<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/31479686.cms" /> Come <keyword id="124343" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Womens-Day">Women’s Day</keyword> on March 8 and we get bogged down in a flood of seminars and events, all proclaiming to know what’s best for <keyword id="2101992" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Womens-self-development">women’s self-development</keyword>. But this year, we have decided to move away from the experts and talk with <keyword id="624" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Women">women</keyword>, whose real-life stories of <keyword id="2101993" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Struggle-and-success">struggle and success</keyword> are bound to inspire all. In the first part of our Power Women series, <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> India chats with <keyword id="484475" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sramana-Mitra">Sramana Mitra</keyword>, an <keyword id="2101987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="entrepreneur-and-a-strategy-consultant">entrepreneur and a strategy consultant</keyword> in <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> since 1994. Her fields of experience span from <keyword id="2101994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Technology-disciplines">technology disciplines</keyword> like <keyword id="145965" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="100" keywordseo="semiconductors">semiconductors</keyword> to sophisticated <keyword id="2101995" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Consumer-marketing-industries">consumer marketing industries</keyword> including <keyword id="6" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="fashion">fashion</keyword> and <keyword id="6355445" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Education">education</keyword>. 
 As a <keyword id="2101998" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Serial-entrepreneur-CEO">serial entrepreneur-CEO</keyword>, Sramana had earlier founded three companies – Dais (off-shore software services), Intarka (sales lead generation and qualification Software; VC: NEA) and Uuma (online personalised store for selling clothes using Expert Systems software; VC: Redwood). Two of these were acquired while the third received an acquisition offer from <keyword id="212570" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ralph-Lauren">Ralph Lauren</keyword> which the company did not accept. Back in 2010, she also set up a virtual incubator called <keyword id="484477" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="One-Million-by-One-Million">One Million by One Million</keyword>, to help a million entrepreneurs from all over the world to reach a million dollars in annual revenue, build $1 trillion in global <keyword id="35050" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="gdp">GDP</keyword> and create 10 million jobs. What has life in Silicon Valley has taught Sramana? Here are the edited excerpts from our chat. 
 
<keyword id="107737" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Entrepreneurship">Entrepreneurship</keyword> is not easy People often ask what inspired me to be an <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</keyword>. Well, I am an entrepreneur’s daughter. I grew up watching my father run companies and I am sure that was a fundamental influence. But I also believe entrepreneurship is both <keyword id="49685" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Genetic">genetic</keyword> and environmental. My maternal great grandfather was also an entrepreneur; so I had genes from both sides. 
 But let’s come back to the hard facts and let me tell you, entrepreneurship is not easy. Of course, there are many instances of overnight speculative success where you build something for a little bit, and someone comes and scoops it up for a lot of money. However, building long-term, sustainable value is extremely difficult. I have enjoyed my <keyword id="6374782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="journey">journey</keyword>, but I have also made sacrifices to become an entrepreneur. What I am doing today with <keyword id="2102002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="1M">1M/1M</keyword> is extremely difficult, extremely complex. 
 
Get over the <keyword id="150208" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="fear-of-failure">fear of failure</keyword> In January 2009, in the midst of raging <keyword id="6371665" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="financial-crisis">financial crisis</keyword> and a deep <keyword id="44850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Global-recession">global recession</keyword>, I hosted an <keyword id="2102006" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-entrepreneurship-forum">online entrepreneurship forum</keyword> for <keyword id="2102008" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Laid-off-engineers">laid-off engineers</keyword> who were considering a <keyword id="2102009" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Switch-to-entrepreneurship">switch to entrepreneurship</keyword>. There were 220 people registered for the event and 130 attended. About 145 questions were submitted, from which we synthesised some of the most commonly asked. Among those was one I want to close this volume with: How do you overcome the fear of failure? 
 When I was younger, I had an enormous fear of failure. I was quite used to winning and I was very bad at losing. Since then, while I have been successful in many ways, I have also failed at various attempts. My attempt at building a product company out of India in 1997 succeeded somewhat, but the company did not become a revolutionary brand of the order that I aspired for, nor did it achieve any significant scale. Somewhere along the way, though, I developed the <keyword id="23254" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="wisdom">wisdom</keyword> to take things in stride, embrace failure, learn from it and rise above it. 
 
Develop a personal philosophy: <keyword id="6389686" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Faith">Faith</keyword> &amp; <keyword id="88092" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="conviction">conviction</keyword> will get you going When I look back on my journey to trace the development of that wisdom, I see one overriding theme. Very early in life, I developed a personal philosophy. An unlikely juxtaposition of ideas culled from various systems of thought – from the <keyword id="62706" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Upanishads">Upanishads</keyword> and <keyword id="28423" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="vedanta">Vedanta</keyword>, from <keyword id="78326" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="hindu-scriptures">Hindu scriptures</keyword>, <keyword id="115232" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ayn-Rand">Ayn Rand</keyword>’s Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, and certain <keyword id="2102012" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Buddhist-concepts">Buddhist concepts</keyword> of Futility &amp; <keyword id="910745" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="nothingness">Nothingness</keyword>. 
 
