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Best Books to Become a Skilled Storyteller
The most effective way for people to communicate knowledge is through storytelling. Stories are simple to grasp since we can picture what is being spoken. And it’s crucial to understand how to tell a compelling tale while you’re telling one.

Have you ever wondered why people are so captivated by excellent stories when they hear or read them? And why do some stories have such a strong hold on audiences while others seem to slip away? How does one perfect the ability of storytelling and its effects?

To tell a great story, you need to read great books. We’ve included several works by well-known authors to aid in your development of storytelling skills.

This post will introduce you to the top storytelling books that can aid you in developing your stories and improving audience engagement.

Best Books for Learning Storytelling
How Stories Shape Our Minds?

Wired for Story

Author: Lisa Cron
Goodreads Rating: 4.21

Wired for Story – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

Picture recognizing what the brain wants from every story it consumes, what drives each great story to succeed, and what rivets readers. These cognitive tricks are revealed in Wired for Story, which is a game-changer for anybody who has ever picked up a pen. The overwhelming bulk of writing guidance emphasises writing well as though it were the same as telling a wonderful tale. In their quest for exquisite metaphors, genuine dialogue, and intriguing characters, many wannabe authors miss the one element that makes a tale compelling: igniting the brain’s inborn curiosity about what will happen next.

When authors engage with the evolutionary function of the tale and pique our interest, a sweet dopamine surge signals us to pay attention. Even the best prose won’t keep readers’ attention in its absence. Wired for Story presents a groundbreaking look at the story as the brain experiences it, supported by contemporary developments in neuroscience as well as examples from books, movies, and short stories. Each chapter focuses on a particular element of the brain, the discovery it makes about stories, and how to use it to improve your storytelling right away.

Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Author: Jonah Berger
Goodreads Rating: 3.97

Contagious – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

Why are certain things popular? Why do certain things and concepts get more discourse than others? Why do some rumours and tales spread faster than others? What causes internet material to become popular?

If you answered “advertising,” reconsider. People pay attention to their peers more than ads. But why do some things and concepts get more attention than others? Why do some rumours and tales spread faster than others? What causes internet material to become popular?

Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at Wharton, has spent the last ten years providing answers. He has investigated how social influence affects everything from the automobiles we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children. He has also investigated why products obtain word-of-mouth advertising. In this work, Berger exposes the covert science that underlies social and word-of-mouth propagation. Learn how six fundamental factors cause everything from legislative efforts and consumer items to workplace gossip and YouTube videos to become infectious.

Powerful tales and ground-breaking science are combined in Contagious. Learn how a high-end steakhouse gained notoriety for its humble cheese steak, why anti-drug ads may have contributed to a surge in drug usage, and why more than 200 million people shared a film on one of the world’s most mundane products: blenders. Infectious discusses why some tales get spread, emails get forwarded, or videos become viral and demonstrate how to use these ideas to create contagious content.

This book offers a collection of practical strategies for promoting information dissemination, including how to create messages, adverts, and content that will be shared. Contagious will show you how to make your product or concept catch on, regardless matter whether you’re a manager at a large corporation, a small business owner seeking to increase awareness, a politician vying for office, or a health authority attempting to spread the word.

Start With Why

Author: Simon Sinek
Goodreads Rating: 4.10

Start With Why – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

Start With Why is a book, that is based on a single key concept, the “WHY” of anything you do. You’re more likely to quit in between, get tired, or lack the enthusiasm required to be your finest if you do not have a strong drive or the “why” set for your brand, job, or field of interest. Besides, the author explains how to reconsider the things you do on a daily basis as well as why you do them.

The book creates awareness among people about the reasons why some people and organisations are more influential and profitable while others continue to struggle to leave a mark on the market and their customers. It lets you know about the ‘WHY’ that led to many organizations’ repeated success stories.

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have very little in common, but one of the similarities is that they all started their work with a “why.” Their inner capability to begin with the reasoning or the “why” gave them the power to motivate people around them and reach great heights in their respective fields.

Today’s world has been and will always be influenced by great men who, according to Simon Sinek, think, act, and converse in the same manner, which is uncommon if compared to the general public out there. Sinek introduces The Golden Circle, a concept popularised by Simon Sinek, which looks at the why as the root of the how and the what and then presents it as the central notion of everything your business revolves around. Modern management might appear to focus more on the what than the why, but in truth, individuals are drawn to businesses that pursue particular products, establish particular brands, or put out particular jobs because of the reasons behind such decisions.

The book helps its readers to introspect and rethink their ideologies regarding “why” their firm exists, “why” consumers will want to purchase products from their firm and not another, and “why” they are doing what they’re doing and not anything else. Because any organisation can describe what it does (service or product), some of them can describe how they provide the service or produce the product; very few, however, can express the sharp reason or the ‘why’ in detail behind the product or service they provide.

Sinek creates a compelling picture of what it really takes to inspire and motivate by building a variety of real-life examples. This book is for anyone looking to encourage others or seek inspiration themselves.

The Storyteller’s Secret

Author: Carmine Gallo
Goodreads Rating: 3.88

The Storyteller’s Secret – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

How did a Venice Beach T-shirt salesman become the most prosperous producer in television? How did a businessman who began in a garage produce the most famous product launches in corporate history? How did a shy pastor’s son convince sold-out audiences at Yankee Stadium twice despite having a crippling phobia of public speaking? How did a Facebook executive start a campaign to inspire millions of women to “lean in”? How did a human rights lawyer receive the longest-standing ovation at TED?

They were master storytellers!

Keynote speaker, communication specialist, and bestselling author Carmine Gallo reveals the secrets to telling potent stories that inspire, motivate, educate, build brands, launch movements, and change lives in The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don’t. The success stories of 50 icons, leaders, and legends featured in The Storyteller’s Secret, including entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, Sara Blakely, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Sheryl Sandberg; captivating orators like Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., Bryan Stevenson, and Malala Yousafzai; and business leaders behind well-known brands like Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Wyndham, are evidence that a well-told story can be “a strategic tool with irresistible power.

A storyline is your most vital treasure and competitive edge, regardless of whether your objective is to motivate teams, generate money, educate, or establish an award-winning culture.

Gallo demonstrates in The Storyteller’s Secret why the brain is programmed to enjoy stories, particularly rags-to-riches tales, and how the most recent research may help you create an effective story that captures readers’ attention. According to billionaire businessman Richard Branson, “the skill of storytelling may be leveraged to create change.”

Your tale will fundamentally alter your business, your life, and the lives of others you touch because the coming decade will bring about the greatest amount of change our society has ever known. Popular ideas are wrapped in a narrative. The world may be changed by your story. Why don’t you share yours now?

Ego is the Enemy

Author: Ryan Holiday
Goodreads Rating: 4.14

Ego is the Enemy – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

“While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive, visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer, almost irrational force, I’ve found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition.” – from the Prologue

Many of us feel that the outside world is the greatest barrier to living a full, prosperous life. In actuality, our ego is the most prevalent opponent. It hinders learning and the development of skills in the early stages of our careers. It has the potential to make us oblivious to our mistakes and plant the seeds of future issues. Failure amplifies every blow and makes recovery more challenging. We are held back by ego at every point.

The Ego is the Enemy uses a wide range of tales and illustrations from history, philosophy, and literature. We get to know interesting people like Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Graham, and Howard Hughes, all of whom overcame their egos to achieve the highest heights of achievement and influence. We can use their approaches and strategies as well.

But in a culture that exalts social media, reality TV, and other instances of blatant self-promotion, why should we bother combating ego? As Holiday puts it, “you will be less engaged in the tale you tell about your specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to do the world-changing job you’ve set out to complete” if you are equipped with the knowledge from this book.

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Made to Stick

Author: Chip Heath, Dan Heath
Goodreads Rating: 3.97

Made to Stick – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

A lie may go halfway across the world well before the truth can even be put on its boots, according to a quote by Mark Twain. His assessment is factual we know how easily false news reports, conspiracy theories, and urban legends spread. On the other hand, entrepreneurs, educators, politicians, and journalists are among those who are working to make key and factual ideas “stick.”

In this book, Chip and Dan Heath describe the structure of ideas that stick and how to increase the stickiness of ideas by employing techniques like the human scale principle, the Velcro Theory of Memory, and curiosity gaps. All sticky messages, from the famed “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s instructions on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony, derive their force from the same six attributes, as we learn along the road.

Your communication style will change as a result of Made to Stick. It’s a quick tour of achievements (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who swallowed a glass of bacteria to demonstrate the existence of stomach ulcers; the organisations that exploit the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary school teacher whose simulation successfully stopped racial prejudice.

Made to Stick is thought-provoking, eye-opening, and often shockingly amusing. It teaches us the essential laws of successful ideas and explains how to use these guidelines to make our thoughts memorable.

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

Author: Jonathan Gottschall
Goodreads Rating: 3.71

The Storytelling Animal – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

Humans spend most of their time in their imaginary settings. We conjure up fantasy. We consume plays, movies, and books. Even athletic events and court cases develop as stories. However, the realm of stories has long been an uncharted and unexplored continent. Humans are supposedly “wired” for tales, but why?

Jonathan Gottschall presents the first complete framework of storytelling in this amusing and innovative book. In the same way that flight simulators prepare pilots for challenging situations, he contends that tales assist us in navigating life’s complicated social difficulties. Like other activities, storytelling has developed to secure human survival.

Gottschall explains what it means to be a storytelling animal by referencing the most recent findings in neurology, psychology, and evolutionary biology. Did you realise that a tale alters your conduct the more engrossed you become in it? that regardless of whether they live in a suburb or a slum, all kids act out the same types of stories? that readers of fiction are more sympathetic people?

Our inclination to tell stories has a bad side, of course. Conspiracy theories, commercials, and narratives about ourselves that are more “truthy” than truly become more appealing to us as a result. National myths may sometimes be quite harmful: a legend helped fuel some of Hitler’s goals.

But as Gottschall demonstrates in this outstanding work, storytelling may also improve the state of the world. The best stories have a moral; they guide us in living, whether overtly or covertly, and unite us around shared ideals. We are aware that we are skilled storytellers. Finally demonstrating how tales mould us is The Storytelling Animal.

Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion

Author: Robert B. Cialdini
Goodreads Rating: 4.21

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

The classic book on persuasion, Influence, explores the psychology behind why people say “yes” and how to use this expertise. The father of the fast-developing science of persuasion and influence is Dr Robert Cialdini. This well-praised book is the culmination of his 35 years of meticulous, evidence-based research and a three-year programme of study on what motivates people to alter behaviour.

You’ll discover the six universal rules, how to use them to become a persuasive speaker, and how to counter them. The Influence concepts are ideal for people from all walks of life and will propel you toward significant personal transformation and achievement.

The Hero’s Journey

Author: Joseph Campbell, Phil Cousineau (Editor)
Goodreads Rating: 4.35

The Hero’s Journey – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

The Hero With a Thousand Faces author, who is also the author of The Masks of God books and The Power of Myth, here uses his powers of observation and analysis to describe his own life’s journey and to convey the thrill of his lifelong study of mythic traditions, which he called “the one great story of mankind.”

Campbell focuses on topics including the origins and purposes of myth, the role of the artist and the necessity for ritual, as well as the struggles of love and passion in dialogues with poets, anthropologists, and philosophers. The Hero’s Journey exposes the reader to Joseph Campbell the person, his findings, his vocabulary, and his thinking. It is illustrated all through with images from his family’s photo collection and has a new, rewritten preface.

Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds

Author: Carmine Gallo
Goodreads Rating: 3.88

Talk Like Ted – Best Books to Learn Storytelling

In the twenty-first century, ideas are money. You must be able to persuade people to buy your ideas if you want to succeed. The single best talent that will enable you to realise your ambitions is this one. Many people struggle with public speaking anxiety or doubt their capacity to deliver an effective presentation.

The widely acclaimed TED Talks, which have redefined the components of a successful presentation and elevated them to the status of the gold standard for public speaking, are now the focus of public speaking coach and best-selling author Carmine Gallo’s investigation into what makes a great presentation. Leading intellectuals from across the world come together at TED, which stands for technology, entertainment, and design. These are the talks that light up the globe, and the methods employed by the best TED speakers will make any presentation more engaging, energise any team, and give anybody the self-assurance necessary to conquer their fear of public speaking.

In order to uncover the nine secrets of all effective TED presentations, Carmine Gallo examined hundreds of TED talks and spoke with the most well-known TED speakers as well as the foremost experts in the domains of psychology, communication, and neuroscience. Anyone can produce an entertaining, convincing, and memorable presentation using Gallo’s step-by-step methodology.

Top 10 Wall Street Journal Bestsellers by Carmine Gallo Anyone who is uncomfortable speaking in front of an audience will get the skills necessary to persuade others to agree with them, the tools necessary to explain the concepts that are important to them, and the confidence necessary to give the speech of their lives after reading Talk Like TED.

Carmine Gallo’s views are his own, which he expresses in TALK LIKE TED. His book is not supported, approved, or sponsored by TED Conferences, LLC or any of its subsidiaries.

