedicated in-country networks in China, Indonesia and Philippines, PFAN has now launched its services in India.

This workshop will introduce Indian clean energy entrepreneurs and stakeholders to the PFAN initiative and how they can leverage this platform to connect with investors and avail pro-bono mentoring services.

Agenda:

9.30 pm: Registration
10:00 am: Welcome Note, Suneel Parasnis, Team Leader – Clean Energy Finance, Contractor, USAID ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program
10:10 am: Introduction to CTI-PFAN, Kavita Kaur, Country Manager – PFAN India, Contractor, USAID ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program
10:30 am: MOU Signing – IT Power India and IndiaCo Ventures
11:00 am: Investor’s Expectations out of Business Plan â Rahul Patwardan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, IndiaCo Ventures
11:30 am: Tea/Coffee Break
11:45 pm: Promoting Clean Energy – R.Chandrasekhar, CEO, IT Power
12:15 pm: Components of a Good Business Plan âSuneel Parasnis, Team Leader, ECO-Asia
1:00 pm: Panel discussion
1:30 pm: Lunch

For more details see: http://www.cti-pfan.net/

PuneCleanTech meet: Energy Efficiency – Opportunities and Challenges

Tomorrow, Saturday, June 5, 11am, Venture Center, NCL Innovation Center, Pashan Road

The new gee-whiz technologies such as solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels et cetera take all the limelight these days. But the fact remains that they are still a miniscule part of our energy mix and will remain so for the foreseeable future. A far bigger opportunity, however, exists all around us. There is enormous potential for making the conventional energy generation, distribution, storage and utilization much more efficient than what it is.

What is this opportunity? Where is it? How does one find it? How big is it? What can be done about it? How can it be addressed? Does anyone address it today? How do they do it? What qualifications do they need to do it?

Mr. Shishir Athale, founder of Sudnya Industrial Services, an energy services company, will discuss all these questions on June 5th, 11am at the NCL Venture Center (June 5th is also the Environment Day, a fitting coincidence!).

For more details see: http://punecleantech.com/energy-efficiency-opportunities-and-challenges/

POCC Meet: How to build a great startup team

Tomorrow, Saturday, 5 June, 4pm-7pm, 4th Floor, SICSR, Model Colony

The initial stages require only a handful of core team-members (3 to 5). These few are crucial to the success of the startup product or service. Finding these people, is one of the primary challenges facing startups today. Chetana Mehta will tackle a whole bunch of questions related to this topic. Chetana Mehta, ex-VP HR at GS Lab helped grow Persistent Systems, GS Lab when they were at a similar stage has offered to cover some aspects of nurturing and training teams.

For more details see: http://punetech.com/how-to-build-a-killer-startup-team-pocc-event-5-june/

What: Pune OpenCoffee Club meeting on How to build a killer startup team, with Chetana Mehta, ex-VP HR at GS Lab
When: Saturday, June 5, 4pm-7pm
Where: Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research, Room #407, 4th follor, Atur Centre, Model Colony. Map.
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Register here

How to build a killer startup team

(event description by Santosh Dawara)

As tech startups will identify, the initial stages require only a handful of core team-members (3 to 5). These few are crucial to the success of the startup product or service. This idea extends to startups in other domains as well.

Chetana Mehta, ex-VP HR at GS Lab helped grow Persistent Systems, GS Lab when they were at a similar stage has offered to cover some aspects of nurturing and training teams.

POCC is an informal group of the Pune Startup ecosystem. It contains more than 1500 people who either have their own startups, or want to start one, or provide some service (or funding) to startups. Click on the logo to find all punetech articles about the POCC

From my own experience, startup hires are only getting younger (freshers, 1 to 2 yrs of experience). These candidates don’t have the big-company mindset and are willing to take on a no-name startup.

I would like to explore the following challenges:

• How do you nurture these few to take on ownership of diverse areas and cope with the uncertainties of a startup?
• How do you set them on a path where they can take charge of their own effectiveness and learning?
• How do you encourage teamwork and confidence in team members in the capabilities of others?
• Another key challenge is how do you convince this core team to work for you for not just the money, but above all for a common vision or goal and the fulfillment of kick-starting a profitable venture.
• Does equity even work here or is it misplaced? With students, they expect immediate returns rather than wait 8+ years for an IPO.

As the startup gains traction and moves on to the next level, the challenges are different. As Navin called out when interviewing Druva CEO:

• How does a startup scale up hiring and training high-quality personnel?
• How do you scale the corporate and / or engineering culture you have so carefully built?

