Author Archives: Rakesh Agrawal

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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

Checking in with foursquare at SFO

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

With the increasing use of mobile applications such as Yelp and foursquare, it’s becoming possible to pull ideas from thin air. Users of these apps can leave tips for others to find that are linked to a specific location. In … Continue reading →

Posted in audio, foursquare, geotagging, lbs, local search, maps, mobile, social networking, twitter | Tagged | 1 Comment

Now we’re going Places

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve been writing about Twitter and location since my first post about Twitter in 2007. This week, Twitter launched Places, which allows users to add their location to a tweet. Here’s a screenshot from 2007: and today: In 2007, I … Continue reading →

Posted in geotagging, gps, lbs, local search, maps, mobile, social networking, twitter | Tagged | 1 Comment

iPad puts on its business suit

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

Most of the discussion around Apple’s iPad has been about what a great consumer device it is. It’s a book reader, movie player, newspaper, photo viewer, RSS reader and more. But the iPad has a lot to offer businesses as … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, foursquare, ipad, iphone, local search, mobile, social networking | 2 Comments

EVO vs. iPhone

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve been using an HTC EVO since last Friday. As an iPhone user for the last two years, this is the first Android phone that has appealed to me.  CrunchGear has a good comparison of the technical specs of the iPhone … Continue reading →

Posted in android, apple, facebook, flickr, google, iphone, mobile | Tagged | 2 Comments

Can Google cross the retail chasm with Google TV?

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

Last week, Google announced Google TV, a product that marries the Web with TV. It’s a product category that I’ve been excited about for several years. But creating new product categories is hard. Retail is hard. Doing both together is … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, apple tv, google, television | 7 Comments

Geo-enabled Twitter comes alive on Twitter Maps

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve been playing with Bing’s Twitter Maps lately and it’s one of the better implementations of Twitter’s geo APIs that were introduced last fall. It shows tweets within the last 7 days plotted on the map. Google Maps recently introduced a … Continue reading →

Posted in bing, geotagging, lbs, local search, maps, mobile, social networking, twitter | 3 Comments

Chart of the day: journalistic innumeracy illustrated

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

What would readers conclude after looking at the graph above? Best Buy sales have gone up at least 10 fold in the last 2 years. (Recession, what recession?) Best Buy’s monthly sales at the end of 2009 were roughly $22 … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers | 1 Comment

Plowing through the middleman

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

The snow day. Growing up in Michigan, it was always a treat. Whenever a significant amount of snow was in the forecast, I’d wake up early to see if I got the day off. I’d listen to the radio as … Continue reading →

Posted in facebook, journalism, media, newspapers, twitter | Comments Off on Plowing through the middleman

Twitter and foursquare: the tipping point to getting local business online

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

Getting small local businesses to go online has been the holy grail of the Internet. I’ve written before about some of the reasons local business don’t go online and suggested several ways that they could use emerging technologies to get … Continue reading →

Posted in foursquare, lbs, social networking, twitter | Comments Off on Twitter and foursquare: the tipping point to getting local business online

Building sandcastles on the Web

Posted on August 16, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

As I’ve been figuring out what to do next, I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about what I’ve done in the past. The sad reality of building Web products is that your work quickly disappears. Just as waves … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, newspapers, product management | Comments Off on Building sandcastles on the Web