Pandora - the next big thing?

Recently, Pandora – the music streaming service priced its IPO at $16 per share, valuing the company at $2.6 billion. This is the 2^nd time that the musical giant has upped its market cap. The company originally set the market cap of $1.3 billion; but upped the range last week giving the company a valuation of $1.9 billion.

So what is Pandora doing that makes it different from other online radio services? Pandora plays musical selections similar to song suggestions entered by a user. The user provides positive or negative feedback for songs chosen by the service, which are taken into account for future selections. Over 400 different musical attributes are considered when selecting the next song. These 400 attributes are combined into larger groups called focus traits. There are 2,000 focus traits. Examples of these are rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies, and displayed instrumental proficiency.

Pandora provides similar music, not a play-on-demand service. A free account user may stream upto 40 hours per month, and continue unlimited streaming by paying $0.99. That’s pretty cheap!

Still don’t understand the big deal? Well for starters, Pandora is adding a new registered user every second and now has 94 million users. In Pandora’s fiscal year ended January 31, 2011, Pandora streamed 3.8 billion hours of radio listening. In the three months ending April 30, 2011 Pandora posted revenues of $51 million! In the Summer of 2008. Pandora launched and instantly became one of the most top downloaded apps and today, is one of the top five most popular apps across all smart-phone platforms.

In 2009 it was announced that Pandora would be incorporated into the dashboard in Ford cars via SYNC technology; GM has already followed in announcing plans to integrate Pandora into its vehicles’ OnStar system.

Pandora – the next big thing! Pandora, I believe is set to become the next big thing (although it already is in US). It started with a college project (Music Genome Project) like Google and has quickly gained a strong following. In 2008, the founder of Pandora stated that the company may be on the verge of collapse due to royalty issues, but survived the storm to regain its ground.

However its fans (like myself) outside of US continue to wait, as Pandora is only available in the United States. Hopefully, the Pandora’s box will soon open for the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, Pandora follows in the footsteps of Fusion-io, LinkedIn and Yandex, which all increased their pricing significantly prior to going public. And the opening trading price for these companies’ stocks all rose as well. We’ll see where Pandora opens…

This is London baybee!!!

I like everyone else entering job world used to wonder about what really happens in “those” high-level management meetings in the top-floor-glass-meeting-room of the company headquarters. And I got my big chance quickly, 6 months in to the job.

I was invited to present my work (chuck the technical details) to the senior management of Shell Lubricants in London.
Venue: 19th floor, Shell Center, London (Next to Thames river, facing The London Eye)
Time: 11 AM

This meant leaving my home in Manchester at 5:30 in the morning to take a train to London and it’s anyone’s guess how well I slept that night. To be honest, I dint really like London from the first look. Too many people cramped in small underground trains, every public avenue swarmed with vehicles, this super city was running and running real fast. On the Waterloo station I joined the crowd of everyday commuters, nicely suited gentlemen, businesswomen, laptop in one hand, mobile phone in another. “Well… this is London baybee!!”

Riding on a “high” of London with nothing but “Shell’s top quartile performance” and “best industry strategies” on my mind, I reached Shell Center. And on the doorstep of Mecca of business, I ran into my boss (Chris) and Charlie. Charlie, (they say… “Charlie is a busy boy”) is my super boss. The “boy” to whom the 74 Shell lubricant plants worldwide report to. To my astonishment, when I first met him, I had to bend my head 15 deg below horizon to meet the eyes of a 52 yr old Indonesian.

Now I was a notch higher on my “high” and with supreme confidence entered the 19th floor where I was greeted by an Indian face. This was Kris, short for Krishna, the Indian super achiever. Known widely for turning the business around (in the right direction) and of course for his high-profile affair with a beautiful American-Chinese (a Global Manager, thanks to Kris). Tailing closely behind him was Mike: One of Kris’ sidekicks. Another high achiever (till Kris got the better of him). Some say, he hasn’t got the balls!! It was the five of us, and baring Chris & myself these folks were as high up the hierarchy as you can get before becoming a VP.

The meeting room was ordinary but so high up that I could see most of the London pretty well, if only I had that on my mind.

The meeting began.

