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When a grove of 100 trees in Israel was planted in Pradip Shah’s honor, a seed of an idea started to germinate. 
 
Shah, a YPO member since 1997, founded Grow-trees.com in 2010, combining his desire to give back to society with his son Karan’s emerging expertise in computer-based business. The idea was progressive and elegant: Reshape the celebration of special occasions by replacing paper cards and floral bouquets with planting a tree — or an entire grove — commemorated with an e-certificate. 
 
A single new tree can provide value to an impoverished community, restore a damaged environment, attract healthy wildlife and clean the planet’s air — a considerable value, considering the US$1 a tree price tag. 
 
 
 
In three years, the company has planted more than 700,000 trees, restoring massive tracts of national forests in India and helping restore a healthy balance in the wildlife population. Equally impressive is Grow-Trees impact on the community. With a permanent staff of only four, the company generated more than 53,000 workdays for low-skilled laborers, helping entire communities improve everyday life. 
 
Growing beyond a shoestring budget, the company has attracted global attention and received grants and awards to partner with acclaimed organizations such as World Wildlife Fund and the United Nations Environmental Programme. Grow-Trees is now considering a global reach to help restore forests around the world, and the idea is taking root. 
 
 
 
(The author of this article is Elaine Vitt, contributing writer with YPO) 
 
(Image: Grow-trees.com)

Sustainable Celebrations: Improving the Environment and Communities

Gurgaon, Jul 12 () India is at a "good position" in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic and the country will fight the disease with determination and enthusiasm, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday. Shah spoke after participating in a mega plantation drive initiated by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) that has a target to plant about 1.37 crore saplings in their country-wide campuses by this month-end. "The world is seeing that if a successful battle has been fought anywhere across the globe against the coronavirus it is India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said. "It was feared that how would a large country like ours would face this challenge given that we have a federal structure of governance, dense population of 130 crore people and no single chain of command," Shah said. He was speaking after planting a peepal tree at the CRPF officers' training academy campus in Kadarpur village here. The 130 crore people of the country, all the states and every individual fought this battle against COVID-19 as one nation, he said. Across the globe, governments are fighting this disease but in our country everyone has joined hands, Shah said. "We are at a good position in this coronavirus battle and will continue this fight with determination and there is no atmosphere of fear. We have the passion to battle it and enthusiasm to defeat it (coronavirus)," Shah said in his address to the chiefs of various CAPFs and troops who heard him over a webinar link. As the home minister of the country, I can proudly say that the security forces of the country have a "big role" to play in this battle fought by India, he said. Shah noted that COVID-19 is a very contagious disease that challenges the very existence of the human kind. Saluting the 'corona warriors' of the CAPFs and other security and police forces, the minister said they have set a new example of rendering their duty and fighting the pandemic at the same time. He said over 31 CAPF personnel have laid down their lives while rendering COVID-19 duties out of which ten personnel are from the Central Reserve Police Force. "I assure you that your sacrifice will not go in vain. Your sacrifice will be written in golden words," he said. Talking about the importance of trees in environment protection, the home minister urged the personnel of these forces to adopt at least one plant and ensure that they protect it till it grows bigger than them. "Consider the plant like your child and treat it with the affection and care that you bring up your children," he urged the personnel. "We are facing challenges of global warming, rise in temperature and depletion of the ozone layer.Only trees can save us from environmental challenges and they can help to lessen the existing pollution and nothing else," he said. He said the home ministry, under the ongoing mega plantation drive, has chosen the maximum of those plants which have a life span of over 100 years so that they can help preserve the nature for long. Shah also said that he believes that his ministry should have a culture that all projects or initiatives launched by it should reach successful completion. The Modi government, he said, is working to bring in more clean fuel and as part of that we are enhancing the usage of ethanol over petrol. "I am happy to say that between 2014 and 2020 the production and consumption of ethanol in the country has risen by 20 per cent and we further plan to increase it by another 10 per cent," he said. During the event, CRPF chief A P Maheshwari informed the minister that all the CAPFs are undertaking the mega plantation drive and his force will plant over 22 lakh saplings. NES DV DV

