| Good Morning Jigar, We don't have a story today because it's Dusshera, but I thought I'd share something with you.
There's a famous internet phrase that goes 'Don't read the comments'. It's pretty universal. There's a book with the title, a twitter account and even an xkcd comic about it.
However, at The Ken, our comment sections are different. Because they are available exclusively to subscribers, they are a destination of high-quality conversations.
Today, I thought I'd give you a peek into our comment sections, the kind of discussions that happen and what makes them special. These are actual comments, but for privacy reasons, we've changed the names of the authors. | Stay ahead of everyone else | | Our comment sections help set the story in context, and some of our sharpest subscribers connect the dots in ways only they can. Way before everybody else. | | Ankur Dixit Product Manager at a leading technology firm | Here’s where Zomato Gold doesn’t add up to me If the partner restaurants are indeed among the Top 50 in each city, why would they want to explore gimmicky 1+1 offers to improve footfalls? Especially when there is no rider on the number of deals they need to honour or a “Happy Hour” to operate in. I actually started feeling guilty about using my Zomato Gold membership yesterday – There is no way this is directed at “premium customers”. It’s for the bargain hunters, who will eat into restaurant bottomlines and pad Zomato’s coffers. I’d be surprised if Zomato Gold survives the Christmas / New Year period. | Get answers to specific questions | | Read the story and want a clarification, or a perspective about something that got cut in the edit? No problem. Just ask. Our writers respond. | | Gauri Oberoi Student - IIM Ahmedabad | | Amazing story and loved the story built up. To me, half the way, it felt a lot like Rocket Internet of Pharma Industry, would really appreciate if that parallel could be drawn in detail, if seems fit. | | Seema Singh Cofounder - The Ken | | Thanks, Naveen. Now that you mention Rocket Internet, I'm tempted to think in that direction but Strides group isn't really that giant incubator which takes cutting edge successful ideas and clones them. One, cutting edge in pharma is very, very long gestation, the extreme opposite of internet cos. Strides doesn't do innovative/brand new products at all, it does generics products. Two, he mostly does it all by himself, rarely getting PE or VC money. Three, he identifies supply gaps in regions and then moves very very quickly to fill that. Easy to do in generics business if you have good quality chemistry and manufacturing. Financing is not an issue in manufacturing in any case. Strides got some $100M in a loan from KKR in 2017. | Go beyond the story itself | | The best part of having subscribers who are serious, career-minded and knowledgable, is that they tell us what we missed. Plus several of them are CXOs. They usually know what they are talking about. | | Sriram Ranganathan CEO at a Software Consulting Firm | The rural poor don't need ways to keep money they don't have. Rather, they need money to enable them to do stuff they're capable of – even if something as mundane as vending vegetables at the street corner to be self sufficient. The thesis for Payment Banks' existence is flawed. IMHO financial inclusion begins with access to credit, not deposits. And business built on flawed theses will chase vanity metrics and find shortcuts to keep avoiding this harsh reality. | | That's just three. Over the last three years, there are 5000+ comments like these, over 700+ stories. Which is what makes it the most insightful discussion forum about companies, sectors and shifts in India that you have probably never heard of. If you'd like to read them and haven't subscribed yet, here's how you can start reading them today | | If you have subscribed, just request for access and start commenting right away. Oh, and I wish you a happy Dussehra, and happy Diwali in advance. Regards,
Praveen Gopal Krishnan
praveen@the-ken.com | | Sent by The Ken Don't like these? You can unsubscribe anytime | | | | |
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