Copywriting based on the science of persuasion

If you’re ever going to sell anything online, copywriting is a much needed skill.The conventional copywriting wisdom says that you should more or less try stick to the following formula:

1. Tell the reader you understand their need,
2. Tell your prospect why your product is the best solution they can buy,
3. Offer all kinds of proof like testimonials, charts and so on,
4. Explain all the ways the product will benefit the customer,
5. Present the price in a way that makes it sound like a great deal,
6. Give a (better than) money-back guarantee,
7. Add bonus products to really motivate the customer to buy,
8. Make it a limited time or quantity offer,
9. Ask for the sale and tell them exactly what steps to take.

Is the exact sequence that persuades people or why should this work? What scientific data is available to use about persuasion? Which research can we rely on to make our writing more persuasive?

Here’s a summary of the most prominent books and publications on the matter.

The work of Robert Cialdini

Mr. Cialdini is undoubtedly the biggest authority on the field. His books are bestsellers and have been in the “must-read” list for marketers and copywriters for years.

Cialdini came up with six scientific principles of persuasion that will help guide you to become more effective at getting people do what you want. In case you have no idea what those principles are, then here’s the summary:

Principle 1: ReciprocityPeople feel obligated to give back to others who have given to them.
How to use it: teach your prospect something useful in your copy, give away free stuff and better yet – add value to your prospects long before you even start to sell them something.

Principle 2: LikingWe prefer to say “yes” to those we know and like.
How to use it: talk/write like a human, connect with the reader, share details about yourself. Blog. Be friendly and cool (like Richard Branson).

Principle 3: Social proofPeople decide what’s appropriate for them to do in a situation by examining and following what others are doing.
How to use it: show how many others are already using your product. Show off your numbers. Use testimonials. Link to 3rd-party articles.

Principle 4: AuthorityPeople rely on those with superior knowledge or perspective for guidance on how to respond AND what decision to make.
How to use it: Demonstrate your expertise. Show off your resume and results. Get celebrity (in your niche) endorsements.

Principle 5: ConsistencyOnce we make a choice/take a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to behave consistently with that commitment.
How to use it: Start small and move up from there. Sell something small first (a no-brainer deal), even if you make no money on it. They now see themselves as your customer, and will be much more likely to return to make a larger purchase.

Principle 6: ScarcityOpportunities appear more valuable when they are less available.
How to use it: Use time or quantity limited bonuses. Limit access to your product. Promote exclusivity.

SEOmoz has a great illustrated article on all of these principles. Naturally you can get the full picture of these principles from his book Influence. His other book – Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive – builds on that and adds some practical ideas. See the list of these 50 ways here.

Robert Gifford and five elements of an effective message

Mr. Gifford is a professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. He is co-author of a relatively recent American Psychological Association report that examined the interface between psychology and climate change.

He explains what makes people receptive and how to get messages across effectively:

• It has to have some urgency.
• It has to have as much certainty as can be mustered with integrity.
• There can’t be just one message: there must be messages targeted to different groups.
• Messages should be framed in positive terms. People are less willing to change their behaviour if you tell them they have to make sacrifices. If you tell them they can be in the vanguard, be a hero, be the one that helps — that works.
• You have to give people the sense that their vote counts and that their effort won’t be in vain.

While his work focused on the message of climate change, it will work in your sales copy too.

The art of persuasion by Angela Lee and Brian Sternthal

Research by Kellogg professors Angela Lee and Brian Sternthal offers insight into effective messaging. In a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, Kellogg professors say the key to an effective message is finding the fit between the consumers’ goals and the level of abstraction.

The researchers found that when consumers aimed to fulfill aspirations and satisfy achievement goals, more abstract messages — for example, those highlighting the freedom TiVo provides — stimulated favorable brand evaluations. On the other hand, consumers who sought to fulfill their responsibilities and satisfy their security goals were more persuaded by concrete messages, such as those emphasizing TiVo’s replay and slow-motion features.

So this means that first you have to figure out the emotional vibe of your prospect – or figure out what kind of motivations you’re targeting with your product. If you get it right and the level of abstraction fits the goal, people understand messages better and are more easily persuaded.

Messages that stick

Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.”

Isn’t that true? Some stories – especially urban legends, conspiracy theories, and scandals circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people who really try to spread their ideas – businesspeople, scientists, politicians, journalists, and others – struggle to get anyone to remember what they said.

Two brothers, Chip Heath (a Stanford Business school professor) and Dan Heath (a corporate education consultant at Duke) found after extensive research that the ideas that ‘stick’ all share the following six principles:

1. Simplicity – Your message has to be simple – stripped down to it’s core intent. You must come up with a profound compact phrase that would summarize your whole premise.
2. Unexpected – In order to capture someone’s attention, you need to break a pattern – in other words to present the unexpected. You need to understand and play with two essential emotions – surprise and interest. Surprise gets our attention and interest keeps our attention. Got a conventional product? Get a new one.
3. Concrete – People won’t remember vague stuff. What helps people understand new concepts is concrete language. Concreteness is an indispensable component of sticky ideas. Don’t say ‘fast acceleration’, say 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds.
4. Credible – You need somebody who people trust to confirm your case. The trustworthiness of your source makes all the difference. People need something / someone credible in order to believe you.
5. Emotional – Feelings inspire people to act. If you story does not invoke any emotions, you’ve lost.
6. Stories – How do you get people to act on your idea? A credible idea make speople believe. An emotional idea makes people care. Put both of them together into an idea as stories have the amazing dual power to stimulate and to inspire.

Remember to read their excellent book ‘Made to Stick‘.

Buy buttons in the brain

Research in neuromarketing (put together in this book) reveals interesting things about our brains. As it turns out, we have 3 brains. Well, not really, but the brain does have 3 layers. Each layer has it’s own functions: the “New Brain” thinks, the “Middle Brain” feels and the “Old Brain” decides – it reviews input from the other two brains and controls the decision making process.

The ‘Old Brain’ is the part that humans (and it’s predecessors) have had the longest – like 160 million years or so. So the part of the brain that controls decisions is pretty primitive and mostly concerned with survival.

