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<ul><li>A former <keyword id="19915884" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Facebook" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Facebook" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Facebook">Facebook</keyword> employee took a trip down the memory lane. </li><li>He shared how <keyword id="19952202" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mark-Zuckerberg" source="keywords">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> motivated him.</li><li>He built Facebook's Search Engine all alone.</li></ul> Whether you are working at a large company or a small one, having a leader who motivates you can make a lot of difference. Good leaders not only push you to be a better version of yourself, but also guide you through the process. They often make you achieve things that you never thought you could and that helps you grow in your career. And this is what exactly happened with one of Facebook's early-day engineers. The man, named <keyword id="21476157" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aditya-Agarwal" source="keywords">Aditya Agarwal</keyword>, revealed during the episode of Mark <keyword id="19949251" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zuckerberg" source="keywords">Zuckerberg</keyword> on Llama, AI, &amp; Minus One that the Meta CEO motivated him to build Facebook's search engine all by himself. <h2>How Mark Zuckerberg motivated a young engineer</h2> Back in 2005, Facebook was still in its infancy, and every new feature had the potential to make or break the platform. During a conversation, Zuckerberg handed Agarwal a daunting project: to build Facebook’s search engine. What made this assignment particularly challenging was that Zuckerberg insisted Agarwal tackle it alone, without any team or external support. Initially, Agarwal doubted his ability to deliver. The idea of building a search engine from scratch was overwhelming, especially when the likes of Google and Yahoo were the leaders in the field. Agarwal even suggested bringing in an expert from one of these companies. But Zuckerberg had a different perspective. His response was simple yet powerful: “Dude, if I can build Facebook, you can build a damn search engine.” <h2>Facebook's First Director of Product Engineering</h2> This brief exchange became a pivotal moment in Agarwal’s career. Encouraged by Zuckerberg’s confidence in him, he took on the challenge and successfully developed the search engine that would become a crucial tool for Facebook users. This experience not only proved Agarwal’s technical prowess but also marked the beginning of his rise within the company, eventually becoming Facebook’s first Director of Product Engineering, he revealed. Today, Aditya Agarwal has moved on from Facebook and has become a partner at <keyword id="21082255" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="South-Park-Commons" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="South Park Commons" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="South Park Commons">South Park Commons</keyword>, a collective known for nurturing talent and innovation. His journey from a young engineer at a fledgling social network to a leader in the tech world underscores how a single challenge, when met with determination and the right encouragement, can define an entire career. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/mark-zuckerberg-really-wants-you-to-know-hes-a-chain-guy-now/amp_articleshow/112141625.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/mark-zuckerberg-really-wants-you-to-know-hes-a-chain-guy-now/amp_articleshow/112141625.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Mark Zuckerberg really wants you to know he's a chain guy now</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/mark-zuckerberg-is-in-his-fashion-designer-era/amp_articleshow/112264998.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Mark Zuckerberg is in his fashion designer era</a>

A single engineer built Facebook’s search engine, he credits Mark Zuckerberg for motivating him