Conclusion

Stories are what give life to facts. Any boring conversation or meeting can be made interesting and thought-provoking with the right style of storytelling. The above-mentioned books are some of the best and are sure to help you master different techniques of storytelling from authors who are skilled storytellers themselves.

FAQs

Which are the best books to learn storytelling?

Some of the best books to learn storytelling are:
- Wired for Story
- Contagious: Why Things Catch On
- The Storyteller’s Secret
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- The Hero’s Journey
- Talk Like Ted
- The Storytelling Animal
What are the main elements of storytelling?

The most important elements of storytelling include characters, plot, theme, setting, conflict, and a good conclusion to the story.

What skills do I need to master storytelling?

Empathy, persuasion, directness, creativity, great attention to detail, the ability to engage the audience, etc. are some of the important skills one needs to master the art of storytelling.
November 28, 2022
How SaaS Can Be the Future of the Insurance Industry?

You’re living under a rock if you don’t know what software is. We use it every day, day in and day out. Even if you don’t work on software, you know it. A game is a software made for leisure purposes, there is specific work software. The apps on your smartphone are also software. The point to be clear is basically we are drowned in software. Welcome to the 21st century.

There is no lie in the statement that software has invaded the world. It has penetrated the deepest of our lives. As tech becomes more and more accessible, there is a sure chance it will grow manifolds. It has also penetrated the walls of industries, every company now is a software industry first and a product/service company second. SaaS, software as a service is the new trend. It has transcended boundaries and has leapt to the insurance world. This article talks about SaaS and its application in the insurance industry.

What is SaaS?
How Does Insurance Sector Works?
How SaaS can Transform the Insurance Industry?
Is there a Need for SaaS in Insurance Sector?
Benefits of SaaS in the Insurance sector

What is SaaS?

Even if you are naive, you will surely know something about this synonym. SaaS or software as a service is a business model that has been intriguing every business mind out there. It is a model in which software is used as a service and a whole business organisation is built around the walls of these services.

The reason for such popularity of software as a service model is simple to think of. They are easy to operate. Software is the best thing that has happened to humans after hardware tech. They are easy to use, have more efficiency, and are more effective for any scale of organisation. For example, Canva is a popular graphic design platform founded by Melanie Perkins, one of the world’s fastest-growing saas companies. It is valued at $40 billion.

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How Does Insurance Sector Works?

Most people are insured but why is the sector even needed? The insurance sector works on a very easy model of work. You love someone/something and you want to make them safe. So, businessmen came up with a cash-making idea. The model of insurance was made.

Insurance companies will assure you of the monetary safety of the things/person you love and in return, they charge a little fee every month. That monthly charge is known to us as an insurance premium. And yes, you can even include yourself in the category of insurance and not just the precious things. The whole business is made on the basis of fear, or we can call it love. Many celebrities also ensure their body parts.

Insurance companies work for a lot of people, thus, they take insurance premiums from a lot of people. Now the hook is that there are fewer chances of ‘disaster or ruin’ happening every day so they just save and invest the premium money. Or the insurance companies can use some of that money to pay claims for some disaster that may have happened to some insured.

Insured things/people do not get ruined/die daily, so insurance companies save the premium and these earnings are invested. Making the whole business profitable.

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How SaaS can Transform the Insurance Industry?

Now that we have discussed software and the insurance industry, it is safe to walk on the path of the intersection. Software is known to manage digital data and make sense of data of any magnitude. Insurance companies are companies that operate with a lot of people (Insurance clients). The intersection does make a lot of sense.

Software as a service has penetrated all the domains that humans have known, we mean, mostly though. In the industry of insurance, it has even more demand. It has made things simpler, easier and faster. That makes the work of the company, the firm and the client.

This hassle-free functioning was not possible before this new entrant in the domain. The insurance industry now saves a lot of time and money that can be used somewhere else. Which clearly is a benefit in daily operations as well as in the long term.

SaaS uses a licence and a delivery strategy that provides all the listed benefits of the insurance to the clients without even contacting the brick-and-mortar office. They kill the mediatory and increase the overall efficiency without even taking the support of a third-party source. This is cool and most people would love to pay for this software which actually gets the work done. SaaS provides the most up-to-date information to you and works on the new normal of the Internet.

Talking about the cash of the business, most software doesn’t take a cut for themselves while they cater to a company. By most, we meant the on-premises and hosted systems. The fact that this software in the insurance industry has to deal with a lot of data, does not really bother their efficiency.

Is there a Need for SaaS in Insurance Sector?

There are a lot of activities that an insurance company has to do. They have to constantly improve performance, speed up the writing and acquire new and new businesses (Investment) as soon as possible. With all these hassles, the insurers also have to increase efficiency and cut expenses, and the more the better.

With all this hard work, they still have to manage the clients’ risks well. They have to give strong competition and keep the existing customer happy while maintaining a good amount of new client base. All this can be easily overwhelming. This is the point in the picture when appropriate software comes into play.

If chosen suitable and relevant software services for an insurance firm, they can do wonders. Otherwise, it is not to mention that any insurance company is fragile and can come down like a house of cards. A suitable software as a service results in a fast and developed approach and better work management. Let us see how SaaS is shaking things up in the insurance world. Before we prepare a firm to jump into the software train let us read the benefits.

Benefits of SaaS in the Insurance sector

As discussed above, the insurance sector has a lot of work to do and a lot of data to manage. Incorporating suitable software can help address those mentioned challenges. This will enable the company to focus on its core business model and be more profitable. This is the basic thing that technology does. It simplifies things at any scale.

Catering to customer demands, lowering costs and providing security at a much better level are some of the benefits. Insurance companies can even entail cloud computing to use already-made configurations. Let us discuss the benefits in a little clear way.

Forward-thinking

Tell someone that you don’t want to use the software in your business, and watch them laugh. Forward-thinking is the phrase that properly explains the new innovations and the efficiency that they provide.

If an insurance company uses the best software in line, and they have everything automated, it is obvious that it will attract more customers. This is a great method to stay competitive. As this is a really good competitive advantage.

There are plenty of SaaS platforms like the Invoice cloud that companies can choose from and let them do the magic. Efficient software helps the IT department of an insurance company to manage more data with even more efficiency. Changes can be made easier and more rapidly than ever with no additional workloads.

This makes the business a little more flexible and we all know flexible businesses survive the most. There is also personalised software that crosses paths with users. You can customise, and enable-disable workings as per your specific business needs and requirements.

Greater customer retention

Customers or clients are good for any business out there. If you can increase the comfort for them, it will bounce back and they will be more loyal to the business. The insurance business is a big hard business and there are many rivals in the market.

In a market where everyone is trying to create differentiating factors, a great customer experience can go a long way in increasing retention. The software can make everything easy today, they can manage data, manage payments and improve the overall customer experience.

SaaS is easily expandable and is updated from time to time. The software can make things possible like automatic renewals, and automatic payments of premiums from bank accounts and there are a lot more ways. This is an investment in the comfort of clients and will pay in future retention rates.

Customisability and Scalability

Most of the Software that is provided as services is tailor-made to the needs and wants of organisations. They are super customisable and highly scalable in this sense. As the industry of insurance demands more and more rapid growth and scale. It becomes imperative to improve working management. If they are not calling fast and maintaining efficiency, they will not be able to hold customer demands and eventually lose customers. Thus, the software does the work for them, most software is extremely flexible and highly customisable that can take the shape of any organisation.

Data Guard

Data is the most important and precious asset in this digital world. If a company does not know how to keep its data safe then it is bound to not survive. In the insurance sector, they deal with millions of clients who are unique and have their own set of information. If the insurance company is unable to keep the data safe and secure then they will soon vanish from the competition.

SaaS systems are built with keeping in mind the security and guarding data that they will hold and manage in future. They have the capability to handle large sets of data with the same constant and clear security. They make sure that the insurance firm is never vulnerable in terms of data. These platforms are built with the thought of managing the data of each and every client while keeping a guard as they work and make sense of data for the company.

Insurance firms save the two most needed assets in the world today. With good, efficient software they save time as well as money. The Information technology department saves time by focusing on more important things. The finance department saves money to invest more and earn more returns in present as well as the future. Customers are happy too. For example, a firm can include a chatbot for prospectus clients that can improve the experience.

Albeit the fact that insurance software is effective and efficient, it is hard to prepare a company to incorporate software into the system. They have to look after many things before jumping into the storm. Let us see a few checkpoints before adding SaaS to an insurance corporation. For example, they have to plan everything in advance which can help decrease the hindrances in the process. Most software incorporates skill sets to handle all the data of the business architecture but they still have to be made personalised.

Insurance companies also have to look at integrations that they can provide. Once the software is at work, they have to check the value added to the company. If something is not bearing fruit, it is important to cut that part off. Only allow integrations that serve the users in a better way than before.

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Conclusion

We discussed that software is the new ‘workers’. Needless to mention that these workers are a million times more efficient than their human counterparts. That is the reason why software is transcending barriers and now is used in almost every domain. They are now even in the risky business of insurance.

Insurance companies can soar high with the help of these little thingies. They can manage data efficiently. They can improve the client experience which will help in more retention rates. They can save time and money with the help of suitable software.

All of these benefits while still managing to be more secure and alert with data security. This is almost heaven for the insurance world. Never before this was possible and it is delightful to see how companies can perform with these technological aids.

FAQs

What is SaaS insurance?

SaaS insurance is a delivery strategy that provides all the listed benefits to the clients without contacting the brick-and-mortar office. They kill the mediatory and increase the overall efficiency without even taking the support of a third-party source.

What are examples of SaaS?

Adobe, Google Workspace, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Atlassian are examples of SaaS providers.

Who is the largest SaaS provider?

Adobe Inc, which has a Market Cap of $198.9 billion, is the largest SaaS provider.

What is SaaS in business?

SaaS is a software-as-a-service model where an application is delivered over the internet and can be accessed from any device with an internet connection.

Why do companies use SaaS?

SaaS eliminates the cost of purchasing and installing software and maintenance. Also, SaaS applications are easy to install and maintain than hardware installations.

What are the most important aspects of SaaS?

It is easy to use, has enhanced security, saves costs and is scalable.

November 28, 2022
11 Ways to Get Ideas for Innovative Products
Are you constantly scratching your head to find unique product ideas?

Do you want to find an idea that solves the problems of the people?

If yes, then in this article we will tell you the top 11 ways to get ideas for innovative products.

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What Things Make a Product Idea Excellent?

You need to come up with a product idea that makes the lives of your customers easier and compels them to buy regularly from you.

A good product idea has the following things:

Solves a Problem

A good product idea clearly defines a problem and also targets a specific audience group.

Has a Solid USP

If your product is not unique in terms of features, pricing, speed of delivery, etc. you won’t be able to differentiate your product in the market.

For example, you might have to come up with coconut oil that has more medicinal benefits that cost a little bit less than other similar products. That’s a good USP.

Generates Profit

A good product idea comes with a profit margin as well. Your business won’t sustain if it doesn’t generate profit right?

Has a Demand in the Market

Your product should have a demand in the market. If there is no demand, there is no use in making a product.

Compels Customers to Open their Wallets

A lot of products are launched in the market every other minute. But, do all the products bought by the people?

The answer is NO.

Your customers should be compelled to buy your product.

If your product is easy to use and has good aesthetics, long durability, amazing user experience, solid USP and solves the problem of people then you will surely have excellent sales.

With that understood, here are 11 ways to come up with a unique product idea.

The above graph shows the prime obstacles faced in the path of innovation in percentages as per the data shared by viima.com

1. Take Inspiration From Your Own Life

Before scouring the internet, try to analyze what problems you face on a daily basis. Maybe, the problem that you encounter is also being faced by other people.

Make a list of the problems that you or your family members or friends face and try to analyze if you can solve them.

2. Ask Your Customers

If you have existing customers or identified a target audience you can send them survey forms or conduct telephonic or one on one interviews to understand what problems they are facing.

Ask them what could be the potential solution to their problem.

They might not be able to answer this question but, that’s fine because it is your job to come up with innovative product ideas.

You should also ask if they would pay money to resolve it.

If they are not willing to pay money then this problem is not worth solving.

On the other hand, if the problem is very serious and they are willing to pay the money you can start brainstorming product ideas.

Develop a prototype and give it to your customers and ask them if they liked your idea.

If the majority of the people say yes, you are on the right track.

3. Browse Online Consumer Marketplace

Hop over on popular marketplaces and see which products are rapidly selling.

See, what problem the product is trying to solve.

Then go to the review section and analyze what things people liked and disliked about the product.

You may find a major con in the product which you can solve quickly and make the product much better.

Popular consumer marketplaces which you can check are as follows:
- Amazon
- Flipkart
- Etsy
- Oberlo
- eBay
- Alibaba and AliExpress
- Walmart
- IndiaMART
Pro Tip: You will find gem product ideas in the 1 to 3-star reviews.

Most of the time people who give low ratings describe what went wrong with the product in great detail.

Read these reviews and you will surely understand what things you need to solve in an existing product or you may even get a new product idea.