We’re usually trying to talk to the ‘New Brain’ – the sophisticated one – but it’s the brute that makes all the decisions, so we need to dumb it down. Here’s the formula:

Selling probability = Pain x Claim x Gain x (Old Brain)³

First you need to identify the prospect’s pain (the greater the pain, the higher the chance of sale) and make sure they acknowledge the pain before you start to sell them anything. Second, you’ve got to differentiate your claims from your competitors. The strongest claim is the one that eliminates the strongest pain.

Next you have to show convincing proof of these claims. The ‘Old Brain’ is resistant to new ideas and concepts, so your proof must be very convincing. Show tangible evidence, data, testimonials, case studies.

And finally – deliver to the ‘Old brain’. You need to start with a ‘grabber’ – something that really gets the  attention (‘if you’re selling fire extinguishers, start with fire’, like Ogilvy said). Second – the ‘Old brain’ is visual, hence start with a big picture.

Remember – the ‘Old brain’ is concerned with survival. So it only cares about itself and not anyone else. Your message needs to be entirely about the prospect.

Get the book to find out about all the other ways to push the right buttons in the brain.

Last but not least

You can find lots of good stuff from a book that is now freely available (as it was written in 1923) – Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins. Here’s the link to the free pdf download.

People innovate in America because they are angry

I received a lot of comments on hackernews and twitter. Some of them asked “if anger is so important why is there not as much innovation coming out of Greece or Nigeria or Ethopia” which misses the point. 1) Solving a problem and scaling the solution across America is a huge market opportunity and is also very difficult. America is the 3rd largest country in the world by land mass. Its larger than China. 2) While I don’t know about innovation in every country in the world, I think its presumptuous to assume no innovation is coming from other countries. But the scale is vastly different. With the exception of Africa as a continent. If a innovation can be developed in one African country it often scales to other similar countries in the continent. The largest mobile payment provide in the world? From Africa.

America has horrible infrastructure. The railway infrastructure in the
USA was built primarily for the transport of oil (freight) and hasn’t
evolved much since then. There is one railroad company in America
built for the transportation of passengers, Amtrak. Amtrak is short
for American Track, which is funny because it only covers half of
America. HalfTrack might be a better name.

The majority of the tracks Amtrack runs on are owned by freight
companies and Amtrak is beholden to the freight companies in many
ways. For example, if Amtrak is late and misses its scheduled time on a
freight rail line, the freight company can and often does force the
Amtrak passenger trains to follower the slower freight trains. The
average freight train runs between 10 mph to 79 mph while Amtrak has a
top speed of 150mph. While 150mph is nothing compared to other
national rail systems, the effective speed of an Amtrak train is
actually about 79mph. Either because they are running on those rented
rails from freight lines who have no motivation to upgrade the
infrastructure to support faster trains or because they are rolling
along at 20mph behind a train full oats. God bless America.

In the late 1960′s the US postal system was a unreliable and slow
machine. It hasn’t improved much since then. Today I can fly from NY
to San Francisco in 6 hours but if I send a 1oz letter the same route
it will take one week. Smart people at big national firms in the late
60′s figured this was lunacy and instead placed company employees on
planes to take interoffice mail between offices.

Putting people on airplanes was exactly how DHL got its start. Flying
interoffice mail for companies between San Francisco and Honolulu.
This mail transportation system was actually highly illegal and the US
Government went through a lot to try and shut DHL down.

The founder of DHL, a guy named Larry Hillblom was a lawyer and had
obvious physical abnormalities (and might have been a pedophile).
After winning his battle against the US Government, he re-wrote the
laws of a small nation as a way of saying F-U to the US Government, then
sued the US at the United Nations. I think its fair to say he was a
little crazy. After all, who would challenge the United States Postel
service then follow it up with suing the US in front of the UN after
changing the constitution of a small nation state? I think he might
have been a little angry too.

Spending so much time in Japan makes me really wonder why so much
innovation comes out of the USA. And I think its simply because so
many services in the US suck. People get angry, build a solution and
because of the simple fact that America is HUGE solving a common
problem in America often requires the infrastructure of a small
international company.

Amazon.com wants to ship books across the United States? Are they
going to trust the US Postal Service? Perhaps our amazing rail and
freight system? Its an incredibly complex operation for Amazon.com to
be able to ship a book to you within 3 days anywhere in the United
States. Because US infrastructure is so crappy. But they managed to do
it.

Then Amazon.com expands to a country like Japan, where it takes one
day to ship anything from one part of the country to another and they
reduce this shipping to 12 hours. And suddenly they look like shipping
geniuses. After going through the school of hard-knocks in the USA,
its much easier to go abroad.

Airbnb exist because the hotel industry in the USA doesn’t add a
tremendous amount of value outside of providing a safe place to sleep,
unless you are paying more than $500 a night. The entire Airbnb
operation seems to be violating a ton of laws in the process. Despite
that, they figured it out in the USA. Going abroad is easy after that.
Airbnb could never have started as a business in Japan. No tenant
would risk: 1) letting someone into their home 2) no one would risk
violating their lease agreements and 3) apartments are tiny. But its
been able to expand to Japan. It just would have never built momentum
if it started in Japan. Not enough angry people willing to ignore a
half dozens laws to make a buck.

Uber exist because the taxi system in San Francisco is horrible. You
make an appointment for a taxi to show up at 6:30 and they show up at
7:00, if they show up at all. Uber was built out of anger. Its
compelling in a city like San Francisco where the taxi service is
horrible, not as compelling in NYC where their are too many taxis most
days. Despite that, I still used it in NYC. And of course, Uber is
violating a few laws in the process.

Many great innovations in the USA come out of anger and frustration
and a attitude that makes Americans believe they can change the system.
When implemented across a huge country like the United States, Airbnb,
Uber, DHL have to deal with laws and regulations in every single state
in the country. In states the size of small countries. What better
training ground could their be for building a international company?

You have to be angry to break the law in order to build a better way.
That anger and willingness to challenge authority is missing from many
startups, but it exist in all the innovative ones.

Twitter Strategy: The Incomplete Guide for Beginners

By Paul | 

One of the hottest topics in our industry right now is how professionals and corporations can use Twitter.