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A former Facebook executive says coding alongside an AI copilot is a "mind meld."</li><li>Aditya Agarwal described the copilot coding experience in a Thursday post on X.</li></ul>A former Facebook director is praising AI's prowess, likening the technology's co-pilot coding ability to a religious experience.In a Thursday post on X, <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/30-of-the-most-successful-early-stage-investors#aditya-agarwal-south-park-commons-3">Aditya Agarwal</a> attempted to describe the feeling of coding alongside a large language model co-pilot."It's like someone has jacked up your own abilities by an order of magnitude, while achieving a complete mind meld with what you're trying to do," he wrote. Agarwal was one of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-successful-facebook-alumni-2015-6">Facebook's first engineers</a>, serving as director of product engineering at the company from 2005 to 2010. He was instrumental in the development of several Facebook staples, including search, news feed, and messenger, according to his LinkedIn.After leaving Facebook, Agarwal cofounded the collaboration startup Cove and later spent more than <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-promotes-vp-of-engineering-aditya-agarwal-to-cto-2016-10">six years as chief technology officer</a> at file-sharing and storage startup Dropbox. He's a current partner at South Park Commons, an entrepreneurial firm that funds seed-stage startups.In his Thursday post, Agarwal said he found it difficult to explain the feeling of coding alongside an AI co-pilot but compared the experience to working with a "demigod" that "amplifies your abilities and anticipates your every move.""It's a level of all-encompassing synergy that's hard to fathom until you've experienced it firsthand," he wrote.Several technology companies that are developing artificial intelligence have created <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-an-exclusive-look-erasers-new-ai-co-pilot-tool-2024-5">copilot</a> tools, which essentially act as AI assistants helping users with various tasks. He did not specify which tool he was using.Agarwal said the tool's power goes beyond simple auto-complete. Relying on a large language model, like GPT-4, an AI copilot is able to "predict your actual intent, presaging what you aim to build," he added."Coding is clearly the tip of the spear here, as it's the creative activity we've most clearly plugged into LLMs," Agarwal wrote. "But this is the direction many creative pursuits are headed."The future of AI assistant tools, Agarwal said, is about "co-creation.""The lines between the creator and the tool will blur," he added.Agarwal didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for further comment.The introduction of AI tools into professional settings has increased anxiety about the future of work in industries across the board. BI's Aki Ito reported last year that the transition for programmers could be especially difficult as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-ai-technology-end-of-coding-software-developers-jobs-2023-4#:~:text=%22This%20happens%20with%20every%20technological,the%20ones%20they%20do%20today.">coders are inevitably displaced</a> and forced to adapt to a new normal.But artificial intelligence will also make programmers' jobs easier, allowing them to focus on higher-level tasks, BI previously <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/will-chatgpt-replace-programmers-engineers-developers-tech-jobs-easier-2023-3">reported</a>.

Former Facebook engineer says coding with an AI copilot is like working with a 'demigod'    

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Former <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook">Facebook</a> director Aditya Agarwal argues weekly 1:1 meetings often do more harm than good.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/workers-spending-less-time-in-meetings-productivity-2024-4">Weekly check-ins</a>, he says, lead to nitpicking and inhibit holistic feedback.</li></ul>A former Facebook director thinks the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/one-on-one-weekly-meeting-with-boss-mistakes-2024-1">weekly 1:1 meeting</a> with your manager needs a reboot.In a post on X, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/30-of-the-most-successful-early-stage-investors#aditya-agarwal-south-park-commons-3">Aditya Agarwal</a> wrote that after more than a decade of running these meetings with his direct reports, he determined the weekly check-ins did more harm than good."They condition people to do spot checks on happiness and constantly be critical about things that aren't ideal. In practice, 1:1s descend into nitpicking sessions," he wrote as <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/adityaag/status/1790798947617013836">part of a thread</a>.Agarwal was once the chief technology officer at Dropbox and one of Facebook's early engineers. He's now a partner at South Park Commons, a Silicon Valley group that aims to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seed-75-best-seed-vc-firms-founders-raising-money-startups-2023-6#no-25-south-park-commons-25">build community among founders</a>, entrepreneurs, and technologists.Agarwal suggested bosses give feedback every three to six months rather than weekly. This would, he said, push managers to uncover patterns and offer "holistic" guidance instead of spot checks each week."Frankly, I hated it and found it useless. But it's what "good" managers did," Agarwal wrote of the weekly appointments.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/14rkbwv/does_anybody_else_hate_their_11_meetings/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button">critique of the 1:1</a> isn't the first. But before you go canceling yours — if you can get away with that — there are ways to improve what is likely the most important meeting on your calendar.<div type="image" title="Aditya Agarwal" height="3550" width="5325" msid="110185876" hostid="261" sizebytes="280138"></div>Steven G. Rogelberg, an organizational psychologist and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, studies 1:1s. He previously told Business Insider that one of the biggest no-nos in these meetings is when the boss dominates the conversation or runs through a to-do list —a practice Agarwal called "archaic."Rogelberg said the meeting was designed to address a worker's tactical and personal needs. Going deep on personal requirements means saying things like, "Tell me more," so the boss can better understand where a worker might need help. Too often, he said, bosses gloss over the personal stuff because wading through it can be extra work.To make 1:1s better, Rogelberg suggests bosses and their direct reports meet every two weeks for perhaps 25 to 50 minutes. He said meeting more often can make workers feel micromanaged.Agarwal made a similar point in his post: "Excessive 1:1s are a distraction," he wrote. Instead, Agarwal suggested that bosses should save themselves and their direct reports' time to focus on getting work done and making the company successful.On the other hand, Rogelberg told BI, that meeting too infrequently can make people feel as though their boss doesn't care.But, Agarwal suggested that rather than holding frequent meetings, mangers be available so workers can go to them with questions. He added that managers can have a deeper conversation about a worker's career development once a quarter or so over a meal."This is a more effective cadence," Agarwal wrote.Rogelberg, the author of "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.stevenrogelberg.com/11-meetings-1">Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings</a>," suggests managers ask about hurdles workers might be facing, how the manager can better help, and what's working and what's not. He said it's possible to reserve periodic 1:1s to focus on longer-term issues so they don't get overlooked.Agarwal noted that if a worker is having a hard time, it's wise to have more regular check-ins."But for most folks, quarterly big picture conversations and real-time availability are sufficient," he wrote.Agarwal said he wanted the people under him to be resilient."Not every week or month will be happy and pleasant. I want them to deal with it without constantly feeling bad. Weekly 1:1s undermine this," he wrote.

