<ul><li>Riding on the tech and digital wave, startups in India are hiring for technical roles. </li><li>Check out the new jobs listed at Jio, Unacademy, Icertis, Freshworks, and more. </li><li>Check out all the news and headlines at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/">Business Insider.</a></li></ul>As the Indian startup ecosystem recovers rapidly from the COVID-19 pandemic, hirings are in full swing. With a focus on digital transformation and growing technological progress, startups in India are hiring for technical roles. According to Naukri.com’s hiring activity report from November, the top searched keywords on the Naukri platform are Java Developer, Manual Testing and Business Analyst. Meanwhile, the top cities in recruitment mode are Bengaluru (22%), Delhi (13%), Hyderabad (9%), Pune (9%) and Chennai (7%). Here’s a look at some of the interesting jobs listed in the startup sector Unacademy is hiring in full swing, from Senior Product Manager to Analyst for Consumer Insights Indian edtech unicorn Unacademy has multiple job listings open on LinkedIn. The startup, which is riding on the edtech wave in India, is looking to fill multiple roles like Senior Product Manager, Senior Executive - Consumer Insights, Lead - Product Security, Manager Taxation, among others. You can find the job listings and requirements <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/unacademy/jobs/">here</a>. Jio’s tech hiring is on Reliance Jio is hiring for multiple technology-driven roles. The digital platform is hiring across its Mumbai and Hyderabad offices for roles like Senior Data Scientist, Big Data Developer, Cloud Solution Architect, Senior Compliance Officer, among others. You can take a look at the listings and requirements <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/jio/jobs/">here</a> GPT-3 developers needed Top venture capitalist firm Lightspeed Partners’ India’s partner Hemant Mohapatra posted a rather interesting job requirement on Thursday morning. The VC posted a requirement for GPT-3 developers on Twitter. <div type="twitter" handle="MohapatraHemant" handlename="Hemant Mohapatra" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1259870866365693953/SenCprAA_normal.jpg" favoritecount="15" retweetcount="7" status="Looking for GPT-3 devs for technical lead roles - please DM if you are one / know someone. Remote OK! 🙏" createdat="1608175702000" id="1339412090717519873"></div> GPT-3 is Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3, the latest tech trend which has taken over the world. GPT-3 is an autoregressive language model that produces human-like text by using deep learning. Freshworks has multiple tech and non-tech openings Indian SaaS giant Freshworks has multiple openings listed across its US and India offices. The startup is looking for Product Managers, Engagement Managers, Community Marketing Specialists, Business Analysts and more. The startup is also looking to hire interns. You can check out all the openings <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/freshworks-inc/jobs/">here.</a> Icertis is looking to hire for tech and sales Another Indian <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/icertis-helps-google-microsoft-and-apple-manage-their-contracts-is-hiring-for-techies-and-people-in-sales/articleshow/79640659.cms">SaaS unicorn Icertis </a>is hiring for multiple roles. The startup has openings for roles like Chief Alliance Officer, Director - Customer Advocacy, Senior Director - Product Manager, UX Architect and more. The startup is looking to hire for its India and US offices. You can check out the job listings <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/icertis/jobs/">here</a>. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/india-has-a-hot-new-debate-on-its-plate-should-the-likes-of-burger-king-kfc-and-mcdonalds-menus-mention-calories/articleshow/79771040.cms">India has a hot new debate on its plate: Should the likes of Burger King, KFC and McDonald’s menus mention calories?</a>

From Unacademy to Jio and Freshworks – check out the hot new tech job openings in India

New Delhi, Apr 19 () The novel coronavirus outbreak has significantly changed the contours of professional life and these days home is the new office and internet is the new meeting room, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday. "I have also been adapting to these changes. Most meetings, be it with ministerial colleagues, officials and world leaders, are now via video conferencing," Modi wrote on LinkedIn. The need of the hour is to think of business and lifestyle models that are easily adaptable. "Doing so would mean that even in a time of crisis, our offices, businesses and commerce could get moving faster, ensuring loss of life does not occur," he said. Today, the world is in pursuit of new business models, he said adding that India, a youthful nation known for its innovative zeal, can take the lead in providing a new work culture. India, with the right blend of the physical and the virtual, can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post COVID-19 world. "Let us rise to that occasion and seize this opportunity," he said.The work place is getting "Digital First", he said."And, why not? After all, the most transformational impact of technology often happens in the lives of the poor," he said. It is technology that demolishes bureaucratic hierarchies, eliminates middlemen and accelerates welfare measures, the prime minister opined. NAB SMNSMN

India can emerge as nerve centre of complex modern supply chains in post-coronavirus world: PM

<ul><li><keyword id="6911038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="VMLYR">VMLY&amp;R</keyword> network employs over 7,000 people across 75+ offices across the world. </li><li><keyword id="2951846" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Glitch">The Glitch</keyword> senior leaders, including CEO <keyword id="2998892" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pooja-Jauhari">Pooja Jauhari</keyword>, Co-Founder &amp; Chief Creative Officer, <keyword id="228356" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rohit-Raj">Rohit Raj</keyword>, and Co-Founder &amp; Content Chief, <keyword id="3054169" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Duggirala">Varun Duggirala</keyword> will now report into Tripti Lochan, Co-CEO of VMLY&amp;R Asia.</li></ul>The Glitch has joined forces with global experience agency VMLY&amp;R. The new entity taps on the strengths of both WPP agencies, creating a stronger expanded offering through the best of technology and creative expertise. <keyword id="10219305" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-glitch-and-vmlyR">The Glitch and VMLY&amp;R</keyword> India will continue to operate distinct brands and organisational structures while working together. This will allow clients to experience their combined proposition of marketing talent, capabilities, and experience, while maintaining the simplicity of their current communication cadence with each agency. The integration will see The Glitch become a part of the nearly $1 billion global VMLY&amp;R network, which employs over 7,000 people across 75+ offices across the world. These include three offices in India, based in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. The Glitch senior leaders, including CEO Pooja Jauhari, Co-Founder &amp; Chief Creative Officer, Rohit Raj, and Co-Founder &amp; Content Chief, Varun Duggirala will now report into Tripti Lochan, Co-CEO of VMLY&amp;R Asia. In addition, the Glitch leadership team along with <keyword id="7792201" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="vmlyr-india">VMLY&amp;R India</keyword> CEO <keyword id="293465" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anil-Nair">Anil Nair</keyword>, will form an India leadership council to manage strategic decisions for both companies. The council will be headed by Anil Nair. Founded in Mumbai in in 2010, The Glitch stands as one of the leading, digitally-led creative agencies in India, employing over 300 digital strategists, technologists, content creators and planners, delivering award-winning campaigns for a wide spectrum of clients including Netflix, Hindustan Unilever, LinkedIn, Lenovo, Diageo, and most recently Microsoft and Triller among many other global brands. With offices in Mumbai and Delhi, The Glitch services clients in India and many other regions of Asia. VMLY&amp;R embodies a hybrid blend of brand creativity with a deep digital heritage, manifesting in a comprehensive understanding of the entire customer journey. The agency has accolades reflecting both its creative excellence and digital expertise. VMLY&amp;R India’s business-first team is known for delivering digital excellence for blue chip brands like ICICI Bank, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, IDFC, Ford, Swaraj Tractors, IDBI Federal and Marico, delivering transformational solutions at the intersection of brand and customer experience, data, platforms and commerce. “WPP's aim is to provide clients with a simplified and integrated offer to help them grow their businesses holistically. The Glitch over the past ten years has grown to become a digital and content powerhouse, and when combined with VMLY&amp;R’s capabilities in digital transformation and customer experience, can help clients make an impact in their transformation journeys," said CVL Srinivas, Country Manager, India, WPP. On joining the VMLY&amp;R Network, Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch, said: “We have flourished alongside WPP in the past 3 years. The founders and I are delighted that we’ve now found a great permanent home for our brand, our company and most importantly, our people. The Glitch is a gender blind, inclusive and progressive high-performance workspace and with this marriage, we’ve found kindred spirits in VMLY&amp;R when it comes to driving the same vision. We’re eager to explore our complementary capability sets for the benefit of our clients’ businesses. With this union, we believe we are in the best position to help our clients be more agile, sharper and ready for whatever the future may bring.” Anil Nair, CEO, VMLY&amp;R India, said: “This union spells great news for clients looking at building digital-first brands. In addition to cutting edge solutions such as customer experience (CX), commerce , technology, innovation, AI/ML, data, media innovations and good old culture impacting creativity, we will now be able to add new weaponry to our arsenal, including powerful capabilities in brand experience, new-age content, youth marketing, connections thinking, brand publishing, and live creativity amongst others. This makes us the most relevant agency group in the market with best possible capabilities to help our clients future-proof their businesses and succeed in the new paradigm.”

