wealthymatters

The McDowell’s Indian Derby

February 4, 2013 2 Comments

wealthymatters

The McDowell’s Indian Derby is a horse racing event held every year on the first Sunday of February at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai, India. It is one of the premier sporting activities in the city. It was first run in the year 1943.McDowell’s has been sponsoring it each year since 1985.It is the premier event of the Indian Turf and so always draws a mammoth crowd of some 35,000 people.

The Indian Derby is for 4 years old Indian horses only.Colts and geldings carry 57 kg and Fillies 55.5 kg. and the Derby distance is about 2400m. This gruelling contest tests both the speed and stamina of top four-year-old horses who wish to lay claim to the title of ‘the best four-year-old thoroughbred’. Read more of this post

Filed under Tidbits Tagged with Blade Babes, Bombay High Society, horse racing, Indian Royalty, Jimmy Fortune, jockey, Mahalakshmi Racecourse, owner, postaday, Priya Kataria, prize money, R.Amantha Cham Dev Raju, R.Cham Devaraju & Mrs. R.Rajamma, Rajesh Narredu, Rocky S, Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC), Satish Narredu, Scott Barnes The Glow, stakes, Super Storm, The McDowell's Indian Derby, trainer, United Spirits, Vijay Mallaya

The Genesis Of AirBnB

February 3, 2013 5 Comments

Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky were friends from Rhode Island School of Design.In 2006,Joe asked Brian to move to San Francisco to start something.Unfortunately by October 2007,even as the duo had nearly run through their meagre savings,their landlord hiked the rent by 25%.Their situation was bad.They had no money to pay the next month’s rent.They did not even have an idea for a business.

The Industrial Design Society of America holds a specialized conference around the world once in 20 years.They picked San Francisco in 2007.The week Joe read the landlords missive with a sense of impending doom,San Francisco was abuzz with an acute shortage of hotel rooms for the IDSA conference.They rented out space in their living room that weekend.Joe coded and put up a small website advertising their living room.For $80,a person got a room,airport pickup and breakfast.As Brian and Joe pulled out three airbeds from storage to accommodate their guests, they named their service AirBnB. Read more of this post

Filed under Entrepreneurship Tagged with AirBnB, Amol Surve, Brian Chesky, Democratic National Convention, early adapters, Harvard Alumnus, hot start-up, hyper growth, Industrial Design Society of America IDSA, internet entrepreneurs, internet start-up, Joe Gebbia, Mark Zuckerberg, Nathan Blecharczyk, network effect, Paul Graham, postaday, protection guarantee, Rhode Island School of Design., star-tup accelerator, tech evangelist, YCombinator

Starting With The Tried And Tested

February 3, 2013 2 Comments

wealthymatters While in San Francisco in 1970, Anita Roddick visited a tiny hippie shop on Union Square owned by Peggy Short and Jane Saunders, two sisters by marriage.It was a fun place, offering “biodegradable” shampoos and lotions made with avocado, cocoa butter, and cucumber, packaged in small, round plastic bottles with hand-written labels that were refillable at a discount.The store carried freshly made glycerin soaps scented with strawberry and lemon and perfume oil redolent of gardenia, woody sandalwood, and honeysuckle. It was housed in CJ’s, a car repair garage so the two founders cleverly named it The Body Shop.

When Anita opened her first shop six years later,she used the original Body Shop as a template.The original Body Shop brochure noted: ‘All of our products are Biodegradable & made to our specifications (Bottles 20 cents or bring your own).’ Anita’s version read: ‘All our products are biologically soft and made to our specifications (Bottles 12p, or bring your own).’The original offered Four O’clock Astringent Lotion; Anita sold Five O’clock Astringent Lotion.

In 1987 Peggy and Jane accepted $3.5 million from The Body Shop to change their name to Body Time. Read more of this post