India at good position in COVID-19 battle: HM Shah

(Eds: Adds inputs) Gurgaon, Jul 12 () India is in a "good position" in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic and the country will fight the disease with determination and enthusiasm, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday. Shah spoke after participating in a mega plantation drive initiated by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to plant 1.37 crore saplings in their campuses by this month-end. He planted a peepal sapling at the CRPF officers' training academy campus in Kadarpur village here. "The world is seeing that if a successful battle has been fought anywhere across the globe against the coronavirus it is in India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Shah said. "It was feared that how would a large country like ours would face this challenge given that we have a federal structure of governance, dense population of 130 crore people and no single chain of command," he said. But the 130 crore people of the country, all states and every individual fought the battle against COVID-19 as one nation, the home minister said. Across the globe, Shah said, governments are fighting this disease but in India everyone has joined hands. "We are in a good position in this coronavirus battle and will continue this fight with determination and there is no atmosphere of fear. We have the passion to battle it and the enthusiasm to defeat it," he said in his address to the chiefs of various CAPFs and troops who heard him via a web link. "As the home minister of the country, I can proudly say that the security forces of the country have a 'big role' to play in this battle fought by India," he said. He praised these forces for rendering duties at airports, railway stations and public places apart from aiding the state police forces for law and order duties. Shah noted that COVID-19 is a very contagious disease that challenges the very existence of the human kind. Saluting the 'corona warriors' of the CAPFs and other security and police forces, the home minister said they have set a new example of rendering their duty and fighting the pandemic at the same time. He said over 31 CAPF personnel have laid down their lives while rendering COVID-19 duties out of which ten personnel are from the Central Reserve Police Force. "I assure you that your sacrifice will not go in vain. Your sacrifice will be written in golden words," he said. Talking about the importance of trees in environment protection, he urged the personnel to adopt at least one plant and ensure that they protect it till it grows bigger than them. "Consider the plant like your child and treat it with the affection and care that you bring up your children," he urged them. "We are facing challenges of global warming, rise in temperature and depletion of the ozone layer. Only trees can save us from environmental challenges and they can help to lessen the existing pollution and nothing else," he said. He said the Home Ministry, under the ongoing mega plantation drive, has chosen a maximum of those plants which have a life span of over 100 years so that they can help preserve the nature for long. Shah also said that he believes that his ministry should have a culture that all projects or initiatives launched by it should reach successful completion. The Modi government, he said, is working to bring in more clean fuel and as part of that "we are enhancing the usage of ethanol over petrol". "I am happy to say that between 2014 and 2020 the production and consumption of ethanol in the country has risen by 20 per cent and we further plan to increase it by another 10 per cent," he said. The minister also talked about PM Modi's speech during the Paris World Environment Summit. "The PM cautioned the world against over-exploitation of nature and the world accepted the Modi formula in the Paris declaration on tackling climate change. As a result of the prime minister's efforts, the International Solar Alliance was set up in India," he said. During the event, CRPF chief A P Maheshwari informed the minister that all the CAPFs are undertaking the mega plantation drive and his force will plant over 22 lakh saplings. NES ABH ABH ABH

India in good position in COVID-19 battle: HM Shah

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11896079" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gold" source="Orion">Gold</keyword> stayed popular among retail investors as the <keyword id="11931694" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dollar" source="Orion">dollar</keyword> gained strength as US <keyword id="11894140" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="inflation" source="Orion">inflation</keyword> dwells. </li><li>Gold and the <keyword id="6368584" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="us-dollar" source="Orion">US dollar</keyword> tend to move inversely to one another, but that relationship has broken down.</li></ul>Retail investors are more bullish towards gold than ever at the moment, even though the dollar is holding strong, as concerns about US inflation ramps up, according to data from European derivatives trading platform Spectrum <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">Markets</keyword> released on Wednesday. Spectrum said its <a href="https://www.spectrum-markets.com/en/newsroom/spectrum-markets-launches-serix-investor-sentiment-indicator">European Retail Investor Index (SERIX)</a> hit a high of 116 in the past month, indicating the optimism among investors towards bullion, which can serve as a store of value in times of market turmoil or rising inflation. This was the highest such reading since the data series began, Spectrum said.A reading below 100 on the SERIX data series suggests sentiment is bearish, while a reading above that level indicates bullishness."After a period of decline in May that saw the <keyword id="11893109" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gold-price" source="Orion">gold price</keyword> drop below $1,800 USD on the 16th, the gold price started what looked like a new rally in the last few days of the month, supported by both the dollar and euro undergoing a weak phase," said Michael Hall, head of distribution at Spectrum Markets in a note. He added: "Considering the macroeconomic backdrop, it's no surprise to see investors looking to take advantage of a dip in the gold price to make safe haven allocations."Gold typically tends to move inversely to the US dollar, but growing concern over the global rise in inflation has started to lure investors and prompted this correlation to break down. The dollar index has risen nearly 7% this year, while gold has gained almost 1%. It comes against a backdrop of rising interest rates aimed at cooling down red-hot inflation that is pervading the global economy. Despite the Federal Reserve trying to control soaring consumer prices by embarking on a series of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-raises-interest-rates-may-double-sized-hike-mortgages-loans-2022-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">rapid rate rises</a>, retail investors are cautious and are looking togold as a potential safe haven against inflation, SERIX sentiment data shows. "With fears of a <keyword id="12460783" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="recession" source="Orion">recession</keyword> rising, investors are increasingly turning to gold as a hedge," Nitesh Shah, head of Europe's commodities &amp; macroeconomic research at fund management firm Wisdom Tree said in a note. Reinforcing a weak economic outlook, the <keyword id="11898619" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="world-bank" source="Orion">World Bank</keyword> on Tuesday cut its forecast for global growth in 2022 to 2.9% from a previous projection of 4.1%, adding that "for many countries, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-is-a-recession">recession</a> will be hard to avoid."For gold, this could be a good thing, according to Commerzbank strategist Daniel Briesemann. "We believe this will benefit gold in the long term, as it is likely to come into its own as a store of value in such an environment."Gold was trading around $1,850 an ounce on Wednesday. It neared record highs above $2,000 an ounce in the immediate aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, when commodity prices in particular soared.