First and foremost, it’s important to note that Twitter is not a blatant sales and self-promotional tool. Social networking on Twitter is a long-term strategy in which you must bring value to the community by publishing and sharing relevant information.

With the proper Website analytics, you certainly can (and should) track traffic, inbound links, leads and sales from Twitter, but like most social media participation, I would not suggest setting out to achieve specific measurable objectives.

Here are the 7 steps I’d recommend for beginners getting started on Twitter:

1) Secure your personal and/or brand name.

If you haven’t already, go to Twitter.com to reserve your personal name and brand name before someone else does.

For entrepreneurs and company executives unsure whether to tweet as yourself (@FullName) or the brand (@CompanyName), although there certainly are exceptions, in most cases it is more effective to go with @FullName.

2) Build your profile to be found.

You have 160 characters to describe yourself and pique the curiosity of potential followers. Mix in your personal and professional interests to connect with a larger base of tweeters.

• Be sure to put your full real name in the account settings section.
• Create a descriptive, keyword-rich bio. Think about the keywords that you would search to find yourself. It’s fine to be cute and creative, but make sure someone reading your profile understands who you are and what you do.
• Be sure to include a link to your Website or blog.
• Do NOT lock your updates, unless you are on Twitter strictly to connect with your existing network.
• Upload a good picture of yourself with a distinguishable face.
• Change the design to anything but the default setting.

[SAMPLE TWITTER PROFILE]

3) Pick your applications.

In order to get the most out of Twitter, without getting overwhelmed, it’s important to download applications that make it easier to monitor and participate. Based on a great blog post from @chrisbrogan (who knows far more about this stuff than I do), I now use Tweetdeck for my Mac and Twittelator Pro for my iPhone.

Note that some tweeters will run into corporate roadblocks accessing twitter and downloading apps, so check with your IT department. Also, quick note to HR departments, if you don’t have a Twitter policy in place, it’s probably time to add one to your employee handbook.

4) Publish some relevant tweets.

I’d suggest posting 10 or so relevant tweets before you move on to step 5. At least for me, before I follow someone back I’ve never met, I glance at their bio to make sure we have something in common, and I scan the first page of their updates to see that they are making an effort to contribute something of value to the community. There are people who choose to auto-follow everyone, but it’s not what we advise our clients to do.

So what makes for good tweets?

• You read dozens (if not hundreds) of blog posts, articles and emails every day . . . start there. Share news alerts, industry trend posts, your own blogs posts, random relevant thoughts on your profession, predictions, etc. Just keep it non-promotional and useful.
• Re-tweet (RT) valuable information from your Friends.
• Direct message (DM) people who post especially strong tweets.

Some “Twitter Elite” can post a play-by-play of their entire day and still keep followers interested, but for most of us tweeting in moderation is recommended. I know that personally I have learned to skim by when I see the familiar face of some uber-tweeters.

It’s recommended to share personal information (i.e. interests, hobbies, travel, etc.) because it makes your participation more authentic and creates deeper connections, but we strongly advise clients not to get carried away with this kind of content.

5) Find friends and build followers.

• Start with people you already know on Twitter. Follow them, then see whom they follow and see if there’s anyone that would make for a good connection. Quick tip, when viewing friends and followers on Twitter.com, hover over someone’s name and their bio will pop up. You can click on their name and visit their Twitter page too.
• Next go to twitter.grader.com and search by keywords for people like you. Twitter Grader (@grader) pulls keywords from the bios of top tweeters, so you can scan their bios and then click over to their page to learn more or follow. Here are some sample keywords I’ve searched to find friends: CEO, entrepreneur, social media, inbound marketing, PR, public relations, golf, Cleveland and SEO.

• Another great place to find like-minded tweeters is search.twitter.com. Just enter keywords that interest you (i.e. “public relations”) and see who’s tweeting on the topic. Click on their name, check out their bio, and follow if it’s a good fit.
• Watch for @ replies from your friends and click on people that seem interesting. Follow them if you’d like.
• Add your Twitter name to your business cards, email signature and social network profiles (Facebook, LinkedIn).
• Include your Twitter name at the end of every blog post.

6) Establish a monitoring and participation system that works for you.

The more people you follow, the harder it is to keep track of everything that’s happening on Twitter. It’s amazing how much you can miss in an hour.

• Use “Groups” on Twittelator and Tweetdeck (or whatever apps you choose) to make sure you at least see the people that are most important to you and your business. Here are some sample groups to consider: your co-workers/employees, media, industry influentials, business partners, top bloggers, Twitter Elite, and local tweeters.
• Start tweeting at a frequency that fits your schedule. Twitter can be addictive, especially as you're getting started, and when you add it to your mobile phone. I usually check Twitter 6-10 times per day on average (first thing in the morning, at lunch, 1-2 times in the afternoon, end of the workday, and 1-2 times in the evening).

7) Connect, build relationships and have fun!

I’ve met some great people through Twitter, and even connected offline at face-to-face networking events. If you follow the steps in this post, you can quickly build up your follower base and make some valuable connections.

The young Syrian businessmen making it happen

Abdulsalam Haykal is a well-known face in both Damascus and Lebanon: at 31, he is a highly successful businessman with fingers in so many pies that piles of business cards line his desk.

Fluent in Arabic and English, he studied at Lebanon's American University of Beirut (AUB) and then at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and is the son of a successful businessman in the shipping and banking industries. We meet in his office at Transtek, the 60-person software company he heads. Sitting back in his leather chair opposite a flat screen television, Haykal is buoyant about the future of Syria. He has just become the first Syrian to be named as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In his other roles, he is the CEO of Haykal Media, one of the largest - and very few - private media companies in Syria. He is also a trustee on the boards of AUB and Kalamoon University, the latter a new private university, 80km north of Damascus.

Young, well-educated and confident, Haykal is typical of a group of businessmen enjoying a freedom and corresponding power and wealth in Syria that past generations could only have dreamt of. Schooled abroad, well-off and well-connected because of their families, they are grabbing the opportunities of economic liberalisation, starting large businesses and providing the services their peers want. "There is a large space for the private sector in Syria now," Haykal says. "We have amazing, unprecedented space in which to work."

