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

The hospitality industry gets more inhospitable

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

For an industry that markets itself as catering to the whims of its guests, the hotel industry sure goes out of its way to make a bad final impression. I just had a wonderful stay at the Westin Resort & … Continue reading →

Posted in hotels, travel | 1 Comment

6 ways a DVR is better than hulu

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

I recently wrote 10 reasons why hulu is better than a DVR. Here are six advantages that DVRs have over hulu. You get higher quality video. If you have an HD source, chances are the video quality on your DVR … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer electronics, hulu, media, movies, television, video | 1 Comment

Tellme about Ford

Posted on January 8, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

Yesterday marked my one year anniversary at Tellme. I spent the day where I started a year earlier: at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Coincidentally, Ford officially announced its next generation of SYNC, which incorporates Tellme services. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in cars, launchpad, microsoft, mobile, mobile search | 2 Comments

Tech lessons from a trip to Borders

Posted on January 6, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

On my way home from work today I decided to stop by Borders to pick up a guidebook for my birthday trip to Mexico City. Step 1: Figure out if the Borders near my house is open. I called 1-800-555-TELL … Continue reading →

Posted in customer service, iphone, mobile, mobile search, search | Comments Off

VOIP: Alive, well and full of potential

Posted on January 5, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

Om Malik asks on his blog whether VOIP is dead or alive. It’s an interesting question and the answer is very different depending on how you define VOIP. Many people associate VOIP with cheap voice calls using the Internet. This … Continue reading →

Posted in im, instant messaging, microsoft, mobile | Comments Off

10 ways hulu is better than a DVR

Posted on January 2, 2009 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve been using a DVR for at least 8 years. I started off with a Replay 2020 and have since used other Replays, TiVos and cable company DVRs. Now my primary DVR is the whole home DVR that comes with … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer electronics, hulu, media, movies, television, video | 9 Comments

Stuff I learned in 2008

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

This year I realized how little Stuff matters. For more than four months, almost everything I owned was in a warehouse somewhere. Even when I got it into my place, I spent a good chunk of the year on the … Continue reading →

Posted in random | 1 Comment

A tale of two media companies

Posted on December 29, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

You’ve got a competitor with deep pockets, huge brand recognition and a lot of traffic that is interested in your content. What do you do? Here are two very different approaches: GateHouse Media is suing The New York Times Co., … Continue reading →

Posted in google, hulu, journalism, newspapers, television, video, web 2, web 2.0, YouTube | Comments Off

Ads that work: CapitalOne Card Lab on flickr

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

There’s so much ad clutter out there that it’s rare to see an ad that really hits the nail on the head. Here’s one that jumped out at me: an ad for CapitalOne’s Card Lab. CapitalOne lets you customize many … Continue reading →

Posted in adsthatwork, advertising | Comments Off