Retail investors are at their most bullish ever on gold despite the strength of the dollar as inflation builds

The big, fat, Indian wedding is the stuff of dreams.For Krishma Sood Bhojwani, this meant hosting a four-day-long celebration at the JW Marriott in Phuket, Thailand. The bride imported cheese wheels from Italy, sourced Iberico ham directly from Spain, and hired a photography team from Mumbai. She flew in <a href="https://www.wedmegood.com/blog/epic-phuket-wedding-with-head-turning-bridal-looks/">chefs</a> from India and Japan, and had cooks preparing fresh food across 24 dining stations.The wedding consisted of eight events spread across four days, all set against the backdrop of the oceanfront resort where lush jungle meets the province's coastline. The 120 guests, who flew in from around the world and wore black-tie attire and intricately embroidered lehengas, were treated to cocktail dinners by the beach and ballroom parties.Bhojwani had arranged for a floating altar and wore <a href="https://wedbook.in/real-weddings/thailand-destination-wedding-of-a-couple-who-postponed-their-wedding-thrice/">traditional outfits</a> that were made by luxury designers like Sabyasachi, whose <a href="https://www.azafashions.com/products/floral-embroidered-lehenga-set/222913?utm_country=sg&amp;wpsrc=Google%20AdWords&amp;wpscid=&amp;wpsnetn=x&amp;wpkwn=&amp;wpkmatch=&amp;wpcrid=&amp;wpcid=17961464551&amp;wpkwid=&amp;wpscn=&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_source=google-pmax&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=SGD-ACQ-GOOGLE-PMAX-ALL-MCV-12August2022&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwmouZBhDSARIsALYcouoPDwycaxZa2Np04dLTMyBf5DqDEeZg9yHbJ1QgQ70oSm4Cs6s5uEIaAlgrEALw_wcB">designs</a> can go for $30,000 a piece.As for the cost? Around $400,000 for the wedding events alone, Bhojwani estimates — and that doesn't account for the couple's jewelry and outfits. "I did have a strict budget — money doesn't grow on a tree. We were sharp on cost and didn't spend a dollar over what I said we would," Bhojwani, who's from Australia, told Insider.<div type="image" title="Krishma Sood Bhojwani's wedding." height="3555" width="4740" msid="94268295" hostid="261"></div>In India, the wedding industry is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indias-50-billion-wedding-industry-is-gearing-up-for-a-busy-winter/articleshow/78163437.cms">worth</a> a whopping $50 billion, and it's not uncommon for wealthy families to spend astronomical amounts of money on weddings. In 2018, billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-10/real-crazy-rich-asian-wedding-is-said-to-cost-100-million?leadSource=uverify%20wall">spent</a> a reported $100 million on his daughter's wedding, with guests like Beyonce, Shah Rukh Khan, and Hillary Clinton in attendance.But even for the just ordinarily wealthy, weddings can ring up serious price tags: Indian families are known to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-looks-indian-weddings-boost-tourism-revenue-2022-08-31/">spend</a> as much as $800,000 on destination weddings at five-star hotels and resorts across Southeast Asia. Traditionally, the bride's family would bear the wedding costs, but that's now considered an <a href="https://qz.com/2130328/how-hindu-weddings-became-indias-cultural-export/">outdated practice</a> — many families, including Bhojwani and her husband's, choose to share the expenses. As Bhojwani put it, Indian couples typically have a "huge amount of parental support" in financing the costs of their wedding.<div type="image" title="Krishma Sood Bhojwani's wedding." height="4023" width="5365" msid="94268298" hostid="261"></div>Now, as luxury resorts across Southeast Asia emerge from the pandemic, many of them are competing for these lucrative Indian weddings. Many of these establishments are still reeling from the financial impact of the pandemic, and they're sparing no effort to attract the business of wealthy Indian couples to make up for the deficits. After all, that big Indian wedding may just be the tipping factor between ending the year in red or black. <h2>The big business of big Indian weddings</h2>One reason high-end Indian weddings can be so expensive is because they're often not single-day events — Sikh wedding ceremonies, for example, are held over several days, said Vin Ramash, a wedding planner with Singapore-based wedding and events company Alangkaar. <div type="image" title="Krishma Sood Bhojwani's wedding in Phuket." height="4023" width="5365" msid="94268301" hostid="261"></div>"At the higher end, Punjabi weddings start at $100,000 per day, so spending $500,000 is possible," Ramash told Insider, explaining that this is typical of weddings held at premium hotels like Capella, St. Regis, or Ritz-Carlton.But the bells, whistles, and whims of the couple also contribute to the hefty price tag.Hand-made mandaps, or altars, and custom-designed decorations can cost around $40,000, Ramash said — and additional requests like fireworks can cost even more.And then there's the travel element. As destination weddings become more popular among high-net worth Indian couples, many couples are looking to Thailand. Ramash said Alangkaar's tourism partner in the country anticipates 400 to 500 "large-sale Indian weddings" in 2023 alone.