The Glitch becomes a part of the nearly $1 billion global VMLY&R network

New Delhi, Jul 4 () Days after the government banned 59 Chinese apps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday invited the start-up and tech community to participate in the "Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge". In a tweet, Electronics and Information Technology (IT) Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the prime minister has launched the challenge to encourage Indian application developers and innovators. Prime Minister Modi also said that it will help create an "Aatmanirbhar App Ecosystem". "Who knows, I may also use some of these apps made by you," he said in a write-up on LinkedIn. Today there is immense enthusiasm among the tech and start-up community to create world class "Made in India Apps", Modi said. "To facilitate their ideas and products, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology along with the Atal Innovation Mission are launching the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge'," the prime minister tweeted sharing the link to the LinkedIn post. Modi had given a call for an "Atmanirbhar Bharat" (a self-reliant India) and had urged people to be "vocal for local" products. He said the app innovation challenge is for those who have such a working product or if they feel they have the vision and expertise to create such products. "I urge all my friends in the tech community to participate," he said while sharing the write-up "Let us Code for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat". India has a very vibrant tech and start-up ecosystem, which has done India proud nationally as well as globally, Modi said. The country's youth have excelled in providing tech solutions across sectors, he said. "The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought about a big disruption, which is being tackled through the use of technology to aid our day to day lives," the prime minister pointed out. Everyone is aware of the huge potential of the market and the scale products can achieve if they can satisfy the demand, he said. "Nowadays, we are seeing huge interest and enthusiasm among the start-up and tech ecosystem to innovate, develop and promote homegrown apps," Modi said. "Today, when the entire nation is working towards creating an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, it is a good opportunity to give direction to their efforts, momentum to their hard-work and mentorship to their talent to evolve apps which can satisfy our market as well as compete with the world," he said in the write-up. To help the start-up and tech community achieve this objective, the challenge will run in two tracks, which are Promotion of Existing Apps and Development of New Apps, Modi explained. For promotion of existing apps and platforms across the categories of e-learning, work-from-home, gaming, business, entertainment, office utilities and social networking, the government will provide mentoring, hand-holding and support. "Track-01" will work in mission mode for identifying good quality apps for the leader-board and will be completed in around a month. For incubating new apps and platforms, the "Track-02" initiative will work to help create new champions in India by providing support in ideation, incubation, prototyping and roll out along with market access. The outcome of this challenge will be to give better visibility and clarity to existing apps to achieve their goals, and to create tech products to find solutions to tech conundrums with the help of mentorship, tech support and guidance during the entire life-cycle, the prime minister said. There is tremendous scope among these sectors for new apps which solve specific issues for India and the world, he said. "Can we think of making traditional Indian games more popular via apps? Can we develop apps with targeted and smart access to the right age group for learning, gaming? Can we develop gaming apps for people in rehabilitation or getting counselling to help them in their journey? There are many such questions and technology alone can give answers in a creative manner," Modi observed. This challenge will be jointly hosted by the government and members of the tech community to make it more holistic, he said. NAB ANB ANB

PM pitches for Atmanirbhar App ecosystem, says IT is tackling disruption brought about by COVID-19

India has millions of job seekers entering the workforce every year across hundreds of search engines. Every week, Business Insider collates some interesting vacancies in marquee companies. This week we bring interesting job openings for freshers. Here a few of those opportunities for freshers. <ol><li>Insight Alpha</li></ol>Position: Research Analyst Location: New Delhi Experience: 0-5 years Eligibility: Graduate or Postgraduate in research Insight Alpha is hiring full-time Research Analyst in Delhi. The job’s responsibilities include consulting, market research, recruiting for Association of Industry Leaders (AIL), analysing industry trends and client queries. To apply for the job, the candidate should have experience with professional networks like LinkedIn, <keyword id="218117" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Naukri-com">Naukri.com</keyword>, creativity and flexibility at work. Interested candidates can apply<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1332592805/"> here</a>. 2. CoCubes Technologies Position: Associate - Aptitude Content Development Location: Gurgaon Experience: 0-3 years Eligibility: B.Tech or any other Bachelor’s degree in any field Job assessment platform CoCubes is hiring associates for content development — Aptitude. The candidate will be responsible for developing assessment tests and engaging closely with the industry for corporate sync. He or she will also take care of campus hiring via assessment tests. The job role will require database management and knowledge of MS Excel. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.naukri.com/job-listings-Associate-Senior-Associate-Content-Development-Aptitude--CoCubes-Technologies-Private-Limited-Gurgaon-0-to-3-years-111019001469?xp=1&amp;src=ja1016698&amp;xid=1016698%255Egm%255E131022025&amp;uid=131022025&amp;alertId=&amp;utm_campaign=jobalert_revamp&amp;utm_medium=mailer&amp;utm_source=joblink">here</a>. 3. NinjaCart Position: Data Analyst Location: Bangalore Experience: 1-2 years Eligibility: Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) The applicants should have experience in data analytics and writing SQL (Structured Query Language) codes. The job will include statistical data analysis and implementation. The job responsibilities include improving daily, weekly, monthly reports as per business requirements. The candidate should have working knowledge of Tableau and other data visualisation tools. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.instahyre.com/candidate/opportunities/0/?interest_facet=0">here</a>. 4. VMock Position: Business Analyst Location: New Delhi Experience: 0-2 years Eligibility: Bachelor’s degree from Tier I institute VMock is looking for a Business Analyst. The role includes solving product-related queries, its latest trends and analysis by implementing <keyword id="294572" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="20" keywordseo="machine-learning">machine learning</keyword> algorithms. The candidate should be able to develop strategies and tools for better product experience. Candidate should have strong analytical and computer skills along with written and verbal communication. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1164616012/">here</a>. 5. Genpact Position: Business Intelligence Location: Gurgaon, Bangalore Experience: Minimum 2 years Eligibility: B. Tech/ M. Tech, BCA/MCA/ MBA, B.A/M.A. (Economics) Genpact is hiring full-time data analysts for Business Intelligence team. The applicant should have strong programming skills— including SQL, R, SAS and Python. The job’s responsibilities include client interactions, and creating tracking mechanism using SQL, MS Office. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.instahyre.com/candidate/opportunities/0/?interest_facet=0">here</a>. 6. <keyword id="30331" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="HCL-Technologies">HCL Technologies</keyword> Position: Product Support Analyst Location: Hyderabad Experience: 0-5 years Eligibility: Computer Science and IT graduates HCL Technologies is hiring freshers with knowledge of web languages such as HTML, Javascript &amp; CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and development technologies. The candidate should also be aware of debugging tools. The candidate should preferably have experience in campaign management and AdSense. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.naukri.com/job-listings-HCL-Hyderabad-Hiring-Product-Support-Analyst-Immediate-Joiners-only-HCL-Technologies-BPO-Services-Hyderabad-Secunderabad-0-to-5-years-030919002318?xp=2&amp;src=ja1016698&amp;xid=1016698%255Egm%255E131022025&amp;uid=131022025&amp;alertId=&amp;utm_campaign=jobalert_revamp&amp;utm_medium=mailer&amp;utm_source=joblink">here</a>.

Checkout the latest job openings in research and analysis for freshers

(Eds: Adds details) New Delhi, Apr 19 () Rather than playing catch-up, India must be ahead of the curve in the post-COVID world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday and exhorted people to use their innovative zeal to chart a new business and work culture redefined by its "adaptability, efficiency, inclusivity, opportunity and universalism". Calling them "vowels of the new normal", Modi said that like vowels in the English language, these would become essential ingredients of any business model in the post-COVID world. "Today, the world is in pursuit of new business models. India, a youthful nation known for its innovative zeal, can take the lead in providing a new work culture," the prime minister wrote on LinkedIn. He also said the next big ideas from India should find global relevance and application. "They should have the ability to drive a positive change not merely for India but for the entire humankind," he said. Titled "Life in the era of COVID-19", in the write-up, the prime minister also reminded that COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. "Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together," he said. Unlike previous moments in history, when countries or societies faced off against each other, "today we are together facing a common challenge. The future will be about togetherness and resilience," he said.Referring to the post-coronavirus world, Modi said we should evaluate what might be the new opportunities or growth areas that would emerge now. "Rather than playing catch up, India must be ahead of the curve in the post-COVID world. Let us think about how our people, our skills sets, our core capabilities can be used in doing so," he said. Today, the world is in pursuit of new business models, he said adding that India, a youthful nation known for its innovative zeal, can take the lead in providing a new work culture. Logistics was previously only seen through the prism of physical infrastructure – roads, warehouses, ports. But logistical experts these days can control global supply chains through the comfort of their own homes, he pointed out. "India, with the right blend of the physical and the virtual can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post COVID-19 world," he said. "Let us rise to that occasion and seize this opportunity," the prime minister stressed. Modi said he envisions the new business and work culture being redefined on the vowels of the new normal. "...because like vowels in the English language, these would become essential ingredients of any business model in the post-COVID world," he said. These are : Adaptability, Efficiency, Inclusivity, Opportunity and Universalism. The need of the hour is to think of business and lifestyle models that are easily adaptable, he said. "Doing so would mean that even in a time of crisis, our offices, businesses and commerce could get moving faster, ensuring loss of life does not occur," he explained. Embracing digital payments is a prime example of adaptability.India is already witnessing an encouraging surge in digital transactions, he said. The prime minister also sought ideas on business models to further help telemedicine across the world.Efficiency cannot only be about- how much time was spent in the office, he said, adding that people should think of models where productivity and efficiency matter more than appearance of effort. On the issue of inclusivity, he said business models that attach primacy to care for the poor, the most vulnerable as well as our planet should be developed. "COVID-19 has made us realise the need to work on health solutions at low cost and large scale. We can become a guiding light for global efforts to ensure the health and well being of humanity," the prime minister opined.He said there was a need to invest in innovations to make sure the farmers have access to information, machinery, and markets no matter what the situation, "that our citizens have access to essential goods". The novel coronavirus outbreak has significantly changed the contours of professional life and these days home is the new office and internet is the new meeting room, Modi said."I have also been adapting to these changes. Most meetings, be it with ministerial colleagues, officials and world leaders, are now via video conferencing," Modi wrote.The need of the hour is to think of business and lifestyle models that are easily adaptable.The work place is getting "Digital First", he said."And, why not? After all, the most transformational impact of technology often happens in the lives of the poor," he said.It is technology that demolishes bureaucratic hierarchies, eliminates middlemen and accelerates welfare measures, the prime minister said.He also recommended practising yoga and urged people to download the Arogya Setu app as tool to check the spread the deadly virus. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 519 and the number of cases climbed to 16,116 in the country on Sunday, registering an increase of 31 deaths and 1,324 cases since Saturday evening, according to the Union health ministry. The worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 160,685 on Sunday, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP. NAB SMNSMN

Rather than playing catch-up, India must be ahead of the curve in post-COVID world: PM