I was presenting the work I had done in the past 4 months on optimizing our supply chain and thus reducing overall cost. Should have been pretty easy considering it was MY work (and not an overnight effort using the ubiquitous internet like we did in IIT) and also because I always thought presenting as one of my strengths. However I was used to ‘tough opposition (my usual class mates) and tooth & nail fights to defend our grounds’ presentation. Which obviously doesn’t work in 19th floor board meetings. So all I could hear from them were the occasional nods, “eh”s and “huh”s.

Nervously I finished off the ppt, when Chris asked, “ So, what do you think?”

Charlie said, “I like it”. Kris said “we can use it in China”, and Mike of course nodded. That’s it? Is that all you guys can think of, I thought.
I was growing anxious.

Chris sensed my worries and asked “what about Germany and Austria?” I think he hit a nerve for what followed was an hour-long unequivocal discussion on “the world”. On how they have given everything- money, support & new resources to Germany and yet it fails miserably. On how China was doing worse than ever and how Kris thought they need to Change the entire top management there. On the 5 million $ they invested in US last month and the effect it would have on European market in Twenty-Twelve. And of course, on how the coffee there sucks.

For a while all I could hear was the names of the countries. I knew world was bigger than I thought. But of course… it's London baybee.

Finally Kris got up saying he had a lunch meeting with one of the VPs. And the meeting dispersed. I was confused and completely knocked-out, wondering what really happened in those 2 hours. I don’t reckon it was a lot to do with me. And I really don’t understand how all those big talks came out of my presentation.

Two months later, the plant in Germany was closed and China saw a new big boss (interestingly Kris was there on his holidays with the American-Chinese when it happened).

And me… I was rewarded. Moreover, I have been to Austria, Singapore and Malaysia since. And am due in China next week :)

Bangkok: Luxury, Nights & Women

As I entered one of the posh clubs of the city… I spoted a few beautiful birds with a glass of wine or something like that. I fancy my luck today!
“A martini please, Dry”.
To be honest, the last week of work here has left me exhausted and I don’t feel like talking to anyone today. And (ironically) I have chosen this place to run away from myself.

A few feet from me is a lovely looking lady in a black dress, and the pearl necklace is definitely adding to her beauty. I look at her for a few secs… her eyes look inviting.
I turn away.
“May I join you?” The same eyes were now intriguing. Saying no to such a beauty is against the law, I guess. “Can I get you a drink”, I said.
“A Vodka with ice please”. That’s sophisticated!

After just another glass, Suan, the 5’3 Thai beauty was sitting inches away from me. The talks have mainly been around music and the band that was playing. She certainly was classy.
“So what do you do?” I finally asked.
“What do I do? C’mon you know what I do!” her eyes widened. “Its 10,000 Thai baht (Rs 13,000) a day”

Of course I knew what she did. This is what has been troubling me about this city from the moment I landed here. Life on this side of the glass of my luxury car was so different from what was out there in one of the most sought after tourist destinations of Asia. Its like living in a cocoon, my hotel offers more or less everything that money could buy in this part of the world, yet it hides what it promises you most… true Thailand. Looks like I am loosing my mind over it.

“I’ll pay you 2,000. Sit here with me. Just talking. 2hrs.” Never knew what made me say that.
“Just talking?”
“Yes”
“Are you…?”
“No. Nothing like that. I am normal”

Hours later, in my hotel room… I sit alone. Looking out of the window I wonder how many more like her are out there this night. Thousands. May be more.
You can get an escort (as they call it) for a day, night or even weeks. And she will be yours, truly… like a girl friend with all her fidelity. Companionship minus romantic hassles!

It’s been almost two days and I haven’t slept. I feel sick from inside. I can’t eat. I just want to go home. I am boiling inside me. I don’t know what to say… what to ask… how to let it out… whatever it is.
I look out of the window of my plane… even the darkness (unlike always) is no more reassuring.

Belgium: Lost In The Jungle- II (The Twist)

The guy with the compass was still trying to light up his sutta and I had a feeling that he never intended to smoke it. Distance perception of the girl with the map was worse than ever and both of them had to be replaced from the lead. I took over the map and Naveen bhai started looking into the compass.

I am not sure which one is worse… to be in the lead of a lost group or to watch the back of the group in a pitch black forest. When you are at the back, there is a subtle feeling that someone is out there watching you. Your really want to look back to check, but its too scary to turn around. And trust me this can be addictive.
But when you are in the front, you don’t know what’s coming next until its there within 1 mtr of you. You get a surprise every now and then but honestly, you don’t like surprises.