The Hindu system of thought has a very powerful core concept: Tat Tvam Asi or I Am He. Instead of worshipping an external God, the Hindus believe that God is inside. Indeed, a powerful way of thinking. If the ultimate perfection lies inside you, and all you need to do is realise your own potential, much of your fundamental self-doubt vanishes. At least at an existential level, the individual is complete within. 
 Ayn Rand offers a similarly individualistic perspective, although from a radically different point of view. Rand’s <keyword id="18935" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="heroes">heroes</keyword> and heroines move mountains. Although reared in a communist and collectivist Russian background, he celebrates individual achievements and believes in one man’s ability to make a difference. Many entrepreneurs I know have been influenced by Rand’s writings and have drawn inspiration, especially from the character of <keyword id="2102013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Hank-Rearden">Hank Rearden</keyword> in Atlas Shrugged, who fights against all odds with tremendous <keyword id="740992" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="resilience">resilience</keyword>. Similar <keyword id="38769" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="self-confidence">self-confidence</keyword> echoes in The Fountainhead’s architect hero, <keyword id="199919" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Howard-Roark">Howard Roark</keyword>, whose resilience and <keyword id="2102014" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Personal-integrity">personal integrity</keyword> propel him towards a vision of architecture condemned by his contemporaries for its bold originality and threatening innovation. 
 
Yes, conviction and faith are incredibly important components of a sustainable personal philosophy, but where does it come from? How do you develop it? 
 
This is a question you must ask yourself. I can offer pointers on what to study, but how your own psyche will respond to the stimulus – I cannot tell. This is a spiritual, experiential journey, and you have to go it alone. 
 I will, however, share three more components from my own bag of wisdom: <keyword id="52698" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="laughter">Laughter</keyword>, <keyword id="54209" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="compassion">Compassion</keyword> and Nothingness. 
 
When the individualistic ideology overwhelms, when your head swells with self-aggrandisement, think of the Himalayas. Or the Pacific Ocean. Or the Universe. One can soon comprehend that we are nothing; we are insignificant; we are a single speck of dust in the continuum of time. So why be afraid of failure? 
 
Believe in the <keyword id="46426" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Turnaround">turnaround</keyword> I was once fired from one of my own companies. I raised the <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="venture-capital">venture capital</keyword> and we brought on a middle-aged, supposedly experienced guy as <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword>. I was in my twenties. The guy was incompetent and political. He didn’t understand the product, had no vision. We couldn’t figure any of these out until he joined, because he was on a charm offensive until then and I had limited experience of making a hire like this. We thought he could complement my product skills and vision with superior sales skills. 
 
Once he was on board, it started going downhill very quickly and he set out to fire me. I had massive immigration challenges, and had very little negotiating power because I didn’t have a Green Card then. 
 To cut a long story short, I was in <keyword id="76147" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="BUENOS-AIRES">Buenos Aires</keyword> when he called a Board Meeting on the phone and fired me. And the Board let him. I walked around on the streets of Buenos Aires trying to absorb the blow. 
 
Six months later, they had to fire the CEO. The angel investors offered to fund me again and start another company. I did. 
 
Life went on… Life always goes on. 
 Finally, if you are a woman and a wannapreneur, here’s one sound piece of advice. Be a damn compelling entrepreneur, not just a damn compelling <keyword id="210081" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="woman-entrepreneur">woman entrepreneur</keyword>. 
 
Watch this space tomorrow – <keyword id="122850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="power-women">Power Women</keyword> will be back with their intriguing success stories.

