Jeffrey Bezos: He goofed!

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff Bezos wrote to me. You know Bezos, Jeffrey P. of Amazon.com, the dotcom retailer that's still going strong. Strong enough to still keep Bezos on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires-although he's been slipping of late and is currently ranked 293. Let me not digress, though. Bezos (his e-mail ID is jeffb@amazon.com) sent me an e-mail offering a $30 bonus. Signed 'Jeff Bezos, CEO & Founder, Amazon.com', the e-mail described how Amazon had been working on a new effort, which they internally called "Ruby", and which was now ready for its public unveiling. And before it was released, he and his team wanted to give their ''best customers a chance to try it first (warts and all)''. Ruby is Amazon's new apparel and accessories store, packed with over 400 major brands (think Gap, Old Navy, Land's End, Eddie Bauer, Arrow and many more). The site-a special URL was hyperlinked to the mail-he said was fully functional and urged me to try it. And as an incentive, he offered me a $30 promotional certificate if I made a purchase of $50 or more!

Now, the reason why Bezos sent me the e-mail is perhaps because, sitting here in Delhi, I'm an occasional (''frequent'' is how my partner at home describes it disdainfully, but that's another matter) buyer on Amazon, picking up CDs, DVDs, or books that I can't otherwise get at brick-and-mortar stores in India. I pay for them in foreign exchange, legally, through the international credit cards that the Indian central bank permits me to use and have always been delighted by the service that Bezos' company offers. Not only does an India-based it-enabled services company handle my rare complaints, there have been occasions when I have been elated by gestures that are very nearly alien in the Indian marketplace. Once, they gifted me four CDs because the original order was delayed. What happened was that the original package, shipped via the standard international mode, didn't reach me within the time stipulated. So I shot off an e-mail to Amazon and they graciously sent me a replacement package by a faster mode-at their own cost. A couple of days after I'd got the second package, the first arrived. I wrote back telling them what had happened only to get a message that said, instead of incurring further costs of getting the package back, they'd be happy if I donated or gifted the CDs to anyone of my choice.

That kind of stuff can make a sucker out of the toughest customer. And I was sold on Amazon. So when Bezos' mail came, I checked out the privileged URL and dove into the apparel and accessories store, exploring khakis, some interesting looking sand-blasted jeans, a few swish dress shirts,etc. Only to realise that I couldn't buy them. Because none of the brands ships to Asia.

Basically what had happened was Bezos had goofed. Amazon has all my details (and of each and everyone else who buys from them); our ordering and payment information is on file as are our addresses and track records of ordering, browsing, preferences, etc. Yet Amazon is incredibly spam-free. You're never bothered by it if you don't want to be. But if you do want, they'll tell you when the new Deep Banana Blackout CD is going to be available or whether there's a deal on Dennis McNally's Long Strange Trip. Or send you lists or recommendations that by and large fit your tastes and preferences. For instance, never has Amazon tried to sell me Sir Elton's stuff or, for that matter, that other untalented mystery, Eminem's.

But this was the first time Amazon really put me off and, I'm sure, a host of others. Amazon's attempt to custom market Ruby has dented its image, at least for me. Instead of customising, it has ended up spamming. How is it different then from the customary cold calls I get on my mobile while driving to work where a strange-accented girl says: ''Hello Mister Sanjoy, I am calling from Citibank and we have a pre-approved loan of Rs 75,000 for you, sir?''

-Sanjoy Narayan

Q&A
"There Is A Secular Decline In The Start-up VC World"

Oak's Fred Harmon: It's like a school picnic, really

Fred Harmon heads one of the oldest venture capital firms still around, Oak Investment Partners. The firm has raised $4.2 billion in capital and funded over 350 companies including Exodus, Inktomi, RioPort and, in India, Talisma. Harmon spoke to Business Today on a recent visit to India. Excerpts:

On opportunities in the VC world today: There aren't too many opportunities to fund start-ups. But there are several in private equity and late-stage funding. The start-up VC world is in secular decline.