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4. Use Social Media Platforms

I don’t need to explain to you the power of social media.

If you analyze them properly you can understand what people like and dislike.

You can quickly catch all the trends that are happening around the world in the form of interesting visuals.

Here, are some of the ways using which you can unlock the true potential of social media and find product ideas for your startup:

Instagram

Instagram

Search relevant hashtags related to your product and see what type of products you see on the feed.

Analyze the number of likes and comments on the post.

See what positive and negative things people are commenting on about the product.

Also, have a look at promoted posts.

If there are a lot of likes and comments on the post it means that people are interested in buying the product.

Although this doesn’t mean that people are actually buying it.

People on Instagram like most of the things that they see on their feeds. So, take all of these stats with a pinch of salt.

Facebook

Facebook

Facebook groups are a great way to connect with like-minded people in your niche. Join as many relevant groups as possible.

Twitter

Twitter

You can directly engage with your target audience on Twitter and understand their needs and wants.

You can ask a question related to your product on Twitter and see what people are commenting on it.

Although, don’t disclose your entire product idea on Twitter or any other platform.

People can steal your idea!

Pinterest

Pinterest

People usually underestimate the power of Pinterest.

But, let me tell you that it is the 14th largest social network in the world and has 431 million monthly active users.

As you will see visual content on Pinterest it would be easy for you to get unique product ideas.

5. Hop Over on Quora and Reddit

Reddit Website

Online forums like Quora and Reddit are great places to get new product ideas.

Since there are real people on these platforms with real problems you will get new perspectives.

Just type in your keyword related to your product or business in the search bar and unlock interesting discussions, questions and even solutions.

6. Analyze Product Trends and Discovery Websites

TrendHunter Website

Product trend and discovery websites like Trend Hunter, TrendWatching and PSFK allow you to get data-driven insights into consumer trends, products, consumer experience and more.

You can find trend reports on pretty much every industry. Since these websites have vast information, don’t waste tons of time on these websites.

7. Don’t Miss Out on Crowdfunding Platforms

Kickstarter Platform

Crowdfunding is a process of raising money for your product from online platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

On these two platforms, you can see how much each project has raised which allows you to get innovative product ideas that are profitable.

8. Follow Industry Leaders

If you have already decided on the industry and niche you would like to be in you can follow industry leaders or emerging entrepreneurs to discover unique insights and product ideas.

9. Use Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends

Google Trends

Type in your product keyword in the Google Keyword Planner and see how many people are searching for this keyword.

Higher the volume, the higher the trend of the product.

You can even use other tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush or Ubersuggest.

Google Trends will tell you how the trend of the keyword was from the past 30 days or even from the past 18 years.

You can even find in which countries and cities the keyword is trending.

This allows you to understand the demographics of your potential target audience.

You can even find search terms that are trending globally and regionally.

10. Analyze Competitor’s Website

Once you know about your product niche and industry you can visit your competitor’s websites and analyze what products they are selling and what are their upcoming launches.

You can understand their USP and pricing model.

Try to make a list of all of your competitors with their unique characteristics and then analyze what is common in all of them and what you can do differently.

11. You Don’t Need a Completely New Idea

It’s not necessary to invent something completely new.

You can make existing products better or combine two different products with different purposes that solve a single problem.

Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s stole the idea of selling burgers from two brothers Dick and Mac McDonald who had started a hamburger stand in California.

The two brothers had invented a cooking operation like an assembly line in a factory which allowed them to make burgers within minutes.

Due to this unique cooking method, people were able to order from the window and have their food in minutes rather than waiting in a big queue.

Kroc used the franchise system to turn McDonald’s into a successful global franchise and forced the brothers into selling to him.

In 2015, Facebook was in big trouble when they were losing its users to Snapchat due to the popular Snapchat Stories feature.

In August 2016, Instagram replicated the same idea and released Instagram Stories. What a unique name!

As you can see from the above examples, you don’t need to make something completely new but, make sure it has a unique USP that beats all of your competitors.

Conclusion

So, here are all the ways through which you can discover product ideas. This is a very crucial stage in your product design journey.

Always remember that your product should help people solve their problems. It should make the life of your customers easier and happier.

Make sure that your product idea has demand in the market and people are willing to pay money for it.

This is just a start!

From validating the product idea to prototyping, testing, manufacturing, funding and finally selling the product there are so many things that you need to consider while designing a product.

FAQs

How do you come up with innovative product ideas?

There are more than a single way to get innovative product idea. Some of them include learning the latest trend, knowing the need of the hour, enhancing an already existing product into something better, etc.

What are the five important sources of new product ideas?

The idea can be derived from many places. Some of the most common five sources are customers, competitors, trends, changes in industry or market structure and influencers.

Where do companies get ideas for new products?

Some of the common ways through which companies get their ideas for new products are market search, customer feedback, brainstorming, customer demand, etc.
November 27, 2022

Alkem Labs Success Story – India’s 5th Largest Pharma Company

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Alkem Laboratories.

It can be safe to say that the importance of the pharmaceutical industry is increasing due to the increased need for pharmaceutical products. The pharmaceutical businesses are expandingly significantly these days. Therefore, every other pharmaceutical business is not backing down in offering high-quality pharma products.

This pharma company has been consistently expanding its geographic reach over the years. We are talking about India’s fifth largest pharmaceutical company in India in terms of domestic sales, Alkem Laboratories. It was founded in 1973 by an Indian businessman, Samprada Singh.

Read on to get a detailed understanding of Alkem Laboratories’ business and revenue model, its founder’s story, how it began its operations, its mission and vision, future goals, and more things in this article.

Alkem Laboratories – Company Highlights

Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Sector	Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare
Type	Public
Founder	Samprada Singh
Founded	1973
Revenue	Rs 10634.1 crores
Parent Organisation	Alkem Laboratories
Website	https://www.alkemlabs.com/

Alkem Laboratories – About | How it works?

Alkem Laboratories Ltd is a worldwide Indian pharmaceutical business with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It produces and markets pharmaceutical formulations, generic medications, and nutraceuticals both domestically and abroad.

The company has 21 production sites spread across several cities in India and the US. Leading regulatory agencies like the USFDA, MHRA SAHPRA TGA, WHO, TPD, NDA, MOH, and TFDA inspect and audit Alkem’s upper-crest facilities following cGMP guidelines.

Alkem Laboratories claims that it provides its products to more than 40 nations. The US is the company’s second-largest market after India. Australia, Chile, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Europe, and East Africa are some of the other important markets. Modern production and R&D facilities located in the US and India support the company’s international activities and help to make high-quality healthcare products available, cheap, and accessible.

As mentioned earlier in terms of domestic sales, Alkem is the fifth-largest pharmaceutical firm in India. The company dominates the acute therapeutic market and is a rising force in the chronic therapeutic market. A strong sales and distribution network, as well as substantial brand-building and marketing initiatives, support Alkem’s India operations.

Alkem Laboratories is ranked in the third position in the Gastrointestinal and Analgesic therapy segments.

Alkem Laboratories’ CSR initiatives

Alkem’s primary goal is the “Go Green” initiative, which is to increase green cover through widespread planting.

Below this effort, the company has planted over a million trees in places that are prone to drought in India’s Maharashtra.

Conservation of water as well as trash management, are also important components of Alkem’s efforts to being an organization that is more sustainable.

Alkem also wants to thrive in EHS while establishing a long-lasting competitive business advantage. The EHS strategy is based on the company’s “Zero Harm” concept, which aims to prevent harm to people, property, and the environment. So far, around 19,916 EHS-related training have been conducted across manufacturing sites from the year (2021-2022). Alkem Laboratories also stresses the 3R principle: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Alkem Laboratories – Industry details

As India is a major exporter of pharmaceuticals, its market is presently estimated at $50 billion. It is also projected that the global pharmaceutical industry market volume will reach $1,431.00 billion by 2027, with revenue predicted to expand at a pace of 5.23% per year (CAGR 2022–2027).

Alkem Laboratories – Founder and Team

Samprada Singh founded Alkem Laboratories in 1973.

Samprada Singh

Samprada Singh founded Alkem Laboratories along with his younger brother Basudeo Narayan Singh. He was born into a middle-class family that lived in the Bihar hamlet of Okri in the Jehanabad district. Agriculture provided the majority of his family’s income, although it was frequently destroyed by the wrath of nature. He served as the Chairman of Alkem Laboratories.

Samprada Singh got his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Patna University. He has won many accolades in his lifetime. To name a few; he received the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Healthcare and Life Sciences in 2017, Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit & Awards founded by Satya Brahma awarded Samprada Singh with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Samprada Singh was India’s 43rd richest person in 2017 as per Forbes magazine with an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion. Samprada Singh was aged 94 when he passed away on 27 July 2019 in Mumbai, India.

Basudeo Narayan Singh

Basudeo Narayan Singh is Alkem’s present Executive Chairman. He has worked in the Indian pharmaceutical sector for more than 40 years. At the 7th Annual Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit and the Pharma Leaders Business Leadership Awards in 2014, he was named “Business Leader of the Year.” Basudeo N. Singh had a stint as President of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association. In 2016, he was also recognized as the “EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Life Sciences.” He also received the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association’s “Chief Mentor of the Year” award in 2018.

Sandeep Singh

Sandeep Singh is the Managing Director of Alkem Laboratories. He has over 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Sandeep Singh joined the Board of Directors in 2018, and since then, he looks after the domestic as well as the international operations of the company.

Sandeep Singh received the “Emerging Pharma Leader of 2016 Award” presented by Pharma Leaders in collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Affairs, Government of India in 2016. He was also highlighted by “ET AND SPENCER STUART 40 under 40” in the year 2021.

Alkem Laboratories – Startup Story

Samprada Singh always wanted to be a doctor but fate had other plans for him. He established a medical supply store in 1953, and Laxmi Pharma, a pharmaceutical distribution business, followed six years later. Thereafter, Samprada Singh founded Magadh Pharma in Patna, his own pharmaceutical distribution business. After 16 years in distribution, he decided to join Aristo Labs in 1970 and got into pharmaceutical manufacturing. However, following a string of failures and failed alliances, he finally made a bold move that irrevocably altered the Indian Pharmaceutical Market, it was Alkem Laboratories.

The company began its successful journey in 1973. Alkem Laboratories’ first manufacturing unit was established at Taloja near Mumbai in 1978.

It was in 1992, that Alkem’s second production plant was developed in Gujarat’s Mandva, which later became an API facility in 2005.

Alkem Laboratories opened its first R&D center for ANDA at Taloja in the year 2003. In terms of domestic sales in India, the anti-infective medicine Taxim of Alkem became the first anti-infective to reach $1 billion in 2006 in the Indian pharmaceutical business. In terms of domestic sales in India, Clavam, another medication from Alkem, surpassed the 2,000 million milestones in 2014.

The business submitted its first ANDA for the medication Amlodipine in 2007, and it was authorized in 2009. In the six months that concluded on September 30, 2015, Alkem has created a portfolio of 705 branded generic pharmaceuticals, 13 of which were included among the top 300 brands in India for the fiscal year 2015.

Alkem Laboratories – Mission and Vision

The vision statement of Alkem is, “To achieve value-driven leadership in the Indian Healthcare Industry and beyond through: Quality that is infinite, Service that cares, and Hard work that endures.”

Alkem’s motivation derives from wanting to improve medical results. It remains committed to making significant contributions to healthcare that will improve the quality of life for people by enabling them to live longer, better-quality lives. It does this by leveraging its strong industry experience, robust quality standards, and demonstrated capabilities in research, manufacturing, and distribution.

Alkem Laboratories – Name, Tagline, Logo

The tagline of Alkem Laboratories is, “Four decades of empowering wellness”

Alkem Laboratories – Business Model

The business model of Alkem Laboratories includes developing, manufacturing, and marketing high-quality pharmaceutical products across all major therapeutic segments. It has more than 800+ brands out of which 12 brands have annual sales of more than Rs 1 crores.

Alkem’s multi-product portfolio has the following categories:

Generic Drugs
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)
Nutraceuticals
Biosimilars
Pharma products for Therapeutic Areas – like Anti-infective, Gastroenterology, Pain Relief/Analgesic, Anti-diabetic, Cardiology, Dermatology, Neurology/Central Nervous System, and Vitamins, Minerals & Nutrients.
OTC Products – Playgard condoms, Pregnancy detection kits, Livoerb (ayurvedic medicine)

Alkem’s six R&D centers are empowered with more than 500 scientists. The company operates its business in 19 manufacturing facilities. It is also present in more than 50 countries.

Here is the list of Alkem’s research facilities, which are located mainly in India and the USA:

Alkem Research Centre, Taloja, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
Alkem Research Centre, Mandva, Gujrat
Enzene Biosciences Limited, T-Block, MIDC, Bhosari, Pune, Maharashtra
Enzene Biosciences Limited, MIDC, Bhosari, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Maharashtra
Alkem Laboratories, Fenton, MO, USA
Norac Pharma, Azusa, CA, USA

International regulatory agencies, such as the US FDA, and European, Australian, and other authorities, have audited and authorized Alkem’s R&D centers.