“Lets stop here for a while”, someone said. May be a break can do some good to a bunch of dead tired nomads.
“Stand still, I am gonna take a pic”. Oh god, is this a picnic? We are lost for god’s sake. LOST.

FLASH
Aaarrrrghhh!!!!
“Shit, whom are you standing with? Rather what?” I turned around. Gosh.

I have no idea what it was. Looked like some dead squirrel or something, hanging from a pole. But who would have done this? “Lets take a closer look, get the torch”. Crap, we now have a FBI agent investigating X-files. “Why on earth do you want to look at something like that?”

Yaaeeeeekks!!!
“It’s the Iron Cross”. What? Oh wow… it really is the shinning iron cross with Jesus crucified across it. The first land mark. It wasn’t any dead animal or anything… it was Jesus. We are back on track. Yeeeppeee!! A wave of enthusiasm hit us. Now we just needed to follow the map properly and we will be there in no time!

We walked for the next half an hour.

“Another 500 mtr and we will be there”. Boy it had been a long night. A rather interesting one (now that we were back on track… it seemed much more interesting). “Ok guys lets do a final head count before we reach.” Ya ya as if we dont know where we are. I can see all 10 of us. Cut the crap.
“One, two, three… … … nine, ten”.
“Eleven”

Eleven? Weren’t we supposed to be ten?
I looked back… most of the guys were stupefied, blank expressions on their faces. “Who was it?”
“Don’t kid… it has already been too much of trouble tonight.”
“C’mon?”

“Dat was me.”
All of us turned in the direction of the voice… to our right. And there was this guy, lying on the ground smoking a cigar with a torn jeans and jacket, sporting what could only be called a relic of a cowboy hat.
“Where in da lord’s name have ya guys been? Have been looking for ya all over da damn place.”

Yeah of course, he was looking for us in the bushes on the roadside, half sleeping. “Who are you?”

“’Am Crap.”
What?
“Dun Crap, now c’mon ya nasty bunch… les go back. We gotta lotta stuff to do tomorrow.”

Belgium: Lost in the Jungle- I

“OK, I will watch the back”.
God where did that come from? I never knew this audacious me! Plus for god’s sake it’s the forest, pitch black and alarmingly quiet. Though we were told that there are no wild animals or any sort of danger in here, but my weak heart doesn’t care for logic.

Anyway, now that we have to find our way back through this stupid jungle to the final meeting point and all we have is a map, compass and some torches, I thought I will lead the group to victory. (From the back??)

So… here we were, in the jungle walking in files of 2 (finally Ist yr NCC came in handy), trying to find our way back through the paths, which seemed like it was hexed to restrain us from walking upright. But who cares… someone back there said it’s just a matter of an hour or two. So that’s good…. I can go and get some sleep.

The first hour passes. “I think we should have seen the Iron Cross (first land mark) half an hour ago”, said the girl with the map. “What??” said the entire group in unison. We could have walked over a kilometer in the last 30 min and that would mean that either we missed the giant of a cross, which was very unlikely, or we were off course. “Lemme check”, I said. Frankly, I never trusted the navigators. How could you, when the guy with the compass was more concerned about lightning his sutta than he was about direction and the girl checking the map thought she had walked half a mile every 10 min.

“Forget it. We are on course. We have the river on our right… that shows we are going in the right direction.”

“But dude… we were supposed to go downstream while we are going up. The river is flowing in the wrong direction! Or we are going in the opposite.”

My heart began to sink. We are lost. LOST. No shit… how can we be lost? We have the map, which has all the routes and turns. What if we had missed one?

“Ok lets go back and retrace our path till we find something familiar.” For the next hour or so, we were walking blind, looking for any sort of signs or traces. And with every min that passed we were getting tired and that made it increasingly difficult to estimate the distance traveled.

A tale of two friends

Recently, while going through my movie collection I stumbled upon a cute little movie about kids. This year’s release, Bridge To Terabithia is about two 10 year olds and their imaginary world. Jess is an aspiring yet shy boy who meets Leslie who is the new girl at school. Like Jess, Leslie has no friends and probably this kick starts their friendship.