Down the road, one of his contemporaries, Adnan Tarabishy, works from his office in Mezzeh Villas, a relatively new neighbourhood in Damascus. At 32, he is the founder and managing director of Y2AD, Syria's top advertising agency, which manages publicity for international brands such as Sony, Nivea and Pepsi. Returning to his homeland after studying at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut, Tarabishy found unforeseen opportunities open to him. And as a member of another family with a well-established reputation, thanks to its four-generation packaging business, he was familiar with Syria's business world and could rely on his family name. "It was the ideal time," he says. "Advertising was still fairly unknown here - there were no billboards, for example, and there was also no know-how."

Now, with a turnover of several million dirhams per year, Y2AD is Syria's leading company for representing international brands: a list that is expanding steadily as importing to the country becomes easier. "The big space is for services, which are new to older people but normal to young people," Tarabishy says. "In modern service companies, there is less competition and often less start-up capital needed."

Tarabishy and Haykal are not alone: George Chawi, the owner of Dome and O-Lounge, Damascus's hippest bar and restaurant; Karim Tabah, the vice-president of the Nasco group of companies, whose interests run from medical to agricultural supplies; and Majd Suleiman, the head of United Group, a publishing company that has the Middle Eastern concessions to titles such as the women's magazine Marie Claire.

In the few multinational companies operating in Syria, the demographic of middle management is the same as that of the entrepreneurs. From the Four Seasons Hotel to the MTN telecommunications company, those in their late 20s and early 30s are ruling the roost. "The most inspiring people are young people," Haykal points out. "They have the big aspirations and the energy; they are willing and able to take the challenge of running a new business."

The results of the entrepreneurial drive are plain to see. Damascus is no Dubai, but visitors to the country over the past few years would have noticed that it has been changing. Sprouting up are slick, glass malls containing goods and services hitherto unknown to the country's 20 million citizens. Take Damasquino Mall or Damascus Boulevard, for instance, where international brands such as Nike and Lacoste were tempted into the country for the first time; Costa Coffee and Lina's sell coffee at upwards of six times the price charged in an ordinary Syrian cafe, outstripping the price in Europe and the United States.

It's a far cry from the Damascus of even a decade ago: a visit to the city then offered little choice of food or accommodation, and the wealthy went to Beirut or Dubai to shop. These days, new boutique hotels, bars and restaurants are springing up and being featured in magazines such as Haykal Media's unapologetically elite fashion and lifestyle glossy,Happynings. With such developments, Syria is tempting the young and the wealthy to stay - and play - at home. "It's an exciting time for business here," says Haykal. "There are so many opportunities to help shape the country and have an impact."

In the regional context, Syria and its young entrepreneurs are playing in the small league compared to neighbours Jordan and Lebanon, but they are enjoying a faster ascent due to its lower starting point. Reliable figures are hard to come by, and GDP growth is distorted by oil revenues, but there are other indicators of the country's rise. Retail space in malls is one. In 2008, Syria was estimated to have had just 55,000 square metres of shop floor space in malls, according to UK consultancy group Retail International. In the following year it doubled in size and is still expanding.

This consumer trend is driven by the top sector of society, says Mohammed al-Mallah, an expert on the Syrian retail scene. "You see the malls are full of labels because that's what the demand is for," he says. "The top sector of society got wealthier and wants to be able to get these things at home." The two trends feed off one another: the young elite have more money to spend, so this encourages better services in Syria, while the demand grows, so more services are needed. But a more important change, according to the young entrepreneurs, is the wider field the government has created with its economic changes.

In the past few years, Syria has been moving away from its former centrally planned economy under which the private sector was scorned. Despite a few attempts to loosen the economy in the Eighties, reform slowed as Syria sat back and enjoyed revenues from newly discovered oil reserves. In 2000, the new president Bashar al Assad came to power. He had big plans for business, which were boosted in 2005 when the transition to a social market economy was announced.

The international isolation that Syria endured after the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, in 2005, for which the country was widely blamed, slowed progress down, but it is now regaining ground. And the generation of recent graduates is well placed to take advantage of the new scene."We have population growth and at the same time, globalisation, which means more people want more things, as well as needing schools and colleges and healthcare," says Haykal. "The government has realised it can no longer even maintain the status quo, and that's where we come in."

While there is excitement over the opportunities, there is also a healthy dose of disbelief at the freedom being given to those operating in the private sector. After all, many of the young men in the business elite are family friends who have studied together and can help each other out with networking. Tarabishy acknowledges that the benefits don't extend to a large majority of Syrians. "The opportunity is theoretically there for all, but the ones able to take it are the ones who are well placed."

And he readily admits his own business was aided by being the son of an influential businessman. "Because of my name I got credit, even though I wasn't in the family business," he says. "When I say credit, I don't just mean financial - you get priority or special treatment." But Haykal points out that there are usually only a small group of people at the top. "Realistically, anyone starting a business needs the right ingredients - the team, an idea, good timing, financial support, expertise, and the network and connections. There are people who can do this, and there are people who cannot.

"But," he says, "it is essential that we encourage small- and medium-size businesses to create inclusive economic growth." That is why he and others like him are using their power to help entrepreneurs who aren't so fortunate. The Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA) was set up by Haykal and other young businessmen to give grants and business advice. Another, Bidaya, which means "beginning" in Arabic, funds 18- to 35 year-olds from low-income backgrounds. With this support, young people have had more opportunities to start small businesses. Enas Essa, for example, is a 32-year-old founder of an audiobook business. Mouayad Hamoudeh, 22, started his own dental implements business in a relatively poor area on the outskirts of Damascus.

Some young businessmen are helping others in more personal ways. Hassan Daboul, 31, is among those who benefited from education outside Syria, getting an MBA at Beirut's LAU. Now a board member of his father's aluminium company, he is also supporting a friend's glass art business. "I give some financial support and also put in a call when she can't access the people she needs," he says. "She can't do it alone as she doesn't have the financial resources or the big PR network."

Women are another group who have yet to see the full benefits of Syria's changes filter down to them. Many young women work, but few have yet made it to the big business boardrooms. "There are still expectations and family assumptions about the role of women in society," says Dia Haykal, 22, the sister of Abdulsalam, who works alongside him at Transtek. "But for our generation of young women, the situation is improving, gradually."

