596th Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting in 20 Minutes: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 596th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 20 minutes, on Thursday, November 17, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

The Future: End of Capitalism

On October 17, 2016, I gave a talk titled The Future of Capitalism at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in Kolkata, India. RKM, for the uninitiated, is India’s largest NGO. It was founded by one of the greatest social entrepreneurs the world has ever known – a Hindu monk, Swami Vivekananda, who in 1893, delivered a message of universal religion at the Chicago Parliament of the World’s Religions. In these days of intolerance and bigotry, it was an honor for me to stand on the grounds of an institution that shaped my own egalitarian worldview since childhood. You can listen to my speech here:

Photo credit: Hamza Hussein/Flickr.com.

Kolkata Event, October 17 – Sramana Mitra on The Future of Capitalism

While India continues to follow the path of Silicon Valley Capitalism, Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur Sramana Mitra will be speaking about The Future of Capitalism on Monday, October 17, from 6pm to 7:30pm, at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park, Kolkata – the largest NGO in India. Great chance to learn, discuss, and clarify your own ideas about capitalism with a top thought leader, influencer and writer on the topic. REGISTER HERE

Capitalism in the Age of Free Riders

LinkedIn’s recent sale to Microsoft is yet another case in point that freemium business models are a struggle to scale. LinkedIn offers excellent value to its users. Still, few are willing to pay for that value. Thus, the company faces a slowing growth curve, resulting in the decision to sell.

The truth is, on the Internet, everyone wants everything for free. Especially consumers.

And so, almost all media / content related business models are facing a wall.
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Focus on Sustainable Growth, NOT Growth at All Cost

You may have read my recent piece Billion Dollar Unicorns: Box Struggles in its Public Avatar, where I discussed how this darling of the VCs is finding the public market rather unfriendly:

Their stock is trading at $13.71 with a market capitalization of $1.65 billion. It touched a high of $24.73 soon after listing in January this year. Box had listed on the exchange at $14 a share. As expected, its valuation has fallen since pre-IPO levels. Prior to listing, Box had raised $564.1 million with their last round of $150 million valuing them at $2.4 billion.

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My Themes for 2015. Yours?

Yet another new year has begun. As I write this, I am looking out on a glorious, sunny day. There has been rain these past few weeks, after many years of draught. This morning, the sunlight shines beautifully on orange and yellow leaves – the last few on the pear tree in our garden. There is a sense of well being in nature.

Is there a sense of well being in the world at large?

The question doesn’t meet with an unambiguous yes. War. Destruction. Terrorism. Children being killed. Rising inequality. Looming water crisis.

In our personal lives and choices, it is important to remember:

“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”

As I think about our sphere of work – the industry, technology, entrepreneurship, business – I carry much the same feeling with me.

And with that sentiment, here is a reflection on some of the themes I am pondering for 2015.

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Big Idea: Will Capital Kill Capitalism?

2014 has been awash with capital. Showering money on young startups, VCs have become giddy, entrepreneurs dizzy, and sane industry observers aghast.

Right before Thanksgiving, however, Quartz published a story on the failing Fab, How Fab.com went from a $1 billion valuation to a $15 million fire sale:

Flash sales site and retailer Fab’s rise was as meteoric as anybody’s in Silicon Valley: it went from scratch to $250 million in sales in just two years. A little more than a year ago, it raised $150 million at a $1 billion valuation, bringing it to a total of $310 million in venture capital funding.

Now it’s set to be sold to Irish manufacturing company PCH in a deal that could be worth as little as $15 million, according to TechCrunch.

There is a reason why fundamentals are called fundamentals. They are, er, fundamental.
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Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Yaacov Cohen, Co-Founder and CEO of Harmon.ie (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: There’s one article called “Innovation’s Next Decade” which you will find interesting. That article will probably address the kind of things that you’re talking about.

Yaacov Cohen: I believe also in the convergence of ethics and technology. Spirituality and technology needs to be better converged. Technology won’t free humanity.

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