Jess shares all his secrets with Leslie and the later finds her best mate in Jess. Together they invent a new world they call Terabithia, and it comes to life through their eyes as they explore together. It’s a beautiful world where they forget all their worries and troubles and immerse themselves in its sweetness.

But soon enough, Leslie has to go away (dies) and Jess is left all alone. He suffers much grief and is broken from the loss of his friends. But to keep alive the friendship he rebuilds Terabithia and introduces his sister to this world. And the movie ends here.

But then what? What happens to the boy after that? What happens to Terabithia? Does he forget Leslie soon after?

Perhaps not. May be he remembers the girl for the rest of his life. May be he wasn’t even capable of forgetting her. After all she was the best thing to have ever happened to him. She was the friend he would never have again.

Every night he would tell his sister the stories of Terabithia. And she would listen to him with innocence and wonder, never realizing what that friend and the world meant to him. She would not understand that it wasn’t the world but the girl in that world that made all the difference. She will enjoy the stories and like everyone else would believe in his smiling mask, while his real self would ache with enormous grief. And he would then be a loner… alone in a room full of hundred friends.

Every time he would talk about Terabithia, he would think of his friend, of the carefree times they shared, of the invisible connection they had and of the future that will never be.
Sometimes he would stay up at nights thinking of the times when she was there. There can never be a day when he won't think of her.

As the time passes, he would try to move ahead, not wanting the past to be a part of him. But it would be there, as something that he would never understand. He would think, dream, hope, frown, wonder but would never get out of her.

She will be there in his mind, in his words, in his thoughts and everywhere… for ever.

Love at First Sight

It’s been over a month since I last wrote something. And boy it has been one happening month. I would say… one of the best in the recent times.

That day was… amazing.
14th was my destination. Doesn’t normally take a long time coz the lifts are real fast these days. But that day it almost took an eternity to cross those 14 god forsaken floors!

Ground Floor
The doors opened. Wow… lucks! I noticed three girls as I entered.

Second Floor
The doors opened again and this time round my heart skipped a beat. Standing before me was one of the most amazing beauties of my time. Sporting an addidas T and a pair of white pyjamas, she had a sling bag across her front. A couple of painting brushes in her hand and strokes of color on her face said that she was a painter. Stepping in, she stood next to me and pressed 14. My heart settled down past its usual place, somewhere near the bottom.
That was my floor too!!

Fifth floor
She noticed me. There I was… in a pale ugly t-shirt with an inappropriately greased jeans (thanks to the car servicing) looking like an M F Hussain modern abstract art. Why god why? Always the wrong time!
She smiled, “Hi”. I gasped, mouth wide open. My voice was stuck inside me trying to find its way out through the proper channel. Not sure if it did mange to, but I guess I said something, which sounded like ‘Haawy’. “Hey”, said someone behind me along with some giggles. Nuts!! It wasn’t me. Crap! It was one of those times when u wish dinosaurs weren’t extinct and could be whistled at will to come and gulp you down. I went numb, fingers in mid air.

Seventh floor
I missed the exchange of next few words between her and the gal behind me. Giggling continued. Oh god!

Tenth Floor
Now it was just the two of us.
Just four floors left. It was now or never. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I dumbly stared at the buttons on the panel as if trying to decode some secret message. I thought of saying something about paintings. But I knew about paintings as much as I knew about goblin families.

Eleventh floor
I fumbled with my car keys as countless topics raced through my mind- cars, Addidas, tooth brushes, pyjamas… Gawd!! Is this all I can think of?

Twelfth floor
I was in love. The love bug acted of its own accord and somewhere between the ground and the tenth floor I was knocked out. And now it was my turn… I had to make a move. I had to say something damn it.
I felt like there was a wild stampede inside me that started somewhere near the tongue and was going down, through the stomach to the intestine.

Thirteenth floor
I forgot, there is no 13th floor in these buildings. Why all the builders have to suffer from triskaidekaphobia? An additional floor would have been handy in such a dire situation.

Somewhere near the 14th floor
“Gee… I… daught it was… u meant down dere… said Hi”.

Fourteenth floor
I could see my ears growing longer and red. I felt like a bunny rabbit. Jumping up and down.
No I think that was my heart. But what’s with the ears?
“Sorry?” she said curtly. And the doors opened. I could hear more giggles as she walked out and the doors closed back. Man…Giggling should be made illegal.