Alkem Laboratories – Revenue Model

Alkem Laboratories’ revenue for this year was reported to be Rs 10,634.1 crores ($1.3 billion).

Alkem Laboratories generates 70.8% of its revenue in India, 21.9% from the USA, and the rest 7.3% from other international markets. The company makes about 32% of its total income from offshore sales.

Alkem Laboratories – Growth

Alkem Laboratories reports having a record of solid performance with a growth of 29.9% this year. The company’s both prescription business and trade generic business performed strongly, indicating that this increase was broad-based. According to a research study, Alkem increased by 27.6% compared to the Indian Pharmaceutical Market’s (IPM) rise of 18.2%. The company’s overall performance was boosted by robust volume growth in its acute treatment sectors, which was assisted in part by COVID-19 tailwinds.

Alkem Laboratories – Funding and Investors

Alkem Laboratories has raised a total of $60 million in funding over one round. It raised funds through a Venture – Series Unknown round. The company is backed by five investors. Its most recent investors are DB International and Kuwait Investment Authority. The other three investors of Alkem are; Apax Group, Morgan Stanley, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Alkem Laboratories – Investments

Till now, two investments are made by Alkem Laboratories. It recently invested in a Bangalore-based cell therapy company, Eyestem for Rs 510 crores.

Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Sector	Medical devices, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare
Type	Public
Founder	Wallace Calvin Abbott
Founded	1944
Valuation	Rs 37,288.17 crores
Revenue	Rs 4,996.48 crores
Parent Organisation	Abbott Laboratories
Website	www.abbott.co.in

Alkem Laboratories – Mergers and Acquisitions

Below are some of the acquisitions made by Alkem Laboratories are:

Acquired Enzene Biosciences, a company engaged in the development of biosimilars in India (2011)
Acquired Ascend Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company in the US (2010)
Acquired Pharmacor Pty. Ltd., a generic pharmaceutical company in Australia (2009)
Acquired a formulation manufacturing facility in the US (2015)
Acquired the ‘Clindac-A’ brand in India from Galderma S.A. (2014)
Acquired an API manufacturing facility in the US (2012)

Alkem Laboratories – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns

In 2016, Alkem Laboratories launched its first campaign for its ayurvedic product ‘Livoerb’ with the tagline ‘Rakho apne Liver ko mazboot aur jawaan’. The campaign highlights the importance of using Alkem’s product Livoerb that keeps the liver in a healthy condition.

The video shows an Indian family where a daughter-in-law is seen complaining about her in-laws’ unlimited demands of tasty food and how it is not affecting their health at this age. In the end, they reveal their secret to their daughter-in-law; that is by consuming ‘Livoerb’, which helps in regulating the functions of the liver.

Alkem Laboratories – Awards and Achievements

Here is the list of awards and achievements won by Alkem Laboratories:

2021

Alkem Laboratories won Great Place to Work Certified consecutively for the second time in a row

Alkem was recognized as India’s Best Workplace in Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical industry for the second consecutive year

2020

Achieved the CIO Conclave and Awards 2020 in the category Best IT Team of the Year

2019

Received the Express Pharma Excellence Award at Pharma CXO Summit 2019

Alkem received the Best Employee Engagement Practice and Best L&D Strategy Titles

2018

Alkem’s Brand ‘Clavam’ received the Brand of the Year 2018 Award at AWACS Awards for Marketing Excellence

Achieved the Best Innovative CSR Project at CSR Summit & Awards 2018

Alkem received the Business Excellence Award 2018 for Best Range of ICU Products, Pharma, and Health Care Summit organized by CMS.

Alkem Laboratories – Competitors

Alkem Laboratories has the following competitors:

Alkem Laboratories – Future Plans

Alkem Laboratories made spectacular growth of 29.9% as compared to the previous year. The company expects that its Chronic portfolio is getting better and better, expanding over two times as quickly as the market. Alkem’s recently established Pulmocare business, which serves the respiratory market, also had a successful debut. It believes that this new launch will also show a great growth rate of therapies.

FAQs

Who leads the company Alkem Laboratories?

The company is headed by Mr. Basudeo N Singh who is the Executive Chairman.

What is the rank of Alkem Laboratories?

Alkem Laboratories is the sixth-largest pharma company in India in terms of domestic sales.

Is Alkem an MNC?

Yes, Alkem Laboratories is an Indian Multinational pharma company.

Where is the headquarter of Alkem Laboratories?

The headquarter of Alkem is in Mumbai.

November 27, 2022

Alembic Pharma: One of the oldest generic medicine producer

Pharmaceutical manufacturing goes through many stages before producing a single medicine. This industry is by far one of the most successful industries of today. The success rate of these pharmaceutical manufacturing has resulted in outstanding progress in the medical world.

With its headquarters in Vadodara, Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is a global pharmaceutical firm based in India. Founded in 1907, Alembic Pharmaceutical produces pharmaceutical goods, pharmaceutical ingredients, and pharmaceutical intermediates. It is also referred to as the market leader in India’s macrolides anti-infective medication category. Alembic Pharmaceuticals belongs to the Alembic Group, which was founded by Prof. T.K. Gajjar, Prof. Kotibhaskar, and B. D. Amin.

Learn all about Alembic Pharmaceuticals’ success story, its startup story, mission, and vision, and its business and revenue model.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Company Highlights

Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Sector	Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare
Type	Public
Founder	Prof. T.K. Gajjar
Founded	1907
Revenue	Rs 3131 crores
Parent Organisation	Alembic Group
Website	www.alembicpharmaceuticals.com/

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – About

Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. works on the production and marketing of Indian formulations, active pharmaceutical ingredients, international generics, and pharmaceutical intermediates. The company’s corporate office and headquarters are located in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, while its production facilities are spread out between Sikkim and Panelav, both in Gujarat. Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and formulation production are handled by its Panelav factory, while formulation production for India and unregulated export markets are handled by its Sikkim plant. Recently, the company’s production capacity was increased by the addition of three new plants for oral solids and injectables for cancer, general injectables, ophthalmology, and oral solids, bringing the total to six state-of-the-art facilities that epitomize manufacturing excellence.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals is among the most reputable suppliers of specialty medications in India for a range of acute and chronic treatments. In the domestic market, it provides a range of high-quality items that address ten therapeutic categories. Alembic Pharmaceuticals is renowned for providing its customers with deliveries on time.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals’ CSR initiatives

The Alembic CSR Foundation was founded in 2015 to uplift and strengthen communities across various areas of Education, Health, and Overall Community Development.

The company’s plantation initiatives have resulted in 1,300 saplings being planted over the past 5 years in 4 panchayats of the Panchmahals district, including 100 saplings planted in Gopipura village during 2020-2021. Alembic’s CSR foundation has built 242 domestic toilets in the Karkhadi and Pindapa panchayats in the Vadodara district as part of its sanitation activities. In the Vaseti Panchayat villages of Tajpura, Dadiyapura, and Shivjipura, it has also constructed 346 domestic toilets.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Industry details

Over the past two decades, India’s pharmaceutical business has expanded at a compounded growth rate of 16% for exports and 11% for the domestic market.

Through 2025, the worldwide pharmaceutical industry is anticipated to expand at a 3-6% CAGR, with a projected market value of $1.6 trillion. This does not include COVID-19 vaccine investment, which is expected to total $157 billion overall through 2025.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Founder and Team

Alembic Pharmaceuticals is managed by Chirayu Amin, the Chairman & CEO of the company.

Chirayu Amin

Chirayu Amin is a multimillionaire businessman from India who also oversees cricket. Amin has guided the organization through the shifting demands of modern business while maintaining its legacy.

He got his MBA degree from Seton Hall University. Furthermore, Chirayu Amin served as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce’s chairman. Malika Chirayu Amin, his wife, has been listed by Kotak Wealth Hurun as one of India’s wealthiest women in 2020.

Chirayu was also the Baroda Cricket Association’s president. He has received the Federation of Gujarat Industries (FGI) Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2021. According to Forbes, Chirayu Amin’s net worth as of May 2021 was US$1.8 billion.

Pranav Amin

Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd’s Managing Director, Pranav Amin, is in charge of the division’s global business operations. He is a graduate of Thunderbird University in the United States with an MBA in International Management and a degree in Economics/Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. Pranav Amin is considered a fantastic people leader who directs the company via participation, empowerment, and autonomy.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Startup Story

In 1907, Alembic Chemical Works, which is now Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd., began producing tinctures and alcohol at its Vadodara facility. The business subsequently started producing sulfur medications, vitamins, tonics, and cough syrups around the 1940s.

Additionally, Alembic started producing penicillin in the 1960s. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the Indian Prime Minister at the time, dedicated this Alembic factory to the production of penicillin in 1961.

The pharma company immediately started producing vitamin B12 in large quantities in 1967.

In the field of antibiotics, Alembic started producing erythromycin in India for the first time in 1971, not long after the manufacturing of penicillin was started. Alembic also created and introduced the erythromycin brand “Althrocin.” Althrocin surpassed all other erythromycin brands in sales in India in 1997.

After a few years, Alembic got ISO 14000 accreditation in 2000 for its Vadodara plant. Following the distribution of 133,515,914 equity shares worth $2 each to the shareholders of Alembic Ltd. in 2010, Alembic Pharmaceutical Ltd. separated from Alembic Ltd. As a result, Alembic Ltd.’s ownership of Alembic Pharmaceutical decreased from 100% to 29.18%.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s equity shares were placed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India in 2011.

Around 2012, the company revealed the dermatology department in Indian markets with eight new products. In 2017, Alembic Pharmaceuticals based the manufacturing facility for Oncology medicines in presence of the then Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri. Vijay Rupani.

Alembic gained a $250 million sales milestone in the USA front end.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Mission and Vision

Alembic Pharmaceuticals’ mission is, “To improve healthcare with innovation, commitment, and trust.”

The company believes that the four pillars of quality, capability, customer centricity, and diversity are the key enablers for its future growth.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Name, Tagline, Logo

Alembic Pharmaceuticals Logo

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Business & Revenue Model

Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. runs its business as a vertically integrated pharmaceutical company. Each of the company’s business areas may benefit from the premium items in its varied range, which command greater margins.

Alembic deeply invests in developing a portfolio of specialized, specialist medications that offer chances for long-term revenue development. It takes advantage of its manufacturing and intellectual edge, through strategic acquisitions that offer prospects for internal product development and value enhancement.

Domestic Business:

Alembic offers products in 10 therapeutic areas including Cardiology, Orthopaedic, Ophthalmology, Nephro/Uro, Anti-Diabetic, Gynaecology, Gastrology, Dermatological, Anti-Infective, Cold, and cough with 185 brands in the market.
Most of its caters to several chronic and acute therapies and around 1,75,000 doctors in India.
It has two R&D centers situated in Vadodara (Gujarat), and Hyderabad (Telangana)
Alembic’s formulation facility is located in Sikkim, Panelav, Karkhadi
Alembic’s two brands are in the top 300
1.4% market share in the Indian pharma space
Alembic APIs are supplied to formulators in over 60 countries across the globe
Alembic has generated Rs 1,497 crores (2020-2021) in domestic business

International Business

Alembic is present in the US, Europe, Canada, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and other markets
Offers diversified products in various therapeutic areas
The company has launched more than 90 products in the USA till now
It has one R&D facility in New Jersey, USA
Alembic generated around Rs 2,942 crores (2020-2021)
The company’s international business grew by 62% in Quarter 1 FY21 on a Y-o-Y basis, this excludes the USA.

As per reports, Alembic spent around 12.4% of its revenue on R&D activities during 2020-2021 to upscale its generic business to the international markets.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Growth

Alembic Pharmaceuticals claims that it had enormous growth and a huge increase in market share for Azithral OSD. The company also established itself as a serious player on a worldwide scale since azithromycin was a crucial drug in the management of COVID-19. With a 30% market share of the domestic formulation market in India, it is one of the biggest makers of azithromycin.

The implementation of the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) in its plants to ensure smooth workflow and data tracking, as well as the Quality by Design (QbD) initiative to improve the safety and efficacy of its products, are just a few of the significant initiatives carried out by the company in the recent years.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Mergers and Acquisitions

During its 115 years of legacy, Alembic has acquired some renowned business operations. The year 2012 saw the announcement of Paragraph IV ANDA litigation between Alembic Pharmaceuticals and Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc., and Pfizer about desvenlafaxine (Pristiq). Additionally, Alembic and AccuBreak Pharmaceuticals Inc. engaged in product development and license arrangement.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals and Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. engaged in an out-licensing arrangement in 2013 to allow Alembic Pharmaceuticals to commercialize its medications in the USA. Later after one year, Alembic Pharmaceuticals entered into joint ventures with Adwiya Mami SARL Algeria through its wholly-owned subsidiary Alembic Global Holdings, expanding its business in Algeria. Besides this, Alembic also signed an exclusive contract with Novartis around 2015, expanding its business in Switzerland.

Here’s the list of acquisitions made by Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd.:

Date/Year	Acquiree Name	Amount
March 29, 2022	Aleor Dermaceuticals	–
November 1, 2017	Orit Laboratories	–
2007	Dabur’s non-oncology formulation business	Rs 150 crores

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Funding and Investors

In a qualified institutional placement (QIP) on Thursday, Alembic Pharma collected Rs 750 crore from investors including Tata Mutual Fund, HDFC Life, Sundaram, Bajaj Life, and Nippon India Mutual Fund.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Awards and Achievements

Alembic Pharmaceuticals has won many awards and achievements, those are:

Excellent Efforts in Risk Management Award
Alembic Pharmaceuticals was listed in Forbes’ 2016 list of “India’s Super 50 Companies.”
Job Safety Analysis (JSA) Finished as the first runner-up in Job Safety Analysis (JSA) at CII Industrial Safety Summit 2016
Gujarat Best Employer Brand Award -Recognised for the ‘HR Event of the Year’ and ‘Outstanding Contribution to the cause of Education at the Gujarat Best Employer Brand Awards 2017
Alembic Pharmaceuticals received the Thomson Reuters Top 50 Indian Innovators Award in 2015

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Competitors

Below is the list of competitors of Alembic Pharmaceuticals:

Alembic Pharmaceuticals – Future Plans

Presently, Alembic Pharmaceuticals is establishing new capacities and funding R&D initiatives with more favorable risk-return profiles. In addition, its consumer interaction skills are driven by its US marketing team, who also assists them in adding more value. It further plans to take advantage of scale economies and guarantee an adequate supply for its clients by gradually investing in boosting capacity.

FAQs

Who is the CEO of Alembic Pharmaceuticals?

Chirayu Amin is the CEO of Alembic Pharma.

Is Alembic Pharma an MNC?

Yes, Alembic Pharma is an Indian Multinational Company based in Vadodara, Gujrat.

What is the rank of Alembic Pharmaceuticals?

Alembic Pharma ranks 18 in India in terms of market cap.

Is Alembic Pharma a public company?

Yes, Alembic Pharma is a public company.

November 27, 2022

Biggest Marketing Failure of Tropicana

Marketing is a grace for a company if done properly, but it also has the power to eradicate the brand if done wrongly. Competition is tough today and brands are adopting so many marketing tactics to stand on top of the list and acquire huge market shares.‌‌

Small mistakes in marketing can cause a brand to suffer a lot in terms of revenue and reputation. Tropicana’s marketing failure story is the best example present out there to learn from. It’s always better to learn from others’ mistakes and this article is sufficient to make you understand why Tropicana’s marketing failed.

About Tropicana
Biggest Marketing failure of Tropicana
What’s gone wrong with Tropicana’s rebranding
Image change
Logo change
Implementation of 3D design
Lessons to learn from Tropicana’s marketing mistake
Don’t try to modernize everything
Don’t disrupt the Emotional bond‌‌
Conclusion
FAQs

About Tropicana

PepsiCo-owned Tropicana is a fruit-based juice brand that is an add-on to PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio. This brand was purchased by PepsiCo in 1998 from Seagram Co. Ltd to expand its beverage business and compete with its competitors. From the year 1998 to 2021, Tropicana’s business was run under the administration of PepsiCo. In 2021, 61% of Tropicana’s share was sold to PAI partners (a France-based private equity firm) and the remaining 39% was retained by PepsiCo.

Starting as an orange juice brand, Tropicana is now offering a range of juice products like pineapple mango splash, Berry colada light, Caribbean sunset, pina colada, and much more.

Biggest Marketing failure of Tropicana

Tropicana’s biggest rivalry is coca-cola owned Minute Maid. Even though Tropicana’s market share is far better than Minute Maid, there used to be tough neck-to-neck competition between these two giant players.

The whole story of rebranding to its marketing and its failure starts when management notices a downfall in its market share. In 2006, Tropicana’s market share in its segment used to be 42% which decreased to 33.6% in 2009. At the same time Coca-Cola‘s newly launched premium orange juice “simply orange” grew from 8.1% to 14.8%.

After seeing the research report, the president of Tropicana “Neil Campbell” realized that the customers reckoned packaged orange juices contain added sugar. So, to bring up the fact that Tropicana orange juices are pure, natural, and 100% squeezed from fresh oranges, they need to tweak the brand identity by rebranding.

The task to redesign the product packaging of Tropicana’s top-selling product “pure premium” and market the new design was assigned to Peter Arnell’s group in January 2009. While evaluating the new product design, designers examined the traditional design of Tropicana. After analyzing the old design they thought that the outer part of the orange with the straw should be replaced with the glass of squeezed orange. The clear intention of the designer is to emphasize the fact that the juice packet contains 100% pure squeezed orange.

In an attempt to change the product design which can convey the message that it contains 100% natural orange juice, they changed the brand identity. Disaster happens just after the launch of the new product design. Social media was flooded with posts and articles criticizing the new logo and overall package design. People used to argue that the old design with orange and straw in it, gives them a sense of freshness.

The whole marketing campaign of $35 million for the new design started to go wrong when the product which was making $700 million in annual revenue started declining just after the launch. In just 1 month $20 million in sales revenue vanished, making an aggregate loss of $55 million. As soon as the management recognized their mistake they again introduced the old traditional design of the Tropicana pure premium by replacing the new one.

What’s gone wrong with Tropicana’s rebranding

Image change

The image of orange and straw had a presence for so many decades on old packaging and there is a loyal consumer base of this product, who consume the product regularly and are emotionally attached to the old design. The complete change in design had badly impacted this customer base, and the reaction of consumers had negatively impacted the company’s revenue.

Logo change

Old Logo on Left

There is a tendency for humans to read the letter from left to right. In the new design, the designer has changed the orientation of the logo vertically which was very hard to recognize. The most crucial factor in branding is its logo, and due to changes in the orientation, the visibility of the logo disappeared. The old logo was dark, bold, and in the middle of the packet which can effortlessly be recognized from a distance.

Implementation of 3D design

To implement the graphic of a juice glass, they utilize a half portion of the front part and half portion of the side part. While doing all this thing and providing a 3D look, they again forgot about the visibility. The new packaging used to mingle with other fruit juice brands on the shelf, and it was hard to distinguish between Tropicana’s juice and other brands’ juice. The regular consumers of Tropicana were also unable to recognize the brand from the shelf.

The 3D design holds no meaning because only half part of the juice glass was visible, while another part was hidden if you look at the packet from the front. The newly introduced lid for the packet, which had an orange texture on it, didn’t work for the company efficiently. The thought behind implementing this is to make customers feel that they are squeezing the orange while opening the bottle.

Lessons to learn from Tropicana’s marketing mistake

‌‌

Don’t try to modernize everything

It is not necessary to modernize everything according to the present generation. The first thing we need to take care of is who our audience is and what they want. Tropicana has changed its design completely without thinking about its impact. People don’t want modern juice, they want the same one which they’ve been drinking for years. When they saw the drastic change in the shelf, they wondered if the juice had also been changed. There was no strong need to change everything in the design to look modern.

Don’t disrupt the Emotional bond‌‌

Customers feel an emotional bond for the product and brand that they love. Since there is an emotional connection, customers can feel betrayed and disappointed if they no longer recognize the brand due to a change in the packaging design. This caused the downfall of Tropicana’s revenue because customers were unable to identify their favorite juice brand.

Think if you have a picture of your favorite brand in your mind and suddenly that brand transforms its identity, then you also might be confused about the brand for some time.

Conclusion

The whole story of Tropicana is a lesson for the brand that how important is its core identity and why you should not tweak the brand completely. Packaging is a powerful tool for the business to create trust among customers and to show themself unique, so be careful before redesigning the packaging if you already have a strong brand image.

FAQs

Who is the CEO of Tropicana?

Glen Walter is the CEO of Tropicana.

Who owns Tropicana?

Tropicana is owned by PAI Partners.

Did Pepsi own Tropicana?

Yes, Pepsi owned Tropicana and sold it to PAI Partners in 2021.

November 27, 2022
Top 10 Entrepreneur Biographies You Should Read
Books are a wonderful source of inspiration, a condensed collection of years’ worth of knowledge, a dependable companion, an escape into fantasy, and a manual for taking action. Books are no exception when it comes to the constant need for entrepreneurs and founders to adapt and learn from all available sources.

This is particularly true with business biographies, which are frequently authored by the most influential and ground-breaking figures in the industry.

Experience is the best teacher for people. Otto von Bismarck once said, “I prefer to learn from the experience of others.” Reading the biographies of individuals whom you admire is a great method to do the same.

The top 10 business biographies are listed here, carefully chosen to suit all tastes.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
Sam Walton: Made In America
Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul
That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography

Author: Walter Isaacson
Goodreads Rating: 4.16

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

An entrepreneur’s autobiography about one of the most significant founders ever, Steve Jobs, is portrayed beautifully in this biography by Walter Issacson. Over 40 interviews with Steve Jobs, his family, and coworkers served as the basis for this biography. You understand through his journey where he received his ideas from and exactly how he overcame difficulties throughout the years. Walters demonstrates how Jobs transformed several sectors, including music, animated films, smartphones, and tablet computers.

In the twenty-first century, he saw that fusing creativity with technology was the perfect approach to generating value. He established a business that combines incredible technological marvels with imaginative breakthroughs.

Although Jobs worked with the author, he requested no say over what was published. Nothing was off bounds, he said. He urged everyone he knew to be open-minded. He was open and honest about the individuals he collaborated with and faced. The emotions, obsessions, foulness, creativity, perfectionism, and drive for dominance that defined his business style and the inventive goods that came as a result are candidly described by his friends, competitors, and coworkers. His story is both educational and warning, and it contains many valuable lessons about creativity, morality, leadership, and principles.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Author: Ashlee Vance
Goodreads Rating: 4.21

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

Elon Musk, the businessman and developer behind Tesla, SolarCity, and SpaceX, sold PayPal, one of his online businesses, for $1.5 billion. From his turbulent beginnings in South Africa and escape to the United States to his stunning technical inventions and economic endeavours, Ashlee Vance portrays the complete grandeur and trajectory of the genius’s career and life. One of the most important issues of our day is explored by Vance using Musk’s story: Can the country of innovators and creators that dominated modern society for a century continue to thrive in the face of intense international competition?

He contends that Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, and Howard Hughes, constitute Musk, who he compares to all of them. Musk has devoted more of his time and resources than any other businessman alive today to envision a tomorrow that is as expansive as the innovators of the Great Era of Science-Fiction and Fantasy.

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Elon Musk is a successful entrepreneur and founder of Tesla and SpaceX. He has learnt a lot from reading books. So, Here are 70 books recommended by Elon Musk.

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Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built

Author: Duncan Clark
Goodreads Rating: 3.86

Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

Duncan Clark, who was given unimaginable access to a wealth of new information and exclusive personal interviews, brings on his first-hand knowledge of key players crucial to Alibaba’s rise to craft a credible, persuasive descriptive account of how Alibaba and its charismatic founder have changed the way that Chinese practise their newly found financial stability, encouraging businessmen all over the world and turning the tables on the Silicon Valley giants.

Jack Ma, a man who came from impoverished circumstances and began his career as an English teacher, developed and grew Alibaba into the second-largest Internet firm in the world in just ten years. The firm was valued more than Facebook or Coca-Cola after its $25 billion IPO in 2014, which was the highest ever. Hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers rely on Alibaba’s eCommerce operations every day, and it also employs and pays millions of individuals.

Duncan covers important issues about the company’s history, development, and prospects. How did Jack Ma create Alibaba from such humble beginnings? What accounts for his unwavering motivation and cunning advantage over his rivals? How long can the business expect to hold its position of dominance with over 80% of China’s eCommerce market? Are Alibaba’s goals constrained, or will the Chinese government take action to restrain them, as the business sets its eyes on the financial and media industries of the nation? And how will Alibaba expand its influence and operations in the US and other international markets as it opens offices in cities like Seattle, San Francisco, and LA?

Clark situates Alibaba’s story within the broader narrative of China’s economic boom—the growth of corporate companies and the advancement of web usage has propelled the nation to become the second-largest economy in the world and home to the largest Internet population, which is double the size of the US. He also looks at the social and political backdrop to these significant shifts. Clark is a seasoned insider with unmatched contacts who has a profound knowledge of Chinese business philosophy. As never before, he sheds light on an improbable business giant and analyses the crucial role his company played in changing China while also strengthening its position and influence globally.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

Author: Phil Knight
Goodreads Rating: 4.47

Shoe Dog – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

For the first time, Nike CEO and founder, Phil Knight, tells the inner tale of the firm’s beginnings as an adventurous startup and how Nike developed to become one of the most recognisable, game-changing, and lucrative companies in the world in this honest and engaging biography.

After graduating from business school in 1962, Phil Knight loaned $50 from his father and started a company with the straightforward goal of importing high-end, reasonably priced sports shoes from Japan. Knight made $8,000 his first year by selling the shoes out of the backseat of his lime green Plymouth Valiant. Nike now has yearly sales of almost $30 billion. In the startup era, the swoosh (Nike’s logo) has developed into a groundbreaking, global icon, being one of the most pervasive and well-known symbols in existence right now.

