Koulick's Profile

Thanks Divya for your comment!

The great part about Rivigo is that – it’s the first mover in the entire world applying such deep analytics to express logistics. Currently, it has no competitors (in India, at least) and has gone on to capture deals with some of the biggest clients in India.

The traditional logistics companies can surely enter into this space – but given their size of assets, business model and public market stock performance, I’m guessing it will be really tough for them to pivot.

This post is fascinating – although we all wish there wasn’t really a need for such a system!

One thing that strikes out to me is the essential value of the data. The importance of sensitive information is dependent on the fact of who owns the information and how it may it be used. Although the transfer of information is key to solving such a close-knit world’s problems, I worry if Palantir will get drunk on its own Kool-Aid, and thus the very problem it is trying to solve, might not remain relevant anymore.

Great post! I’m a big fan of Amazon’s technologies, but am concerned about the following points when it comes to consumer facing technological advancements:
1) As Sam had rightly mentioned, the AWS suite is Amazon’s top business categories functioning as a B2B business. However, I’m really concerned that when the new additions to Amazon’s product range start coming out for mass use, how would they maintain their bottom-line, given Amazon’s immense focus on customer satisfaction.
2) Second, I wonder when (and how many) of these technologies find real applications. The reason for my concern stems that having such a wide array of products makes sense for a company like Google, however, am not fully able to appreciate how flexible will Amazon’s business model be in absorbing such technologies.
Would love to hear your thoughts on them!

Natalie, thanks for taking a really comprehensive take on Foursquare!

I really liked Foursquare, but now I totally agree with you on the fact that Foursquare can’t just prove its valuation with only an API, even if big clients are using the data. I’m concerned about the “fad”-like tendency of the product and the company. Such a business often becomes immensely dependent on shifts in what customers perceive as “cool”.

Also, Foursquare would need to refine its vision, in order to communicate clearly the product propositions to users, clients and investors. This is, indeed, a very difficult position to be in, but I have immense respect for Dennis Crowley, and am sure he’ll find out ways to take the company further!

J2G18, thanks a lot for shedding light on this immense application of drones. I find drones fascinating, and can’t think of enough uses for the technology.
However, due to its vast applicability, I have a key concern – security. A drone is capable of surveying buildings, fields, residential areas, and even strategic locations. I’m scared that there can be very dire consequences of expanding this technology – if its misused by the anti-social elements.
Along with the FAA progressing with the commercialization of drone use, I’m really interested to learn how future threats can be tackled and mitigated before (god-forbid) they are misused.

Stefan, this is fascinating, and, based on our offline conversations, I know this is something which is one of the next big things in the coming years!
I had a few points and would love to hear your thoughts on the same:
1) How do you feel about the improvement in accessibility of “SpaceTech” to young entrepreneurs. My thought behind the point is that, as compared to IT related products/technologies (which are immensely accessible to the greater community), space technologies are very niche and hence presents a barrier to entry for even well-educated individuals. Do you see something like, “Make your own satellite” happen in the near future?
2) I would also like to understand more mass scale uses of satellite technologies – outside communication and imaging. Would love to hear your thoughts on the same.

Thanks Alec, this is very insightful! I guess wine bottles may soon start having names of old Lords and Baronesses, as an indicator of quality!

However, I want to understand that how does the flip side work out for France? Given, that an average French consumes ~45-50 litres of wine in a year amount to almost $1000/year (at $20/bottle). This is almost 3% of per capita GDP (France is approximately at $35000 per capita).

If there’s a big shift in the industry, France’s economy might shifting from exporting wines to importing them, leading to huge market gap in the country. Maybe, we should too open a vineyard!

Hide, this is a great article! I never knew how mining companies are beginning to strategically invest in the technologies of the future, but outside the domain of mining itself. I feel this is a very unique move to preserve Amplats own business.

I would love to learn how such moves have played out in the past. In my limited knowledge, the last strategically successive move which pivoted a mining companies was probably De Beers’ “A Diamond is Forever” marketing campaign. I hope it really plays out well and moves the mining industry one step towards being, albeit indirectly, environmentally successful.

Miras, this is very engaging. Coming from the mining industry of a mining-intensive country, I can relate with the the key pain points of the Mongolian government.

In terms of mining, I understand that every step in the mining value chain is contributing to climate change – right from exploration to transportation of extracted minerals. At the same time, there are some sustainable initiatives taken by major mining players like Tata – at their coking coal plants, the leftovers are used at small power plants used to power the units. This may not be the method of the future, but it atleast helps minimize the damage.

I would love to see if any other ideas are being acted upon by the Mongolian government.

JJCW – this is a fascinating article with really cool insights into the energy produced/wasted due to livestock cultivation.
By reading the article, I felt that a lot of the measures taken by Fonterra (and the like) are more reactive in nature. I’d love to understand that what are the proactive measures being undertaken by firms to: a) standardize processes in management of biological live resources, b) biotechnological advancements to improve cow-yield, and c) are other major players doing anything similar?

Pallavi, this is a great take on Tesla and on Musk’s vision! Being a fan-boy of Musk, I would love to see them succeed, but have a few concerns. Firstly, the grand vision would succeed only if every step in the process chain is generating energy sustainably. For instance, the cost to produce a solar panel is immense – it can take decades for solar cells to generate enough energy to make up for the amount that is required to produce a cell! Secondly, I see immense costs and regulatory bottlenecks for the model to succeed in developing markets – which account for a vast portion of the global population. And lastly, I’m a bit confused by Musk’s philosophy of balancing the visions and funding needs of SolarCity, Tesla and SpaceX at the same time, and how things align in Musk’s world to “save the planet and humanity, simultaneously”.
Would love to get your thoughts on these!