<div type="image" title="Krishma Sood Bhojwani's wedding." height="3580" width="4773" msid="94268303" hostid="261"></div>"Couples love destination weddings in Thailand because of the value you get for every dollar you spend. People want an experience — it's not just about status," Ramash, who plans weddings in Singapore, Bali, and Phuket, added. Bhojwani and her husband had initially planned to host their wedding at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. After lockdowns, travel restrictions, and four postponements, they finally decided to host their wedding in Thailand.Vendors and planners in Phu Quoc failed to understand what they wanted for their wedding "no matter how hard we negotiated," Bhojwani said. The planners and venue in Thailand, meanwhile, "understood the vision, the scale, the grandeur, and experience" she and her husband were looking for.<div type="image" title="Krishma Sood Bhojwani's wedding." height="3881" width="5174" msid="94268305" hostid="261"></div><h2>Tourism boards and luxury hotels are fighting for weddings</h2>Given the pent-up demand, and in an effort to get back to pre-pandemic business levels, tourism boards and luxury hotels are prioritizing marketing campaigns that target the ultra-luxe destination Indian wedding segment. That means that destinations like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Maldives are often vying for the same big-budget weddings.Resorts are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to become the destination of choice. Hotels are catering to all sorts of demands from the wedding parties, including making special arrangements for religious rituals like providing a Hindu priest to solemnize the wedding. In some instances, they've even offered to rebook guests at sister venues if a bigger wedding party wants to book out the entire property. Tourism boards are getting in on it, too.For Thailand, wedding revenue is embedded into the tourism revenue for the year. Thailand expects a 600 billion to 700 billion baht, or $16 to 19 million, boost to tourism revenues this year from luxury weddings and honeymooners, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-looks-indian-weddings-boost-tourism-revenue-2022-08-31/">reported</a>, citing a senior tourism official. Indian tourists are the "priority" this year, Tanes Petsuwan, the deputy governor of Thailand's tourism authority, <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/Thai-tourism-eyes-Indian-weddings-as-Chinese-spending-dries-up">told</a> Nikkei Asia.<div type="image" title="Krishma Sood Bhojwani's wedding." height="2250" width="3000" msid="94268475" hostid="261"></div>Other tourism boards, like Indonesia's, are also on the prowl to woo these glitzy-eyed couples. These exclusive weddings can cost anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000, Sanjay Sondhi, the CEO of Om Tourism and the head of Indonesia's tourism board for India, told Insider. Indonesia tourism board officials often collaborate with the biggest wedding planners in countries like India, and in some instances are even present when resorts are pitching to the prospective brides and grooms. The fruits of this labor can be sweet. For one high-profile wedding slated to be held in the tropical island of Bali, talks are now revolving around a chartered flight for around 250 guests, Sondhi said. The couple was previously mulling a destination wedding in Thailand. <h2>Hotels lay out the red carpet</h2>With the main Indian wedding season, which runs from October to December, just around the corner, hotels are seeing a pick-up in inquiries.Demand for Six Senses properties across Southeast Asia for Indian destination weddings has been on the rise, with Six Senses Uluwatu in Bali being the absolute "favorite," Agnes Poon, the director of sales and marketing for Six Senses in Asia, told Insider. In August, the five-star resort held the wedding for a high-end family based in South India, Poon said. And in late 2021, the hotel chain <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/celebrities/story/vicky-kaushal-katrina-kaif-s-wedding-suites-in-six-senses-resort-costs-rs-7-lakh-per-night-exclusive-1882458-2021-11-30">hosted</a> the wedding of Bollywood stars Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal. The wedding took place at the chain's flagship property in India, Six Senses Fort Barwara.Poon said queries are coming in for minimums of 200-250 rooms at the resort, which rests on the famed limestone cliffs of Uluwatu and opens up to sweeping views of the Indian Ocean.To be sure, it's not just Indian weddings that are big business. The global wedding services industry generated $160.5 billion revenues in 2020 and is expected to generate revenues of $414.2 billion in 2030, per an Allied Market Research <a href="https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/wedding-services-market-A15864">report</a>.Luxury hotel Capella Singapore has weddings scheduled for every weekend of the year, Victoria Lim, a content marketing specialist at Capella Hotel group, told Insider. Demand for venues is topping pre-pandemic levels — but the type of demand is also diversifying. Capella is seeing an increase in small and intimate solemnization, especially for couples who put their weddings on pause due to the pandemic, Lim said. <div type="image" title="Krishma Sood Bhojwani's wedding." height="3843" width="5124" msid="94268478" hostid="261"></div>But for many of those taking the traditional big Indian wedding route, it's worth it to dish out — even if they had to change their plans multiple times along the way."I've always dreamed of having a beautiful wedding," Bhojwani said of her April wedding. "It was really hard, it was delayed for three years but we got there in the end. It's definitely worth it."