But Knight, the person responsible for the swoosh, has always been away from the public’s eyes. Here, for the very first time, he shares his narrative, starting with his crossroads experience, in a book that is open, honest, brave, and humorous. After travelling the world on a rucksack at the age of 24, he made the unorthodox choice to launch his own company, one that would be lively and distinctive.

Alongside his early successes, Knight describes the numerous risks and intimidating failures that came his way to realise his objective. Above everything else, he remembers the early connections and very first partnerships and workers, a motley crew of outcasts and explorers who grew to be a close-knit family. Collectively, they developed a company that transformed it all by utilising the tremendous force of a common objective and a strong faith in the divinity of sports.

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

Author: Brad Stone
Goodreads Rating: 4.14

The Everything Store – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

Historically, Amazon.com began by sending books to customers by mail. But Jeff Bezos, the company’s imaginative creator, wasn’t happy to only sell books. He envisioned Amazon as the one-stop shop with an unrestricted assortment, alluring accessibility, and game-changing cheap costs. To do this, he created a business culture of unyielding determination and confidentiality that has never been broken. Brad Stone with the help of both current and past Amazon workers as well as members of the Bezos family, provides readers with their first, extensive, bystander vision of how everything worked in the journey of Amazon.

Bezos is a private person in contrast to other top pioneers in technology like Jobs, Gates, and Zuckerberg. He distinguishes out, though, for his relentless search for new markets that have seen him steer Amazon into high-risk projects like the Kindle and cloud computing while also revolutionising shopping in the same way Henry Ford did with manufacturing. The Everything Store is a riveting, comprehensive account of the business that made one of the initial and most significant stands on the world wide web and fundamentally altered how we browse and purchase.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

Author: Alice Schroeder
Goodreads Rating: 4.13

The Snowball – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

The definitive biography of Warren Buffett, amongst the most admired individuals in the world, is available here. The renowned Omaha investor has never published a book, but he gave one writer, Alice Schroeder, an unparalleled opportunity to interview him and others who were most important to him about his career, beliefs, problems, victories, mistakes, and insights. As a consequence, the person known as “The Oracle of Omaha” has a comprehensive and emotionally engaging biography.

Buffett has never revealed his entire life narrative, even though the mainstream media follows him regularly. Warren Buffett is full of contradictions. He set out to demonstrate that a good person can come in first. He promoted honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, writer, and speaker over the years, treating his investors as partners and serving as their stewards. From the humble Omaha headquarters of his firm Berkshire Hathaway, he simultaneously rose to the position of the richest man in the world. Nothing about this is “basic”.

When Alice Schroeder first met Warren Buffett, she was a skilled writer with a good eye for detail and financial acumen. She also worked as an analyst for the financial industry. He was impressed by her financial articles, and as she got to know him, she discovered that while much had been published about his investment approach, no one had gone further to examine his bigger ideology, which is intertwined with a complicated persona and the specifics of his experience. This led to his deciding to work with her on the autobiography he wouldn’t ever pen down.

Buffett, before this publication, never spent endless hours conversing with a writer, answering questions, allowing them to complete visibility to his family, children, friends, acquaintances, and business partners, unlocking his archives, and remembering his early years. It was a brave thing to do, as The Snowball makes very evident. Being a mortal, his journey has had both pluses and minuses, as most journeys do. Buffett’s principles and beliefs that have improved people’s lives will be remembered instead of his position on the wealth scoreboard, even though his fortune is still remarkable. This story depicts why Warren Buffett is today’s most remarkable example of American business success.

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Sam Walton: Made In America

Author: Sam Walton, John Huey (Contributor)
Goodreads Rating: 4.11

Sam Walton: Made in America – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

Here is a remarkable success tale of a man whose empire was established by hard work rather than deception.

In Sam Walton’s own words, this is “a tale of risk-taking, work and effort, and business; of understanding where you wish to go and getting prepared to do whatever it requires to achieve that goal. It’s also a tale about adhering to your principles and trusting in your ideas even when others might not.”

It tells the tale of how Sam Walton transformed Walmart, the biggest retailer in the world, from a single discount store in a struggling textile town. He never lacked the common touch while reigning as the unquestioned merchant monarch of the late 20th century. Here, Walton shares his remarkable tale in his unique terms. Genuinely modest yet always confident in his goals and successes, Walton expresses his ideas in a straightforward, plain manner.

Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul

Author: Howard Schultz, Joanne Gordon
Goodreads Rating: 3.85

Onward – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

Starbucks’ president and chairman, Howard Schultz (now interim CEO), decided to resume his role as CEO in 2008, 8 years after he had backed away from the regular management of the business and taken on the role of chairman. Schultz was committed to assisting Starbucks in getting back on track, reestablishing its essential principles, and regaining its economic health since he believed the company had wandered off course.

In Onward, he and fellow writer, Joanne Gordon, tells the incredible story of Howard’s comeback and the company’s sustainable change under his management, demonstrating how Starbucks once more successfully achieved sustainability and profitability without losing compassion amid one of the most turbulent economic periods in history.

The book zooms in to reveal, in engrossing detail, how one firm battled and remade itself in the midst of everything. providing readers with a glimpse of a period of history that left no organisation unaffected. The fast-moving story gives readers an insight into Schultz’s mind as he learns to accept his limits and his changing management style while being pushed by the pressure that arises on a daily basis as disputes. The fascinating, honest tale Onward charts the development of both a business and a businessman.

Schultz’s core leadership principle, Onward, is that success is not just about winning, but also about winning the right way. In the end, he gives readers what he works so hard to convey every day: a sense of optimism that, no matter how difficult things become, the future may still be just as successful as the past, or perhaps more successful, depending on how success is defined.

That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea

Author: Marc Randolph
Goodreads Rating: 4.21

That Will Never Work – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

The amazing unseen tale of how Netflix evolved from a vision to a business is recounted in the style of Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog, and it is all narrated by co-founder and former CEO, Marc Randolph.

Brick-and-mortar video storefronts previously reigned supreme. Late fines were commonplace, video streaming was unknown, and the mass acceptance of DVDs appeared to be about as far off as flying automobiles. In fact, when Marc Randolph had an idea in 1997, these were the generally recognised rules of the nation. It was a straightforward idea—using the internet to rent movies—but it was one of several, much worse recommendations that Randolph would make to Reed Hastings on their daily journey to work, including those for customised baseball bats and a shampoo delivery company.

But Hastings was fascinated, so the two created a business, with Hastings serving as the main financier and Randolph as the CEO. Netflix’s success now that it has more than 150 million users seems predestined, yet the most revolutionary start-up of the twenty-first century started with very few supporters and disaster at every step. Marc Randolph’s impactful journey illustrates how anyone who possesses toughness, sound intuitions, and persistence can transform the world, even with a suggestion that many folks assume will never function. From having to persuade his own mom to become an investor to the guest house conference hall that functioned as the initial office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-legendary meeting when Netflix proposed Blockbuster Inc. to acquire them.

But more than simply the insider account of one of the most recognisable corporations in the world is revealed. It offers solutions to a number of our most essential inquiries about taking chances in the company or in life. It is chock-full of counterintuitive topics and written in writing that makes you want to binge. Where do you start? How do you handle failures and dissatisfaction? What is your approach to success? What is success, exactly?

That Will Never Work is not just the quintessential follow-your-dreams tale but also one of the greatest illuminating business tales of modern times, covering topics like idea development, team building, and understanding when to let go.

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company

Author: Robert Iger
Goodreads Rating: 4.42

The Ride of a Lifetime – Best Entrepreneur Biographies

In this book, the former CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger, discusses the principles and concepts that have helped him redevelop one of the most adored companies around the world and motivate those who work there, with the help of fellow writer Joel Lovell.

Amid a challenging period, Robert Iger was appointed CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005. The company’s morale had declined, the market was more fierce, and technologies were evolving more quickly than they ever had.
Iger says, “I realised there was nothing to be achieved from fighting over the old days.” “The future was all that mattered, and I thought I knew exactly where Disney needed to go,” he said.

Three concepts stood up clearly:
- Produce the best content Disney is capable of.
- Instead of resisting innovation, welcome it and employ it
- Think larger, think globally, and strengthen the brand recognition of Disney in other countries.
Twelve years later, Disney is the biggest and most reputable media business in the world, with 21st Century Fox, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm among its brands. Iger is regarded as one of the most creative and successful CEOs of his time, and the company is now worth about five times what it was when he joined it.

Conclusion

Many entrepreneurs believe that reading and understanding the stories of the people they look up to has helped them in their journey to success. The above list includes some of the best business biographies of top entrepreneurs, which are sure to help you learn different mantras for your success.

FAQs

What are business biographies?

Business biographies refer to the portrayal of the stories of entrepreneurs as well as the formation and growth of powerful corporations.

Which are the best business biographies to read?

The best business biographies of top entrepreneurs are:
- Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography
- Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
- Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built
- The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
- The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
Is there a biography of Elon Musk?

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance is a popular biography of Elon Musk, published in 2015. Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century by Tim Higgins is another biography of Elon Musk.
November 26, 2022
Apple Books vs Amazon Kindle | How Amazon Won the Ebook War?

Most of us are into books. After all, books provide companionship like no other. However, the way most of us consume book content is different. While most people in India are still into paperbacks, the ebook market has been swiftly growing in India thanks to Amazon Kindle and the emergence of iPads. When we look at the global picture, eBooks are already a multi-billion dollar market that just continues to grow with each passing day. Today, we shall look at a very interesting case study — the much-coveted battle of the titans in the ebook arena. Read along to know more!

How to Sell eBooks on Amazon?

Kindle – The First Mover and the Emergence of the Fiercest Competitor to the Ebook Monopoly
Apple and the Subtle Art of Getting Things Right!
Steve Jobs – The Magician in Action
Negotiations – The Stuff of the Legends
The Struggle for Power – The Amazon Advantage

Kindle – The First Mover and the Emergence of the Fiercest Competitor to the Ebook Monopoly

Global eBook Market Revenue (2017 to 2027)

Amazon’s Kindle is the device that Amazon wants you to buy to replicate a book-reading experience similar to the paperbacks. The ebook reader which also comes in a monochrome mode has been the talk of the town for more than a decade now. With a discounted price tag compared to their Paperback versions, Kindle is becoming the standard medium to read books across the internet.

But…

There’s a catch! They ain’t the only big player in this. Amazon’s dream run with Kindle was dented by the introduction of iPad, the undisputed tablet killer that has built a reputation around itself to outclass any screen experience that is more than 7+ inches, so much so that they are seen as a potential replacement to the standard computer and laptop.

Apple and the Subtle Art of Getting Things Right!

Apple’s reputation knows no bounds, whatsoever. The company’s consistent ability to innovate and introduce new solutions to existing alternatives made the company what it is today! Right from the iPhone to the iPod and now the iPad, Apple was doing exactly what an Apple loyalist or a branding enthusiast would expect a brand of their pedigree to do in the first place i.e. innovate better.

It seemed like a path of thorns for anyone entering the tablet and reader segment due to the failures in the past and the increasing dominance of Kindle in the eBook genre. Apple’s announcement of the Apple Books was already deemed by a few industry experts as a potential failure. However, as they say, you can’t just rule the biggest company on the planet out of the picture, in no way whatsoever. The iPad arrived and took the standards for a tablet to a whole new level, with the iOS experience being the cherry on top. The iPads weren’t just better in terms of design and built, but also the superior software optimisation and the quality of apps were also several notches higher, something that was synonymous with the Apple experience over the years.

Apple introduced the Apple Books or the iBooks — whatever you say and gave it a shot against the established Kindle. But, on what grounds? Read further to know!

Steve Jobs – The Magician in Action

Let’s face it. One cannot resist and admire in awe when a magician casts a spell. All of us have been in that zone as children when the magic led us to see things that we never knew could happen. It was the work of an expert magician who understood his skill set better than anyone else and backed it up with supporting material. Isn’t it?

Well. That is exactly what Steve Jobs did with his positioning skills in the first place. Jobs understood the threat posed by Amazon in the vastly lucrative eBooks market. He knew that Amazon would be playing on the pricing, a move that was inspired by the Palo Alto-based iPhone manufacturer itself, as Amazon cloned what Apple did with iTunes to dominate the music industry. Amazon was selling the eBooks at a uniform discounted price of $9.99 storewide, a step that was vastly criticized by publishers, for the impending impacts it would have on their already nurtured offline markets, as the prices were considerably low when compared to what they were selling offline.

Apple had to do something, and they did it in style. Steve jobs, the undisputed genius and the then-CEO of Apple reached out to the leading publishing houses that were already selling on Amazon. Jobs considered Amazon’s loss-leading pricing strategy a suicidal move in the long run and wasn’t willing to replicate the same and compete with the e-commerce giant on the pricing front. Instead, Jobs eliminated the only entry barrier that Kindle had over its competitors i.e. pricing.

Steve Jobs Success Story – The Man Who Made Apple a Billion-dollar Brand

Apple is one of the most successful trillion-dollar brands. But who was the man behind building it? Steve Jobs. Let’s find out more about it.

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Negotiations – The Stuff of the Legends

When you can get an exclusive agreement with the leading publishers on the planet, namely Macmillan, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Hachette, being the early adopters even before the launch of the iPad, not many would doubt your abilities to negotiate. Steve Jobs wanted to get a substantial market in the eBook category, and with the iPad alongside a widespread distribution of 120 million paying customers at iTunes, Jobs knew he had a golden chance to capitalize on the monumental reach of iTunes and the Apple ecosystem.

But then, he had to first grab market share and do something about the seemingly low $9.99 price tag by Amazon. He devised a strategy and offered publishers to sell with iBooks and make the best use of 120 million paying customers.

However, there was a simple T&C, that the publishers had to comply with i.e. the books can’t be sold below the $12.99 to $14.99 price tag on Apple’s iBooks and any other platforms of such kind. If any other platform, including Amazon, doesn’t comply with the same, they would lose access to the publishers and their IPs. It was simple, yet a masterstroke by an undisputed genius. Publishers pulling off and forcing Amazon to price their eBooks at $12.99 to $14.99 came out as a bolt from the blue for Amazon who wasn’t prepared for such a situation. An ‘Uno Reverse’ of the highest standards!

The Struggle for Power – The Amazon Advantage

It took the genius in Jobs, just two emails to convince HarperCollins to sell with iBooks and that too at a Premium price tag when compared to Amazon. Jobs was able to convince four of the six leading publishers globally of the need to price eBooks at a premium to generate sustainable profits, something that was crucial for the expenditures and investment in marketing and infrastructure.

The internal settlements, however, led Amazon to turn up against Apple in court, with Apple and the publishers fined $450 million as alimony to the customers in 2016. Apple’s urge to the publishers to rake in moolah with premium pricing received criticism from the customers and even the court accused them of unfair practices. Finally, it seemed like a Dawn for Amazon which had been going through a tough time, competing as the loss leader across important categories. However, the battle is still far from over with Apple having a considerable marketing and distribution advantage, and a pool of premium customers.

Conclusion

The tale of two contrasting ideologies, and two of the biggest corporate giants on the planet comes across as a goldmine for young entrepreneurs to understand how big shots ideate and execute their plans, and cut their competition short. Apple won a few battles with their sheer distribution network, the hardware and software quality, and the marketing genius of Steve Jobs. Whereas, Amazon had a competitive advantage with the way they had already won consumers’ trust with their loss leader strategy, as consumers always prefer quality products at a cheaper price, something that Amazon was rightly aware of. The battle continues to evolve, with both companies having deep pockets to dominate the market. However, only time will tell who ‘wins’ in the long run—one deal at a time!

FAQs

How much is an Amazon eBook subscription?

You can get a Kindle Unlimited subscription for $9.99 a month, which you can cancel anytime.

What is Apple books?

Apple Books (formerly known as iBooks) is an e-book reading and store application by Apple that you can download to an Apple device.

Is it better to buy a Kindle or books?

If you are a frequent reader who enjoys discovering new books, the Kindle may be a better option for you. Reading on Kindle can save you money, as a Kindle edition of a book is cheaper than the paperback or hardcover version of the book.

November 26, 2022
Top 15 Books Recommended by Warren Buffett
With a daily reading time of up to six hours, Warren Buffett has a reputation for being an avid reader. “I basically sit in my office and read all day,” he said. For the majority of us, setting aside time during the day to read and reflect is not precisely a widespread practice. We just don’t have the time to do either since we have Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting, numerous duties to manage, and deadlines to meet.

It goes without saying that Warren Buffett’s love of reading has profoundly shaped him as a human since he was a small kid and that this favourite pastime of his must have contributed to the vibrant and successful, for that matter – outlook he has on life.

According to Buffett, your thought process is perhaps your most valuable commodity as an investment. Therefore, it’s crucial to spend time each day developing your intellect by reading and reflecting. Consequently, it’s crucial to spend time each day developing your intellect by reading and reflecting.

Therefore, we’ve put together a list of 15 books Warren Buffett has read himself and would recommend to others.

Best Books Recommended by Warren Buffett
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

Author: Phil Knight
Goodreads Rating: 4.47

Shoe Dog – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

In this candid biography, the Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight reveal for the first time ever the back story of his business’ inception as an experimental startup and how it evolved into one of the world’s most iconic, prosperous, game-changing companies.

After receiving his degree in business in 1962, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and founded a startup with the simple objective of importing excellent quality, cost-effective sports shoes from Japan. Knight sold the shoes from the backseat of his car. He started off earning $8,000 in his first year and currently generates about $30 billion in revenue annually. One of the most widespread and very well-known logos in use right now, the swoosh (Nike’s logo) has evolved into a revolutionary worldwide icon in the start-up age.

In this book, which is transparent, truthful, daring, and humorous, Phil; Knight offers his experiences and journey for the very first time. At the age of 24, after backpacking throughout the globe, he took the unconventional decision to create his own firm, something that would be original and full of life.

Knight discusses his early triumphs as well as the many dangers and frightful setbacks he faced in order to accomplish his goal. Above all things, he recalls the early ties and the very first collaborations and employees, a disparate group of dropouts and adventurers who eventually became a close-knit family. Together, they created a business that used the enormous power of a shared goal and a firm belief in the beauty of athletics to reshape everything.

The Intelligent Investor

Author: Benjamin Graham
Goodreads Rating: 4.25

The Intelligent Investor – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

This book updates Graham’s timeless advice for the current state of the market.

The finest financial advisor of the 20th century, Benjamin Graham, served as an inspiration to individuals all over the world and a teacher. Graham’s “quality investing” approach, which shields traders from costly errors and assists them in creating and improving goals, has made The Intelligent Investor the share market classic since the book was first published in 1949.

Market shifts over time have confirmed Graham’s strategies as sound. This updated edition preserves the integrity of Graham’s original text while adding the most recent commentary by famous financial writer Jason Zweig. Zweig’s perspective takes into account the reality of the present market, compares Graham’s examples to recent financial news, and helps readers comprehend how to put Graham’s concepts into practice.

The Intelligent Investor, published by HarperBusiness Essentials, is the most crucial guide you will ever read for achieving your financial objectives.

How To Win Friends and Influence People

Author: Dale Carnegie
Goodreads Rating: 4.21

How to Win Friends and Influence People – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

You could work for and be successful in obtaining your ideal profession. The career you now have may be improved! If you are able to communicate with others and have their support, you can make any situation and things better working for your side.

More than 16 million copies of How to Win Friends and Influence People have been sold since its 1936 publication. The first book by Dale Carnegie is a classic bestseller that has helped hundreds of now-famous individuals climb the success ladder in both their personal and professional life. It is jam-packed with sound advice.

How to Win Friends and Influence People, one of the all-time greatest books, will instruct you in:
- There are six techniques to win someone over.
- 12 strategies for persuading others to adopt your viewpoint
- Nine techniques to influence people without offending them.
With more than 15 million copies sold, this book is a must-read for the twenty-first century!

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One Thousand Ways to Make $1,000

Author: F.C. Minaker
Goodreads Rating: 4.02

One Thousand Ways to Make $1,000 – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

The long out-of-print book One Thousand Ways to Make $1000, which was first released in 1936, is credited by Warren Buffett’s biographers with developing the famed investor’s business savvy and giving him his recognisable understanding of compound interest. Buffett predicted he would be a millionaire by the age of 35 after grabbing a copy of One Thousand Ways from a library shelf at the age of eleven and digesting F.C. Minaker’s tenacious and useful business counsel.

This book is full of creative suggestions on how to generate money via good salesmanship, hard effort, and ingenuity. It is written in the direct, conversational manner of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.

While some of the business concepts presented in these pages may seem quaint to us today—dairying goats, producing motor-driven chairs, and renting out billiard tables to local businesses are just a few examples—the underlying principles of business are still as sound today as they were more than seventy years ago.

One Thousand Ways to Make $1000 is a timeless business classic that covers a wide range of issues, including investment, marketing, merchandising, sales, customer relations, and charity fundraising.

Author: John C. Bogle
Goodreads Rating: 4.16

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

“Naturally, there are a few excellent investment managers; yet, in the short term, it can be challenging to tell whether a successful track record is the result of ability or fate. Nevertheless, the majority of advisers are much more adept at raising high fees than they are at creating big profits. In actuality, their primary skill is sales.

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle (John C. Bogle) is a book that investors of all sizes should study rather than succumb to their siren sings.” — Warren Buffett’s 2014 Annual Shareholder Letter to Shareholders, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

Employing common sense while investing is the secret. The long-term holding of a varied assortment of stocks is a successful approach. Although winning the stock market is a zero-sum game in theory (there must be winners and losers), it really becomes a loser’s game when the high costs of investing are taken into consideration. According to logic and history, the most simple and successful investment strategy is to buy and hold all of the publicly listed firms in the nation at incredibly low prices. The classic index fund that owns this market portfolio is the only investment that guarantees you’ll get your fair share of stock market gains.

The real key to successful investment is to own the whole market while drastically lowering the costs of financial intermediation. That is index investing’s primary objective. And it serves as the focus of this book. The Little Book of Common Sense Investment will show you how to incorporate this tried-and-true investing technique into your plan while also offering in-depth analysis and practical advice. It will also change the way you think about investing in general. Making profitable investments is challenging. (It demands self-control and patience.) But it’s simple. After all, common sense is the key.

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing will demonstrate how to transform investments into profitable activity.

Essays in Persuasion

Author: John Maynard Keynes
Goodreads Rating: 4.01

Essays in Persuasion – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

Without a question, John Maynard Keynes was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. His contributions fundamentally altered modern economics’ theory and application. It has had a significant influence on economic policy, as well as how economics is taught and written, globally.

Essays in Persuasion is a remarkable predictive book that covers a wide variety of political economics concerns, especially in light of future events. The reader may see concepts that would later form the basis of Keynes’s most well-known work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, in his writings on inflation and deflation (1936).

Keynes predicted the economic turbulence that would afflict the economies of Europe and the United States with astonishing precision, and he even suggested policies that, had they been adopted at the time, may have prevented a period of global depression. Keynes’ opinions on Soviet Russia, the demise of laissez-faire, and the potential for economic development are still pertinent now as they were then.

Investing Between the Lines

Author: L.J. Rittenhouse
Goodreads Rating: 3.42

Investing Between the Lines – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

In Investing Between the Lines, a ground-breaking approach for determining a company’s financial integrity is presented. To figure it out, you don’t need to have a degree in accounting or unique access to “insider” knowledge. In reality, the secret is plainly stated in every shareholder letter, annual report, and business correspondence you get, in black and white.

Investing Between the Lines teaches you how to:
- Understand the “FOG” of perplexing corporate communications
- Understand corporate jargon and platitudes for what they mean when it comes to yearly reports and quarterly earnings calls, and separate the truth from the hype
- Invest in firms that manage investor capital to protect your money.
Corporate leaders and financial experts are frequently expected to produce quick results. To achieve these expectations, they are thus forced to use ambiguous language and accounting procedures.

In Investing Between the Lines, L.J. Rittenhouse outlines her tried-and-true method for identifying at-risk companies before catastrophe arises. She employed the same technique to foresee the demise of Enron and Lehman.

The book Investing Between the Lines demonstrates the effectiveness of Rittenhouse’s approach as one of the most useful resources for investors and business leaders, comparing the financial statements of Ford, GM, and Toyota and explaining why FedEx and Wells Fargo have been so successful. You will be able to read between the lines and determine exactly what a company’s CEO is or isn’t saying to you after you discover the hints to decode CEO communications.

The Making of the President 1960

Author: Theodore H. White
Goodreads Rating: 4.15

The Making of the President 1960 – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

Describe the presidential election process. “The most incredible transfer of power in the world—the capacity to marshal and mobilise, the power to send men to kill or be killed, the power to tax and destroy, the power to create and the obligation to do so, the power to lead and the responsibility to heal—all committed to one man.” These words, which Theodore H. White penned in the book’s first chapter, still ring true today just as they did when they were first said more than 50 years ago.

His groundbreaking analysis of a pivotal campaign, in which the young, charismatic John F. Kennedy faced off against the seasoned vice president, Richard M. Nixon, is both an engaging story of character and significance and a fascinating historical document.

In our current age of sound bites, relentless chattering punditry, and the all-consuming influence of television, the reporter’s detailed appreciation of the instinct and experience that shape the political process is a revelation. This influence was first felt in the Kennedy-Nixon debates, which proved to be a crucial factor in the 1960 election.

White offers a useful education in the ways and means of our political life by following seven candidates from the earliest stirrings of aspiration through the rigours of the primaries, the drama of the conventions, and the gruelling campaigning that culminated in one of the closest electoral contests in history.

The Making of the President 1960 is a remarkable book that celebrates the brilliance of American democracy and provides an anatomy of the ambition, cunning, and bravery required of those who wish to hold the country’s highest office. It is a must-read today because of what it can tell us about the factors that decide the fate of presidential contenders.

Limping on Water

Author: Philip Beuth
Goodreads Rating: 3.91

Limping on Water – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

Phil Beuth worked for the same organisation his whole radio career. Over 40 years old, Phil worked his way up from being the first employee of a small media business in 1955 as Capital Cities expanded to become one of America’s most significant and prosperous media organisations. Limping on Water is a Dickensian rags-to-riches story about a disadvantaged boy with cerebral palsy who, thanks to luck, grit, character, talent, persistence, and loyalty, rose to the position of a top executive at Capital Cities Communications, one of the country’s most prestigious and prosperous media companies; “The minnow that swallowed the whale.”

In his book, Phil’s kindness, self-deprecating humour, boundless creativity, and warm-hearted cordial talent come through in his very personal account, which is peppered with amusing anecdotes about his partners and famous people like Ted Knight, Lowell Thomas, Charlie Gibson, Sir Paul McCartney, Frank Sinatra, Cher, Jackie Robinson, Red Barber, Nelson Rockefeller, Barbara Walters, Warren Buffett, Sammy Davis Jr., Burt Reynolds, Red Skelton.

More than just memories of a successful career at a renowned firm and the famous people he met along the way, Phil’s account is a perceptive insider’s history of that “Mad Men” golden period of television, a time when broadcasting as we know it began.

It is also a potent lesson in building a successful profession that is moral; in “doing well and doing good.”

The Science Of Hitting

Author: Ted Williams
Goodreads Rating: 4.30

The Science of Hitting – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

The best pure hitter who ever lived was possibly Ted Williams. He was a lifetime student of hitting and asked every great hitter—and pitcher—for tips. Williams wrote the all-time hitting masterpiece The Science of Hitting using this guidance as well as his remarkable baseball career. Players of all skill levels will learn how to strengthen their foundations and obtain acute insights into the finer nuances of striking by using its thorough visuals, stories, and succinct instruction, including:
- The Three Cardinal Rules for Creating a Smooth Line
- The Three Cardinal Rules for Creating a Smooth Line
- Secrets of Hip and Wrist Action
- Pitch selection
- Bunting
Every baseball player who wants to get better at the plate, as well as all coaches and parents who are teaching the game, must read The Science of Hitting.

The Farmer from Merna

Author: Karl Schriftgiesser
Goodreads Rating: 3.41

The Farmer from Merna – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

A compelling, motivational story of George J. Mercherle that describes his battle—and eventual victory—to provide honest, low-cost vehicle insurance to Illinois’ rural community

A Farmer from Merna tells the inspiring tale of an Illinois farmer who had a brilliant plan to assist his fellow Illinoisans by launching a business that would offer countless individuals low-cost and reliable vehicle insurance.

Mecherle struggled to establish his business and would never have foreseen its explosive growth. His local auto insurance company, the State Farm Insurance Companies of Bloomington, Illinois, evolved into a sizable business with offices around the nation.

The story of a man who committed his life to an ideal and lived to see the full development of the benefits of his pioneering efforts is told in the incredibly engrossing book, A Farmer from Merna. He fought tirelessly to give a growing number of people access to inexpensive and economical insurance.

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

Author: William N. Thorndike Jr.
Goodreads Rating: 4.19

The Outsiders – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

“It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different.” — John Templeton

What characteristics characterise a successful CEO? The term that most people immediately think of is “a seasoned manager with considerable industry understanding.” Others may mention the charm, superb communicative skills, and assured managerial style of today’s so-called celebrity CEOs. But what counts most when running a business? What distinguishes exemplary CEO performance? Simply said, it refers to the long-term profits for the company’s stockholders.

Author Will Thorndike uses his analytical expertise from a successful career in investment to analyse the performance of businesses and their executives in this energising, surprising book.

Through the book, eight CEOs will be introduced to you, and on average, their companies exceeded the S&P 500 by a factor of twenty. This means that an investment of $10,000 made with each of them would have been worth more than $1.5 million in 25 years. Though you might not be familiar with all of their names, you will be familiar with the brands they represent: General Cinema, Ralston Purina, The Washington Post Company, Berkshire Hathaway, General Dynamics, Capital Cities Broadcasting, TCI, and Teledyne. You’ll discover the qualities and strategies—striking for their constancy and unwavering rationality—that enabled these great leaders to deliver such outstanding performances in The Outsiders.

Thorndike offers eye-opening experiences, draws lessons, and presents a compelling alternative model for anybody interested in running a business or investing in one—and earning amazing returns—by drawing on years of research and experience.

The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron

Author: Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind
Goodreads Rating: 4.20

The Smartest Guys in the Room – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

There have been several books written on Watergate, but only All the President’s Men gave people the entire story, with all the complexity, detail, and privileged information. Since Enron is presently the biggest business story of its time, Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, senior journalists for Fortune, are the new Woodward and Bernstein.

Surprisingly, Enron was seen as the perfect example of a New Economy business just two years ago due to its rapidly rising earnings and stock price. But it was before McLean’s story, which was published in Fortune and posed the seemingly harmless question, “How precisely does Enron earn money?”

The house of cards that was Enron started to fall apart after that. To provide a definitive book about the Enron crisis and the interesting characters behind it, McLean and Elkind have now conducted a far deeper investigation.

Smartest Guys in the Room immerses the reader in Enron’s history and behind the closed doors of private meetings thanks to its meticulous research and focus on characters. The book recounts Enron’s development from obscurity to the top of the corporate world to its devastating downfall, drawing on a broad variety of unusual sources.

It sheds new light on well-known figures like Cliff Baxter and Rebecca Mark as well as lesser-known ones like Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow. The narrative of greed, haughtiness, and duplicity in Smartest Guys in the Room serves as a microcosm of everything that is wrong with American business today. Most importantly, it is an intriguing human tale that will serve as the definitive narrative of the Enron case.

Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

Author: Charles T. Munger, Warren Buffett (Foreword), Peter D. Kaufman (Editor)
Goodreads Rating: 4.43

Poor Charlie’s Almanack – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

Peter D. Kaufman assembled Charlie Munger’s lectures and talks into the book “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” initially released in 2005. The long-time vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway is Charlie Munger. Beyond his infamous remark, “I have nothing to contribute,” this book collects his investment ideas.

Munger advocates using “Multiple Mental Models” for making decisions. There is an iconoclastic decision-making checklist in this compilation of “Big Ideas from Big Disciplines.”

The writing of the book is unorthodox. In keeping with Munger’s theory of “making the mind reach out to the concept” helps increase the idea’s retentiveness in mind. The ideas aren’t presented in any particular sequence but are instead briefly discussed with visuals accompanying them. The illustrations enhance the reader’s retention of the concept and give the book a touch of nerdy comedy.

The confluence of several biases is known by Munger as the “Lollapalooza Effect,” and according to Munger, it is the effect of such confluences that leads to extremism.

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Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? : Or a Good Hard Look at Wall Street

Author: Fred Schwed Jr., Peter Arno (Illustrator), Jason Zweig (Introduction)
Goodreads Rating: 3.92

Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? – Best Book Recommended by Warren Buffett

On Wall Street, the use of computers has essentially eliminated the use of pencils and graph paper. The fundamentals remain the same, though. The investor’s need to trust in someone is mirrored by the financial advisor’s desire to earn a good life. It is certain that the former will be dissatisfied if any of them must.

This book, which is amusing and humorous, exposes the foolishness and hypocrisy of Wall Street. The anecdote of the traveller to New York who liked the bankers’ and brokers’ boats is referenced in the title.

He innocently enquired as to the location of every customer’s yacht. Naturally, none of the clients could afford yachts, despite the fact that they all obediently followed their bankers’ and brokers’ recommendations. This book keeps enlightening investors about the truth of Wall Street by delivering sage contrarian advice and a realistic view of the world of investing, where brokers prosper while their clients fail.

Conclusion

Warren Buffett is regarded as one of the world’s most successful investors and is ranked among the world’s wealthiest people. The above-mentioned books are some of the best among the recommendations made by him. All these books are sure to help you gain an understanding of aspects of business, investing, and more.

FAQs

What is Warren Buffett most famous for?

Warren Buffett is famous as the most successful investor of the 20th century and is also a big-time philanthropist. He is the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

Which books are recommended by Warren Buffett?

Warren Buffett has recommended the following books:
- The Intelligent Investor
- Shoe Dog
- One Thousand Ways to Make $1000
- Essays in Persuasion
- Investing Between the Lines
- The Making of the President 1960
- Limping on Water
Is Warren Buffett still among the richest men in the world?

According to Forbes, Warren Buffett’s net worth is $118 billion in November 2022, making him the fifth richest person in the world.
November 26, 2022
How to Create SaaS Product Demo Video? – 5 Simple Steps

‌‌In the world of the SaaS (Software as a Service) industry, apart from the business model, demo videos help in attracting collective masses and also in influencing the audience towards a particular SaaS brand. It provides more value to new users who are visiting the platform for the first time since they require a first-hand guidelines on where to go, exact features, how to get started, and access. The more illustrative demos and tutorials are, the better.

In most simple words, it’s similar in a way, just like representatives campaign themselves before elections, by providing an outline of what could be the upcoming policies and promises. It’s more like a tool throwing shades of demonstrating content along with benefits, features, and uses and may generate adrenaline shots to influence more audiences. Hence, demo videos may contribute towards a steady and gradual rise in sales.

So if you want to create a unique demo video, Take a look at the steps below.

1. The ECG Model
2. Stick To Your Niche
3. Note Down Your Plan
4. Use Rich Graphics
5. Categorize Your Target Audience

1. The ECG Model

ECG- Evolving, Constant, Growth-Oriented Model. Before deciding the niche for the first video or every consecutive video, one must keep this model in mind.

Evolving

It refers to evolving content (the demo video) that must have the latest volume. The video should track the ongoing trends and public interests zone. If the outline and plot of the video are story-based, it can either focus on presenting an ancient story with the latest touch and trends or it can have its own unique script.

Constant

It is dedicated to all the demo videos, a company launches irrespective of the niche. Each of them must have a few necessary sections demonstrating the guidelines; how the platform can be used; where to head; and other records so that the new users are not perplexed on their first visit.

Apart from the guidelines, the video may end up with a note of communication on how customers can reach, with provided emails or phone numbers for queries. However, this note of communication is not necessary to be present in the constant run.

Growth

This segment can have features of the service or the platform which make it stand out. This is the segment where founders can add their creativity and demonstrate how the platform is the best and make it their signature product, different from the existing ones in the run. This should tell why users should choose their (the company who launched the demo video) product. A positive answer to this ‘why’ will incline towards growth.

The mixture of the above-mentioned can create a unique demo video for SaaS players.

2. Stick To Your Niche

Stick to the kind of services provided on your platform, it’s better to highlight it by zooming in on that region/button. Elaborate on the ease and convenience after pressing the submit or start button, nothing needs to be done after that.

It can also contain how the work is done behind the screen (maybe the calculations and computation), which will strengthen trust and transparency. Also, how the content can be arranged in a neat and accessible manner, how users get engaged etc.

3. Note Down Your Plan

It’s always a better way to note down things and create an outline of what the demo video is going to be. It must have the proper sequence of events and activities with suitable graphics, matching the scenes. Segments of animation are separated from realistic visuals.

4. Use Rich Graphics

Rich Graphic Design used in a Demo Video

Rich graphic design is no less than a blessing to the script of a demo video. Oftentimes it acts as a game-changer factor for the rise in reach and sales. Components of the video may have various graphics ranging from captions, voiceover, animation, shapes, arrows, headers, highlighters, and a lot more.

Graphics should also match the targeted audience. If it’s targeted towards teens then it can have animation and worldwide-known anime characters. A boring script can be illustrated fascinatingly if graphics are used in the right way.

Either it can set a trend (through core creative ways), dig out some old popular trend, a bouncer (by studying the pasts graph or maybe the 90s trend), or stick to the ongoing trends.‌‌‌‌

5. Categorize Your Target Audience

If a platform has ample existing demo videos, then the next step could be creating one which has specific information related to a particular age group, industry, or segment of society. This will help to attract collective conscience from a particular domain, convincing new users and existing ones to continue and stay on the platform.

If the product is a bit complex and new to the audience, could be coding and software, then the components of the video must be evocative and should not contain highly technical language and terminologies. This will not only help in increasing the statistical data of engagement among the known minds but also, will act as a mini explainer to a layman. Hence, it may also help to ignite the viewer’s thought process.

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Conclusion

Here’s a post-content creation step, which has a significant role. Choosing the application where the video is to be posted or launched. It’s better to launch it on multiple outlets. YouTube is a well-known platform that can help in public relations and outreach. Follow these steps and create an incredible demo video for your SaaS product.

FAQs

How do I create a great SaaS demo?

Create a video keeping in mind your targeted audience, Keep it simple, Address the pain points of your customers, and add customer success stories.

What is a SaaS demo?

A SaaS demo is a demo focused on customers that are new to your product. The demo video demonstrates how to make the best use of the platform while highlighting its features.

How do I create a SaaS product demo?

Focus on the pain point of your customers, show them how your product is better than the competitors, and use rich graphics in the video.

November 25, 2022