IAMAI | Nischala’s Space, Thoughts, Expressions…

I had the opportunity to attend the IAMAI’s 10th Digital India Summit in Feb 2016. For those who don’t know “the flagship annual event of IAMAI – India Digital Summit has been the premier Digital event in the country. Entering its 10th year, the theme for this year is ‘Stand-Up Start-Up.’ Being one of the largest annual gatherings of the Digital Ecosystem in the country, the 10th IDS will play host to 1500+ Senior & Mid-level executives from a plethora of sectors like Mobile & Internet, Technology, Cloud, eCommerce, Travel & much more. The premier most agencies, FMCG & BFSI brands, Payment Regulators & Evangelists will be in attendance this year” [Src: IAMAI website]

In this post, I am sharing some quick notes and take-away’s from the sessions I attended:

As a founder, best to start early and young – You have nothing to loose
Find a big problem to solve ; Focus on solving a real problem where these is a market need
Be clear on how to make money – short-term or long-term
Build a great team – Focus on attracting talent and retaining them
Key for start-ups
- Hiring decisions and process
- Team sticks together ; Ideas can change
Celebrate failures and learn from them ; since you will have more failures than successes in initial few years
Start-ups are cash strapped and time-strapped ; Value both and make the most of them. Be lean – Conserve cash ; Cash is the most valuable asset
Early days of startups – You should measure everything ; Track your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) daily; micro measurement is key
Believe in your ability to do something big
Run company on innovation
Whenever you hit a road-block and are not growing, see how you can improve your product or service by 10X ; or make it 10 times cheaper
Attention to detail is key – for customer support and customer pitches; The initial customer interactions are critical for growth
Need to constantly remind the team of mission and reason why you are here
Digital independence where it is a level playing ground –and the merit of your idea is what gets you the success
India stack for future Payments
- Presence less
- Paperless
- Cashless service delivery
Let end users create solutions / apps and Aadhar / iSPIRT provide the infrastructure:
- JAM
  - JanDhan – Bank accounts
  - Aadhar – Identity – 1 bn in 2016 : Public platform
  - Mobile – 25 Mn new smartphone / quarter
- Use the power of API’s over JAM to create new innovative solutions
- 77K micro-ATM’s at PDS (Postal delivery Center)
- e-KYC : based on Aadhar Identification
- Increasing focus to design Consent architecture – where what you consume or experience is based on your consent to accept or engage with a service / solution / product / brand
- In future, every Indian should be able to pay to:
  - Mobile
  - Aadhar
  - Virtual address

Last but not the least, it was interesting to see that the 2 speakers who got a house-full are Mr. Rajan Anandan (from Google) and Mr. Vijay Shekar Sharam (PayTM) . So in any event, what draws an audience is who you are, where you come from and what you accomplished!

With that, I sign off for now..

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Blog: Nischala’s Space, Thoughts, Expressions [ Top Marketing Blogs in India, Directory of Top Indian Blogs and Most Widely read Indian Bloggers, Directory of Best Indian Blogs, Alltop]

Twitter: @nimu9 [Featured among Must Follow Indian Women on Twitter (2014), 50 Indian Women to follow on Twitter (2012)]

Industry Associations / Mentorships: SINE (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship – An IIT Mumbai initiative) | TLabs | Inc42 | SheroesIndia | BackToTheFront

Interviews and Media Mentions:
Newspaper Interview | Twittering Heights (Deccan Chronicle)
Featured in | #PowerWomenAtWork – the drivers of change
Featured in | 101 inspiring women aka rockstars
Featured in | Passionate Bloggers you should follow
Quoted in “Open letter to women looking for job”
Quoted in “The best advice you’ll receive as young women starting your careers”
Interview | My blogging journey – How it came to be?
Interview | A wise blogger
Interview | Secrets to Successful Blogging
Quoted in “Are entrepreneurs born or made?”

Speaker Sessions, Panel Discussions and Events (Real and Virtual):
“Career Investments that every women at work should make” ; Speaker session at Intel
“Navigating careers in large organizations” ; Tweetchat hosted by Wipro
“Making your network your net-worth” ; Panel Discussion hosted by BTTF (Back To The Front)
“MyDigitalStory” ; Tweetchat hosted by SheThePeopleTV
“The Art and Craft of Content” ; Speaker session at Wipro
“Importance of Mentorship for women” ; Sheroes Summit

Other events / conferences that I’ve graced : Bhasha , Shakti (Mar 2016), Surge , IAMAI (Feb2016), TIE – Women Entrepreneurship (2015), EuroFinance Cash Management Conference (2014), Sheroes Summit(2014), PaulWriter -The Futurist CMO (2013)