A former Facebook director says managers need to kill the weekly 1:1 meeting. Here's why.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">DropboxDropbox CTO Aditya Agarwal</div></div></div>Dropbox has promoted its VP of engineering, Aditya Agarwal, as its new CTO, putting him in the position that's been held by cofounder Arash Ferdowsi since the company's launch in 2007.Although Ferdowsi will step back from running the day-to-day technical side of the company, Dropbox says he will continue to be involved in all aspects of the business, including product, technology, and recruiting. "The cofounder is a way better title for Arash because of all the different things he does for the company," Agarwal told Business Insider.In his new role, Agarwal will be responsible for building the product roadmap for Dropbox, a company that's been in transition from a popular consumer app to a more sophisticated set of business software targeting small and large companies alike. Agarwal, an early Facebook engineer, has spent almost 5 years at Dropbox, overseeing the development of products like Dropbox <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Enterprise">Enterprise</keyword> and Paper, while scaling the engineering team from 20 to hundreds of people across the world."Our roadmap is about reimagining the way people and teams work together. And my job is to translate that roadmap into building high quality products, quickly," Agarwal said.<h2>False assumption</h2>Agarwal's promotion comes at an interesting time. Despite reaching a lofty $10 billion valuation in 2014, Dropbox has faced some questions around its growth since then, especially as the company started shifting its focus to business customers.Two years ago, Dropbox unveiled its <a href="https://blogs.dropbox.com/dropbox/2014/04/a-home-for-life/">"Home for Life"</a> strategy that would make it the central hub for consumers' daily activities. But the company soon ditched that plan, shutting down its email app MailBox and photo app Carousel, and instead <a href="https://blogs.dropbox.com/business/2015/11/introducing-dropbox-enterprise/">launching Dropbox Enterprise</a>, which targets big business organizations, last year. "Users are really using Dropbox for collaboration and productivity. And that's been the focus of our roadmap over the last 18 months or so," Agarwal said.Those consumer roots put Dropbox in a good position to win the business customers, Agarwal argues. Because of its simplicity and ease-of-use, Dropbox is already the most popular file storage app among regular consumers, reaching 500 million registered users, and that's appealing to business customers as well, he says."The traditional view is that it's super different to build for a 20,000-person company versus a 20-person company, but I think that's a false assumption. I think in today's market, those two segments actually want the same solution," he says.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/arash-ferdowsi-and-drew-houston-and-shervin-pishevar-attend-news-photo/478027481">Kimberly White/Getty Images</a>Dropbox cofounders Arash Ferdowsi and Drew Houston</div></div></div><h2>Better approach </h2>It remains to be seen if Dropbox's popularity in the consumer space will translate to success in the enterprise as well. Business customers typically ask for more customization, require stricter regulatory compliance, and require longer sales cycles with more hands-on assistance.But Agarwal says because Dropbox is so popular among smaller teams within companies, it then becomes easier to convince CIOs to make bigger purchases that lead to company-wide deployments. Dropbox has also been bolstering its security and compliance features to make it more enterprise-ready.That's opening up opportunities in the more highly regulated industries. For example, after becoming HIPAA-compliant 9 months ago, Dropbox has been able to sign one of the largest healthcare providers in the East Coast for a 1,000-plus user deal. Agarwal declined to share any specific metrics around active users or the number of large enterprise deals, only reiterating that it's used by 200,000 business customers, including Adidas, News Corp., and HP Enterprise.This is the latest in a series of executive changes at the company as it prepares for a possible IPO next year: it has replaced its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dropboxs-marketing-chief-julie-herendeen-steps-down-2016-3">marketing chief</a>, CFO, and now CTO in the past 6 months. The company has also become more conservative with its spending, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cost-cutting-at-dropbox-and-silicon-valley-startups-2016-5">reducing employee perks</a> and planning a smaller-scale customer event than last year's Dropbox Open conference, which featured high-profile guest speakers like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, HP Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, and Apple SVP Eddie Cue.Combine that with Dropbox's huge scale and consumer-friendly approach, and Agarwal believes he has a good chance to catch up others in the enterprise."Our scale and unique approach allow us to make a big dent in this space," Agarwal said. "Building a consumer software for the enterprise is the right way to go and I think a lot of companies still don't quite have that approach nailed down." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-hawking-warning-space-aliens-seti-2016-9">Stephen Hawking warned us about contacting aliens, but this astronomer says it's 'too late'</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RzeTAyNjE6gtR_2DvSKCIS3S7yEAsIlS" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Dropbox cofounder Arash Ferdowsi passes off CTO role to VP of engineering

