Author Archives: Rakesh Agrawal

About Rakesh Agrawal

Rakesh Agrawal is a 0-1 product leader. Ex-Amazon, Ex-Microsoft, as well as a number of startups. He tweets at @rakeshsfnyc

Winning through simplification

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Temporary housing site Airbnb is raising a $100 million round at a valuation exceeding $1 billion, according to TechCrunch. Airbnb is a great example of creating new markets through simplification. People have been selling rooms and temporary space through sites … Continue reading →

Posted in pricing, strategy | 1 Comment

Why Netflix is killing it — and what startups can learn from its success

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Netflix just became the number one provider of subscription entertainment content in the United States, with 22.8 million subscribers. Comcast now comes in at number 2, with 22.76 million. And the trend lines indicate that Netflix will continue to grow. … Continue reading →

Posted in netflix, startups, television | 4 Comments

iPhone coming to Sprint — or, why the Washington Post needs a technology columnist

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

The Washington Post’s technology columnist, Rob Pegoraro, announced yesterday that he is leaving his position. The proximate cause is management deciding that the sort of review and analysis of technology that I’ve been doing for most of those 17 years … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, newspapers | 8 Comments

Adding Color to breaking news

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Today marks the launch of a groundbreaking new app called Color. The app, available for iPhone and Android, has users automatically share pictures with those around them. Take a picture and people in close proximity can see them. No logins, … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers, photography | 5 Comments

All the news thats fit to retweet

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

The New York Times today came out with its long awaited digital subscription pricing. Beginning immediately in Canada and March 28 in the United States and the rest of the world, heavy users of the New York Times will be … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers | 3 Comments

Innovating with market research

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

One of the things that people often ask me is how does someone goes about creating innovative product concepts. What are the research methods and tools to use? One of the most powerful tools is just watching what customers do … Continue reading →

Posted in marketing, research | Comments Off

Watson vs. Google

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Jeopardy! contestants Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter got a spanking the likes of which they’ve never seen by Watson, an IBM supercomputer, last night. How would Watson do against that other font of knowledge — Google? Watson is optimized to … Continue reading →

Posted in google, search | 7 Comments

Why Apple is right on subscriptions

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Apple has built an incredibly valuable distribution platform. It’s perfectly reasonable for them to say “if you make money using our platform, we want a piece of it.” Distribution costs money. Facebook charges developers on its platform 30% for using … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, ipad, journalism, newspapers, publishing | 4 Comments

The Daily is a solid effort facing huge challenges

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Today we saw the unveiling of Rupert Murdoch’s new iPad-based newspaper, The Daily. It looks very different from apps from the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The impression is distinctly more of a magazine … Continue reading →