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

Fly me to the trough

Posted on January 6, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

“The Spirit of Pigcinnati,” Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Kentucky. Creative Commons image by flickr user richmanwisco. USA Today reports that the government is wasting $110 million each year flying empty planes, another great example of Congressional pork. The “Essential” Air … Continue reading →

Posted in random, travel | 1 Comment

Weekly Reader – Jan. 5, 2008 – Pricing, advertising and DVRs

Posted on January 5, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

This week’s interesting reads: Some thoughts on pricing (Redeye VC) – First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman examines pricing strategies. He starts with pricing of soda in a hotel and found a range of $1 to $4.50. The overall range is … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, marketing, television, weekly reader | 1 Comment

‘Tellme about your new gig’

Posted on January 4, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

I have accepted a new job doing product marketing at Tellme Networks for their automotive consumer services. If you’re saying “WTF?,” well, let’s just say that it’s an exciting opportunity to invent the future. Tellme is located in Mountain View, … Continue reading →

Posted in personal | 4 Comments

Weekly Reader – Dec. 29, 2007 – TV, coffee, patents and Branson

Posted on December 29, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

This week’s interesting reads: Futurist: Digital TV’s Mixed Signals (CQ) – Congressional Quarterly takes a look at the impact of government action/inaction on the development and adoption of technology. As we near the Feb. 2009 date when analog broadcasting in … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, customer service, environment, weekly reader | Comments Off

Deep dish pizza near O’Hare – result found

Posted on December 26, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Since I wrote earlier about the difficulties I had using search engines to find deep dish pizza, this blog has become the number one Google result for the query “deep dish pizza at O’Hare.” In the interest of serving my … Continue reading →

Posted in random, travel | 2 Comments

Rocky’s travel secrets for your flights home

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve spent much of this year in airports and on airplanes. (Including 11 hours at O’Hare on Sunday for a fruitless trip.) Over the years, I’ve developed strategies for coping with the hassles of air travel. I hope you don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in customer service, travel | 2 Comments

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Merry Christmas to one and all and best wishes for a very happy new year. It’s been quite the interesting year at Casa Rocky. I’ve reaffirmed the power of friendship in a sometimes difficult year, spending time with and getting … Continue reading →

Posted in personal, random, rocky's travel | Comments Off

When you’re not important … and you know it

Posted on December 23, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve been waiting at O’Hare now for five hours now. I still have at least three hours to go, assuming United doesn’t cancel my flight. My scheduled 5:45 p.m. flight is showing an estimated departure time of 10:33 p.m. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in random, travel | 3 Comments

Weekly Reader – Dec. 22, 2007 – Usability, corrections, Wiimote whiteboard and geography

Posted on December 22, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

This week’s round up of interesting reads and views: Why Nobody Likes a Smart Machine (NYTimes) – A look at usability issues and the impact of product design on humans. It comes ahead of Christmas Day, when many people will … Continue reading →

Posted in weekly reader | Comments Off

Lighting up Google Maps in red and green

Posted on December 21, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Creative Commons image from flickr user listentoreason. Google’s LatLong blog reports that The Ledger in Florida has published a Google My Map of Christmas lights in and around Lakeland, Fla. It’s great that newspapers are finally starting to use open … Continue reading →