Where will Syria's economy go from here? Tabah says the future is hard to predict. "I am not in a position to make forecasts," he says. "I would like to see medium-size businesses as the basis of the economy, but here, family businesses are normal. Even big businessmen are individual not institutional, and so big changes are needed." In the meantime, the country's able young men are taking advantage of the opportunities open to them in the ever-expanding private sector, and changing the face of Syria, at least superficially.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/the-young-syrian-businessmen-making-it-happen#ixzz2dUz3763y
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Ex-Skypers Aim To Bridge The Gap Between Email And Messaging With Launch Of Fleep

When you get pitched a new messaging startup from an Estonian team comprising a number of ex-Skype engineers, you kind of have to take notice. Launching officially today is Fleep, a web and iOS app that wants to bridge the gap between ‘reply all’-style group email and enterprise messaging/IM services.

Its premise isn’t new, of course: one way to help users achieve the holy grail of in-box zero is to try and get many of those conversations taking place outside of email in the first place. In that sense, Fleep’s immediate competitors include the likes of Yammer, HipChat, and Campfire. Or, to some extent, even Skype itself, and a plethora of other instant messaging services.

However, Fleep’s positioning is subtly different from many competing services in that it’s user-centric and doesn’t adhere to the walled garden mentality of an internal company messaging system. “We are solving for all collaborative end users everywhere, not just for big companies to use internally,” says Fleep co-founder and CEO Henn Ruukel, describing the app as designed to be open. Instead, it’s about “me and my conversations”, which could be with anybody, not just those in the same organisation as you. In fact, it’s the need to “work across company borders” that keeps people using email for group conversations, notes the startup, even though email was never really designed for that purpose.

At launch, the functionality and UX of Fleep is pretty paired down, though this might also be its upside. To start a new conversation, you click on the ‘create new’ button and enter the names of those who you want to see become part of the conversation. If they aren’t already using the app, however, you can enter their email address instead where they’ll be able to interface with the conversation via email in the usual old-skool way, although in this instance, their participation also gets pulled into Fleep for the benefit of those who are using the web or iOS app.

Conversations, which on the desktop version appear listed in a side panel a bit like an in-box, are threaded, can each have a title, and are fully searchable. So far, not wholly different to email, perhaps. It’s at this point that Fleep introduces a few tricks of its own, however. One of those is the ability to pin a message, in the form of an editable note, to the right hand panel of the app, making for a very lightweight way of extracting important or actionable information. In addition, any images or other attachments that are part of a conversation can be browsed separately via the files tab, so that it’s quick to find an important asset.

And that appears to be pretty much it, for now. However, I’d suggest that the team and its backers make this one to watch closely. As well as a number of ex-Skype engineers — along with Ruukel, Asko Oja, Erik Laansoo and Marko Kreen are ex-Skype — the other co-founders are Liis Peetermann (ex-Techstars) and Andres Järviste (ex-Fujitsu). Meanwhile, Fleep has raised €260,000 in seed funding from Skype’s founding engineers Jaan Tallinn and Priit Kasesalu.

Finally, on the positioning of Fleep, which is entering a very crowded space, Ruukel had this to say: “Unlike corporate products like Yammer, we’re not trying to sell the concept of Fleep to a CEO or CIO as a company-wide integration decision. We’re more interested in empowering end users around the world to work more efficiently, together, to get things done (while hopefully saving an inbox or two in the process).”

In other words, this appears to be a consumer-led marketing play, even if Fleep’s end goal is to help users get more work done.

A trip to uncover the heart of India’s entrepreneurs

If there’s one thing that is acting as the pulse behind the growing entrepreneurial spirit in India’s cities, it’s the rise of the Indian middle class. I head off on a 2-week trip to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to capture the heart of this movement.

If there’s one thing acting as the pulse behind the growing entrepreneurial spirit in India’s cities, it’s the rise of the Indian middle class. With India’s GDP growth rate of 7 to 9 percent over the past couple of years, an increasing amount of India’s 1.2 billion population are willing to buy goods online, consume mobile data and text messaging, and expect more electricity from a more reliable grid (and some of that from clean power). Just look at this stat: India is adding 20 million cell phone users every month according to The Climate Group.

India’s growing middle class will likely want many of the same things we have in the U.S. That idea has led to the launch of practically a dozen startups and big companies looking to be the Groupon for India. This population will also want to one day consume as much electricity as we do in the U.S. That energy consumption growth, along with China’s, will be a serious contributor to climate change.

But the more important aspects to understand about the growing Indian middle class and the emerging ecosystem of Indian entrepreneurs are the nuanced differences required to create successful, disruptive startups and game-changing services in India. In some ways the next-generation of Indian mobile, Internet and cleantech markets will actually leapfrog those in the U.S., because there’s less legacy infrastructure in place.

For example, India will be adding many gigawatts of solar power to its grid by 2020, just to be able to offer any kind of power (fossil fuel or clean) for the urgent electricity demands of its cities, many of which commonly face rolling blackouts. Trusted realtors we’re familiar with in the U.S. aren’t so common in India (no Coldwell Banker so to speak), so a startup like New Delhi-based Agni Property can take that opportunity to brand the home-buying process and start it online. Agni Property investor Ashu Garg, a partner with Foundation Capital, thinks real estate will move faster online in India than in the U.S. Mobile access and cellular networks in India are trumping landlines and fixed broadband infrastructure.

Some of these key differences are what has kept me thinking as I prepare to take off for a whirlwind trip to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore over the next two weeks with the Geeks On a Plane group, organized by angel investor Dave McClure’s 500Startups (see disclosure below). Geeks on a Plane brings together about two dozen people who are a mix of founders, investors and tech execs (and one reporter: me) to meet with and learn about the entrepreneurs in another country. This month it’s India, and the Geeks crew in recent months have covered South America and East Asia.

Yeah, I know I’m lucky. It’ll be my first trip to India. But I will be working hard to try to uncover those differences and figure out what makes Indian entrepreneurs tick. No doubt I’ll be influenced by one entrepreneur and journalist (and long time friend) who left India to be a founder in Silicon Valley. (Yeah, that’s Om). And along the trip we’ll be meeting with fascinating entrepreneurs and investors like Snapdeal’s CEO Kunal Bahl, the Mumbai Angels, the head of Google India, a tour of GE’s Indian research headquarters and my own meetings with a couple solar execs.