<ul><li>This year, companies are adopting digital platforms to facilitate <keyword id="3323268" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Virtual-internships">virtual internships</keyword>, thanks to the <keyword id="8637077" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Coronavirus-lockdown">Coronavirus lockdown</keyword>. </li><li>So far, at least 500 students are set to undergo internships in a remote setup. </li><li>From induction to the real time projects — Reliance Industries (RIL), Samsung, Bharti Airtel, AB InBev, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are onboarding interns virtually. </li><li>Starting today, 98 Goldman Sachs interns will start their internship virtually. </li><li>Other companies like Ola AB InBev, Realme PaySa have also hired nearly 100 interns, despite the lockdown. </li></ul>Across industries, recruiters rely on internships heavily to assess potential candidates, to hire for full time roles later on. However, this time around, companies are adopting digital platforms to facilitate internships, thanks to the Coronavirus lockdown. So far, at least 500 graduate students are set to undergo virtual internships — in a remote setup. From induction to real time projects, companies like Reliance Industries (RIL), Samsung, Bharti Airtel, AB InBev, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are onboarding interns virtually with its e-mentoring sessions. In fact, a few companies are also enabling virtual company tours via video conferencing to ease the learning process. Shantanu Das, chief HR officer at Amway India told Mint how the company held a ‘virtual walk the floor’ to introduce new interns to the team. Starting today, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/as-internships-go-virtual-cos-try-to-ensure-bonding-is-real/articleshow/75523425.cms">98 Goldman Sachs interns </a>will start their internship virtually. The company hired over 700 interns in total this year. While JP Morgan has kicked off its summer internship programme with nearly 150 interns. Oyo Rooms also said that it is hosting over 200 interns across roles such as finance, revenue management, operations, sales and more. The interns will be hired for 4-8 weeks for MBA and graduate students. Samsung virtually onboarded 36 interns this academic session from top b-schools. “I would call this batch of interns one of the luckiest because the first lesson that they have been taught is that with technology and innovation, everything is possible. They have joined Samsung in our endeavour to make remote working and social distancing a success,” said Sameer Wadhawan, Head HR at Samsung India. <div type="image" title="Samsung_Ignite" msid="75552304" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Samsung&amp;#39;s virtual internship programme&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> In a LinkedIn post, RIL said that it is onboarding 84 interns digitally under its 'Virtual Reliance Summer Program'. “From introducing gamified learning for 84 <keyword id="992826" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="summer-interns">Summer Interns</keyword> and virtually inducting 130 new hires, to helping over 30,000 colleagues develop the right skills to cope with COVID-19, RIL is helping teams stay right-skilled, motivated and productive,” the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/reliance_reliance-learningatril-learningasawayoflife-activity-6662227309942181888-jMqE">company said</a>. Meanwhile, telecom operator Bharti Airtel also onboarded 50 summer interns digitally from management colleges like Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) , Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) Delhi, Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon. They will work on real-time industry projects. Samit Deb, CHRO at Airtel<a href="https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/airtel-digitally-onboards-50-summer-interns-from-top-b-schools-amid-nationwide-lockdown/75402451"> told </a>ET that the company is making sure that no processes are delayed. “Right from induction to mentorship to final reviews, the entire program will run virtually,” he added. Other companies like Ola, AB InBev, Realme PaySa have also hired nearly 100 interns, despite the lockdown. "We are planning fun and engaging activities for our interns to come together as a part of Ola’s community. They are part of daily team meetings, informal catch-ups and cross-functional team webinars which maximizes their learning opportunities as well. All the interns are connected across social platforms and some of them have in fact collaborated to perform for all employees at the weekly e-gathering as well," Rohit Munjal, CHRO, Ola told Business Insider. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/in-a-post-covid-world-the-number-of-freelancers-contractual-workers-will-go-up-says-deloitte/articleshow/75462448.cms">In a post-Covid world, more companies will engage freelancers, says Deloitte</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/one-in-three-indian-companies-have-decided-to-freeze-salaries-a-new-report-shows/articleshow/75528701.cms">One in three Indian companies have decided to freeze salary hikes, a new report shows</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/goldman-sachs-deloitte-ey-and-other-top-audit-firms-hiring-this-week/articleshow/75525940.cms">Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, EY and other top audit firms hiring this week</a>

Goldman Sachs, Reliance, Samsung and others onboarding interns virtually during the lockdown

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/harjaskgrewal/">Harjas Kaur Grewal</a>, 23, is the activism associate manager of global social impact at <a href="https://wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/beauty-features/the-ordinary-owner-deciem-acquired-by-estee-lauder-1234741782/">Deciem</a>. </li><li>She is also a decorated humanitarian known for her work with the UN. </li><li>To Insider, she breaks down what a typical day looks like. </li></ul>Harjas Kaur Grewal is always busy. As an activist, writer, and UN youth ambassador, her days are filled with researching social issues and implementing strategies to help solve the political tensions ever-plaguing the world. She ran her first petition at 13, became Youth Ambassador for the Youth Assembly at the <keyword id="6355833" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="united-nations">United Nations</keyword> (as run by Friendship Ambassadors Foundation) at 19, and is currently a Young Innovator for <a href="https://www.unglobalcompact.org">UN Global Compact.</a> Last year, Grewal won the Diana Award for her humanitarianism, which inspired her to start her own volunteer organization, <a href="https://www.unitedwomxn.com/">United Women.</a>During the day, however, Grewal works for the<a href="https://wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/beauty-features/the-ordinary-owner-deciem-acquired-by-estee-lauder-1234741782/"> billion-dollar</a> beauty company Deciem where she helps create and run its corporate activism initiatives. Deciem is known for its cult-favorite brand The Ordinary and Grewal started working there in February.To Insider, Grewal maps out her typical day, including smoothie lunch breaks, meetings with Deciem CEO, and late-night United Women Slack meetings. "I've learned that routine is important," she said. "But it's okay to have every day look different and become comfortable with imperfection."<h2>Her first alarm goes off at 7 a.m. </h2>Grewal's first alarm goes off at 7 a.m., but if she's too tired, she'll press the snooze button and stay in bed for another two minutes. "I open my blinds and window to get some fresh air first thing in the morning," she said. "It always makes me feel refreshed, light, and ready for the day."Moving back home during the pandemic was "hard" she said, but there have been perks. "Waking up to the warmth of the sun, sounds of birds chirping, and smelling spiced chai (tea) is refreshing," she continued. "Finding gratitude in the small things is always important." <h2>Around 7:30 a.m., she starts her skincare routine </h2>She always starts her day with a skincare routine. She became a "skincare lover" when she was just 13 after discovering Korean skincare routines. "Over the years, I would always tell my friends and family to take care of their skin because it's a form of self-care," Grewal said. <div type="image" title="Harjas Kaur Grewal" height="524" width="932" msid="82018584" hostid="261"></div>She starts off with a gentle cleanser before putting mist on damp skin. She follows up with a rosewater toner, before, of course, using The Ordinary's Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% as a serum. After that, she puts an eye contour serum to cover hereditary dark circles."And as every good skincare routine ends, I use a moisturizer to lock in my skin and soothe," she said. "I also spritz some perfume on because it's a habit that's comforting and helps normalize working from home for me." <h2>At 8:00 a.m., she starts to journal </h2>Shortly before the workday begins, she journals her thoughts, "whether it be poetry, emotions, memories, or things to be grateful for," Grewal said. She's been a writer and poet since she was a child and has been spending more time [during the pandemic] writing new work. She recently launched an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lettersbykaur/">Instagram page</a> to showcase some of her writing. "Many people don't know that I used to be a child actor, loved the theatre, started writing by the age of seven, and by the time I graduated high school I was a published playwright and won the provincial Young Authors Award," she told Insider."Writing and poetry is a hobby I try to make time for because it is a true passion of mine and I believe everyone needs to make time for what makes the heart and mind content." <h2>The work day begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m.</h2>The Deciem office was previously featured in <a href="https://www.vogue.com.au/culture/careers/office-tour-inside-beauty-company-deciems-anythingbutordinary-office/image-gallery/ed00677610c8662140a2f773a4d6afec">Vogue</a>, highlighting its 70,000 square foot office in Toronto, Canada. Sadly, since the pandemic, Grewal has been working from home and has only been able to go into the office a few times. "A colleague has the cutest black lab mix, Matthew, who greets us at the door and provides the best company someone could ask for," she said. <div type="image" title="Harjas Kaur Grewal" height="678" width="932" msid="82018585" hostid="261"></div>On this day, she reviewed the social impact and activism strategies and campaigns to prepare for an internal listening session she was co-moderating. The company is prepping to kick off its "We Are Eight" unconference, which is a participate-driven meeting without a set agenda. She starts her day with a new hire call with executives including the CEO and COO. "We got to personally introduce ourselves and learn more about the senior <keyword id="34454" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="leadership">leadership</keyword> team," she said. Each week, she connects with the company's director of sustainability and social impact Jacquelyn Kankam, to whom she reports."She has a unique, inclusive, and liberating leadership style that I am thankful for because I am constantly learning as well as executing," Grewal said. <div type="image" title="Harjas Kaur Grewal" height="558" width="932" msid="82018586" hostid="261"></div>Grewal contacted Jackie last summer on LinkedIn for a virtual coffee after noticing her extensive sustainability experience as a fellow woman of color. "I found her inspiring because she paved her own path and career," Grewal added. "When we spoke during our initial meeting, she mentioned opening a Social Impact, Activism role one day but wasn't sure when this role would open or the details."After that meeting, Grewal said she made it her goal to become Deciem's top pick and created a 13-page visual proposal outlining ideas she had for the role if it ever opened up. Four months later, Grewal found herself interviewing for the role and she was hired. "When Harjas contacted me, I could tell her passion and dedication to activism and social impact was unmatched," Jacquelyn Kankam told Insider. "One of our goals at Deciem is to build growth to power good, we needed someone who is agile, smart, and creative and Harjas fit the bill to a tee." "This role meant I had achieved a goal to make my passion for social impact and activism into a career," Grewal added. "Moments like that prove that resiliency opens doors. "<h2>Lunch is usually from 12 to 1 p.m. </h2>She aims to eat a quick meal and has her daily fruit smooth for a boost of energy. Every day she picks up a book to read, and typically alternates between two at once. "Currently, I am reading 'Faith, Gender, and Activism in The Punjab Conflict' by Mallika Kaur to learn more about the events leading up to the violence against Sikhs in Punjab in the 1980-90s," she said. "I have written about Partition of India, conflicts in Punjab, and violence against Sikhs extensively throughout my undergraduate degree, and as a Sikh, I am constantly pursuing knowledge about my community and history." <div type="image" title="Harjas Kaur Grewal" height="698" width="932" msid="82018587" hostid="261"></div> She is also reading "Greenlights" by Matthew McConaughey, the first book she picked up to read for "pleasure" after University ended. "My favorite quote from Greenlights, which is now my lock screen on my phone is: 'Less impressed, More involved,'" she said. <h2>At the end of the workday, she takes a walk with her family</h2>After her workday, she makes sure to spend time with her family before starting her work with <a href="https://www.unitedwomxn.com/">United Women</a>, the organization she founded. "My younger brother, Jujhar, is rocking a t-shirt in support of the farmers protesting at the Delhi border in India right now in this photo," she said, referencing the picture below. "My entire family is passionate about social justice and we often talk at length about world issues, philosophy, and activism." <div type="image" title="Harjas Kaur Grewal" height="870" width="1426" msid="82018589" hostid="261"></div><h2>Around 6 p.m., she logs in to work at her nonprofit </h2>After a break, she logs into Slack and starts working on United Women, her platform seeking to amplify young BIPOC voices, provide mentorship to youth in women's shelters and community housing, and platform human rights issues. She is managing a team of about 17 volunteers, alongside her co-founder Aimée Lister, who is based in the United Kingdom. <div type="image" title="Harjas Kaur Grewal" height="334" width="932" msid="82018591" hostid="261"></div> "We just wrapped up a human rights campaign and are working on expanding our partnerships, finalizing the mentorship program, and responding to the youth who are interested in joining the organization to make an impact," Grewal said.She also attended the United Nations Generation Equality Forum last week on behalf of United Women to create an alignment with the 17 SDGs, which include eradicating poverty, combatting climate change, and fighting for quality education. <h2>Around 11 p.m., it's bedtime</h2>After she's done working on United Women, she takes the time to wind down and turns on some old Bollywood music. Right before bed, she might even FaceTime her friends. "My friends are the best support system I could ask for."Then, she goes to sleep and does it all over again the next day.

How a 23-year-old UN rep, manager at billion-dollar beauty brand Deciem, and nonprofit founder spends her day

<ul><li>Many research studies conducted across the world show that women are more stressed and discouraged since the pandemic began as they take on an increasing amount of responsibility at home and in their careers.</li><li>The ad, media and marketing industry has a lot more women today than a decade ago. However, many drop out by the time they reach mid-management levels, primarily due to the lack of flexible hours and ever-increasing workload.</li><li>So this Women’s Day, we decided to speak to women in leadership positions about how we can make women feel welcome at workplaces. They told us how employers can support women and create a more high-trust, inclusive environment for the future.</li><li>The women leaders we spoke to believe organizations need to prioritize training more women, to prepare them for leadership roles, and this should be a part of the company’s culture.</li></ul>In the work-from-home era, the responsibility of unpaid domestic work and raising kids has fallen on Indian women more than men. This has affected their ambitions and careers, widening the gender gap at the workplace. A McKinsey report found that women around the world have been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has heightened the large and small inequalities—both at work and at home—that women face daily. One in four women are considering leaving the workforce or downshifting their careers versus one in five men. Women only form less than a third of the workforce in marketing, sales and less than a fifth in data analysis, and artificial intelligence, revealed a World Economic Forum’s 2020 study. Another survey by Deloitte found that 51% of women are less optimistic about their career prospects than they were before the pandemic. A lot of women who have chosen to stick to their jobs have missed out on a fair promotion or raise. A LinkedIn report shows that 85% of women in India have missed out on a raise, promotion because of their gender. Women’s careers are observed to have been more adversely affected despite increasing flexibility at work, as 68% of women and 74% of working mothers in India say it is difficult to balance career and familial responsibilities today. More than 7 in 10 women and working mothers in India also say that household responsibilities often come in their way of their career progression. As you move up in the hierarchy of the corporate world, there’s also a lack of women leaders in the upper rungs. As per Egon Zehnder Global Diversity Report 2020, women in India occupy 5% of executive chairs and 10% of non-executive chairs. The report indicates that only 11% of committee chairs are held by women, while the number stands at 27.3% globally. Having said that, the world of advertising, marketing and media has seen a lot of <keyword id="3275573" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="women-in-leadership-roles" source="Orion">women in leadership roles</keyword>. While we are still far from an equal man-woman ratio in the industry, it is heartening to see more and more women take the top spots. On the other hand, advertising and media are industries that hold a lot of power in shifting perceptions and mending beliefs. The advertising industry was infamous for perpetuating gender stereotypes -- from a sacrificing mother to a man being the bread-earner, the portrayal of women has remained very shallow for years. How brands depict women and their role in society has evolved today, she is independent, she has a voice and is slowly learning to care less about society’s judgement, but we haven’t taken a big leap yet. She is still a woman who is ‘aesthetically pleasing,’ fair-skinned, doesn’t come from a minority community and is a little far from real. There’s almost no progress towards including transwomen in women’s day ads or communication throughout the year. Once we achieve an equal number of gender representation inside Indian advertising agencies, media organisations and the marketing world, there will be diverse opinions in a brainstorming session, leading to better B2C communication. So this women’s day, we decided to speak to women in leadership positions about how we can make women feel welcome at workplaces. They told us how employers can support women and create a more high-trust, inclusive environment during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what they had to say about improving equality at work: Meghana Dave - Head Marketing &amp; PR, Lamborghini India: Power v/s Purpose, women inherently are purpose-driven. The changing environment requires leadership that is driven by adaptability, agility and ambition. Today, companies need these traits to outperform competition which has to deliver in the known and unknown environment. To bring balance and speed with positivity, we need more women in the leadership role. Look at what Falguni Nayyar has done with Nykaa or Anjali Sudd has done with Vimeo. In the 21st century companies will need purpose, innovation and balance to achieve the top position, and the right time to bring women to lead the next generation of business growth. To encourage more women to join these industries by encouraging new formats of working culture or environment. Covid has challenged the traditional approach, and today work from home has become the new normal. Secondly, by promoting diversity and opening leadership positions for women and third, we can improve the pay scale and inculcate mentorship for potential women leaders. Rachna Kanwar, Chief Operating Officer, Digital Media, Radio City and Mid-Day: Women in Corporate India have taken a heavy toll during Covid 19 lockdowns. Organisations, however, rarely recognise the double effort that women have to put into their regular day, which during the pandemic, ravaged their mental and physical health. Having said that, women emerged stronger, seldom seeking ‘preferential treatment.’ Companies need to address and recognise this effort as women continue to remain underrepresented at all levels. Thankfully, in the Media industry, with the inclusion of advertising &amp; marketing, there have been plenty of examples of women super achievers acting as role models for younger women which has led to greater gender parity, but women leaders still need to play a major role in supporting and seeing to it that more leaders emerge from the shadows of doubt and stereotypes to claim their rightful places. It is heartening to see more and more women leaders at Radio City and Midday and all of us here are committed to diversity and excellence. Building a positive mindset for diversity at all levels in an organisation goes a long way in ensuring an equal workplace. Strong women leaders in the organisation act as role models for women aspiring to reach the top. They also help in providing a more empathetic environment which is required at certain delicate stages of a woman employee’s career. And lastly, they provide the much needed confidence both for the women employees and the organisation by being a case study in excellence. At Radio City, a large number of leadership positions are held by women which motivates and inspires the mid-level and entry-level women employees to dream big. Diversity has many virtues and numerous reports time and again have proved that a diverse organisation is a better organisation. Radio City was amongst ‘India’s Best Workplaces for Women in 2019.’ Additionally, in 2020, Radio City ranked 4th in ‘Best Large Workplaces in Asia’, according to the GPTW survey. Jyotsna Uttamchandani, Executive Director, Syska Group: I think what is happening is we are definitely attracting more women, but are unable to retain them. The industry also needs to take steps to stop showcasing and representing women in stereotypical ways. The truth is women need to start taking credit for their work, brag and self-promote. What men need to understand is with diversity creativity and innovation only booms. I personally feel advertising, media and marketing industries are more unstructured, and there is no one to help you climb that ladder. You will have to do it yourself. More so we need more women, to help support and mentor other women. I think to be a safe and inclusive environment, we really need to listen to our employees. I have always said that my employees are my first customers. Goals and expectations need to be set mutually, team members need to appreciate each other and there has to be a certain level of trust within the team. Megha Agarwal, CXO-Growth, Meesho: In my last 12 years of working, I have seen many smart women entering the workforce but also taking a step back and stepping out, especially at two pivotal points – marriage and motherhood. The societal maxim is such that it places higher expectations on women, compelling them to juggle many roles – wife, mother, primary caregiver among others. What is imperative is to create support structures that empower them to strike the perfect balance between personal and professional commitments. An example on this front could be Meesho’s recent boundaryless workplace model, enabling people to work from home/ anywhere so that it gives flexibility to facilitate adjustments. Additionally, we, as employers, also need to make a perception shift towards sabbaticals taken by women to rear children. These vital steps could be further bolstered by initiatives aimed to ease their comeback into the workforce again. The responsibility lies with us to act as change agents to create the change we aspire to see. Pragya Misra, Public Affairs Director at Truecaller: I have always believed that empathy, freedom to be authentic and listening are critical to building a work environment that promotes equality. This begins with introducing diversity in the leadership so that the perspectives and related challenges of different employee profiles can be properly understood and addressed. Finally, implementing flexible policies, promoting healthy and non-late work hours, having industry standard pay scale and having actionable punishments (and transparency) in place for any intolerant offenses are some of the other measures that can be put into place to ensure a safe and equal work environment. At Truecaller, being respectful, celebrating diversity and equality in the workplace is deeply set in our values as a company. We continue to make communication safer through our spam blocking, scam and fraud alerts, this principle of safety reflects in our workplace through our employee policies. The inability to feel safe in both offline and online spaces adversely impacts women’s confidence and hinders their ability to grow and thrive. This year we are urging people to #CallitOut and report harassment to the authorities when you see or experience it. We are bringing together all the key stakeholders like government, law enforcement, civil society, mental health experts, lawyers and survivors to work collaboratively to improve the safety of women and continue our 5 year long effort to minimise harassment. This year, we want to create an environment that allows women to feel safe in society, their workplace and in their online communication. Kanika Mittal, Large Customer Solutions, Lead at Twitter India: I strongly believe that a leader is only as good as his/her team &amp; therefore our path starts with building a team that looks like the amazing people of all backgrounds and abilities who use our service every day. At Twitter, we're on a journey to become the world's most inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible tech company — it's key to serving the public conversation. For Inclusion &amp; Diversity strategies to have an impact, leaders along with companies need to ensure that they are tackling systemic challenges and also impacting and nurturing inclusive behavior amongst the team. This requires adapting a new way of thinking and making the right decisions such as becoming more distributed, empowering women employees to share and leverage their unique perspectives and experiences for growth and opportunities. Collectively we’ve got work to do to build a truly inclusive culture across the industry. We’ve made steady progress, and as industry our work doesn’t end <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UntilWeAllBelong?src=hashtag_click">#UntilWeAllBelong</a>. Anika Wadhera, Head of Digital Marketing, Sirona: A supportive work environment is one in which each and every employee can discuss job-related difficulties in confidence and without fear of backlash. Actively showing appreciation to the staff, and encouraging them to exhibit appreciation for each other, is an easy and gratifying way to establish a great working atmosphere. Employees, both male and female, should be taught about ethical behavior and how to create a culture that supports everyone's safety. Although enforcing policies and holding instructional sessions are beneficial, a process or system that promotes power equality in the business can be implemented, reducing the number of unpleasant experiences. My advice to all wonderful women around me will be to ’Take a stand for yourself &amp; be vocal. The world is your oyster.’ We as 21st-century women should focus on creating a network; it may be one of the most powerful factors in our career at any level, whether one is a fresher or a senior leader, just network, network &amp; network. Shradha Agarwal, COO &amp; Strategy Head, Grapes: Women at leadership roles play a very crucial role in the comprehensive growth and development of any organization. They are the true manifestation of sustainable growth. A woman inherently is nurturing and being in a leadership position helps her in cultivating an inclusive work culture with diversity at the core of the organizational structure. This diversity is the precursor of diverse ideas that stimulates creativity and champions for more quality in business operations. Women have a warm and welcoming disposition which enables the organization to develop a much stronger bond and connect with their customers. In any workforce, the major loophole at the very base level is the lack of proper guidance to define the roles and duties to be fulfilled by a person. In order to help them realize their true potential, it is important to first connect with the people. By putting themselves in other’s shoes it becomes easier to understand the situation better and provide a relatable solution. As developing a connection and affinity for people comes naturally to women, in leadership positions they are better able to relate with and understand the pain of their teammates. To get women to join the advertising and marketing industry the mantra is very simple, just make them feel they are making ads for themselves. As women are better listeners and good storytellers, one needs to harness these qualities of women to motivate them to pursue a career in this field. They are better adept at giving a diverse perspective and drawing holistic pictures to a narration. Advertising and marketing is not about selling products, it goes way beyond and is about telling the right story. It is about connecting with the brand rather than the product as the products can be replaced but the brand remains constant. And women love and enjoy such jobs, it is just that we need to tap on this quality of women. Sowmya Iyer, Founder and CEO of DVio Digital: Women have faced more significant economic hardships through the pandemic - disproportionately losing jobs and income. A recent report by LinkedIn shows how Covid-19 has impacted women’s careers. About 85% of women in India have missed out on a promotion because of their gender. Despite the increase in flexibility at work, women’s careers are observed to have been more adversely affected. So, it is safe to say that we are far away from building an inclusive environment for employees of all gender spectrum. Company policies will have to be redefined and relooked at to give women space to work, grow, and balance their careers and Homes. DViO Digital, is an equal opportunity provider. We work towards hiring and promoting our employees based on their merit and not just gender. Our current workforce has a fair divide of 55:45 women to men ratio; a similar trend can be seen in our leadership team, which has a 60:40 ratio (60% women and 40% men), which is not by design but by default. Hence it is safe to say that women are naturally inclined towards the advertising and marketing industry. Tanya Bami - Series Head, Netflix India: The representation of women in entertainment has been increasing with the times and we couldn’t be happier! At Netflix, we are focussed on entertaining the world with authentic stories that are a true reflection of our times and society. Be it Delhi Crime, Aranyak, Masaba Masaba, Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein, or our latest series The Fame Game, the characters can be determined, driven, fabulous or flawed.” •Since the beginning of 2020, we have collaborated with over 2400 women creators, talent, and crew on and off screen in India. •Half (15) of our original films and series in 2021 had a woman as the central character. • Netflix has 15+ female forward titles already announced for 2022. Apart from the already released Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein, Looop Lapeta and The Fame Game, the upcoming titles include Mai, Monica, O My Darling, Masaba Masaba Season 2, Mismatched Season 2, She Season 2, Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives Season 2, The Fame Game, Qala, Plan A Plan B, Khufiya, among others. •In 2021 Netflix worked with nearly 50 women producers, directors or writers (25 women producers and directors + 23 women writers - 2X the women writers in 2020. •In addition, Netflix has worked with incredible women standup comics- Rytasha Rathore, Urooj Ashfaq, Prashasti Singh, Prajakta Koli, Sumukhi Suresh, Mallika Dua, Kaneez Surka and Sumaira Shaikh. •Inclusivity also extends internally to all of us at Netflix as women make up 51.7% of our global workforce, up from 48.7% in 2020. This includes 6.9% growth of women directors and above, totalling 51.1%. Aditi Shrivastava, CEO &amp; Co-Founder, Pocket Aces: It all starts from the top. If there is equality in the mind, it will automatically trickle down to every level within the organization. A few key base rules I always keep in mind: ● Think in terms of equity (not stock options in this case, but what is required to get people to the same level) rather than equality (i.e. providing the exact opportunities to each person) ● Be a true meritocracy ● Even in the most equal households, women are often expected to be the primary caretaker of children or parents, so keep that in mind ● Don’t forget to groom young female talent in the company right from the go by increasing their confidence levels and encouraging them to not be ambivalent about their ambitions and dreams ● Discourage even mildly offensive loose talk / jokes at the workplace ● Have a strong POSH committee in place ● Encourage older male employees / leaders to unlearn from previous “male club” workplaces and see the value their female counterparts can add Overall, be conscious about gender diversity and equity. It won’t happen by chance.

Women in leadership across media, brands and advertising on improving gender representation and retaining women in the workforce

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Adnan AbidiMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella addresses the media during an event in New Delhi September 30, 2014.</div></div></div>Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is still doing damage control over Microsoft's $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn.Lately, Benioff has been hinting that the guy he once thought was his friend, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, duped Benioff into revealing part of Salesforce's strategy to Microsoft.Benioff told this story to attendees of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-the-new-microsoft-is-actually-the-old-microsoft-2016-11">the </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-the-new-microsoft-is-actually-the-old-microsoft-2016-11">Code Conference on Monday</a>, and just expanded on it Thursday on <a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000568846">CNBC's "Mad Money with Jim Cramer."</a> (emphasis ours)."Well, we just had a surprise. That's all that is. We thought there was a new Microsoft. We got a call from Satya said, "Hey, you know, we're so excited to work with you. Would you spend some time with Scott Guthrie? He runs Azure. You're gonna love him. Tell him all about your strategy." And we met with Scott Guthrie. And then two weeks later, read in the newspaper that Scott Guthrie's now in charge of their CRM business. I'm like, 'Well, that would have been good to know ahead of time.' And then I kind of was like, 'You know, maybe the new Microsoft is actually the old Microsoft.' And look, these were the mid-managers during that era. Now they've moved up. And the culture's back."The timeline surrounding this story deserves a close look.The companies' public friendship began when Nadella was named CEO of Microsoft in early 2014, and began reaching out to others in the industry to create partnerships as he shifted the company from selling Windows and other software to selling cloud services. One of those cloud services is customer relationship management (CRM), which helps salespeople track prospects and manage interactions with customers. This is Salesforce's flagship product. Microsoft offers a competitor called Dynamics, and the two companies have historically been major competitors and enemies. But in May 2014, they announced a partnership that would see both of them offering more support to each other's products in some areas, while continuing to compete in CRM.The companies continued to talk, and in spring 2015, according to reports by <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/22/microsoft-salesforce-talks-fizzled-over-price-sources.html">CNBC's David Faber</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-05/microsoft-is-said-to-evaluate-possible-bid-for-salesforce-com">Bloomberg's Dina Bass</a>, Microsoft was talking to Salesforce about a possible acquisition. Talks broke down when the companies couldn't agree on price, Faber reported.Gurthrie took over the CRM business for Microsoft a little after that happened, in <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-microsofts-latest-reorg-will-affect-dynamics-crm-and-erp/">June 2015.</a> Even after all this, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella appeared at Salesforce's huge annual conference, Dreamforce, in October 2015 - months after Benioff says he began to get suspicious.In other words, Benioff may have started having second thoughts about Microsoft and Nadella's intentions throughout 2015, but they don't appear to have been too serious until last June.That's when Microsoft outbid Salesforce for LinkedIn, paying $26.2 billion for the professional social network.<h2>Why he's worried</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Fortune</div></div></div>Benioff is concerned that once Microsoft has its hands on LinkedIn, it will control all of LinkedIn's professional data and block salespeople using Salesforce (and other competing CRM products) from accessing LinkedIn.Salespeople rely heavily on LinkedIn to help them find prospects and make cold calls.In fact, last summer, Salesforce scored a deal that let it hook directly into that <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2016/07/19/linkedin-syncs-its-sales-navigator-with-salesforce-and-launches-gmail-extension/">LinkedIn data, though a tool called Sales Navigator.</a>If Microsoft gives itself exclusive or even just advantaged access to that data, Microsoft will hurt Salesforce deeply.Microsoft has continually said that LinkedIn will continue to operate as its own entity. And LinkedIn says it has been talking with other CRM vendors to give them the same access to LinkedIn via Sales Navigator.But Benioff isn't buying it. He keeps referring to something that Guthrie said in <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/4006012-microsofts-msft-management-presents-deutsche-bank-technology-conference-transcript?part=single">September 2016 at the </a><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/4006012-microsofts-msft-management-presents-deutsche-bank-technology-conference-transcript?part=single">Deutsche Bank Technology Conference</a> (emphasis ours):"I think we've kind of talked about the cloud growth that we've had obviously with Azure and Office 365, Dynamics has been on an absolute tear as well. And we see huge upside with that. And the exciting part, we've announced plans to acquire LinkedIn. ... You create the ultimate selling tool, the ultimate customer support tool in the industry because you have so much insight that can assist a sales rep or assist a customer service rep that no one other vendor can provide."That's why Benioff has been complaining to regulators with the hopes that they will block the deal outright (unlikely) or put conditions on it (possible). The US and other countries have already given their blessing to the acquisition.But European commissioners are apparently listening. Earlier this week, the EU said Microsoft has already offered some concessions over the deal, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-linkedin-m-a-microsoft-eu-idUSKBN13B0SO">reports Reuters.</a> In the meantime, Benioff is clearly a lot cooler toward Microsoft than he was a year ago. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/burger-king-dressed-up-mcdonalds-halloween-fast-food-retail-costume-2016-10">McDonald's responds to Burger King's prank disguising its restaurant as the 'ghost of McDonald's'</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="djbW0zNzE6Qjg8AQT0CMa5oe9o3olxz-" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is telling an odd story about how Microsoft tricked him

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">GettyBlippar CEO Ambarish Mitra (left).</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Once-hyped augmented reality startup Blippar has laid off all of its employees after it collapsed into administration.</li><li>The company said it would wind down its augmented reality services after being unable to raise the necessary funding to stay alive.</li><li>The decision leaves loyal Blippar employees in a tough position before Christmas and may affect their pay.</li></ul>Blippar, the once-hyped British augmented reality startup, has laid off all of its employees after falling into administration.The administration process in the UK is similar to a company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US.Corporate insolvency firm <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blippar-collapses-into-administration-2018-12?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Rubin &amp; Partners announced on Monday that had been appointed as Blippar's administrator</a>, and the company published a blog hours later stating that it would let all of its employees go.Blippar's latest company accounts, dated March 2017, show that the firm employed 261 staff members across its UK, US, Singapore, and New Delhi offices. LinkedIn data indicates the current figure is closer to 125.The startup, which once claimed to be worth $1.5 billion, also said that it would wind down its augmented reality business.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181218092713/https://www.blippar.com/blog/2018/12/17/company-update">You can read the full post here.</a> Here's an excerpt from the statement (emphasis ours):"We will be learning more about the administration process over the coming days and will keep all our stakeholders informed. We are not in a position to provide all of the details, at this time. The administrators, which have been appointed by a UK court, will be expected to find a buyer for all or parts of the business."Blippar's services are likely to come to halt once the administrators take control of the business and its servers. As part of the administration process, all employees will be let go. This is an incredibly sad, disappointing, and unfortunate outcome."Blippar said its administrators, David Rubin &amp; Partners, were seeking a buyer for all or part of its business.The administration potentially leaves laid-off Blippar employees in a tough position before Christmas.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blippar-ceo-crisis-meeting-employees-monday-administration-collapse-2018-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">Blippar's CEO was too emotional to speak during an internal crisis meeting, and furious insiders are terrified the firm won't survive the week</a>Being made redundant within the first 14 days of administration <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2013/jan/18/employee-rights-administrators">means employees don't qualify as "preferential creditors"</a> should Blippar be unable to pay its debts.Being a preferential creditor would give employees a better chance of recovering their salary and redundancy payments. The early redundancy means they likely rank as "ordinary creditors" and will join the queue of people and businesses to whom Blippar owes money.Business Insider requested clarification from David Rubin &amp; Partners, which declined to comment.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">BlipparThe Blippar app, which identified real-world objects.</div></div></div>There is still hope for Blippar's business and, to some degree, its employees. It is possible that a buyer will swoop in and buy some of Blippar's operations, and even rehire some of its employees.In its statement, Blippar shed more light on how an investor dispute resulted in its administration.The company said it was trying to build out its business-to-business offering and needed "a small amount of funding" to succeed. That funding, it said, was secured from an investor thought to be property tycoon Nick Candy, already a major shareholder in Blippar.One of its investors, thought to be Mayalsian sovereign fund Khazanah, blocked the investment, Blippar said."Regrettably, one shareholder voted against the additional funding, effectively blocking the investment even if they were not asked to participate in any further financing of the business, and despite our extensive efforts to reach a successful resolution," the company wrote.It's a sad outcome for a British startup company which once had offices around the world <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/blippar-raises-55-million-series-d-funding-2016-3">and claimed to be building something "bigger than the internet itself."</a> The company had raised $150 million by the time of its collapse from investors including Khazanah, Nick Candy, and Qualcomm Ventures.Blippar was an early pioneer in augmented reality, offering an app which could identify real-world items and provide additional context. It originally made money through advertising and brand partnerships, but pivoted to focus on creating a visual search engine underpinned by a business-to-business offering.Sources told Business Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blippar-valued-1-billion-burn-rate-cash-2017-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">last April that the company had burned through its funding</a> and struggled to find recurring business. They also said Blippar had exaggerated user numbers for its app. The Financial Times also examined CEO Ambarish Mitra's backstory, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d9b68cba-0a35-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b">and found inconsistencies in his CV</a>.If you worked at Blippar or have information you'd like to share with us, you can contact the reporter at sghosh@businessinsider.com. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cheap-spy-cameras-from-amazon-2018-11">We tested out $30 tiny spy cameras from Amazon by spying on our co-workers</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Once-hyped augmented reality startup Blippar has laid off all of its employees after collapsing into administration

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">GettyBlippar cofounder and CEO Ambarish Mitra (left).</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><ul class="summary-list"><li>Blippar CEO Ambarish Mitra held a crisis meeting with staff on Monday about the firm's imminent risk of collapse.</li><li>According to one person who attended the meeting, Mitra was too emotional to finish his speech and new chief operating officer Libby Penn had to finish on his behalf.</li><li>Blippar confirmed on Monday that it was close to administration thanks to one investor blocking an emergency fundraise from another backer.</li><li>In a terse email to staff on Wednesday, Mitra said the situation remains deadlocked. </li><li>Multiple sources told Business Insider that employees are furious with Blippar's leadership and are worried they won't be paid before Christmas if the firm collapses.</li><li>It's a dramatic fall from grace for the much-hyped augmented reality startup, which two years ago claimed it was worth $1.5 billion.</li></ul></ul>Blippar's chief executive Ambarish Mitra held an emotional internal meeting with employees on Monday, warning them that the beleaguered company is perilously close to collapse as it desperately tries to raise new cash.It's a dramatic fall from grace for the much-hyped augmented reality startup, which two years ago claimed it was worth $1.5 billion. Mitra seemed resigned to failure, according to one insider.The source said Mitra was too emotional to finish his speech and had to hand over to the firm's new chief operating officer Libby Penn to finish. Penn said Blippar's status remains uncertain as an investor dispute stands in the way of it raising the finance it needs to survive.The source, who is not authorised to speak to the media, told Business Insider that the mood inside Blippar was "very low" and that employees were convinced the company would shutter in the next 48 hours. Staff are nervous they aren't going to be paid before Christmas and angry at how little they have been told, the person added.Blippar's latest company accounts, dated March 2017, show that the firm employed 261 staff across its UK, US, Singapore and Delhi offices. LinkedIn data indicates the current figure is more like 125 employees.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blippar-collapse-administration-attempts-to-sell-the-firm-snap-2018-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buzzy startup Blippar was said to be valued at $1 billion and held talks to sell to Snap. It is now on the brink of death.</a>Mitra sent a terse, company-wide update on Wednesday morning stating that Blippar had not yet found a resolution. In the email seen by BI, he said: "No further info to share at the moment. We are still trying everything we can to find a resolution."Blippar said on Monday that it is trying to complete emergency fundraising after one of its backers, Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah, last week blocked a cash injection from another shareholder - the property tycoon Nick Candy.<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blippar-on-the-brink-xhcmfmv87">According to the Sunday Times</a>, Blippar chairman David Currie warned shareholders that the firm was on the brink of administration if it didn't receive the funding. Accounting firm David Rubin and Partners has reportedly been lined up as administrator.<h2>Former Blippar loyalists say the firm is "a complete mess"</h2>Blippar was founded in the UK in 2011 by Mitra, Omar Tayeb, Jessica Butcher and Steve Spencer, and is best known for its augmented reality app that identifies real-world objects.<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d1507b96-1b24-11e5-8201-cbdb03d71480">Mitra told The Financial Times in 2015 that the company was worth $1.5 billion</a> after he turned down an acquisition offer, which appeared to put Blippar firmly among the ranks of British unicorns. The firm has raised $150 million to date from backers including Khazanah, Candy, Lansdowne, and Qualcomm Ventures.But Blippar sources <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blippar-valued-1-billion-burn-rate-cash-2017-4?r=UK&amp;IR=T">cast doubt on Blippar's numbers and financial status in April last year</a>, telling Business Insider that the firm was close to running out of money.Former Blippar staff, some of whom held longtime senior positions, described the company to Business Insider as "a complete mess" this week.One senior leaver with knowledge of Blippar's finances said: "I am not surprised by the latest news. Complete mess." Another former senior employee said: "I'm surprised they've lasted this long."A third said the company had an "overblown self-belief" thanks to its one-time status as a first-mover in augmented reality. "Some people will try anything to keep a dead dog alive," the person said of the company's attempts to raise new funding.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Ambarish MitraBlippar's co-founders: Steve Spencer, Ambarish Mitra, Oscar Tayeb, and Jess Butcher.</div></div></div>Outside the company, the industry prognosis is gloomy. One well-placed source working in computer vision said the firm wasn't known for its technical prowess, despite specialising in the complex field of augmented reality."Strong computer vision candidates who went for interview there were a bit shocked at how lacking in knowledge their interviewers were," the person said.Sources told Business Insider that Blippar tried to sell itself towards the end of last year, as the extent of its financial woes became clear. It <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snap-held-talks-to-buy-blippar-before-ar-startup-quit-silicon-valley-2018-6">tried to sell to Snapchat owner Snap Inc</a> and SAP for considerably lower than its vaunted unicorn valuation, with an internally rumoured price tag of around $200 million (£160 million). When those talks fell through, Blippar <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blippar-shuts-mountain-view-office-after-losing-key-execs-2018-5?r=UK&amp;IR=T">shuttered its Silicon Valley office</a> and lost its US commercial chief in the process.Now the company must hope it can raise further funding from its existing backers.Blippar did not respond to multiple requests for comment. <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/10/ar-startup-blippar-in-danger-of-becoming-a-blip-as-shareholders-fight-over-future-funding/">Here's what it told TechCrunch on Monday</a>:"The rate of change in the AR industry resulted in a lack of standardisation across platforms and tools which has become a barrier to greater adoption and application of the technology. In response to these we refined our strategy to primarily focus on our SaaS self-service AR creation and publishing platform and we are on the path to accelerate the developments of this platform. Our goal is to unify and standardise all AR formats and make it easy for everybody to create AR."Our strategy and product roadmap to enable this goal has unanimous approval from our board, for which we require an additional amount of funding to accelerate our growth and fulfill our profitability plans. The additional funding has been secured and approved by the whole board, but ultimately requires shareholders' approval, which was given by all except one."Despite not participating in any further funding of the business, that shareholder took the decision to vote against the additional funding. We tried to reach an agreement with them that would allow the business to continue with these plans and have offered various solutions, and so far they have refused all proposals."Our board is still trying to negotiate with them and we hope to have a reasonable position at some point this week."If you work at Blippar and would like to talk, or have information about its current situation, email sghosh@businessinsider.com. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/singapore-waste-energy-garbage-landfill-space-2018-11">How Singapore solved garbage disposal</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Blippar's CEO held an emotional crisis meeting and furious insiders are terrified the firm won't survive the week

Search engine <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword> and online retailer <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> are interested in setting up their centers in India, which has a unique market with internet user growth. The companies will generate more employment and change the course for the internet multinationals in the country. 
 
Both have recently announced their plans to set up centers in India. Google announced to establish its largest campus outside the US, in Hyderabad. It will be ready by 2019. The 2m square feet facility is expected to house 13,000 employees and will be the first company-owned premises by the search giant in Asia. 
 
Further, online retailer Amazon announced setting up of its 11th and largest fulfillment centre in India on the outskirts of Hyderabad. India has the largest employee base outside Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. 
 
"We are planting seeds for the future. India has been mentioned in the shareholder letter by Jeff ( Jeff Bezos, founder-CEO, Amazon) and that's big," Amit Agarwal, vice president &amp; country manager, Amazon India, told the Economic Times. 
 
Bezos already announced a $2 billion investment push in India last year, he said. 
 
America's largest online retailer has been in India for more than a decade. It started a development centre in 2004. Amazon entered India in 2013 as a marketplace. It now offers 22 million products with India being its fastest geography to do $1 billion in sales. 
 Across internet companies LinkedIN, Twitter, Google and <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>, the growth trajectory in India has been similar. "The India story has changed and the upside is large. We are just scratching the surface," Karthik Anant, director, <keyword id="298873" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Zinnov">Zinnov</keyword>, a Bangalorebased consultancy, told the financial daily. 
 
"Earlier it was about labour arbitrage, now it's a large domestic market that attracts companies. Products for small and medium businesses (SMBs) are first tried in India. Even for back office work, more intellectual property is being created in India now, a distinct shift from being just a support base," adds Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO, Greyhound Research, a Gurgaon-based analyst firm. 
 Moreover, India is the second-largest user market for Facebook and Whatsapp, and Twitter counts India among its top markets. "More users will push advertising to digital mode, boosting revenue for internet companies. Besides, India is a mobile first <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> (people experience net first on mobile) and companies are exporting some of the learning from here to other markets," says Zinnov's Anant. 
 
India is witnessing good internet user growth with Google launching Android One, its low-cost smartphone for the emerging market. More than half the sales for Amazon come from the mobile platform, spurring innovation that can be used worldwide, from India. 
 
As far Twitter is concerned, India has become a top growth market, says Rishi Jaitly, market director, India and South East Asia. "And we are growing our team here — hiring in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore," he adds. 
 
India has a unique market with growing internet user base. For instance, digital advertising comprises just $800 million out of the total advertising market of $8 billion. In China, internet advertising is $15 billion. In the last quarter, Google's earning was $17 billion, more than double of what India spends on advertising in a whole year. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Google and Amazon have big plans for India

Harry met Sally is a universal phenomenon. But in India, Harry met Sally on the road and fell in love or Harry’s family met Sally’s family and fell in love. Fast forward to 2015, Harry’s love is online now—on Truly Madly- a dating app that helps meet like minded individuals to find their ‘perfect love’. 
 “Truly Madly is a dating app meant to cater people in the age group of 18 to 26 years old. We realized that this is the group that we can cater to as most of them did not want to settle down so fast but definitely wanted to meet interesting people. So, we decided to create a dating space for this group rather than disrupting the matrimony space,” says <keyword id="316899" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sachin-Bhatia">Sachin Bhatia</keyword>, co-founder of <keyword id="2517530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Truly-Madly">Truly Madly</keyword> at his office in Delhi. 
 Disrupting the matrimony space? The <keyword id="54613" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="makemytrip">Makemytrip</keyword> co-founder and CMO explains that last year, the founders of the company- Sachin Bhatia, <keyword id="674163" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hitesh-Dhingra">Hitesh Dhingra</keyword>, co-founder of electronics ecommerce firm <keyword id="620521" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Letsbuy">LetsBuy</keyword>.com, and Rahul Kumar, who formerly worked with travel portals such as Expedia, Makemytrip got together and started looking at online Indian businesses that have not evolved up in the last one decade in India. 
 
“So, we looked at real estate and then we saw matrimony. On going deeper, we realized that this segment did not really do anything different and decided to disrupt this segment. I mean the players are still matching in a regressive way-based on caste, creed and religion. So we thought of doing something interesting and disrupting this category,” he adds. 
 
Bhatia points out an interesting fact here. According to their research, 30% of the men registered on these match-making websites are married and are only looking for fun. “On researching more, we got the feedback that girls were wary of being on such apps as none of the profiles were verified, which may be accessed by stalkers and corny men. And hence, we came up with our verification feature on the app,” notes Bhatia. 
 
So how does Truly Madly work? It’s simple. You will have fill in your details and then answer some fun quizzes which allow the app to understand your preferences. The second process would be the verification, which can be done by linking all your social media profiles including Facebook and Linkedin along with documents such as the passport in order to assess whether profile created is genuine or not. The app will then match you with profiles and a chat access is given only when there is a mutual like. 
 
“Truly Madly is built on two pillars- compatibility and verification. We can’t promise love and perfect matches but at least we can help you sift through bunch of profiles based on common interests and likes. This works well with the women,” avers Bhatia. 
 
Talking about the competition, Bhatia feels that the biggest competition in the segment is the US based dating app Tinder. However, he also believes that the concept which governs Tinder is not for the Indian market. “Tinder is more of a casual dating, which works well in the US but not in India,” he asserts. 
 
Seeing the potential of the dating space in the country, the company has raised Rs 35 crore recently. And it will be used for primarily two things—expanding the team with the best talents on board and creating quality content for the app. 
 
“We have half a million users now with 35% girls. One major area of concern is that people won’t go on Facebook and announce that they are on Truly Madly. But they may share original content that the app offers. So, we are really focusing on creating original content,” Bhatia explains. 
 
The company also aims to create dating as a category as it is still considered to be a taboo. Bhatia tell us that even today people prefer to say ‘going out for coffee or a movie’ rather than calling it a date. 
 
So, who are the core target audience for this dating app? Bhatia quickly tells us that the company is only targeting women. “Once women are on board, men will follow,” he chuckles. 
 
Interestingly, the app has seen a higher number of women from small towns registering themselves than those in the big cities. “In terms of downloads, metros lead but 30% of our users who are from non-metro cities are more engaged,” points out Bhatia. 
 
The company will soon make its business model subscription-based and will charge a meager amount. While it may hurt a few pockets, until then, enjoy dating online. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes.com

Cupid goes online! Find love Truly Madly style

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The past few months have been a PR nightmare for Uber.
In November at a dinner for "influencers," an Uber exec named Emil Michael suggested the company could theoretically dig up personal information on reporters who are critical of the company. BuzzFeed's editor-in-chief Ben Smith <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists">reported on the comments</a>.
BuzzFeed also reported that a New York City Uber executive had tracked one of BuzzFeed's tech reporters without her permission, a breach of Uber's <a href="https://www.uber.com/legal/usa/privacy">privacy policy</a>, which was posted to Uber's website in light of these incidents. The executive in question, Josh Mohrer, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-disciplines-new-york-manager-for-tracking-a-buzzfeed-reporter-2014-11">was investigated for spying on the BuzzFeed reporter</a>, and according to Uber has since been disciplined for his actions, but has kept his job. 
And then there was more troubling privacy news: An Uber interview candidate in Washington, D.C. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-reportedly-gave-an-interview-candidate-access-to-the-companys-rider-database-2014-12">was reportedly given access to Uber's rider database</a>, which is full of sensitive information, for hours after his interview was over, the Washington Post reported. While researching for a story about the company, San Francisco magazine editor Ellen Cushing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-employees-allegedly-warned-journalist-ellen-cushing-uber-could-look-at-her-rider-info-2014-11">was allegedly warned by Uber employees</a> that Uber might look at her rider logs, too. 
Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.), chairman of the subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/senator-al-franken-has-some-uncomfortable-questions-for-uber-2014-11">voiced privacy concerns about Uber</a> in an open letter to CEO Travis Kalanick. Cult of Mac reported that <a href="http://www.cultofmac.com/304401/ubers-android-app-literally-malware/">Uber's Android app could be collecting an alarming amount of users' personal data</a>. New York City tech startup founders and serial entrepreneurs who spoke to Business Insider in the days following BuzzFeed's reports <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-york-tech-scene-thinks-uber-should-fire-emil-and-travis-2014-11#ixzz3LPWtPrkC">were adamant about Michael or Kalanick stepping down</a>. 
But Uber hasn't just upset press and people concerned about user privacy - drivers across the country <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-drivers-across-the-country-are-protesting-tomorrow--heres-why-2014-10">have also protested the company</a> since September. 
They're upset by Uber's competitive pricing, which affects drivers' incomes. Some say <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-drivers-say-theyre-making-less-than-minimum-wage-2014-10">they're barely making minimum wage</a>. They don't understand why Uber hasn't integrated a feature to let them accept tips from customers. They're terrified of Uber's five-star rating system, and say that even one bad rating could be enough to knock them out of Uber's driving system and prevent them from driving for the service in the future.
At the end of November, Uber quietly pulled a blog post on its website <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-quietly-removed-blog-posts-examining-link-between-prostitution-and-rides-2014-11">that examined a link between prostitution and Uber rides</a>. The post examined how Uber's ride data <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-quietly-removed-blog-posts-examining-link-between-prostitution-and-rides-2014-11">meshed with crime statistics</a>.
Some of Uber's customers aren't very happy, either. An Uber customer <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-uber-ceo-must-turn-over-emails-in-gratuity-lawsuit-us-judge-rules-2014-11#ixzz3LPc0isHP">filed a class-action lawsuit against the company earlier in 2014</a>, alleging that Uber misleads its customers about how it shares tips with drivers. Complaints about Uber's surge pricing model - in which the company charges a fare multiplier during Uber's busiest hours - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-gets-an-f-from-better-business-bureau-2014-10">has caused the Better Business Bureau to give the company an 'F.' </a> 
Most recently, Uber has had trouble in terms of national and international growth. Amid regulatory concerns, Nevada <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-ridesharing-firm-uber-suspends-operations-in-nevada-2014-11">became the first US state to suspend Uber's operations</a>. Portland, Ore., <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/portland-sues-uber-after-four-days-of-operation-2014-12">is suing Uber after four days of illegally operating in the city</a>. Portland declared Uber an "illegal, unregulated transportation service."
Uber's having a different set of challenges in other countries, especially Germany: Uber's services aren't taking off there in part because the country's taxis are Mercedes, and thus are much nicer than a typical taxi. Germans <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-real-reason-uber-is-having-a-tough-time-in-germany-2014-12">don't seem enticed by a service like Uber</a> even if it's much cheaper. In addition, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/26/us-uber-germany-bans-idUSKCN0HL23320140926">courts in Hamburg and Berlin</a> upheld a ban on the service in September, saying that Uber doesn't comply with German laws. 
A Dutch court also <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/uber-loses-preliminary-suit-netherlands-27439643">ruled this week that in the Netherlands, Uber can't work with unlicensed drivers</a> (drivers with licenses and drivers who don't seek payment can still legally operate, however).
Sometimes, Uber's drivers are a liability to the company, too. An Uber driver in San Francisco <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/an-uber-driver-has-been-charged-with-killing-a-six-year-old-2014-12">has been charged with vehicular manslaughter</a> after killing a six-year-old girl in San Francisco on New Year's Eve last year. In September, an Uber driver <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-driver-accused-of-smashing-a-passenger-with-a-hammer-and-driving-away-2014-9">was accused of smashing a passenger in the head with a hammer</a> and driving away. That same month, an Uber driver in Orlando <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-uber-driver-arrested-touched-breast-20140925-story.html">was accused of groping a female passenger</a> and then blaming it on the way the woman was dressed.
Uber <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-banned-in-delhi-india-after-alleged-rape-2014-12">was also banned in Delhi</a> this week after an Indian driver allegedly raped and beat a female customer. The driver had been arrested three years ago for another sexual assault and was later acquitted, but he was still allowed to drive for Uber. In light of the allegations in India, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/thailand-bans-uber-in-light-of-india-rape-claims-2014-12">Thailand decided to ban Uber's operations too</a>.
<h3>Despite all this, Uber is not down and out. In fact, there has probably never been a better time to be Uber than right now.</h3>
Just last week, Uber <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/09/didi-dache-700-million/">announced the company had raised a $1.2 billion round of funding at a $41 billion valuation</a>. Since its founding in 2010, Uber has raised an astounding $2.7 billion. By comparison, Uber's closest competitor, Lyft, <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/lyft">has raised $332.5 million</a>.
And Uber is playing this car service startup game for world dominance. The company <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/david-plouffe-uber-campaign-manager-110149.html">hired David Plouffe</a>, who headed up Obama's presidential campaign in 2008, to oversee Uber's city-by-city regulatory battles. Uber is now available in over 250 cities worldwide.
With its latest round of funding, Uber has two main goals: to create a million new jobs next year, and to set its sights set on Asia, where competitors like the <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/03/softbank-invests-250m-in-grabtaxi-ubers-archrival-in-southeast-asia/">SoftBank-backed GrabTaxi</a> and <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/09/didi-dache-700-million/">Singapore's Temasek Holding-funded Didi Dache</a> are also trying to take advantage of a relatively untapped market.
Uber has made some smart hires besides just David Plouffe. Brad Moore, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/one-of-the-men-in-charge-of-apple-maps-has-left-for-uber-2014-11">who brought Apple Maps to the iPhone and the Apple Watch</a>, was hired by Uber in November and serves as the engineering manager for the "Mobile Core Experience," according to his LinkedIn page. Uber also hired former Lyft COO Travis VanderZanden in October <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-hires-former-coo-of-its-biggest-competitor-lyft-2014-10">to help oversee Uber's international growth</a>. Lyft's former VP of operations, Steve Schnell, also defected to Uber. 
Still, Kalanick is aware of his company's reputation. In Uber's most recent funding announcement, he said as much, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-culture-change-2014-12#ixzz3LPjtohri">addressing Uber's recent controversies</a> by saying:
<blockquote class="blockquote">
This kind of growth has also come with significant growing pains. The events of the recent weeks have shown us that we also need to invest in internal growth and change. Acknowledging mistakes and learning from them are the first steps. We are collaborating across the company and seeking counsel from those who have gone through similar challenges to allow us to refine and change where needed.
</blockquote>
Investors are going crazy for Uber. Some of Uber's earliest markets are basically minting money, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually. In November, Business Insider obtained an internal Uber presentation that was created in early 2014. Most of the data is just from December 2013, but even so, the data within the document gives every indication that Uber is far from being done growing. 
In its biggest cities - Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles - Uber had more than 100,000 trips per week as of last December. Here's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-revenue-rides-drivers-and-fares-2014-11?op=1#ixzz3LPo6Wtwp">Business Insider's Alyson Shontell</a>:
<blockquote class="blockquote">
In December 2013, Uber generated about $11.7 million in Washington, D.C. (a ~$141 million annual run rate). It generated $26 million in New York City, or an annual run rate of $312 million. In Chicago, Uber generated $12.7 million for a run rate of $152.4 million. In San Francisco, Uber generated $17.7 million, a run rate of $212.4 million. Los Angeles generated somewhere between the revenue of New York and San Francisco. 
</blockquote>
These run rates would generate about $1 billion a year, and that figure is derived without taking into account Uber's growth in 2014. Year over year from New Year's Eve 2012 to New Year's Eve 2013, Uber's growth rate was a whopping 369%.
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-revenue-2014-11">Sources close to the company</a> have said Uber's gross revenue is expected to hit about $10 billion by year's end. Since Uber keeps 20% of gross profit and the rest goes to its drivers, Uber would be netting about $2 billion in net revenue.
Business Insider's Henry Blodget adds that Uber's revenue growth rate is 300% this year, and next year it's expected to be another 300% gain. Blodget also says investors expect the company to IPO at a valuation of $50 billion to $100 billion in the next few years. For comparison's sake, Facebook <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-uber-valuation-ahead-of-facebook-in-early-years-2014-11#ixzz3LPmD9F3c">achieved Uber's $41 billion valuation in its seventh year</a> - which was two years before Facebook went public in 2012.
Besides disrupting the transportation market, Uber has a huge opportunity to break into other on-demand services. For instance, Uber launched <a href="http://blog.uber.com/uberFRESH">UberFRESH</a>, a meal delivery service, in Santa Monica in August. This summer, Uber announced it would be testing an on-demand convenience store goods delivery service called "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-corner-store-on-demand-product-delivery-service-2014-8">Corner Store</a>" in Washington, D.C. Uber also launched "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-uber-rush-works-2014-4">Uber Rush</a>" in New York City this year. It's a courier service not unlike Postmates that relies on on-foot and bike messengers to get your packages from point A to point B. 
Uber has had its share of negative press recently. But if the company can overcome regulatory hurdles, privacy concerns, its often problematic company culture, and lawsuits - and it certainly can - Uber is poised to become one of the most successful tech startups of all time.

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