Introduction:

The pre-launch website of our company‘s upcoming product just went live. We call this product “TrackEveryCoin” and it will be released in July 2009. It’s almost been a year since we all jumped into this venture and it’s exciting to see our efforts shaping up into something tangible.

What is the product?

TrackEveryCoin is a complete personal finance system to help you easily manage your money. It combines the ease of recording expenditure with detailed analysis of data on the website.

Why this product?

With this product we aim to solve the pain point of expense tracking and analysis. Today, most people who want to keep a watch on how much they are spending do it through rudimentary methods like notebooks or spreadsheets. And, even after maintaining this expense record for a period of time, actionable analysis of data is difficult, at least it is not very easy to derive patterns from past spending to help spending in the future.

How does it help you?

Our tool enables you to use an electronic gadget or a mobile app to enter your expenses while you make them so there’s less chance of losing data.  Once the data is captured, the same can be synched to the website. The website enables complex analysis like expense records and trends, categories of spending, etc. In addition to expense analysis the website also has features to help you settle shared expenses on trips/events, budgeting, goal setting, reminders, income tracking and more…

Who is it for?

Anyone who wants a healthier financial life! Our product is for the common person and assumes no technology expertise. We have aimed to make the system very user friendly and thus anyone should be able to use the gadget, mobile application and the website with ease.

So, if you like what you see please spread the word and pre-book for special offers when we launch.

Here are some of the things that I think have helped Delhi reinvent itself:

Delhi Metro:

Delhi Metro (Delhi’s new public transport system) is one of the best examples of hi-technology making a difference in people’s lives. It is clear that people have embraced this technology-driven change and are increasingly getting addicted to it. I used the Metro for most of my commute in my two days’ stay in Delhi and loved it!

Here are the highlights that stand out:

• Trains are very much on time, operating at a frequency of 3 to 4.5 minutes from 6:00 to 23:00.
• In a country where public property is always at risk of neglect and vandalism Delhi Metro is very clean and is being very well maintained. People have been using it since 2005 and 3 years cannot be a fluke!
• Technology behind ticketing and efficiency of the staff is exemplary.
• Security is world class with security checks at every entry point. This is supplemented by more than 1200 closed circuit cameras.
• As per a billboard at a metro station about 700,000 people use the metro every day.
• The metro covers about 65 kms of Delhi but by 2010 another 128 kms would have been added and by 2010 the Metro will cover about 414 kms which means almost all of Delhi and suburbs will be connected.

The qualitative comments about the Metro are mine but most of the statistics are from Wikipedia.

Roads:

Most Delhi roads, especially the main ones, are in very good condition and the flurry of flyovers constructed over the last few years has changed the landscape of Delhi from an aging overcrowded city to a well organized modern city. Well, yes there are problems in Delhi and the increase in traffic may sometimes feel like overpowering any improvements in transport but from my personal experience Delhi looks and smells much better than let’s say 5 years back.

Lower-Emission Public Transport:

Delhi operates the largest network of CNG(Compressed Natural Gas) powered buses. Even the auto-rickshaws and taxis are CNG based and it has helped reduced air pollution in Delhi. Though Delhi remains high on the most polluted cities’ list and a more holistic approach is needed to solve Delhi’s problems but this certainly feels like a step in the right direction.

Relocation of Small Scale industries:

This is a sensitive subject because closure of small and household industries from residential areas to the outskirts of Delhi might have led to loss of employment for some people. I don’t know the full impact on livelihood of people because of this action but the relocation to more spacious locations has the potential of creating hundreds of thousands of more opportunities. For the city, the relocation was done to decrease congestion, prevent power theft and decrease air pollution. The idea looked good on paper when the Supreme Court passed a judgment on relocation in 1996. I couldn’t find enough research available to evaluate the pros and cons of this step but again it feels like the right thing to do.

I just hope Bangalore (where I am located) takes a cue from Delhi and initiates some of the changes which make Delhi more livable; hopefully these changes will start before it is too late here…

DISCLAIMER: I have written this piece mostly on my instinct and don’t mean to judge the city one way or the other and people in Delhi might completely disagree with me. So, feel free to comment here or write to me to take this discussion forward.

Today is my first day back in India.

I have quit my job at Continental USA and have decided to work on a new venture from India.

I have plenty of reasons for the move, some better thought out ones are:
• Do the work I want to and believe in
• Work for myself and be directly responsible for the risks and the rewards of the business
• Live my life on my own terms as opposed to it being directed by company policies, holiday lists etc
• Proximity to family
• India is where the opportunities for startups are better at a lower cost (as compared to the west)

I evaluated my reasons against the financial risks associated with a new venture but I am convinced that the opportunity was far more exciting and potentially rewarding than the risk of getting used to my unexciting- yet-fairly-safe job. The reason to work at a startup is a natural one once you’ve realized how unremarkably average your life is and I could not bear this burden anymore.

So ionlab is my full time love now! I am cautiously excited about our prospects but I can not think of a better word than liberated to describe my state of mind today. Liberated of
• the overtly complicated ways of the corporate world
• the burden of closing the work you didn’t chose but was thrust upon you
• the rules I don’t understand the logic behind(but still had to adhere to!)
• dess codes
• politically correct talk
• mass email
• heck even the swiping of a badge to enter the building

It was hard for me to move out of a place I had lived at for the last couple of years and made some of the most amazing friends I could have ever hoped for. The farewells were touching and I would always miss the fun times in Detroit.

“Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on.” –  The Sunscreen Song

So, I hope I can remain in touch with my Detroiters while I move on the road that starts from this new beginning…

Raghu Dixit Project is my favorite band of late. Raghu’s voice has an infectious energy to it and the content has a rustic quality. The music is based on Indian folk and has rock, blues and Middle Eastern influences. The lyrics are strong, ranging from folksy-light-hearted musings in “Mysore se aayi” to very profound elements of Saint Shishunala Sharif in “Gudugudiya” and “Soruthihudu maniya maligi”. He has the often-attempted-but-rarely-perfected ability to interweave Western and Indian music in fine harmony!

Here’s an interpretation from my friend Preethi, who did a remarkable job in translating the song for me despite the handicaps of the lyrics being in classic Kannada and authored by a legend of the language, Saint Shishunala Sharif. Thanks Preethi, I owe you one.

“Intelligence/Knowledge is a very powerful protective force…it is like the roof of a house. It protects you from all the dark forces like the wind and the storm. If you are ignorant then the roof of your house would leak.

An ignorant soul cannot fight or escape darkness. Our knowledge always illuminates our inner self and the lack of it darkens your soul…

An ignorant mind is like a brain with a dirty worm in it which hinders your progress (climbing up through the torn roof)…

The mention of dry twigs, cotton, dirt, water and mud which flow through your leaking roof and get mixed up proportionately with what is inside the roof maybe a reference to the ignorant self consisting of all the bad or unwanted elements.. (again I’m really really not sure here )

So, basically ignorance is bad force which destroys the protective shield of your soul and allows the bad elements to control your soul…”

Raghu Dixit’s CDs are available in the US from here and his MP3’s are downloadable from here.

Update: Removed the translation from here as it is available on the CD cover.