On Oak's Focus: We are the largest VC fund in the US. We do have investments in the retail sector and in biotech. But 80 per cent of our investments are in it. That's our focus.

On the opportunities in India: The focus on the IT space was what brought us to India. India is important from the global perspective not just as a software development centre, but from a support services point of view.

On technologies he thinks are the way of the future: I see lots of opportunity in storage systems and peer software.

On Talisma: Our experience with Talisma has been very good. It has managed to leverage the India-based business model very well.

On other possible investments: I am meeting with 4/5 other companies during this trip, but that is more to help me from an educational point of view than from the investment perspective.

REPORTER'S DIARY
The K Factor
Six months into its e-inclusion project at Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh, HP is on its way to building what it calls an i-community.

Kuppam's New Hope: Top, Anand Tawker explains HPs initiatives in partnership with the community development centre, Shari H. Moore captures the day's happenings in film while curious children look on.

Udipi Ram Vilas is the best hotel in Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's constituency. Eight years ago, the town with a population of 2,75,000 was as backward as can be, but being the cm's borough is beginning to pay off now: literacy is a healthy 60 per cent, granite exports from the town are booming, and the proximity to the Chennai and Bangalore markets is seeing the town's predominantly agricultural economy go.

Ram Vilas isn't impressive to look at-eight small tables, food served on dried lotus leaves, and a kitchen that is invariably dark, courtesy the five hours a day Kuppam experiences a brown-out-but it is a sign of Kuppam's progress. This Wednesday, it is playing host to the hp e-inclusion team, Shari H. Moore, Strategic & Operations Director, e-inclusion and Emerging Market Solutions, Cecilia Pang, Director (Communications & Branding), Asia-Pacific, and Anand Tawker, the Director of hp India's i-community project. Tawker has no problems negotiating the food with his fingers; Pang and Moore do; and the waiter has to try his damnedest not to stare at Pang's bejeweled fingers.

Kuppam's tryst with progress made it the ideal spot for hp's first e-inclusion pilot in India. ''We came here because we realised the citizens were finding it difficult to adjust to the sudden intrusion of progress,'' explains Tawker. ''We thought we could give them a helping hand.'' Ask the man about the how of it and he harks back to that i-community thing. Put simply, an i-community is one that is aware of what information technology can do for it. And hp's role in it all is to understand the needs of the local community, help change mindsets that view information technology through filters of ignorance, if not hostility, and catalyse the development of products and services that accelerate the process.

Six months into its project-the company will exit it in three years-hp's e-inclusion team, a heterogeneous mixture of sociologists, researchers, and marketmen claims to have understood Kuppam's needs and is in the process of developing solutions that will usher in an i-community that much faster. One solution, a product, is an inverter or power storage type of device, only much smaller. Another is an instant digital camera that can be carried by rural outreach workers. The third is a hand-held device for field nurses to record details of births, deaths, and illnesses. And the fourth is a portal that can serve farmers.

HP's partners range from WorldCorps an NGO whose local operations are headed by Deepa Pravin, a young social worker-it has helped set up five community information centers, or cyber dhabas in and around Kuppam-to iim Bangalore and the University of Oslo, which have written a comprehensive data-warehousing code for public health centers. And for its portal, the company plans to rope in fmcg major Hindustan Lever Ltd and the Tata Group as partners. ''We are still in learning mode,'' admits Tawker. ''Once we understand how to e-enable the community, the model could possibly be replicated in other parts of the country, even other under-developed countries.'' And Pang is quick to add that the company does not have ''any expectations of short-term gains''. India has several i-community efforts to its credit, most notably, Gyandhoot in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district and academic-cum-social-entrepreneur Ashok Jhunjhunwala's efforts in Nellikuppam and Madurai in Tamil Nadu. One more wouldn't hurt.

-Nitya Varadarajan