Power Women: I
Was Fired From My Own Company & What I Learnt From It

Welcome to our new E-Commerce Insider newsletter, a morning email with the top news and analysis on the e-commerce industry, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/">BI Intelligence</a>. 
Click <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/ci/biiecommerceform">here</a> to sign up for E-Commerce Insider today, and <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/ci/biiecommerceform">receive it every morning in your inbox</a>. 
<hr />
ALIBABA TRIES SELLING VIA NEWSPAPERS: China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba is partnering with media organizations to allow consumers to purchase things that they see advertised or mentioned in newspapers. Readers will be able to scan a QR code that's printed throughout Chinese newspapers, and it'll direct them to purchase an item via one of Alibaba's online shopping sites, such as Taobao. China has more than 1,000 daily newspapers with a circulation of over 100 million readers, so the partnerships should help Alibaba raise awareness among consumers who might not have a lot of exposure to online shopping.
Alibaba says it views newspapers as a mobile product, though, in our view, it's more like a portable product. Nonetheless, it goes to show how e-commerce companies are not afraid to experiment with platforms - new and old - to sell their merchandise. We <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/e-commerce-insider-software-for-fashion--resurgence-of-clothing-catalogues-twitters-big-hire-2014-4">reported earlier</a> that some e-commerce companies are now printing their own shopping catalogs in an attempt to appeal to a broader range of consumers. (<a href="http://qz.com/194480/alibaba-has-a-plan-to-save-newspapers-turn-them-into-portable-online-shopping-catalogs/">Quartz</a>) 
RUSSIAN E-COMMERCE: Russian consumers are purchasing more online than ever before. E-commerce retail sales grew 26% last year, and approximately 57% of overall non-grocery retail spending now occurs online, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Driving the growth is rising Internet penetration, which is helping introduce more people to online shopping for the first time. In 2013, the number of Russian households with Internet access exceeded the number without access for the first time. Furthermore, a lack of trust in credit card security has made online payments more attractive, which is also helping boost online retail. E-wallets now account for between a quarter and a third of all commerce consumer spending in Russia, according to Ieuan Owen, senior vice president of commerce strategy at WorldPay. (<a href="http://www.pwc.nl/nl_NL/nl/assets/documents/pwc-total-retail-2014-nl.pdf">PricewaterhouseCoopers</a>)
WELCOME, E-COMMERCE INSIDERS: This is our new newsletter covering all things e-commerce. Please email <a href="mailto:csmith@businessinsider.com">csmith@businessinsider.com</a> with news and tips. Click <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/ci/biiecommerceform">here</a> to sign up for E-Commerce Insider today, and <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/ci/biiecommerceform">receive it every morning in your inbox</a>. 
FTC CRACKS DOWN ON RETAILERS: The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on retailers that host contests requiring participants to endorse a product or brand. Many online retailers run these types of promotions asking customers to share a product with their friends on social media, and in exchange they might win some sort of prize. The FTC specifically called out shoe retailer Cole Haan, saying the company should have alerted shoppers on Pinterest that certain pinned items they were seeing were pinned by shoppers who were offered an incentive by the brand. The FTC is not taking any legal action and is working to clarify its policy. (<a href="http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/04/03/ftc-requires-disclosures-social-media-based-contests">Internet Retailer</a>) 
UNIQLO CMO ON CONSUMER CULTURE: Uniqlo chief marketing officer Jörgen Andersson says a big part of the retailer's success is understanding why consumers are captivated by fashion and what drives people to purchase luxurious clothing. "I think today a lot of consumers talk about wanting to be unique and having their personal style, but in actual fact, almost everyone belongs to one of a few sub-groups of style. Since fashion went digital, everyone has access to the same information at the same time." Andersson seems to be suggesting that retailers should make consumers feel that a customer's style is unique, when in fact it's probably very generic - and balancing that perception is more difficult than it seems. (<a href="http://www.businessoffashion.com/2014/04/uniqlo-cmo-jorgen-andersson-consumer-culture-generic.html">Business of Fashion</a>)
SILICON VALLEY DOESN'T UNDERSTAND FASHION: Technology veteran Sramana Mitra says innovation in e-commerce has left much to be desired. "If I synthesize what I see is the core issue with online fashion, it is that entrepreneurs are thinking of the industry as a distribution channel a la Amazon, with price being the core differentiator." Mitra argues that only so many companies can compete on low pricing and so new e-commerce ventures need to do a better job of understanding the fashion business so they can identify opportunities that add real value to consumers. She does have a point - the Web has disrupted a lot of industries, but often the people behind those innovations fail to understand the very industry they are trying to change. E-commerce is an example where few people have experience in both the technology and fashion aspects of the business,.(<a href="http://www.sramanamitra.com/2014/02/12/online-fashion-a-venture-scale-opportunity-that-silicon-valley-does-not-understand/">Sramana Mitra</a>) 
BROOKSTONE FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY: Gadget retailer Brookstone filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company said it lost $18 million during a thirteen-week period last fall, and has been struggling to recover from declining sales. Brookstone executive James Speltz said the company has fallen victim to the rapid evolution of the retail industry. (<a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/brookstone-files-for-bankruptcy-and-plans-to-sell-itself/?_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;_php=true&amp;_type=blogs&amp;_r=1">New York Times</a>) 
Here's what else BI Intelligence subscribers are reading...
<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-top-reasons-why-people-arent-using-smartphones-to-make-payments-2014-4">Here Are The Top Reasons Why People Aren't Using Smartphones To Make Payments</a>
<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/beauty-product-retailers-have-been-slow-to-adopt-a-chinese-e-commerce-strategy-2014-4">Beauty Product Retailers Have Been Slow To Adopt A Chinese E-Commerce Strategy</a>