Indian weddings are big money &mdash; and luxury resorts across Southeast Asia are competing to draw them in to make up for their Covid deficits

A few days ago, yoga guru <keyword id="6355107" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Baba-Ramdev">Baba Ramdev</keyword> had taken a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Weirdest-comment-of-the-day-Ramdev-Baba-says-Patanjali-will-shut-the-gate-in-Colgate-make-Nestles-bird-disappear/articleshow/52027530.cms">direct dig</a> at the rivals of his FMCG firm <keyword id="6356684" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="patanjali">patanjali</keyword>, saying, "Patanjali will shut the 'gate' on <keyword id="73802" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Colgate">Colgate</keyword>. The birds in Nestle's nest (logo) will also fly away." 
 
His confidence has come because of Patanjali achieving the 5000 crore mark, and successfully <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Indias-herbal-market-has-got-a-new-life/articleshow/51104012.cms">bringing Ayurveda back</a> into the daily lives of Indians, just the way he had brought Yoga back to the its country of origin many years ago. 
 
And now, Patanjali is all set to overpower traditional FMCG biggies like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Patanjali-takes-over-the-entire-Ayurveda-industry/articleshow/51453997.cms">Hindustan Unilever, Nestle, Marico and Dabur</a>, and we say this basis data and records. 
 
Patanjali has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Everyone-wants-to-be-a-part-of-Patanjalis-success-as-FMCG-giant-aims-Rs-1000-crore-this-fiscal/articleshow/51682270.cms">put a dent</a> on these companies in the past four months, and investors think that Ramdev's company will further impact their market share and consumer preferences. 
 
This year, so far, the BSE FMCG index, a gauge of the FMCG stocks on BSE, has already slumped 9%, even though the consumption demand has revived, along with the expectation of good monsoon, which would up rural wages and further support demand growth. 
 "I think the market is growing. So there is room for everyone, but there will be some give and take in market shares. Patanjali has this ayurvedic halo around it and Baba Ramdev is a great brand," Pradip P Shah, Chairman, <keyword id="1539139" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IndAsia-Fund-Advisors">IndAsia Fund Advisors</keyword>, told ET. 
 
"There is a natural feeling that these products are good and the price points are lower compared with the premium products available in the market. There is a great product out there and their distribution and packaging are pretty good," he said. 
 
One might be forced to think that the success of this 10-year old FMCG firm is just because of Baba's charm. Raamdeo Agrawal, Co-Founder &amp; Joint MD of MOFSL, says, "It will definitely <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/BabaRamdevs-Patanjali-is-already-spelling-doom-for-this-global-brand-in-India/articleshow/51303845.cms">take away market shares</a> in some segments. They have a segment where they will thrive. So it is a marketing challenge for the rest of the pack, be it <keyword id="6365619" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Hindustan-UniLever">Hindustan Unilever</keyword> or Colgate or <keyword id="40233" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="emami">Emami</keyword>, whosoever is hurt by Patanjali products." However, he also added that, "Patanjali will have some challenges coming in later on product superiority, because one needs to see whether product superiority or just the blind faith in Baba Ramdev's brand equity is driving them" 
 
Some, however, are of the view that the market is big enough for the competitors to survive. "Clearly, Patanjali is making inroads, but that does not mean the Unilevers of the world will fade away. They are astute. They have excellent marketing. They will come out with different products. They will come out with different prices," Pradip P Shah of IndAsia Fund Advisors told ET. 
 
