Ather and Ola - two different product launch philosophies
Ather took the slow route. From the time it first unveiled its prototype in 2018, it had already been working on the battery for two years.
Ola made a splash with the objective of building the biggest electric scooter factory in the world - in the shortest time.
Ola believed that the time was right and if it did not launch right away, it would miss out on the biggest emerging opportunity.
Ather, however, realised that the battery was the key. All the imported batteries it had tested were built for different climactic conditions - India was a furnace, compared to what the other EVs batteries were subjected to.
And the rest of the bike would have to be designed around it, which meant tweaking practically every aspect of the design.
The highest operating temperature in some cities would touch 45 degrees Celsius - and that was enough to affect both performance and safety.
Ola had a tempestuous launch - though electric scooters have far fewer parts than their mechanical counterparts, bringing it all together is a massive undertaking.
Ather built its understanding and its team over years. The interns who joined 7-8 years ago are still with the company. Except that they are heading functions they started off with.
Ola managed to get scooters out in a few months past the launch date - but that has been clouded by reports of 3-4 vehicles catching fire.
Now, according to a report in the Economic Times, Ola is facing an investigation by the Centre for Fire Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), which operates under the DRDO.
Two contrasting approaches to dominance in an emerging market segment - only time will tell, which one was right.
The 'weak' and 'strong' connections on LinkedIn
There are a few people who show up consistently on my feed and posts.
They have things to say. They express different points of view and add to the conversations.
I've learnt from them, found I was wrong on occasion. And conversations went in directions I had not thought of when I wrote the post.
But they are probably just about 1-2% of the readers. Or even less.
Most people will read, make a mental note or skip through without leaving a trace.
What happens to those who have tens of thousands of followers, I wonder?
Dunbar's number for the meaningful relationships you can have is 150, or some such thing.
And with people who have have hit huge numbers of followers, do they experience a different vibe?
I don't know. I'm barely at 2.5K. And the LinkedIn limit for connections is a long way off - 10 times that number.
I'm certainly no hurry to get there. I don't see the majority of my current connections for months on end on my feed.
On average, one can engage with about 10-15 posts meaningfully every day. Anything more than that is time-consuming and counterproductive.
Why? Because to responding to posts means going through them, reflecting on what the authors have said, and hopefully, adding a thought or two. Isn't that what engagement is about?
Is the objective to have a huge number of views and comments on posts?
Or is it about building trust and professional relationships with people, some of whom you may never meet in person. Is this the best we can expect?
We're barely scratching the surface of how it works and plays out.
But I'm sure of one thing. The endless emphasis on expanding transient relationships benefits only the platform.
Naturally air-conditioned homes
They were built around 150 years ago.
Not much to look at and the homes did not have electricity.
But the villages in Nagercoil, in the Southern tip of India bear testimony to architecture that endured.
By building them with mud, insulation from the tropical heat around the year was assured.
They also had ways to defeat pests, which worked effectively.
For example, using marine algae, bamboo leaves or neem leaves over wooden planks to keep termites out.
There was no need to keep spraying chemicals on an annual basis.
Another line of defence against moisture and termites was to create a 2 feet high sand bed below the foundation.
This acted like a sponge and largely prevented the inundation of the house during monsoons and acted as a check against termites as well.
The houses also fostered a sense of community by having a sit out, or verandah in the front.
People gathered in the evenings to catch up and talk to neighbours as well as attend the temple festivals in the vicinity.
Since the community was largely agrarian, most houses had a first floor for both drying and storing grain.
The sloping roofs ensured that the water would flow quickly down to the ground during the heavy monsoon season.
Though people lived close to each other, the density was far less than the numbers in modern cities.
Some of the techniques don't scale and it could be difficult to implement some of the methods that were common back then.
But it is worth examining how planning in the initial stages can ensure better insulation, resistance to pests and water stagnation.
Those problems have only grown more acute, and we probably have to go back to the basics to find a solution.