Alibaba Is Using QR Codes To Enable Shopping Via Newspapers 

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Pinterest" title_caption="The Pinterest crew -&#xa0;cofounders Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp are in the center, in white and gray respectively " class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/555b65596da8119a67606185-960/pinterest-31.jpg"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/555b65596da8119a67606185-1200-924/pinterest-31.jpg" border="0" alt="Pinterest " /></a>PinterestThe Pinterest crew -&#xa0;cofounders Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp are in the center, in white and gray respectively </div></div></div>Pinterest just <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/new-promoted-pin-options-help-you-reach-your-goals">announced a whole new suite of updates and improvements</a> to its <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> product, Promoted Pins, that it plans to roll out this summer. Among the new offerings are "cinematic pins" which are videos that only move when the user scrolls, different ways for advertisers to target users (like by interests, personas, or life stages), and several new pricing options.Instead of just choosing to pay for views or clicks on their Promoted Pins, advertisers can now choose to pay with a "cost-per-engagement" (CPE) model or a "cost-per-action" model (CPA).With CPE, advertisers will only pay when engage with their pins, like through re-pinning, and with CPA, advertisers will only pay when users download their app or actually click through to their website and make a purchase. The idea is that they'll be able to better tailor their experience, whether they're a huge or tiny, trying to directly drive buying decisions or just spread awareness of their brand.&#xa0;The site is also introducing an in-house creative studio called Pin Factory that will let advertisers pay to have Pinterest design the best Pins possible for them.&#xa0;This fresh roll-out comes not long after the 6-year-old startup raised <a href="http://recode.net/2015/05/08/pinterest-adds-186-million-to-series-g-round-lets-employees-sell-shares/">an additional $186 million in funding</a>, bringing its total to roughly $1.3 billion, with a sky-high $11 billion valuation.&#xa0;Anyone who might find that number eye-popping should see these new features as an indication that Pinterest's ad strategy is growing up and getting more sophisticated in a big way.Along with the new products came a position change as well. Tim Kendall, formerly Pinterest's head of product, just got the shiny title "general manager of monetization," a new position where he'll be overseeing sales, marketing, and product development.&#xa0;Kendall told Business Insider that the site has the "best kind of business model" because ads don't feel at all foreign or unwelcome to its users.&#xa0;Two-thirds of the 50 billion pins on Pinterest are&#xa0;already&#xa0;from businesses and brands. Letting advertisers "promote" their pins doesn't affect the user experience, Kendall says - except to make the pins more useful.&#xa0;All of its new products are geared towards making the Pinterest Promoted Pins product more comprehensive, easy to use, and efficient.&#xa0;"We're not a social network. You're experience on Pinterest is about&#xa0;you&#xa0;looking at all these different things to help you figure&#xa0;out what you want to do in the future," he says. "And it turns out, that when you're looking at that type of content, it's really easy for us to put an ad in front of you that is congruent with that normal, organic experience. That's just the nature of the product. We're a discovery service. We can deliver ads that don't feel like ads to you. They feel like an additive part of a service. And that's the best kind of business model you could ask for."&#xa0;Pinterest still stays mum about its revenues, so we don't know yet how well its ad product is actually working so far. But <a href="http://www.sramanamitra.com/2015/01/28/billion-dollar-unicorns-analysts-project-revenue-for-pinterest/">Sramana Mitra, founder of the incubator 1M/1M</a>, recently polled analysts who projected that the site could be pulling in $500 million in revenue by 2016.<h2>Here's how Pinterest's new cinematic ads will look:</h2><div><div><iframe width="800" height="450" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/f5h1vNhoDig" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div><h2>Here's how Pinterest thinks about its suite of advertising products</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Pinterest" title_caption="Here's how Pinterest thinks about its suite of advertising products" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/555b5dbb69bedd630b891f6e-960/screen%20shot%202015-05-19%20at%2011.58.20%20am.png"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/555b5dbb69bedd630b891f6e-718-488/screen%20shot%202015-05-19%20at%2011.58.20%20am.png" border="0" alt="Pinterest" style="line-height: 1.5em;" /></a>PinterestHere's how Pinterest thinks about its suite of advertising products</div></div></div>&#xa0; <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-terms-cost-2015-4">Here's how much you have to buy to make Amazon Prime worth it</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="cxaDF3bDpBumNTY2jzHvClJf-TIZtSo-" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'cxaDF3bDpBumNTY2jzHvClJf-TIZtSo-',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

You Searched For "Sramana Mitra" and got 3 results

Power Women: I Was Fired From My Own Company & What I Learnt From It

Sanghamitra Mandal

Alibaba Is Using QR Codes To Enable Shopping Via Newspapers

Cooper Smith

Why $11 billion Pinterest thinks it has the 'best kind of business model'

JILLIAN D'ONFRO