<a href="http://www.himalayanmail.com/newsadmin/Photo/562011175926119.jpg">Image source</a>

Is Patanjali actually going to displace traditional biggies from the market, or is it just Baba Ramdev’s charm?

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image">Matt Plays, <keyword id="249410" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="HubSpot">HubSpot</keyword></div></div>Marketing software company HubSpot has gotten attention from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hubspot-slidedeck-on-company-culture-2013-3">media</a> and even <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/professor-studies-hubspots-culture-2013-6">academics</a> for its radical transparency.
The Cambridge, Mass. company reveals everything from cash burn rate to valuations on its Wiki page.
It turns out this is only the start of HubSpot's push toward <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/HubSpot-slidedeck-on-company-culture-2013-3#-1">a modern corporate culture</a> that's vastly different from most companies out there.
We got the lowdown from CEO Brian Halligan, who started the company in 2006 with MIT Sloan classmate and current CTO Dharmesh Shah.
Here's our conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity.
BUSINESS INSIDER: Did you have a clear focus on <keyword id="24504" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="culture">culture</keyword> from the start or did it evolve?
BRIAN HALLIGAN: We didn't think at all about it when we first started the business, we didn't ever talk about it for the first two years of HubSpot. Then two things happened at the same time. I joined a CEO forum of 10 Boston-based CEOs who got together once a quarter. In the first forum [I attended], the topic was culture, and I kind of rolled my eyes about it, and I thought, "Well that's stupid, when are we going to talk about selling or hiring — the meaty stuff?"
I remember during the meeting one of the other CEOs was this brilliant guy named Colin Engle, he's the CEO of iRobot — they make the the Roomba — and he spoke so eloquently about it, and talked about how powerful it was as a tool to manage a growing business. He sold me on the fact that I was missing the boat, and I needed to get going. So I came back all fired up about culture. It turned out that at that exact same time we had done our first survey of the HubSpot employees. When we surveyed them one of the questions was something like "what do you like about working at HubSpot?" Almost everyone came back and said that they really liked the culture.
I remember talking to my co-founder and saying, "Well that's funny I didn't think we had a culture, we never talked about it." Those two things sort of came together at the same time, so we decided we needed to invest in this and figure it out because it seems like it's a key asset. It also seems like a key tool we can use to scale the business.
BI: What's something that people get wrong about culture? 
BH: At the core of it the happy hour and the ping pong table are not culture, they're like health insurance or a 401k. I think of culture the way I think about marketing. The main thing behind Hubspot is that we feel like humans have radically changed, they've changed the way they shop, and Hubspot is building a modern marketing platform that enables marketers to change the way they market to match the way humans actually buy stuff.
The way I think about culture is that modern humans have radically changed the way that they work and the way that they live. Companies need to change the way they manage and lead to match the way that modern humans actually work and live. We're trying to re-craft culture in a way that really matches that. I think that 99% of companies are kind of stuck in the '90s when it comes to their culture.
BI: What's the biggest change you've had to make going from being an employee to being CEO?
BH: In a weird way, going from employee to CEO hasn't hasn’t changed me that much. The way I think about management is, it’s overrated. I think it's a little silly and antiquated how in startups that the frontline employees are talking to customers, and the CEO has like a 50X difference in salary, it seems a little silly to me.
We’re trying to create an extremely flat organization, an extremely transparent organization, and there's all sorts of things we do around that. I think that if you were in the company, on a day-to-day basis, you’d have a hard time figuring out that I was the CEO of the company versus just one of the employees.
I’ll give you an example: I sit out with everybody else, I don’t have a desk inside of HubSpot, I don’t have an office or anything like that. My salary is not that different from regular employees. There’s a Wiki inside of HubSpot, probably the world’s most active Wiki, and people have no problem calling me out on the Wiki.
I believe the Gen y-ers coming into the workforce, the millennials, they like this idea of the highly transparent organization, and they expect transparency and authenticity from their leaders. So, I’m trying to be as transparent as I possibly can. I feel like people who grew up on Facebook and Twitter and social media sites just have a different a sense about hierarchy in life, and so we’re a little bit allergic to hierarchy over here.”
BI: What's your involvement in the hiring process?
BH: In the early days, I interviewed everyone and at some point that wasn't scalable. We hired 40 people last month, and of all the people we hired, we probably interviewed 10 for every opening. I work more on the criteria than I do on the actual interviews themselves.
