Thoughts @ Amit Gupta is a blog by Amit Gupta on india, internet , mobile, marketing and life in general. » Amit

Logging out from makaan.com

Amit Gupta — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:32:47 +0000

Now when i am logging off as a product manager for makaan.com after two and a half year, i am tempted to peep into the past and relive some of the moments that i’ll cherish for life. My session with makaan begins with an email request (typical web 2.0 style) to aditya verma (business head & vp, makaan.com ) and i got the invite to join in the core team to build a real estate portal.

First day @ makaan My Laapy

We started out with a small team in a makeshift office in south extn before moving to beautiful building in gurgaon. We started in a typical start-up environment with a daunting task of going commercial in the least possible time. But this gave me a rare opportunity to work and understand every aspect of setting up a new business and felt like an entrepreneur.

The proud moment arrived on August 15, 2007 when we formally launched makaan. I lived so many sweet and sour experiences during my stay with makaan. Few of them become part of my blog and can be read below and rest will stay etched in my memory for ever.

- Offsite visit with makaan tech team (& family) to Chamba, Tehri dam and Mussorie.

- Endless wait in aircrafts for takeoff.
- I become a jealous economy class traveler (I pass it of as austerity).
- Been an alien in my own country.
- I spend a night at airport terminal.
- Completes 1 year @ Makaan
- Offsite to daman with software team
- Launch of makaan mobile application
- Launch of makaan 2.0
- Offsite to karjat with product team

Some more unforgettable moments captured on camera

Team makaan on second anniversary

What next ????

I’ll be logging into the domain of social bookmarking. To know more details keep watching this space or add this page to your favorite (web 1.0 style) or better bookmark this page

New life in my home

Amit Gupta — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:47:00 +0000

Hold your gun man and don’t jump to conclusions and don’t go by the post image at all. Its not me and monica in the pic, I am talking about …well why don’t you read below.

Wow ! great to see my garden getting inhabited by a new couple (weaver bird but off course). They have build up a nice cozy home for themselves (see images of the progress in last 15-20 days).

July 02, 2009 July 09, 2009 July 16, 2009

Like a typical middle class Indian neigbour I peeped into their home on pretext of borrowing some sugar (Actually I wanted to see the interiors) And I was pleasently surprized to see my new neigbours are on family way. There were two beautifule little blue eggs holding life in them.

I’m eagerly waiting for the new borns to arrive.

Safeguard your SIM card against misuse

Amit Gupta — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:32:32 +0000

There seems to be a perfect synergy in the marketing and sales department of cellular companies. Both departments are supplementing each other in growing the subscriber base (And possibly redcuing ARPU).

The telesales ladies pushes hard to sell complementary ‘Golden’, ‘Platinum’ and matching/similar numbers to your current Mobile number in ever sweet voice. I have recd two such calls since morning. Good I have recieved two call in morning itself and now I can chill (My average incoming telesales call stands at 2). I am sure you want to know how have I managed this. Follow these simple rules to avoid telemarketing calls.

‘Amit Gupta : With the amount of free numbers offered by Idea cellular. It seems I can run a telephone exchange.Tell them I am happy in my job’ via my facebook and twitter update.

On other hand, marketing team is generating demand for new sim card in very innovative way. My latest bill from Vodafone displayed the ‘SMART’ way of safeguarding sim cards in 3 easy steps (This is the most prominent and colorful element on the page).

1) Go to nearest Store
2) Break the card in two
3) Hand it over to store employee

and then what…get a new sim card or connection Can’t believe what is the message Vodafone is trying to deliver with this creative. I found this message very confusing and misplaced.

How to make a pizza (sinful eating)

Amit Gupta — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:44:15 +0000

So folks let me take you thru the process of making a sinfully unhealthy but amazingly delicious Pizza.

Ingredients:

a) Pizza base
b) Cheese (Britannia)
c) Pizza Sauce (By Cremica)
d) Oregano and Chilly Flakes (Leftover from Domino’s blend perfectly)

Toppings:
a) Mushrooms
b) Fresh Paneer
c) Onions
d) Capsicum
e) Red Jalapeno (In Vinegar)

Other key requirement
a) Microwave
b) Electricity (Scarce in Gurgaon)

Step 1: Apply a thin coating of pizza sauce on the base.

Step 2: Put Sliced toppings of about 1/2 inch size and put them evenly on base.

Step 3: Now put the shredded Pizza Cheese and cover the pizza base evenly.

Step 4: Put the pizza in Microwave for 7-8 minutes @ 180 C on convection mode. (Hopefully you would have switched on the microwave by now)

Step 5: Wait…Wait…Wait or sing a song or dance or ya get some coke for you.

Final step: Indulge into the sinful act.

PS : recovered this post from google cached file. Love you google ummmaaah . And thanks @mayank for moving my blog successfully to new host.

Confession – Love you Maggi

Amit Gupta — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:37:39 +0000

Oh man … It’s 25 years or Silver Jubilee of our first meeting. I still remember the day when you entered my life. We met at my school. You wore bright yellow with strokes of red. And on our very first date, I brought you to my home to meet mom (It wasn’t infatuation, I can say now). Mom actually likes you…

And It was love at first bite…I am mad about you till this date. I love all your makeover and well…most of the flavors. You remember you got me gift on our every 5th date. I still have some of them with me (still hidden from my wife).

But for the first time I am sharing this story and some of your gifts with the world, Hope you would love it equally.

All you MAGGI lovers visit http://meandmeri.in and share you lovely moments spends with her.

Shades of me

Amit Gupta — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:58:03 +0000

Logging out from makaan.com

Death sentence for rape accussed

Amit Gupta — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:50:15 +0000

There should be no mercy for the rape accussed. They are are bigger culprit of humanity than any criminal, murderer or terrorist. The law enforcement agencies and judiciary should set examples by speeding up the judicial process and awarding the highest punishment to these criminals.

Google Chrome – First look

Amit Gupta — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:28:08 +0000

I have downloaded Google chrome today. I am impressed in the first glance. Though it will take some more time to understand how will the brower perform. BUt few features which make it stands out are ;

a) Neat and clean look : A new browsing experience and the window seems to gain that extra screen space. The tabs and search bar are intelligently integrated in the browser. Every pixel is optimally utilized.

b) One stop shop : Search , Address bar, suggestive search all integrated in one box. Google makes me LAZZZZY

c) Most visited site : Hmmm… nice tool. I would not say amazing but useful (advertisers will love google for this)

d) Browsing history : Smart way to display history along with time of visit.

More to come ….

First Step

Amit Gupta — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:43:06 +0000

I have taken a baby step owards fulfilling my dream !!!

A Year That Was…

Amit Gupta — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:13:00 +0000

These line are generally written on the turn of the year. You might think that I am possibily two months late. But I am talking about completeing a year with Makaan.com

Now when I look back at this amazing year it gives me a feeling which can’t be expressed in words. But whats so amazing about this year and this job. There has been complete transormation from the kind of work I’ve done in the past. I have lived my dream of creating an online business.

On the day of joining makaan team strength was three including Aditya (Business Head) and (Chetna). Now we have grown over 125 as a team. Aditya has shown immence confidence in me and handed me an additional responsibily of Managing the software team along with my Product Management responsibility.

And we have done our best to proove him right by delivering a best in the category product within the short span. We have worked for 10-12 hours in a day for 4 months in a strech. We launched the site on August 15, 2007, Independence day of India in less than 6 Months of my joining.

And I must say that I have got an amazing team to support Saleem, Deb, Veeru , Amit , Sandy and Nikhil.