Emami group, Kolkata-based conglomerate ranging from FMCG products to real estate and healthcare are now setting up a family advisory board . The intent is to make younger generation of the two unrelated families of RS Agarwal and RS Goenka participate in the business. 
As per a news report by The Economic Times, the professionals heading various departments who don’t belong to the family would report to the advisory board. Agarwal’s children Aditya Agarwal, Harsh Agarwal and Priti Surekha, and Mohan Goenka, Manish Goenka and Prashant Goenka of the Goenka family have already formed the board. 
 
Talking to the ET, RS Agarwal, joint chairman of the Emami group said, the group will also hire US-based The Family Business Consulting Group to help in this process. 
 
Harsh Agarwal and Mohan Goenka were seen as the front runners in the family to formally lead the flagship FMCG business which has been aggressively acquiring brands and companies. "Both families have equal crossholdings across various group companies and will seek advice from experts to chart out a robust plan," RS Agarwal told ET. 
 
"We have ensured that the next generation in the family shares a close relationship similar to mine and Mr Goenka's and all of them are not different from each other in their values, mindsets and approach to business." All businesses of the Emami group have one member from each family on board as a director. Emami group watchers said it will be a challenging task for the promoters to chalk out a clear succession plan without ruffling feathers in the family. 
 
"Fortunately for the group, there are no different voices in the family and they are similar in nature although they are from two different families," Anand Rathi, founder chairman of Anand Rathi Securities, a financial services firm, who has known the Emami founders since the inception of the group told the financial daily. 
 
The promoters have trained the second generation to have a unified approach, said Rathi. "So while the daily operations are handled by non-family professionals, the family has worked along with them smoothly, with each of them playing to their respective strengths," he said. 
 
The challenge for most family owned businesses, as Rathi told the ET, is to coordinate a structure that has professional managers hired from outside and equally capable family youngsters with formal education and ambitions. 
 
The founders are now focused on ensuring that the next generation works together without conflicts, just as they did."There is a formal code of conduct laid down for all members of the family," said Agarwal to the ET. 
 
"Succession planning is an area we are looking at very carefully and seriously, and taking a lot of advice from experts to ensure unanimity in the family and working together to achieve business goals,” added Agarwal. 
 
The formal code of conduct includes dos and don'ts such as no personal loan for any family member, no stock market speculation on part of anybody in the family and restriction on the number of holidays allowed in a year. 
 
(Image: mycollegefest)

Emami is showing the way forward for all family-run businesses! Even the Ambani’s can learn from it

<ul><li>The Indian hospitality unicorn <keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">OYO</keyword>’s founder <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword> wants to buy back shares worth $1.5 billion, according to reports. </li><li>Agarwal holds 9.43% in the hospitality startup, while SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, controls 45.69% of the company. </li><li>According to OYO’s clauses, SoftBank cannot take up more than 49.99% in the company without approval from Agarwal and his early investors. </li></ul>In an unprecedented move in the Indian startup ecosystem, OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal is looking to buy back shares worth $1.5 billion according to an <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/oyo-founder-in-talks-to-buy-back-1-5-billion-shares/articleshow/70121644.cms">ET report.</a> The report cited sources to say that the founder is looking buy shares from its early investors like Sequoia and Lightspeed Venture Partners, to have greater control of his company. In an email response, an OYO spokesperson said, “As a company policy, we don’t comment on speculations. We have no further comments.” Agarwal reportedly wants to raise his stake in the firm to over 30%. Currently, Agarwal holds 9.43% in the hospitality startup, while SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, controls 45.69% of the company. The report further says that the founder is looking to raise $2 billion of secured debt through investors in India, Japan and Europe. Meanwhile, early investor Lightspeed has 13.4% stake, while Sequoia Capital has 10.24%. According to information sourced by paper.vc, Article 21.6 of Oyo’s Articles of Association prohibit Softbank from, directly or indirectly, acquiring more than 49.99% of the fully diluted share capital of the company, without the consent of Ritesh Aggarwal, Greenoaks, Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital. SoftBank has been an investor in OYO since a long time now. It was Softbank's investment that led OYO into the Indian unicorn club with a $5 billion valuation in September 2018, a huge jump from the $900 million valuation it had until then. Reports say that OYO is once again looking at raising funds through debt and primary, secondary transactions, which could take its valuation to over $10 billion. The Indian hospitality unicorn has been spreading its business fast across the world. It recently became China’s largest hotel chain. OYO said that it will invest $300 million to expand its footprint in the United States – into cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It already has 50 hotels across 15 states in the US. It recently launched services in Vietnam. The six-year-old startup has much higher ambitions in sight – to become the world’s largest hotel chain, as conveyed by its CEO Aditya Ghosh earlier this <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/former-indigo-chief-is-aiming-to-make-the-6-year-old-oyo-the-worlds-largest-hotel-chain/articleshow/67536612.cms">year</a>.

The founder of OYO, the Indian unicorn, is so confident that he will buy back $1.5 billion shares

<ul><li><keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">Oyo</keyword> wants to have 1 million <keyword id="18966" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hotel">hotel</keyword> rooms in the next one-and-a-half years. </li><li>The hospitality unicorn had recently appointed <keyword id="229263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aditya-Ghosh">Aditya Ghosh</keyword>, former <keyword id="6354706" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IndiGo">Indigo</keyword> president, as its CEO of South Asia operations. </li><li>The company is focusing on international growth with plans to further enter into the European, Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian markets. </li></ul>In 2013, a scrawny 20-year-old from Odisha set out to start a portal from where you could book hotel rooms online. Cut to 2019 and the 25-year-old <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword> is the founder of India’s unicorn startup <keyword id="2550719" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">Oyo Rooms</keyword>. It also has Aditya Ghosh, the former president of Indigo Airlines, on board and together, they intend to make Oyo the biggest <keyword id="150849" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="hotel-chain">hotel chain</keyword> in the world. Oyo Rooms is already the largest hotel chain in South Asia. “We will have one million rooms inventory into our fold in the near distant future. I think, it should happen in a year and a half,” Ghosh told the news agency PTI on January 15. Ghosh is the CEO, South Asia operations. A million rooms will be about double its existing network of 450,000. Over the years, Oyo has put up its red-and-white logo in almost every other budget hotel in the country and has gone from being just an aggregator for hotel bookings to owning properties including Oyo Townhouse (budget hotels) and Oyo Living (coliving rental spaces). While Oyo had marked its first international debut in 2018 with Dubai, it has been focusing more on China, Europe, Malaysia and Indonesia. Agarwal has brought in Ghosh to drive the fast developing South Asia operations. In fact, the company’s fast expansion into the Chinese market saw it become one of the top 10 hotel chains in China in just one year of operations. Oyo Rooms <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/oyo-manages-more-rooms-in-china-than-in-india/articleshow/66725906.cms">reportedly</a> manages more hotels in China than in India. Oyo also has its eyes in Japan, taking stock of the large number of people that’s going to visit the country for the <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-oyo-hotels-eyes-biggest-hotel-chain-tag-to-double-global-footprint-2707996">2020 Olympics</a>. The hospitality startup had turned into a unicorn in<a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/oyo-appoints-top-level-execs-to-drive-international-growth/"> 2018</a> after it received a funding of $800 million at a valuation of $5 billion. It has found backing from top investors like Softbank Group, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed India among others. It has the money, it has the drive, and it certainly has room to grow fast and large. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/oyo-rooms-is-the-most-valuable-hotel-chain-in-south-asia-after-softbank-investment/articleshow/65964564.cms">OYO Rooms is the most valuable “hotel chain” in South Asia after Softbank investment</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/this-24-year-old-dropped-out-of-college-won-funding-from-peter-thiel-then-raised-480-million-for-his-startup/articleshow/65910683.cms">This 24-year-old dropped out of college, won funding from Peter Thiel, then raised $480 million for his startup</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/this-24-year-old-dropped-out-of-college-won-funding-from-peter-thiel-then-raised-480-million-for-his-startup/articleshow/65910683.cms">This SoftBank-funded startup was founded by a 24-year-old to glam up budget hotels, and it's just launched in the UK</a>

A 6-year-old Indian startup wants to be world’s biggest hotel chain

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li style="font-weight: 400;">Holloway, an online publishing startup, announced on Thursday it raised $4.6 million in seed funding from NEA, The New York Times, and South Park Commons.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">The company focuses on publishing book-length <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quantitative-easing-for-dummies-2013-2">"how to" content exclusively online</a> that is authored and vetted by industry experts like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-promotes-vp-of-engineering-aditya-agarwal-to-cto-2016-10">Aditya Agarwal, former CTO of Dropbox</a>, and Jennifer Kom, an advisor with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/successful-y-combinator-application-goodly-new-student-debt-startup-2019-4">accelerator Y Combinator</a>.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">CEO Andy Sparks says that investors were originally hesitant to back a content publishing startup, but were intrigued by recent funding news from <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/16/18627157/quora-value-billion-question-answer">online Q&amp;A site Quora</a>, which is now said to be worth $2 billion.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">See the pitch deck Sparks and team used to win over its seed investors.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>The internet promised quick and reliable access to all kinds of information, but in 2019, finding high-quality, well-vetted educational information is harder than ever.For people that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-remember-everything-you-read-2015-9">process information better from reading</a> than they do from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ways-youtube-influencers-creators-make-money-2019-7">watching a YouTube tutorial</a> or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/podcasts-that-make-you-smarter-2017-3">listening to a podcast</a>, the options are few and far between for quality "how-to" material that is also searchable. There's where Holloway comes in.Holloway is an online publishing startup that focuses primarily on "non-fiction reference material," according to cofounder and CEO Andy Sparks. Think the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quantitative-easing-for-dummies-2013-2">famed "For Dummies" series</a>, but on the internet. And on Thursday the startup announced it raised $4.6 million in seed funding to get its materials in front of the internet masses."We came to VCs and said look, all the different types of knowledge you find in a library, most of them had a big innovation for the internet," Sparks told Business Insider. "Encyclopedias had Wikipedia and the dictionary obviously had Dictionary.com. Non-fiction pop business books and fiction are dominated by Kindle. But there's this whole category of non-fiction reference, things you spend hours studying, and no one has brought that content to the internet."Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clearbanc-pitch-deck-series-b-venture-funding-2019-7">See the pitch deck that nabbed Clearbanc, a startup that provides funding to other startups, $300 million in Series B financing less than a year after its first venture round</a>Sparks explained that part of the new funding will go towards helping Holloway bring on even more experts to write and edit the guides. Holloway has been working with industry experts like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-promotes-vp-of-engineering-aditya-agarwal-to-cto-2016-10">Aditya Agarwal, former CTO of Dropbox</a>, and Jennifer Kom, an advisor with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/successful-y-combinator-application-goodly-new-student-debt-startup-2019-4">accelerator Y Combinator</a>, with the goal to add more depth and niche areas over time to meet reader demand."Knowledge workers don't get degrees and just have the same job for 10, 20, or 30 years any more. Even four years later, your job is totally different than what you studied in college," Sparks said. "Millions of people are searching for that kind of stuff so there's a ton of opportunity for a company to come in and start reliable, well-researched content for those queries."Convincing investors to back a content-publishing startup wasn't an easy feat, Sparks said. Although NEA, The New York Times, and South Park Commons ultimately signed on, Sparks had to lean on reports of recent <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/16/18627157/quora-value-billion-question-answer">fundraising success at online Q&amp;A site Quora, </a>now said to be worth $2 billion, to make his case with VCs."There was a lot of skepticism around book publishing, but this was also around the time Quora started raising," Sparks said. "Subscriptions were starting to be a bigger deal. So we pitched it like, hey, this is a bet someone should work on."Here's how Sparks won over the investors backing Holloway's seed round.

Here's the pitch deck that Holloway used to raise $4.6 million from NEA and the New York Times for its online 'how-to' manual business

New Delhi, Dec 2 () Hospitality firm OYO on Monday said it has elevated Aditya Ghosh, currently chief executive officer (India &amp; South Asia) for the hotels and homes business, as a member of its board of directors.
 Rohit Kapoor, currently CEO of the new real estate businesses of the company, has been appointed as CEO (India &amp; South Asia) for OYO Hotels &amp; Homes, it added.
 Ghosh will join OYO Hotels &amp; Homes founder &amp; Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal, Baja Corporation founder &amp; CEO Betsy Atkins and other industry experts like Munish Varma, Bejul Somaia and Mohit Bhatnagar, among others, on the company's board, OYO Hotels &amp; Homes said in a statement.
 In his role on the board, Ghosh will focus on five key areas namely, safety and security, customer experience, corporate governance, revenue management and stakeholder communications, the statement said.
 "Ghosh's strong business acumen, problem-solving capabilities, passion for building an organisation with strong corporate governance and a high-performing work culture that thrives on principles of diversity and inclusion, make him the perfect choice for this larger and more strategic role, at a global level," OYO Hotels &amp; Homes founder &amp; Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said.
 The decision will help OYO achieve its goals globally, he added.
 On the appointment, Ghosh said, "I am thankful to the board for inviting me into the august group to further build OYO as a global brand to reckon with, by not just growing fast, but growing right."
 Ghosh and Kapoor will "work closely through the coming month to enable a smooth and seamless transition", the statement said.
 Rohit's remit will now also span the operations of over 18,000 hotels across over 500 cities in India and South Asia, it added. AKT HRS

OYO elevates India & South Asia CEO Aditya Ghosh to board of directors

<div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a title_source="Owen Thomas, Business Insider" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/515dde1fecad04c24d000000-960/facebook-home-dropbox-mark-zuckerberg.jpg"></a></div>Owen Thomas, Business Insider</div>As we walked into <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword> headquarters today to cover the launch of its new Home app, we ran into <keyword id="279713" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tumblr">Tumblr</keyword> CEO <keyword id="1057394" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="David-Karp">David Karp</keyword>.
We chatted with Karp, who said he got out to the Bay Area from time to time—as he should, since the blog-platform operator has investors out here, like Sequoia Capital's Roelof Botha.
Later, we spotted Karp having a chat with Zuckerberg. Then we saw <keyword id="684171" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Drew-Houston">Drew Houston</keyword>, CEO of file-sharing startup <keyword id="285445" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dropbox">Dropbox</keyword>, talking to the Facebook CEO, too.
Former Facebook engineers Aditya Agarwal and Ruchi Sanghvi, who left to found a startup later acquired by Dropbox, where they're now top executives, also chatted with Houston and Zuckerberg. (The couple remain close to Zuckerberg, who was a guest at Agarwal and Sanghvi's wedding.)
Prominent investors also were on hand—Chamath Palihapitiya, an early Facebook executive who now runs the Social+Capital Partnership, and angel investor Ron Conway. We also saw Zuckerberg and Conway talking.
What were they doing there? The conversations weren't exactly private—they went on in full view of the assembled press corps. It would have been easy for Zuckerberg to pull people aside for some truly private conversations.
Zuckerberg is on a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-year-mark-zuckerberg-is-meeting-a-new-person-every-day-2013-4">personal mission to meet a new person outside Facebook every day</a>—but we're pretty sure Karp and Houston and Zuckerberg have met before.
So it felt like Facebook was sending a message. Given the news of the day, here's a theory: Facebook intends Home not just to be an app that promotes Facebook's own services. Home changes the way Android smartphone presents notifications, and that could potentially affect how other Android apps alert users to activity.
Dropbox and Tumblr already have Facebook integrations; Dropbox users can share files in Facebook groups, and Tumblr users can share posts on their Facebook profiles.
What if the eventual plan is to have <keyword id="1626859" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook-Home">Facebook Home</keyword> become a platform for other apps, as Facebook is today for socially-enabled apps on the Web and mobile devices? 
That would mean developers like Dropbox and Tumblr—and many others—would be linked more closely to Facebook than to Google when building apps for Google's Android operating system. And that seems worth having a conversation about.

What Were The CEOs Of Dropbox And Tumblr Doing At Facebook Today?

<keyword id="40233" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="emami">Emami</keyword> Group has bought Kolkata-based vanaspati oil brand '<keyword id="1446846" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rasoi">Rasoi</keyword>.' The amount involved in the deal has not been disclosed. 
 
“The company has entered into an agreement with Rasoi Ltd, the edible oil arm of Rasoi Group to acquire edible oil brand Rasoi,” Emami said in a statement. "Rasoi is a heritage brand that enjoys very strong brand equity. It is a leading Vanaspati brand in West Bengal and one of the leading producers of Vanaspati in India that enjoys a strong legacy of consumer trust," Emami Group Director Aditya V Agarwal said. 
 
He added, "With the acquisition of the 'Rasoi' brand, we would be adding Vanaspati to our existing portfolio, enabling us to offer a wide range of choices to our consumers." 
 
Emami Group Director Manish Goenka said Emami Biotech will become Rs 5,000-crore company by FY2014-15. "The acquisition of Rasoi brand is part of our inorganic growth plan and has been funded internally. This is line with our overall growth strategy to emerge as the one of the top three edible oil companies in India," he said.

Emami Acquires Vanaspati Oil
Brand Rasoi

New Delhi, Jun 9 () Hospitality firm OYO on Tuesday said it has appointed W Steve Albrecht as non-executive director on the company's board of directors. As a non-executive director of the board, Albrecht will play a supervisory role and guide the founder and management on key business decisions, OYO Hotels &amp; Homes said in a statement. He is presently on the boards of SkyWest Airlines, Larry H Miller Group of Companies, and Deseret Mutual Benefit Association, it added. Albrecht is a former president of the American Accounting Association and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. As a professor, he taught full-time at the University of Illinois, Stanford and Brigham Young University, the statement said. He is also a certified public accountant, internal auditor and fraud examiner. "Steve is an expert and a thought leader who will help us deliver on sustainable growth, operational and service excellence, and help us continue building a strong culture of corporate governance and accountability," OYO Hotels Founder and Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said. As COVID-19 continues to impact the business, and forcing businesses to rethink its strategies, OYO's board has also come together and has been constantly guiding the group on business continuity and recovery measures, he added. Albrecht will join the board that has industry experts like Troy Alstead, Gerardo Issac (Gerry) Lopez, Betsy Atkins, Munish Varma, Bejul Somaia, Mohit Bhatnagar and Aditya Ghosh, OYO said. AKT BAL

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