Hiring sales people — it’s a pretty inefficient process. Most companies have very high turnover in their sales organizations. What I’m trying to put in place is a much more scientific way to hire sales people. What I'm doing is I want all of our existing sales people, and all of our past sales people who we've let go, to take a relatively long survey, and map the results of the survey to their performance. That’s why it’s key to have people leave; if we push them out for non-performance we need their data here. Then I want to get a sort of good profile of what the recipe is — here’s how they answered certain questions. Then I want to shorten that test and then for every candidate who comes in — for sales we get about a hundred candidates for every person we hire — rather than have the first step in the process be a big staged interview or role-play, that first step is just, take the test.
If you look and smell, based on the survey results, like a current star employee, then you get to that next step. And that next step isn't an interview, I think interviews are radically overrated. The next step in the sales process is you’ve gotta go and start a trial of our software and learn about it and, then we’re going to do a sales role-play with you on the telephone. If that goes well, then we’ll do an interview itself and we’ll hire you. So I want to have a much more scientific way for hiring sales people than most companies will.
BI: Have you guys experienced a tech talent crunch?
BH: Absolutely. And I have a theory behind it. I feel like there’s a massive supply and demand problem, and there are two reasons for it in my mind. One reason, I think for a long time people didn’t go into computer science because they thought the whole computer science industry was going to be outsourced to India. It turns out that wasn’t true. While that was going on, kids and fathers and mothers didn’t rush into computer science. That's one thing that really hurt from the supply side. The second thing that really hurt from the supply side is there are so many alternatives for good software developers today. They can go to a Google or Facebook, they can go to a HubSpot, they can start their own darn company. There's just this plethora of nice opportunities for them, so the supply and demand ratio is way, way off. There's a massive demand for high-quality developers and a low supply. We’re being extremely aggressive about it.
For example, our referral bonus for new software developers, is $30,000. If you know a software developer, and you refer them to me and I hire them, we cut you a check for $30,000. That's 10X more than we do for any other function inside of HubSpot. So we're working hard to try and get the best and brightest developers here.
We're doing crazy stuff to coax them in. That supply and demand problem doesn't exist for us on the sales or services side where we get 100 resumes for every opening, and it's all inbound. On the software developer side its 10x harder, so we think about our funnel, referrals, and everything about that in a very different way than we do the rest of the business. I think everyone's going to have to deal with that reality. You're going to have to think about hiring and raises and stock options and all of that stuff in a very different way for software developers than other parts of the company.
BI: Is there a particular company out there that you look up to?
BH: It's totally cliché but it's Google, and it's Google for a couple of reasons. A lot of companies, when they're in hyper-growth mode, they win awards for being the best place to work and stuff like that. Google always won those in the early days, and people are like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a goldmine — they've got AdWords, they're printing money, its growing fast, of course people like it, people like working for a winning team."
Now Google's in much more of a steady place, their growth is slower, their stock price is relatively stable, but it's still a remarkable place to work. People love working at a talent magnet — they've scaled that unique culture over time and they use that as a real competitive advantage. And when I say unique culture, what I like about the Google guys is that they reject conventional wisdom in so many ways. They'll look at a playbook of how to hire people, the playbook of how to motivate people, they'll look at the playbook for every aspect of culture: hiring, and motivation, and HR, and they throw it away and start from scratch on everything
They built a very unique culture which makes it a very attractive place to work not just as an early-stage startup not just as a high growth company, but as a big stable-state company.
BI: Do you remember the moment when you realized you wanted to start a company?
BH: When we were going to start HubSpot I had three choices in my career. At the time I was an entrepreneur in residence and a venture partner, so I could keep doing that. I could go run sales at kind of any company — I had grown up through sales I had a strong sales background. Or I could be a CEO at kind of a crappy company. I wasn't quite pedigreed enough to get a CEO at kind of a top-tier startup, so I was interviewing for CEO jobs at re-starts.
My fourth choice was to start HubSpot. I never thought I would start a company, and I'm absolutely thrilled I did it. But the idea was, "Could I start HubSpot and turn it into a great company?" Fortunately that happened. With lots of luck along the way, a lot of good decisions and good hires along the way but that was sort of the decision tree.
I don't consider myself born and raised to be a founder of a company. I always thought I'd be somebody who would help the founder of a company move it along. But I had the right idea, I had the world's perfect co-founder and we just kind of closed our eyes and did it.
BI: How'd you find that perfect co-founder?