Look forward to hearing about how you build teams and the challenges you are facing.

References:

• HR as the Ultimate Weapon – article from Inc. India magazine
• Startup Teams: Why capabilities don’t matter without trust – article from OnStartups
• The Druva Story – III at Venture Woods.
• The Druva Story – II at Venture Woods.

Relevant excerpt from Druva CEO’s PuneTech interview:

What is their (Druva’s) primary challenge currently?

Jaspreet says that they want to build a high-quality, world-class product, and for that he needs lots of high-quality, world-class people. While theyâve obviously managed to build a team like that which got them so far, they need many more such people in the coming days, and thatâs a significant challenge. He says that it is difficult, if not impossible to find âreadymadeâ world-class talent here (even when âworld-classâ salary and/or equity is offered!). Instead, he feels that the only approach that works is to find individuals (whether freshers or industry veterans) who have the right attitude and potential and then nurture them into the required shape.

(As an aside, wed like to point out that is a pattern. Pretty much every startup we talk to mentions hiring of high-quality people as one of their primary challenges. This is a problem that needs a solution, and I’m hoping that some entrepreneur in Pune is looking at this as an opportunity.)

About Pune OpenCoffee Club

Meet with other entrepreneurs, investors, startups, advisors, (and anyone else) from Pune, India in an informal setting.

• 2414 members
• 550 discussions
• 59 Events
• 77 blog posts

Click on the logo to see all PuneTech posts about CSI Pune

HTML5

HTML5 is the next generation of HTML, to reduce the need for proprietary plug-in based Rich Internet Application (RIA) development technologies such as Adobe Flash, Silverlight, JavaFx, etc. The new version will have capabilities of HTML v4.0 plus additional features like DOM management, offline storage database, document editing, drag-drop, etc. This talk will be focused on salient features of HTML5 and how it will influence the next generation RIA development process.

This lecture is useful for all IT professionals and students especially for those, who are seeking to have deep penetration in web and internet related activities in years to come. HTML 5 is probably going to be tomorrow’s mainstream platform for web development – so this lecture is surely going to be an eye opener!

About the Speaker – Swarraj Kulkarni

Swarraj has more than 17 years of experience in the IT industry. At Cognizant, he is working as a Principal Architect for BFS-Technology Consulting Group. BFS (Banking & Financial Services) is at the centre of any activity whether it is a commercial or manufacturing. BFS has a very vast array of direct activities and derived activities. Multiple technologies get involved in these services. Being an Enterprise Architect, he focuses on multiple technologies, architecture patterns and enterprise adoption of upcoming technologies including Web 2.0, SOA, etc.

He has been closely following Web 2.0 in general and its adoption in enterprises to solve business problems.

Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana is a Pune-based research and educational institution for Mathematics. It regularly has free educational lectures that encourage use of open source software packages for mathematics. Click on the logo to go to its website.

Overview of R

R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The R language has become a de facto standard among statisticians for the development of statistical software,and is widely used for statistical software development and data analysis. R is an open source software package and is a part of the GNU project.

Abstract of the Talk

This talk will attempt to introduce R, CRAN and http://www.r-project.org/ to non-specialists by a non-specialist. Appreciation of the Package-diversity that is available within R – framework for analyzing and visualizing DATA of all kinds will be the main goal.

Simple Examples drawn from the vast R-literature will be used for this purpose. The aim is to feel the characteristic easy R-style, even in practically useful important tasks.

POCC is an informal group of the Pune Startup ecosystem. It contains more than 2300 people who either have their own startups, or want to start one, or provide some service (or funding) to startups. Click on the logo to find all punetech articles about the POCC

Samir Patel is a New York based serial entrepreneur, who is visiting Pune and we have arranged a talk by him about how to pitch your startup, and why you need to fine-tune your pitch (the investor pitch, the high concept pitch, the elevator pitch). Some of you might remember Samir from a POCC presentation last November.

Samir is the Founder of Prudent.ly, a social marketplace designed for connecting customers with questions to their social network, reviewers and sellers in the context of a question. Earlier, he co-founded SearchForce that helps manage search marketing campaigns in a burgeoning $6 billion yearly market with its algorithmic trading platform. At iPIN, later acquired by Valista for $50+ million, he designed the world’s first open scalable mobile payments platform. Samir also crafted the go-to-market strategy for eBay’s apparel division, which is now a $500 million business unit and growing. He architected efficient systems for Stanford Graduate School of Business in the area of analytics, courseware management and security. Much quoted in CNN, BusinessWeek, Reuters and Mercury News, Samir has a B.S. in Computer Science and an MBA in Brand Marketing from Cornell University.