Entrepreneurship Advice from Marc Hedlund, CEO of Wesabe

This is a guest post from Marc Hedlund, co-founder and CEO of Wesabe, a web-based personal finance tool. Marc was formerly an entrepreneur-in-residence at O’Reilly Media. He also blogs about money at Wheaties for Your Wallet.

A couple weeks ago, J.D. had a conversation with some friends about starting a small business. I liked a lot of what was said, but I’ve had some different experiences, and would like to offer my perspective. Here are some things I’ve learned from my entrepreneurial endeavors.

Starting a business with friends can be fantastic
Both of the companies I’ve co-founded have been with long-time friends, and while of course there were hard parts about it, in many ways it was a huge help.  We knew each other well enough to figure out how the other would react in a lot of situations, and had a base level of trust that is always helpful.  Of course there are plenty of counterexamples, but it can work.  

What matters is that you have a partner with whom you can communicate — if that person is a friend, great.  

Write someone and ask them for help every day
It’s amazing how well this works.  Just make a habit of coming up with one person each day that might be able to help you in some way — with an introduction, an idea, a conversation, anything. If you think of someone you already know, then it’s easy to ask for help, but don’t be bashful about asking people you don’t know for help.  

When you tell people you’re working on starting your own business, many of them will get excited or interested, and be willing to offer a hand. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hear back — just try someone else the next day. When you’re starting a new business no one knows what you’re up to, so reaching out and asking for help very often can do an enormous amount to get things rolling.

People matter more than anything
When you’re looking for partners, employees, attorneys, accountants, or anyone else to be a part of your business, find someone you really get excited about working with, or just keep waiting and looking.  Don’t get caught up thinking you need someone, just anyone, to support you.  It’s far better to wait for a star.  

The early people in any company shape everything about it — its enthusiasm, public face, ethics, and quality. You can’t afford to have any of those aspects be anything less than stellar when you’re starting your own business. (If you’re not sure about a person, try using them as a contractor first, and bring them on full-time when you’ve had more time to evaluate them.)

Don’t worry about the idea
Entrepreneurs often get all worked up — or hung up — on The Idea; that is, what business exactly they’re going to pursue. Don’t worry so much about The Idea. Choose something you know a lot about and see a need for, and go for it.

The people you work with matter more than The Idea; hardworking, talented people working on the wrong idea will figure that out and adjust, while the wrong people on the right idea are likely doomed anyways.  

The only thing that really matters about The Idea is how you (and your partners) feel about it.  If you can’t stop thinking about it for weeks on end, get up out of bed to write down brainstorms about it, and don’t get tired of working on it, that’s the right idea.  If you have to convince yourself to keep going on The Idea, that’s the wrong one.

Take money from other people as an absolute last resort
Many entrepreneurs get an idea, write up a presentation about it, and hit the road looking for angel or venture capital investors.  Don’t do that.

First, investors will always prefer to invest in running, growing businesses, not ideas; and second, you will immediately give up control of your business to people you likely don’t know very well.  Supportive, patient investors definitely do exist, but they are the rare exceptions.  

Take investment only to accomplish a specific goal for your existing business that you know you can’t achieve any other way.

Know your customers
Do everything you can to put yourself in direct, frequent contact with the people who will be giving you money — your market.  When selling to consumers, make sure you’re talking to someone who would actually have a pressing need for whatever you’re selling; when selling to companies, make sure you’re talking to the person who could actually authorize a purchase of whatever you’re selling.  

Anyone in your company shaping its products or services should be in direct, frequent contact with your market, too.  Listen to your market.  Talk to them all the time.  Ask them if what you sell is working for them, and take everything they say seriously.  

Most importantly: ignore every other source of “feedback” — competitors, reviewers, two-bit commentators, whatever.  If what these other sources have to say matters, you’ll hear it from your market directly.  If you don’t, what the other sources say is irrelevant.

Have confidence in yourself
Things are going to suck for a while, pretty often.  You’ll win sometimes and lose sometimes, often on the same day.  Take care of your home life, make sure you have great support from your family and friends, and listen to your gut.  These simple, basic steps will get you through the dark times that inevitably come, and lead you to the rewards that can follow.

Treat people well
Most entrepreneurs fail several times before they have a success.  If you can fail with your integrity intact, you’ll build a network of people ready to help you when you’re ready to try again.

Top 26 Bengali Entrepreneurs

Ranking the most successful Bengali entrepreneurs is not an easy task, especially when you consider that most of the Companies they run are unlisted. However, with some market data available, its do-able. Once again, let us re-affirm the fact that the readers of the blog should not use the data on the Blog's articles for any investment decisions. We have surely missed out some names and the authors would appreciate any reader reaching out to us to apprise us of the same. 

Next up: "Top Bengali Entrepreneurs 25-50"


1) Subrata Roy, Managing Worker and Chairman at Sahara India Pariwar is arguably the richest Bengali in the world now; and if reports are to be believed, even he doesn't know the true extent of his wealth! Conservative estimates value the Group at over Rs. 130,000 crores (US$ 26 Billion) spread over its interests in real estate, media, sports, tourism, film, healthcare and hospitality. Whether it is his charitable activities, fleet of private jets or hobnobbing with Bollywood celebrities, almost everything he does is reported widely in media. Even in the times of Mayawati he is one of the most powerful people in Uttar Pradesh. Recently, he paid the most ($370 Million) for the Pune IPL Team, bought a stake into Force India Formula One Team for $100 Million and lent $150 Million to troubled industrialist Vijay Mallya, Chairman of Kingfisher. The Group's pet project is titled 'Aamby Valley", located in Lonavala, Maharashtra. 

Image: the Golf Course at night, Aamby Valley, Maharashtra

2) Purnendu Chatterjee, Chairman of The Chatterjee Group (TCG), heads a private equity fund which has invested over $3.5 Billion in India alone, over the last 10 years. With global business interests ranging from Petrochemicals, Life Sciences, Information Technology, to Real Estate and Entertainment, this man has been a trail-blazer of sorts. An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and the University of California at Berkeley; he joined McKinsey in 1976, became a partner at 34 and at one time was mentored by none other than the Billionaire Investor George Soros. He is well known in India, for being the largest private share-holder of Haldia Petrochemicals, being a part of the team that bought global Petrochemicals giant, Basell in 2005 and being one of the Founders of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Image: Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, co-founded by Purnendu Chatterjee


3) Sunil Kanti Roy, Chairman of the Peerless Group, is probably the wealthiest resident Bengali today. He heads the Rs. 13,000 crores (US$ 2.8 Billion) Group having diversified interests in Finance and Investments, Hospitals, Real Estate, Hotels, Travel and Senior Care. Roy received the 'Padma Shri" in 2009.

Image: The Group's Axis Mall in Rajarhat, Calcutta



4) Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri, Chairman of KPC Group, might be based out of Bay Area, California, but has huge investments in West Bengal and the rest of India. His businesses enjoy a combined valuation of more than Rs. 8,300 crores (US$ 1.6 Billion), and is spread across Healthcare, Pharmaceutical manufacturing, Biofuels and Alternative Energy, ITeS, Education, eal Estate and Travel. He is considered to be one of the foremost Orthopedic surgeons in the world.

Image: KPC Group logo

5) Amar Gopal Bose, Founder and Chairman of Bose Corporation is valued at more than $1.1 Billion according to the Forbes Billionaire List 2011. A brilliant Electric and Acoustic Engineer, Mr. Bose was born to an Indian freedom fighter who escaped to the US to escape prosecution by the British. The Company operates 5 plants, 200 retail stores and an automotive subsidiary in Stow, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1950s and as a token of gratitude donated a majority of the Company in the form of non-voting shares to his Alma Mater to sustain and advance MIT’s education and research mission. His son, Vanu Bose, runs Vanu, Inc. Chances are if you are reading this while listening to music on your headphones aboard British Airways, hearing the evening prayers at Mecca, or enjoying Zubin Mehta's performance at the Colosseum in Rome, you have got to thank Mr. Bose for it!

Image: Bose Corporation HQ in Framingham, Massachusetts 


6) Prasoon Mukherjee, Chairman of Universal Success Enterprises Limited, is based out of Singapore, but has made huge investments into India over the past decade or so. With interests spanning across Ports, Power, Tourism, Hospitality, Townships and Industrial Parks, Chief Ministers of states, from Guajarat to West Bengal have rolled out the red carpet for him. His Group is valued at more than Rs. 5,000 crores (US$ 1 Billion), and his pet project is the Kolkata West International City, a 377-acre township being developed in Howrah, India. Recently he has setup a motorcycle manufacturing plant with TVS in Eastern India. 

Image: The Main Gate at the KWIC, Howrah, India


7) Bicky Chakraborty, Founder and Chairman of Elite Hotels, Sweden, enjoys two sobriquets, "the Richest Indian in Sweden" and "Sweden's Biggest Hotelier". Not surprisingly, his 22 super-luxury Hotels, across the country welcomes the best of Swedish and International society. He also owns more than 40 English Pubs in Sweden and the Westbank Hospital in Howrah, India. He is building another 275-bed Hospital in Calcutta, increasing his Healthcare portfolio. His personal networth is estimated at more than Rs. 3,000 crores (US$ 600 Million).

Image: Elite Hotel Stockholm Plaza, Stockholm, Sweden


8) Aveek Sarkar, Chairman of ABP Group, owns two newspapers, nine magazines including Fortune India, four TV channels (ABP News, ABP Majha, ABP Ananda and Sananda TV), two publishing houses including Penguin India and a Mobile and an Internet company. With a personal net worth of more than Rs. 2,500 crores (US$ 500 Million), his private art collection is sometimes the discussion of Calcutta's coffee-house addas. Both his son, Aritra Sarkar and daughter, Chiki Sarkar have fledgling careers in ABP Group and Penguin India respectively.

Image: Aveek Sarkar presenting the Anandalok Award to Aishwariya Rai in 2011


9) Bijon Nag, Chairman of IFB Industries, has diversified interests running across Home Appliances, Engineering, Automotive and Agro. Two of his divisions are listed on the BSE while two are not and his businesses enjoy a combined valuation of Rs. 2,000 crores (US$400 Million). 

Image: IFB HQ, Calcutta


10) Kaustav Ray, Chairman of RP Group, has businesses spanning IT, Media, Agro Foods, Ceramics and Sports. With a cumulative value of Rs. 2,000 crores (US$400 Million), the Group's flagship Company "RP Infosystems" produces the "Chirag" brand of computers, the third largest computer brand in India according to DataQuest. In addition, he sponsors two soccer Clubs, located in West Bengal and Kerala respectively.

Image: A hoarding for Chirag Computers in Calcutta


11) Satya Prasad Roy Burman, Chairman of the Khadims Group, is a heavy-weight in the Indian leather industry. Apart from their own leather manufacturing facilities located in Eastern India, the Company has almost 700 retail stores (including 256 in West Bengal alone) across the length and breadth of the country. Recently, the Company has forayed into Jewellery, Departmental Stores and Restaurants and these businesses are cumulatively valued at over Rs. 2,000 crores (US$400 Million).

Image: A print ad for Khadims shoes


12) Gautam Kundu, Chairman of Rose Valley Group, has diversified interests into Real Estate, Insurance, Hospitality, Apparel, ITeS and Media and Entertainment. The Group valued at more than Rs. 2,000 crores (US$400 Million) owns and operates the ultra-luxury the Chrome (Calcutta), the Orbit (Siliguri) and the Marigold (Goa). Overall, the Group owns 22 Hotels, 5 resorts, 2 Amusement Parks, 2 publications and 4 TV Channels, including the current hot favourite, "Rupashi Bangla". 

Image: Chrome Hotel, Calcutta


13) Sudeep Dutta, Chairman of Ess Dee Aluminium, enjoys a listing on the BSE and is valued at more than Rs. 1,800 crores (US$ 350 Million) and is one of the biggest players in the Aluminium Packaging Business. He acquired India Foils in 2008 and got the International VC Sequoia Capital to pick up a 7% stake in the company. He started in 1991 with only 12 employees.

Image: Sudeep Dutta


14) Sagnik Roy, Partner at Txyco Ltd and Yongtong Group, is often called as "China's son-in-law" for being the most powerful foreign businessman in China. Born in Durgapur, India, he heads TXYCO Ltd., a Rs. 1,500 crores (US$ 300 Million) conglomerate. 

Image: Iron Ore supply for one of Txyco's plants in China


15) Asim Ghosh, CEO of Husky Energy, is probably the first non-Promoter CEO on this list. Before taking over as the CEO of Husky Energy in Canada, Mr. Ghosh was the MD and CEO of Hutchison Essar Ltd., from 1998-2009.  During his tenure, the Company grew from a one-city operation to become the country’s second-largest mobile phone provider, with more than 63 million subscribers.In 2007, he presided over the sale of Hutchison Whampoa’s stake in the company to Vodafone in a deal that valued the business at approximately $19 billion. At the time, the sale was the biggest corporate takeover in India's history and, according to a Thomson Reuters analysis, the largest all-cash transaction in Asia up to 2007, with Vodafone agreeing to pay $11.1 billion in cash for Hutchison Whampoa’s stake. His net worth is estimated at Rs. 1,500 crores (US$ 300 Million).

Image: Asim Ghosh addressing Husky Energy shareholders

16) Pritish Nandy, Chairman of Pritish Nandy Communications, was founded by him in September 1993. The Group, collectively valued at more than Rs. 1,500 crores ($300 Million) was one of the first in the Media and Entertainment industry in India to go in for a public listing on the BSE and NSE. Currently, they are into Films, Television Content, Commercials, Events, Wellness and Theme Places. 

Image: "Kaante", produced under the PNC Banner


17) Santanu Ghosh, Chairman of Xenitis Group, has interests in IT Hardware manufacturing, Training, Telecommunications, Motorcycles, Media and a recently launched brand of cycles. The Group is valued at more than Rs. 1,250 crores ($250 Million) and went to the market with an IPO in 2007. Ghosh was nominated for the “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award by Ernst & Young in 2006. 

Image: Indian FM Pranab Mukherjee with Global Automobiles' bike


18) Shanta Ghosh, Chairman of DCPLGroup, valued at more than Rs. 1,250 crores (US$ 250 Million). Founded by Sadhan Dutt, the Group has diversified interests into Engineering and Architecture Consultancy, Civil Construction, Real Estate, Chemicals Manufacturing and IT-BPO services. 

Image: DCPL House, Salt Lake, Calcutta


19) Dr. Prannoy Roy, Managing Director of NDTV, was born to an Indian father and Irish/ English mother in Calcutta in 1949. After completing his PhD from the Delhi School of Economics, he founded NDTV in 1988 and quickly cemented its position as the numero uno television news channel in India. Currently he runs five channels in India, and two abroad. NDTV has nurtured the finest Indian TV journalists such as Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chanda, Pankaj Pachauri and Vishnu Som. NDTV is also credited with running social campaigns such as "Greenathon", "Save Our Tiger", etc. His Company is valued at more than Rs. 1,000 crores (US$ 200 Million).

Image: Dr. Roy at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Davos, Switzerland


20) Sumit Mazumder, Chairman of Tractors India Limited, has taken the mantle over from his father, A. Mazumder, who has run the business for over six decades. TIL competes with the big guys in India, such as L&T, by building heavy machinery for construction and excavation at their plant located in Calcutta, the only of its kind in India. They are also the sole dealer for the products of American giant, Caterpillar in Eastern India and Bhutan. His businesses are valued at more than Rs. 1,000 crores (US$ 200 Million).

Image: TIL Pavilion at the Excon India Trade Show, 2009


21) Arindam Chaudhuri, Chairman of IIPM, runs a Rs. 1,000 crores (US$ 200 Million) business with his father, Prof. Malay Chaudhuri. With 18 B-Schools across India, four Magazines and a Film Production Company, IIPM is considered to be a heavy-weight in the education sector in India.

Image: Arindam Chaudhuri with his Bentley


22) Tapas Chakraborti, Chairman of DQ Entertainment, is listed on the BSE, and enjoys a market-cap of around Rs. 1,000 crores (US$ 200 Million). The Company is into Film Production, Animation, Gaming and Licensing and Distribution. With an employee base of close to 4,000, the Company is spread across Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Manila, Ireland, Paris, Los Angeles and Japan.

Image: Tapas Chakraborti on a CNBC interview 


23) Gautam & Satyam Roy Choudhury, Chairman of Techno India Group, heads the Education conglomerate valued at more than Rs. 1,000 crores (US$ 200 Million). The group runs more than 31 colleges across Eastern, Northern and Western India and counts more than 1 lakh student as its alumni. 

Image: Techno India Campus, Calcutta


24) Anjan Chatterjee, Chairman of Speciality Restaurants and Situations Advertising. The latter, which is not even a non-core business for him clocked revenues of Rs. 100 crores in 2010. The former, which has given him the title of "Restaurant King" in India has seen him setting-up close to 100 restaurants across the country, under seven different brands: Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, Sigree, Haka, Flame & Grill, Shack and Machaan. His businesses are cumulatively valued at Rs. 1,000 crores (US$ 200 Million).

Image: Inside a Mainland China restaurant 


25) AK Chandra, Group Director of PC Chandra Group, manages one of the biggest conglomerates in Eastern India. They have interests in Jewellery, Chemicals, Plastics, Rubber, Hospitality, ITeS and Real Estate and are valued at more than Rs. 1,000 crores (US$ 200 Million). With almost 30 jewellery retail stores spread across eastern, Northern and Southern India, the division is counted as one of the biggest Jewellery brands in the country.

Image: The Senator Hotel, Calcutta


26) Shankar Sen, Chairman of Senco Gold, owns and operates 30 jewellery showrooms across Eastern and Western India and also exports jewellery to New York, Chicago, Singapore, Washington, Birmingham, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and London. Senco Impex is also into wholesale trading in the domestic markets. The Company enjoys a valuation of Rs. 800 crores (US$ 160 Million). 

Image: Bengali movie actors wearing Senco Jewellery products