AI Didn’t Invent Circular Deals

I concluded my blog post entitled ROI For Customer ≠ ROI For Investor with a promise to write a follow-on post on startup investments that are not made in cash. This is that follow on post. Noncash investments have been practice du jour in many industries for decades. During the dotcom era, it was customary for startups to pay for marketing, … Read more

“Will AI Kill SaaS?” Is The Wrong Question

Last week saw a severe meltdown of software company stocks on Wall Street. Salesforce: −47% Figma: −83% Hubspot: −71% ServiceNow: −53% Workday: −45% Click here for a more complete list. According to Wall Street Journal, the $300 billion drawdown in software stocks was caused by the threat posed by new AI vibe coding tools to … Read more

Paging RBI EMandate – Is There Anybody Out There?

I bought a paid plan of a SAAS software, with the fixed monthly subscription fees payable with credit card. This is a canonical example of a recurring payment subject to RBI Emandate that came into effect on 1 October 2021. According to Reg Emandate: Every credit card and debit card based mandate for recurring payment … Read more

Arattai V. WhatsApp: Network Effects Don’t Grow On Trees

The mainstream media has already started writing the obituary of Zoho’s Arattai messaging app. Take, for example, Economic Times. In its oped entitled Why Arattai Isn’t A WhatsApp by Akshat Khandelwal, ET writes:  Arattai will join the long list of ‘dead’ Indian apps such as Koo, Hike and Chingari that tried to punch above their … Read more

How China Primed Its R&D Pump With IP Theft

When some rando shills China’s R&D playbook for India on social media, it’s funny. But if a leading columnist does the same in the world’s second largest business daily (see footnote 1), it’s no laughing matter. When that happens, it must be rebutted. Consider it done. —– In his op-ed entitled Commercial, Not Tech-Savvy in … Read more

Five Reasons Why UPI Has Not Disrupted Credit Card

(This post is a slightly edited version of my answer to the above Quora question.) Question: Has UPI Disrupted Credit Card? Short Answer: No. UPI has boosted credit card. Long Answer: According to the theory of Disruptive Innovation by Late Professor Clayton M. Christensen of Harvard Business School, many giant incumbents face The Innovator’s Dilemma and … Read more

Unpacking The Credit Card Boom In India

I got my first credit card in 1988. I’ve been using credit card as my go-to method of payment since then. I also headed up the retail payments line of business at an old company. Safe to say that I’ve been tracking the credit card industry for close to four decades. I’m fascinated by the … Read more

Inventing A Strategic Enemy To Create Revolutionary Brands

In his oped entitled Abey, Get a Strategic Enemy! in the Economic Times dated 2 October 2025, M Muneer proposes what I call the Strategic Enemy playbook to create revolutionary brands. Strategic Enemy Playbook Brands seeking improvement often disappear. Brand growth needs differentiation by enemy. The human mind recognizes opposition, not superiority. American brands Liquid … Read more

Why Foreign Exporters And American Importers Are Paying Trump Tariffs

“When President Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April, economists predicted surging inflation and raised the odds of a recession. Those worries now seem overblown.” ~ How the U.S. Economy Has Defied Doomsday Predictions on Tariffs, Wall Street Journal. I’d predicted this in my previous blog posts on Trump Tariffs (see RELATED READING at the end). … Read more