During his 2009 sabbatical, he walked solo for 1000 kilometers in the wild Himalayas and circumambulated the Narmada river just with two pairs of clothes and little money. He also serves as a volunteer at ManavSadhna and Gramshree at Gandhi Ashram and has started http://www.maareva.org for the long term sustenance of Mother Narmada.

Outline of the Talk

Investors donât invest in businesses. They invest in stories about businesses. If you want to raise money on favorable terms, you need multiple investment offers. How do you get multiple offers? Tell a good story to several investors at the same time. A good story can’t sell a pile of garbage, but it will keep a gem from going unnoticed. You can tell a story in a sentence; you can tell a story in a paragraph; and you can tell a story in a 20-minute pitch. Startups need to do all three.

Traction: What is traction

Introductions to Investors:

• Why do I need an introduction?
• How do I get an introduction?
• Who makes the best introductions?
• Who makes the worst introductions?
• What should I send middlemen?

High Concept Pitches:

• What’s a high-concept pitch?
• What makes a good high-concept pitch?
• Why should I write a high-concept pitch?
• Aren’t high-concept pitches too simple?
• From incoherent to high-concept

Elevator Pitch:

• What’s an elevator pitch?
• Why should I craft an elevator pitch?
• Dissecting the elevator pitch
• Elevator pitches with bullet

The Deck:

• What’s a deck?
• The best deck template in the universe
• Tell a story with the slides
• Format your deck

Non-Disclosures:

• Can I get investors to sign an NDA?
• Pros and cons to sending a deck
• Your deck can get in the hands of the competition
• When to send a deck

Outline adapted from Venture Hacks, ‘Pitching Hacks’ http://www.venturehacks.com/

Related articles by Zemanta

• SproutPitch.com – Pitching Your Startup To The World (killerstartups.com)
• The Art of the Elevator Pitch: 10 Great Tips (readwriteweb.com)
• Top Ten Tips for Pitching to Investors (startupprofessionals.com)

PUG is Pune's user group for Microsoft Technologies. Click on the logo to see all PuneTech articles related to PUG.

Visual Studio 2010 Community Launch

This event will essentially be a day-long conference with various talks on topics related to Visual Studio 2010, from basic Windows Development using Visual Studio 2010, to Windows Phone 7, and how to improve your software development processes using VS2010.

See the full agenda here.

See the list of speakers and speaker bios here

About PUG

Pune User Group (aka PUG, pronounced as pag) is a not-for-profit organization, A User Group supported by Microsoft Corporation, International .NET Association (INETA) for technology enthusiasts. PUG provides a platform for everyone to share their knowledge and valuable experience with rest of the world. Pune User Group was founded in early 2003. PUG has formed Campus Clubs in most of the engineering colleges, where PUG speakers explain the latest buzz in technology to the students. PUG also has a gang of Microsoft Student Partners who are highly passionate about technology and willing to share their knowledge with others. PUG also has separate chapters like PUGStudent PUGITPro, PUG-MED (i.e. Pune User Group for Mobile and Embedded Devices). Along with monthly user group meetings PUG also organizes its annual event ‘INETA DevCon’ which is an event with separate tracks for students and professionals.

Who can join?

At this time, membership in PUG is free to everyone, regardless of geographic location, technical focus, or affiliation. Professionals, students interested in .Microsoft Technology will find the most value in active involvement with PUG.

How to get involved â a call for volunteers!

PUG relies heavily on the ideas, personal time, and energy of its membership, leaders, and officers. If you are interested to contribute to the PUG activities, looking for a way to help, grow with your peers, and find out about volunteer opportunities; email your details to mahesh@puneusergroup.org

Sponsorships – PUG relies on the support of its sponsors, and is presently organizing plans for working with companies and organizations interested in partnering with PUG for financial, logistical, content, or other types of support. If you are interested in partnering with PUG, contact us at mahesh@puneusergroup.org

If you’re the kind of person who forgets about events and would like to be reminded, you can also subscribe to the SMS reminder service that PuneTech runs. It’s free.

Anyway, the events in Pune this Saturday (6th Feb) are: