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According to Microsoft <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword> <keyword id="276564" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Satya-Nadella">Satya Nadella</keyword>, the current global situation can be divided into three phases -- the pre-Covid era, the lockdown and recovery. However, none of these phases are linear -- as new Covid-19 strains are emerging, a few countries are heading back to lockdown. Some others have started vaccinating. With many looming uncertainties, the year of 2021 would leave businesses in a state of upheaval. But many believe that it would pave the way for a better world ahead. The business leaders or <keyword id="609639" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="CXOs">CXOs</keyword> will have to either keep up with the disruption or stay ahead in order to survive. Here are a few mantras that CXOs might have to include in their New Year resolution list this year. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="CEOs" comment="subhead" text="CEOs">CEOs</cmsannotation> The <a href="https://twitter.com/TataCompanies/status/1341361177570361344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1341361177570361344%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businesstoday.in%2Fcurrent%2Fcorporate%2Fin-letter-to-tata-staff-chandrasekaran-says-thank-you-talks-of-opportunities-for-renewal%2Fstory%2F425707.html">Chairman of Tata Group N Chandrasekaran </a>extended the ownership and responsibility of the big changes with all his employees. As “rules are being rewritten”, he said, new opportunities are akin to a bridge. “But it is a special kind of bridge because we are not simply waiting to see what happens on the other side. Instead, we have a hand in building our own destination,” he said. <div type="twitter" handle="TataCompanies" handlename="Tata Group" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1289024769656905729/UQo4NKUK_normal.jpg" favoritecount="716" retweetcount="113" status="Message from our Chairman N. Chandrasekaran for the New Year 2021. #ThisIsTata https://t.co/OgFYNfxEJY" createdat="1608640400000" id="1341361177570361344"></div> Referred to as India’s corporate disruptor-in-chief, Anand Mahindra the chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra group of companies said that <a href="https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/mahindra-mahindra-set-for-a-reboot-and-how/77413794">Covid-19 gave them a unique opportunity</a> to reboot by winding up loss making businesses to focus on what can yield them benefits going ahead. Organizations like Dr Reddy’s Laboratories also seemed to have made up their mind to weave in volatility into their 2021 performance. “We believe FY2021 will have more uncertainties than ever before. Consequently, our overall performance may be quite volatile," Dr Reddy's Laboratories said in its <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/performance-may-be-quite-volatile-in-fy21-due-to-coronavirus-dr-reddy-s-120070600492_1.html">latest annual report</a>. It seems like all the top leaders had embraced the upheaval that the pandemic has caused and turned 2021 into ‘the year of rebuilding’. To ensure that, the leadership has to brace for surprises, make agile plans and make room for the many uncertainties that are very likely to come. A few pointers that would help them in the way, would be: <ul><li>The first is to make agile plans that can be amended easily to weave in uncertainty.</li><li>The new year should be about making fresh plans and not just about building on existing structures.</li><li>The digital way of doing things should be woven into the framework. One such way would-be smart outsourcing right from marketing to advertising to hiring.</li><li>As the world shifts to the work-from-home mode, technology and security budgets should be expanded.</li><li>The top leadership should turn a little ‘hands-on’ to make more virtual appearances more often to motivate the remote workforce.</li></ul><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="CFOs" comment="subhead" text="CFOs">CFOs</cmsannotation> Srinivas Phatak, the head of finance of HUL adopted a “follow the money” strategy during the pandemic. “Gone are the days where you can think about an innovation in a timeframe of nine months. The new normal is nine weeks. And how well can we do it? These are the kind of things we'll have to get better at in 2021,” <a href="https://www.fm-magazine.com/news/2020/dec/hindustan-unilever-cfo-srinivas-phatak-indian-market-growth.html">he said</a>. The CFOs are also coining a new designation for themselves called ‘change agents’. “CFOs will have to bring new ideas on the table both within and outside their finance function,” said Rahul Malhotra, <a href="https://cfo.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/empathy-should-be-on-top-of-cfos-mind-in-2021/80067564">finance chief of Integreon</a>. Some pointers for them would be: <ul><li>They would have to make structural changes to the finance function to support fast-paced transformation.</li><li>Since organizations need to move faster, they would have to have less baggage. That would mean leaner credit profiles with refinanced debt at bargained interest rates.</li><li>The inventory levels must also come down to keep pace with fast changing demand and supply dynamics.</li><li>CFOs must make way for higher R&amp;D budgets that would ensure innovation matches market speed.</li><li>The finances of a company would have to be much more transparent. It will come under constant review to gauge the success of the many launches and changes.</li><li>To support change at an organizational level, CFOs will have to ensure funds keep flowing in and that would require streamlining investments and divestments.</li></ul><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="COOs" comment="subhead" text="COOs">COOs</cmsannotation> COOs will have to bring technology and operations together, as organizations adopt digital modes of working. <ul><li>They need to play many roles including motivating the workforce, and re-building logistics for new products and projects.</li><li>This year, most companies would tighten budgets. Hence, COOs will have to increase operational efficiency by adopting analytics and other digital tools to lower costs.</li><li>They would have to build a ‘human connect’ while adopting automation to ensure employees accept digitization.</li><li>This is especially important as they would have to re-think hiring and maintain a skeleton structure that would align with changed cost dynamics in 2021.</li><li>They would also have to re-think physical assets like offices in the wake of a new normal.</li></ul><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="CIOs/CTOs" comment="subhead" text="CIOs/CTOs">CIOs/CTOs</cmsannotation> As remote working becomes the new normal, CIOs and CTOs should assume the new role as quasi-COOs who would ensure business continuity. Most CIOs are betting on managed services which can ensure that they can transition to the new role with extended responsibilities. "With the focus growing more on digital, leaning on managed services ensures that domain experts help you with the scaling as you focus on your core competency," said Radhakrishna Pillai, CIO of SRL Ltd. <ul><li>They should drive change in communication strategies to ensure remote working does not affect productivity.</li><li>They will have to drive creation of new products and assets with insights from big data, smart data and analytics.</li><li>The data sets themselves could be converted into products that can bring in revenue.</li><li>They will also play an active role in innovation as organizations tilt towards cloud-first and digital-first strategies.</li><li>Managed services, with providers like <a href="http://bit.ly/INTBI1">INT. (Indus Net Technologies)</a> ensure uptime guarantee, proactive support and SLA driven response and resolution.</li><li>If digital is the game, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the new domain.</li></ul><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="CMOs" comment="subhead" text="CMOs">CMOs</cmsannotation> In 2021, CMOs will drive sales electronically where consumers have no sense of ‘touch and feel’. They would have to beef up virtual experiences and make selling ‘smarter’. And all this while building a deeper emotional connect with the consumer. “With a digital-first mindset, there’s a good opportunity to be smarter about using data to make sure that our touchpoints with customers are intentional, mindful, and impactful. For marketers, smart use of data and AI delivers personalization, and personalization drives growth,” said Stephanie Buscemi, the global CMO of Salesforce. <ul><li>For long, customers have been demanding customization and in 2021, it will only amplify. With the power of big data, it is now possible to divide customer pools into thinner and thinner segments for relevant offerings.</li><li>Micro-segmentation can help identify new needs and improve return on investments for digital advertising.</li><li>But perhaps, CMOs shouldn’t miss the woods for the trees. INT ensures that micro-segmentation is a part of the integrated digital marketing. It devises end-to-end strategies using the right tools and a process in the right order for the best outcome.</li><li>Outsourcing key marketing functions to match the speed of product innovation and shorter product-to-market cycles, will also increase as the world embraces the new normal.</li></ul>Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in partnership with Indus Net Technologies.

21 things that CXOs might have to do differently in 2021

Anand Chandrasekaran, ex-Yahoo! executive who has worked with tech companies in Silicon Valley as well, is all set to join Facebook. 
 Facebook has hired Chandrasekaran for its messenger app. Chandrasekaran has been roped in for a global leadership role and will build strategies for <keyword id="6368284" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Facebook-Messenger">Facebook Messenger</keyword>, which reached 1 billion monthly active users mark in July 2016. 
 
The appointment of Chandrasekaran, who will be based at Facebook’s Menlo Park office, comes at a time when Facebook is enhancing its focus on Messenger’s mobile features. 
 
Chandrasekaran is a renowned name with great expertise and vision in mobile products and has held several top level roles in various capacities. 
 In the past, Chandrasekaran has worked in the capacity of chief product officer at <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, he was also the chief product officer at Bharti Airtel. 
 
Chandrasekaran has also worked with Yahoo! as a senior director for search products and mobile products from 2011 to 2014. 
He is also the recipient of the Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. 
 
Meanwhile, Facebook Messenger is the second most popular iOS app and on Android, it has been downloaded over one billion times. 
 
The app presently has a 10% global market share of VOIP calls. 
 
Recently, Facebook had announced bots for Messenger, allowing businesses to automate responses and some services. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Facebook has hired master of mobile apps, Anand Chandrasekaran, for its Messenger app

Ever since he moved out of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Anand+Chandrasekaran&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Anand Chandrasekaran</a> has guided a couple of promising young <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword>. Since 2013, he has invested close to $25,000-50,000 each in about 15 startups based out of India and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Silicon+Valley&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Silicon Valley</a>. Also, he has met his doppelganger not once, but twice. 
 
Over the next couple of months, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Anand+Chandrasekaran&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Chandrasekaran</a> is looking to help this young crowd with his unique insights into product-building. He is looking to invest in 4-5 more over the next two months. 
 
Business Insider caught up with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Anand+Chandrasekaran&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Anand</a> one Friday afternoon. This chat has been long due. 
 
How did you get into <keyword id="1995572" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="Angel-investing">angel investing</keyword>? 
My involvement with startups happened largely because I wanted to learn from them. That happens when you are a part of their journey. 
 
I steer clear of areas I don’t understand and can’t add any value to. Thanks to my work at Airtel and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal</a>/<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=FreeCharge&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">FreeCharge</a>, I have been familiar with the application of marketplace to various sectors, consumer internet and fintech. 
 
What does it take to be funded by <keyword id="1973987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Anand-Chandrasekaran">Anand Chandrasekaran</keyword>? 
The two questions I ask is what is that they are trying to do, and if it is a problem worth solving. If the answers to both are yes, I’m very excited. Even if they don’t succeed financially, but try very hard and move the agenda forward in some way, that’s a win. 
 
You have invested in a food tech startup, <keyword id="2797965" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="Innerchef">InnerChef</keyword>. What are your sanity checks when investing in a troubled sector? 
These are typically young companies, and there’s not much data available. One thing that’s important to me is consumer experience. By that, I don’t mean just the app. 
 
Speaking specifically of food-tech, what I like about InnerChef is their focus on the end-to-end consumer experience. People don’t want food spilling over them, so packaging must be great. That kind of obsession with the customer experience caught my attention. 
 
The other interesting part is they figured out what should be driven directly by their kitchen, and what can be done through a marketplace. 
 
That’s a brilliant hybrid model for a food-based market-place. Most importantly, they control the quality of the food. This helps in cutting cost as well, and helps maintain a discipline which keeps each kitchen profitable. When a startup can control the food quality and the unit economics, it’s a great company. 
 
It’s hard to be successful in food-tech without controlling food. 
 
Believe it or not, there’s another Anand Chandrasekaran in India’s startup eco-system. Same name, same spelling and if you ask me, they look oddly similar. 
 
The other Anand Chandrasekaran is the co-founder of Chennai-based Mad Street Den. Founded in 2013, it received a funding of $1.5 million last year and is working with the Tata Group to build its <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> platform. The MAD in their firm's name stands for MindAbled Devices. You can reach him <a href="https://twitter.com/madstreetanand">here</a>. 
 
What was the moment like, when Anand met Anand? We keep running into each other when I’m in Bangalore. I remember we were both at the <keyword id="270604" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="40" keywordseo="Sequoia">Sequoia</keyword> Hack event, and Shailendra Singh took a photo of both of us. Most recently, we were speakers at the IndiaHacks event by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=HackerEarth&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">HackerEarth</a>. 
 
It’s shocking how much we have in common. We have the same name, same spelling and similar up-bringing. We both went to Stanford, both got advanced degrees and have similar mannerisms. It’s spooky! 
 
How is that your and Punit’s exit came at a time when <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> were rumored to be ‘re-structuring’? 
I played a small role in Punit coming to India, and to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Flipkart&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Flipkart</a>. I was working with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Bharti+Airtel&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Bharti Airtel</a>, and shared my experiences about moving from the Valley to India. Since he took that plunge, that conversation was probably helpful. 
 
I believe knowledge is best when shared. He believes the same. Other than that, we weren’t in touch. I had no idea what his plans were, and my decision was not pre-meditated. It’s a bit of a co-incidence that the two of us joined around the same time, and left few months apart. But there’s not much beyond that. 
 
Is there any chance you are going back to the ‘employee life’? 
I’m still in the process of figuring this out. I have written on Quora about the same. 
 
Read <a href="https://www.quora.com/Anand-Chandrasekaran">Anand </a><a href="https://www.quora.com/Anand-Chandrasekaran">Chandrasekaran</a>'s <a href="/What-is-Anand-Chandrasekaran-plan-post-quitting-Snapdeal#ans25794189">answer</a> to <a href="/What-is-Anand-Chandrasekaran-plan-post-quitting-Snapdeal" ref="canonical">What is Anand Chandrasekaran plan, post quitting Snapdeal?</a> on <a href="https://www.__nousername__.main.quora.com">Quora</a> 
 
In the last 5-7 years, I’ve realized I enjoy working with people who level the playing field. That’s my sweet spot, and I want to do it in a way that’s entrepreneurial.

Anand Chandrasekaran – India's product-obsessed Angel with a Doppelganger

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=FreeCharge&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">FreeCharge</a> has recently announced in a <a href="https://blog.freecharge.in/2016/05/19/now-whatsapp-money-with-freecharge/">blog post</a> that users can now use its ‘<keyword id="3293302" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="Chat-n-Pay">Chat n Pay</keyword>’ to pay using <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=WhatsApp&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">WhatsApp</a>. The feature is much like Tencent’s money transfer service on WeChat. 
 Users will have to go to ‘<keyword id="6377963" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Freecharge">Freecharge</keyword> on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=WhatsApp&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">WhatsApp</a>*’ on the Freecharge Menu of their Android phone, click ‘Enable’ to enable Freecharge in accessibility settings, open <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=WhatsApp&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">WhatsApp</a>, type in the amount followed FC, for example 100F, and the transfer’s done. 
 At the launch of FreeCharge’s ‘Chat-n-Pay’ feature, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> Chief Product Officer <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Anand+Chandrasekaran&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Anand Chandrasekaran</a> said in an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Exclusive-The-Good-Boy-of-e-Payments-Anand-Chandrasekaran-CPO-Snapdeal/articleshow/51496881.cms">exclusive Business Insider interview</a> to that ‘the intuition was that payments can be social’. Looks like they’ve done it. 
 
The ‘Chat n Pay’ feature was launched on FreeCharge in March, was built as a feature over the new chat-based communication in the latest version of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=FreeCharge&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">FreeCharge</a> app. 
 
FreeCharge has recently joined hands with Zivame, ClearTrip, RedBus and Café Coffee Day to enable its Wallet payments in merchant outlets. The company claims customers can pay at any time in less than 10 seconds in a secure way across all RedBus platforms. 
 
FreeCharge is currently positioned against segment-leader Paytm. The portal is a key to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Snapdeal</a>’s businesses in building an all-inclusive online marketplace like China’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Alibaba&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Alibaba</a>. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

You
can now send and receive money on WhatsApp using FreeCharge

It’s been just 10 days that <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> redesigned its website, but looks like there is more on the mind of the SoftBank-backed company, as it looks forward to adding new features and further improving the user experience. 
 
As per reports, these new features would include product selfies, enhanced order-tracking and a new 'my order' page. 
 
"The product has been redesigned to improve the overall information architecture," Anand Chandrasekaran, chief product officer, told ET. 
 
Talking of 'product selfie', it allows users to post a selfie with the product they bought from the website. "We have had a phenomenal response to it so far as customers get to see actual people using the product," Chandrasekaran said. 
 
In the past six-seven months, Snapdeal has made extensive use of technology to improve efficiency and customer experience. As per the company claims, delivery times have been brought down by 70-75% in the past year because of investments done in the logistics company GoJavas. Also, refunds from the company are now based on the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). 
 
"Since September 2015, 93% of refunds are being done within 30 minutes. It has been integrated with the wallet on the back-end to make the whole experience seamless for the customer," Chandrasekharan said. 
 
In addition to this, we have also seen smaller launches like SnapLite, which enables users with slow network connections to access a lighter version of the website, and Snapsearch, which allows users to upload pictures and find similar products on the website.

Product selfies, IMPS refunds and much more; this is how Snapdeal is using technology to improve user experience

For most of us, <keyword id="1829745" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="thinking-machines">thinking machines</keyword> happen to be sci-fi stuff, but for those working in the <keyword id="107950" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="100" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence">artificial intelligence</keyword> (<keyword id="6355999" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI">AI</keyword>) space, that is just a ground reality. AI is slowly gaining traction among <keyword id="100363" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-entrepreneurs">Indian entrepreneurs</keyword> and a handful of companies are already working on one product or the other, targeting specific segments. But here is one brand new <keyword id="6404679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="start-up">start-up</keyword> which is hoping to open up this field and make it super easy for <keyword id="6357020" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="developers">developers</keyword> to <keyword id="1973991" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Incorporate-AI-components">incorporate AI components</keyword> in their apps as per their requirements. Chennai-based <keyword id="1973988" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mad-Street-Den">Mad Street Den</keyword> (interestingly, ‘<keyword id="6707506" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mad">MAD</keyword>’ stands for <keyword id="1973989" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mind-Abled-Devices">Mind Abled Devices</keyword>) will be offering easy-to-access <keyword id="1973997" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-solutions">AI solutions</keyword> via a Cloud-based platform, thus delivering intelligence to the world, on a broad scale. The <keyword id="1974000" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="IA-stack">IA stack</keyword> comprises <keyword id="1974001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sensory-processing-layers">sensory processing layers</keyword>, as well as <keyword id="1974004" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Contextual-binding-layers">contextual binding layers</keyword>, and aims to deliver three categories of <keyword id="1974005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Consumer-experiences">consumer experiences</keyword>. 
 But that does not mean lack of more intriguing products on the part of the start-up. Mad Street Den is all about intelligent innovation and the company is working intensely on a series of products using vision, speech and touch-based processing (among others), aiming to cater to verticals like <keyword id="6357332" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="gaming">gaming</keyword> and <keyword id="4578" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="entertainment">entertainment</keyword>, <keyword id="6354750" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> and <keyword id="15482" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="lifestyle">lifestyle</keyword>, and <keyword id="6355300" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="security">security</keyword> and <keyword id="6359249" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="analytics">analytics</keyword>. Here is a snapshot that captures the start-up’s vision and viability. 
 
Who runs Mad Street Den (www.madstreetden.com): A core team of four including <keyword id="1718234" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Co-Founder-CEO">co-founder &amp; CEO</keyword> <keyword id="1973987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Anand-Chandrasekaran">Anand Chandrasekaran</keyword>. Anand holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT-Madras and a PhD in Neuroscience from <keyword id="503459" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Baylor-College-of-Medicine">Baylor College of Medicine</keyword>. During his Post Doctoral stint at <keyword id="33081" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Stanford">Stanford</keyword>, he specialised in <keyword id="1974014" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Neuromorphic-Engineering">Neuromorphic Engineering</keyword>, building <keyword id="1974017" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Custom-silicon-chips">custom silicon chips</keyword> that emulate various regions of the brain. At that time, Anand was part of the <keyword id="10875" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="IBM">IBM</keyword> team and working on <keyword id="265122" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="DARPA">DARPA</keyword>’s <keyword id="1974019" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SyNAPSE">SyNAPSE</keyword> project (for the curious, let’s tell you this project focuses on building all sorts of <keyword id="1974020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Smart-hardware">smart hardware</keyword> that emulate higher intelligence). 
 Prior to starting his own venture, Anand joined a Palo Alto-based start-up called Evolved Machines, Inc., as a research scientist and developed various neural algorithms that could connect to real-world sensory perceptions like vision and smell. “As part of Evolved Machines, I was involved in another DARPA project called <keyword id="1974022" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Neovision2">Neovision2</keyword>,” he recalls. 
 There are three others in the core team – another <keyword id="170488" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="co-founder">co-founder</keyword> who has some very useful experience in designing products that use the <keyword id="294572" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="100" keywordseo="machine-learning">machine learning</keyword> approach; an experienced and distinguished professional with a similar background to Anand’s and another expert who builds the kind of network infrastructure the company requires. Although development work started in March this year (a month after Anand returned from <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword>), the start-up was officially launched in August 2013 and has recently shifted its headquarters from Bangalore to Chennai. 
 
What inspired the venture: During his stint at Evolved Machines, Anand decided that he would work on AI projects of his own. So he worked as a <keyword id="17182" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Consultant">consultant</keyword> with <keyword id="1973986" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Zort-Technologies">Zort Technologies</keyword> for a couple of years while trying to figure out what to do next. 
 “Although building great AI is a good thing, we did realise that there were very few solutions in the market that would help create great <keyword id="1974006" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Consumer-experience">consumer experience</keyword>,” says Anand. “That’s because there is no unified platform that allows easy and cheap <keyword id="1974027" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Access-to-AI-elements">access to AI elements</keyword> – no suitable infrastructure for handling the requirements of the applications using those elements. So we decided to create such a platform. That way, we can build a whole new ecosystem for everyone who wants to create new experiences enhanced by AI.” 
 
What’s the pitch: Making machines more useful by making them a bit more human: Fun, intelligent and relevant. They will sense as babies, observe and play as youngsters, learn and change with you as they grow older. In brief, the start-up aims to provide AI support across three categories of experiences – fun and play, usefulness &amp; convenience, and helpful &amp; revealing. “Someday in the near future, we hope to bring everyday objects to life, not just the devices we use today,” the site notes. 
 
How it works: Mad Street Den is in the business of delivering artificial intelligence to the world – in varied formats and across industries. The primary product is a Cloud-based <keyword id="1974029" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-platform">AI platform</keyword> that developers can leverage to incorporate <keyword id="1973990" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-components">AI components</keyword> into their applications. This ‘MAD’ (Mind Abled Devices) stack currently focuses on <keyword id="1974030" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vision-based-applications">vision-based applications</keyword> and delivers elements such as <keyword id="1974031" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Facial-gesture-analysis">facial gesture analysis</keyword>, <keyword id="406688" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="face-recognition">face recognition</keyword>, <keyword id="1974032" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gaze-tracking">gaze tracking</keyword> and so on. However, the start-up will expand and diversify its offerings as the platform grows. As of now, the target sectors include apps, <keyword id="34609" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="services-industry">services industry</keyword>, gaming and analytics (imagine test-marketing a product and getting insightful feedback through AI apps that can decode facial gestures of potential customers and correctly surmise their reaction to the product in question). But in the next few years, Mad Street Den may also develop low-cost <keyword id="1974033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Custom-hardware">custom hardware</keyword> to support its existing stack; create <keyword id="1974034" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="High-end-cognitive-hardware">high-end cognitive hardware</keyword> for big enterprises/software companies and finally make foray into <keyword id="62549" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Robotics">robotics</keyword>. 
 
“All these are in the pipeline and we intend to create more apps and new products by leveraging our own AI platform,” explains Anand. “That will further create new and wonderful experiences enhanced by our AI solutions and speak volumes about our quality.” 
 
Claim to fame: Novelty of concept and the tremendous potential are the key factors at this point. Very few <keyword id="770060" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-start-ups">Indian start-ups</keyword> are currently working in the <keyword id="1974055" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-space">AI space</keyword> and it could be the next big thing when Web 3.0 – widely assumed to be a combination of artificial intelligence and the semantic Web – finally arrives. 
 
Show me the money: Till date, the start-up has been bootstrapped and has not started earning revenues. As of now, the <keyword id="232730" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="business-model">business model</keyword> is essentially B2B, but Anand has high hopes about B2C earnings as the company is also building its own products. “We are a very early-stage company, completely self-funded and in the process of building our scalable infrastructure and our first B2C product (a game) by early next year. In fact, we will be demoing our prototype at MobileSparks 2013 in Bangalore tomorrow (December 14), he says. 
 “As we have many potential <keyword id="598465" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="revenue-streams">revenue streams</keyword>, it is a little difficult to gauge the market size at present,” he observes. “But it spans everyone – from the <keyword id="1974050" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="College-dorm-developer">college dorm developer</keyword> to <keyword id="1974051" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Small-product-companies">small product companies</keyword>, to service providers and <keyword id="163194" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="OEMs">OEMs</keyword> who want to enhance their offerings. Even <keyword id="1974052" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Large-corporations">large corporations</keyword> might want their own custom stacks and proprietary <keyword id="1974026" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-elements">AI elements</keyword>,” he adds. 
 Although bootstrapped, Mad Street Den is not looking to raise funds just now. “We intend to work on our product pipeline first and come up with 1-3 more products by mid-2014,” says Anand. “Once we have the process in play and are getting considerable traction at consumer and enterprise levels, approaching investors will make sense. Also, we have gone past the incubation stage now. Neither are we limited to a single platform or product. Therefore, we will be looking at a very large angel round or maybe a small <keyword id="919124" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Series-A">Series A</keyword> within a year, depending on our requirements. Given our <keyword id="1974053" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="RD-requirements">R&amp;D requirements</keyword>, we would like to expand our operations to the US as well.” 
 
Biggest challenge: Competition is always there as several companies are working in the AI space – both in India and abroad. But the field is vast and almost completely untapped; so there is space for everyone. “Currently, there’s no delivery model like our Cloud platform, especially in the vision space. So that gives us some competitive edge and we are building the rest of the USP,” concludes Anand.

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