By The Sterling Report
He believes that one can do anything and as CEO of One2OneResearch.com, Ashish Jain has certainly set out to do just that. The Sterling Report talks to Ashish Jain about social media, his mentors and more.
The The Sterling Report (TSR): Who were your most important mentors and what were the most valuable lessons they imparted to you?
Ashish Jain (AJ): Apart from my own mistakes, my brother has been a great mentor to me. He became an entrepreneur at a very young age and has always inspired me to think creatively and big, enabling me to take the right decision at the right time. Some of the most valuable lessons that I have learnt in the process are:
1. Intelligence does not lie in the knowledge of facts but in what can be done with those facts
2. You can do anything – it’s a matter of choice what you want to do
3. Never throw away a business card – you never know when you might need it
Also, I consider my mistakes as learning experiences that allow me to judge a right decision over a wrong one, and motivate me to constantly work towards my goals.
TSR: That’s quite inspiring. Coming to your company – what was the motivation for you to start One2OneResearch.com?
AJ: I truly believe in sharing knowledge. I have always believed that you can get more by sharing. Social publishing (WiKi, Blogs, Forums, etc.) enabled people to share information and their opinion, and social networking enabled people to interact. But I didn’t find any good knowledge networking platform where I could network with people intellectually as well as use that interaction to find business opportunities. There are a lot of domain experts in the market place and there is a lot of untapped knowledge sitting out there. But there is not enough motivation for these independent professionals to share their knowledge. So, I thought of creating a platform which makes it easy for professionals to share their knowledge as well as generate opportunities that they can monetize.
TSR: Considering that you started One2OneResearch during one of the most challenging econimical times in recent history, I can imagine you had some difficult decisions to make.
AJ: Well for me, the toughest aspect of starting my own company was to actually start it. I launched One2OneResearch in a tough economy so the toughest decision for me was first to decide whether or not it was the right time to launch it and next how much I should be investing in marketing. I went ahead with a launch because I saw a trend that a lot of professionals who were getting laid off switched to independent consulting and One2OneResearch.com would serve as an excellent platform for them.
TSR: So, despite the economy, there was opportunity. Did having the right people with you help? How important would you say it is to have the right kind of people working with you?
AJ: Having the right people is very very important! A chain is as strong as its weakest link. Having the right team of people, who understand your objectives, are self-motivated and believe in quality is paramount for any company to succeed.
TSR: In one of your articles you have said that “being able to draw off the competition and use their strengths and weaknesses will help you develop the best products”. How have you applied this idea to One2OneResearch.com?
AJ: We performed a detailed SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis on direct as well as indirect competitors and identified areas that we must stay away from and areas that require improvisation. The entire exercise helped us decide what features would most benefit and add value to people and ways in which they must be implemented.
TSR: Having said and done that exercise, what sets you apart from your competitors?
AJ: What sets apart One2OneResearch.com from its competitors is its comprehensiveness and completeness. We provide a complete solution for any individual or a business to run a virtual consulting service: Share & sell informational documents, offer expert advice and find consulting opportunities. Quick delivery of reliable information at an affordable cost is a critical demand in today’s dynamic business environment, a need that is not met by the traditional information industry. One2OneResearch.com is a unique online marketplace that fulfills this need by connecting information seekers and information professionals.
TSR: That’s great. Any exciting projects lined up?
AJ: Some of the exciting projects going on right now at One2OneResearch are related to finding new ways to intelligently connect professionals with peers and information seekers and new ways to share knowledge. We are still working on the details.
TSR: Talking about sharing knowledge and interacting, you have written about the benefits of social networking as a marketing tool. You also use Twitter and LinkedIn yourself. How do you see this trend progressing in the near future?
AJ: Social Networking has brought unprecedented freedom and openness in the way people communicate, which is good and bad at the same time. Good because it has given all of us new ways to interact and reach out to others, convey and share our thoughts, and be able to connect – something that was unimaginable just a few years back. Bad because it is getting increasingly overwhelming and losing its uniqueness in a myriad of alternatives available. Conversations on networking platforms are getting meaningless because everyone is trying to say something and no one is listening. That is why businesses are finding it hard to really find out the true power of social networks. What I see in future is a trend towards having more vertical specific networking where people can interact more intellectually and with a specific purpose. We have already started seeing it happen on all major social networking platforms. Big players like Facebook, Twitter, iPhone are providing the basic networking platform, while enabling the developer community to create verticals with the aim of solving specific problems. Augmented reality is another innovation which, I believe, is going to be widely accepted in future.
TSR: Vertical-specific networking would be great for businesses – how soon do you see it becoming common place?
AJ: Vertical-specific networking is already happening now. There are already vertical specific networking sites as well as within common networking sites such as Linked In, you can see formation of focus groups and network of industry-specific expert. One2OneResearch.com also provides a marketplace and networking platform for Information Professionals vertical.
TSR: Do you see social networking being included in market research – something along the lines that print and electronic media have been in the past?
AJ: Yes, absolutely. Social networks can serve as a great place for market research companies. Tracking consumer behaviors & trends, getting consumer opinions through surveys, testing the market's appetite for new product or service are just a few data inputs that social networks serve very well. LinkedIn supports running a survey, Facebook enables organizations to create fan pages where people can leave their comments and sign up for coupons. Enterprises are not just considering social networks as a channel to reach to consumers but also to test the market and hear what consumers are asking for. Social networking is already and will be in future a great platform for conducting market research.
TSR: Do you have any advice for a small start-up about market research? When, in your opinion, should start-ups begin investing in market research?
AJ: It’s essential to know what makes a successful business. You must understand what your competitor is doing, what your customer needs are and what’s happening in the market. Market research is not a one-time activity, but an ongoing process. If market research is not part of your business strategy, you will soon find yourself losing to your competition.
A lot of information is freely available and you do not need to buy expensive research reports for keeping yourself up-to-date. If you need any specific information, you can either hire a freelance research professional or consult with industry analyst, something that One2OneResearch offers.
TSR: Now for something that we love to ask CEOs: As someone with an educational background in Computer Science, who, in your opinion, makes a better CEO for a software company – someone from a sales or a technology background?
AJ: Actually, in my opinion it is someone with a balance of both. A CEO, according to me, has to have an all-round experience or background in all functional aspects of a business, no matter how insignificant it may seem. This means having a balance of sales as well as technology.
TSR: As a CEO, what, in your opinion, determines who succeeds, particularly in a CEO role, in this industry?
AJ: One who understands their customer needs and quickly adapts to market changes. I think flexibility, openness and adaptability are the keys to success.
TSR: Quite true. Now about you. What is something most people do not know about you personally?
AJ: That I love playing the Guitar!
TSR: Wow, a guitarist! What other hobbies do you have?
AJ: Listening to music (generally soft), and learning something new. I must add that finding personal time is always a challenge, but I try to keep my evenings free for friends and family. Of course, I do make sure that I deliver all my commitments on time.
Ashish Jain is CEO and Founder of One2OneResearch.com, an online business marketplace that connects information seekers with information professionals. He has over 6 years of experience working with established companies on technology products. For interview feedback, contact Ashish at ashish.jain@one2oneresearch.com