BH: My co-founder's name is Dharmesh, and I'll tell you a funny story about him. He and I went to MIT together, and there was an event the night before the first day of classes at MIT and he's very introverted. So what he does at parties is he has his wife go out and kind of scout people and look for people who she thinks he'll like and get along with. So she came over to me and she chatted with me, and we had a nice chat. I realized about halfway through the conversation that she was the spouse of a student. So she went away and went back to Dharmesh and she said, "I met this guy Brian, I think he's kind of interesting, he's got a software background. I don't think you'll get along with him though, he's kind of a sales guy, kind of a jock, I don't think you'll like him very much."
I think that's so funny because two years later we started a company together, and eight years later we got one of the hardest startups on the East Coast together. We're pretty close and best friends at this point. We took some classes together and got along and I thought we were a good match. I think of the Venn diagram of so many firms is you've got a real tech person and a real kind of marketing sales person, and there's a Venn diagram that overlaps a little bit not too much. It's where you have somebody who can really sell, and somebody who can really build, and that really worked for us, it's a little one plus one equals three.
BI: How do you deal with rapid growth?
BH: We're growing fast, we've probably added 200 people in the past year, and we grow in kind of spurts. When we grow too fast the way I think about it is like a car, if I put my foot all the way down on the gas, the car starts to shake a little bit, you can physically feel it start to shake a little bit, the decisions aren't as good, and things start to break. And so we've gone through a couple starts and stops. When we've hit the gas hard and started to hire very aggressively things tend to break so we're a bit "fits and starts" on how fast we grow in terms of head count, and we've found it hard to manage that.
Interestingly along the way our culture's been a great guide. The culture and the systems and the processes really broke around 150 employees. We changed a bunch of stuff around then, and kind of got back on track. It's been relatively smooth since then. I don't know what that rate is but I can kind of feel it when we're growing too fast.
BI: Why'd you stay in Boston?
BH: There are a couple of reasons. I'm from here, I like it here, my network is here, so we didn't even consider moving to the Valley. I think there are a couple of big pluses to starting a company in Boston relative to the Valley, let's say.
One is just the corporate talent is rough here, it's not even close to as rough as it is in the Valley, particularly for that R&amp;D talent, it's so hard to get up there. That's one big thing. The second big thing is the pond syndrome. We're a pretty big fish in a pretty small pond here in Boston and that pond in the Valley is a very large one and it's hard to get heard, it's hard to be seen out there. So I think Boston is sort of underrated in terms of a place to start a company. You walk around in the Valley and go to LinkedIn or Google or any one of many great companies, and it is chock full of kids from MIT and Harvard. So what we try to do is catch them before they go to the West Coast. The talent here is excellent and we try our best to keep it here.
In Boston we missed the PC revolution and we really missed the internet, and to bring it back I think we need to build anchor companies that really stand alone as a business. Employees make some money and they leave and they take some risks and start a company and the other employees fund it. Very much what happened with people at Facebook and PayPal and all these great companies on the West Coast. We want to be one of those anchor companies in Boston that's around for decades and spawns out lots of other companies. That's part of it; we're real Boston boosters.
BI: What do you think about the assumption that millennials are bad workers or narcissistic?
BH: I think the disconnect there is that Gen Yers think, work, act differently, and we're trying to manage them with the Baby Boomer or Gen X playbook, and it just doesn't match very well. If you have a new playbook that embraces them, they're plenty loyal, they're not narcissistic, and they're terrific.
I think when the history books are written they'll be the best generation that's come along. They're just smart. They grew up on the Internet, they know how to get stuff done, they're much more sophisticated, I've found, at least than I was when I graduated college. So we do a whole bunch of stuff to embrace that.
If your mission is to increase your bottom line by three-fifths this year, gouging customers and gouging the Earth — that really turns off Gen Yers. I don't think Gen Xers care about that stuff, but I think these new folks do.
BI: How do you maintain a work-life balance?
BH: I do work a lot. One of my hacks is that every Wednesday is my work-from-home day, so if I'm not traveling in a given week, or even if I am traveling, I keep Wednesday open and that's the day that I can just think and get stuff done, so that's one big hack — staying at home on Wednesdays.
The other hack I have, I find that people work work work and don't think think think, and that the percentage of time people work versus think is off. I've tried to shift that, and I try to think lot and try to increase the amount of time I spend thinking about things versus on the phone or in a meeting or emailing people. So I see people working a lot and I say what's your time spent thinking versus working?

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