They say the third time’s a charm, well I’m hoping my latest podcast is the one. Podcasting has been gaining a lot of traction over the past 2 years and my first brush with the technology was back in 2010. I launched my first podcast called “Semper Chai” with a buddy, Mike Martin, out of Los Angeles. We did about 3 or 4 episodes and then we retired from the game!
Then I came out of retirement in 2013 and tried podcasting for a second time with a friend from Bombay – Sahil Parikh. We were going to talk about about technology and called the show “The DotMatrix Show” – connecting the dots of business and technology. That also lasted about 3 or 4 episodes and then we stopped.
Throughout all of this I continued to blog and have been for 14 years. I told myself that in 2018 I wanted to try a different media. That meant either video (vlogging) or audio (podcasting). I know all the cool kids are vlogging but I decided to try podcasting and see how that goes first.
My third attempt at a podcast is about performance and luxury or simply known as Performalux. I will be interviewing owners of super cars, car enthusiasts, car dealers and automobile manufacturers. Cars are my passion so this podcast just aligns so well with it.
Without further adieu, below is the first episode of The Performalux Podcast. I interviewed Gautam Madnani of Lamborghini Mumbai.
To subscribe to future episodes, you can use the links below or wherever you get your podcasts from.
Earlier this month was International Women’s Day and an Indian news channel wanted to interview my dad for this charity work. His charity has given many loans to women and hence they wanted to highlight the work he has done to help women.
Once the news clip aired we shared it on YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp and the outpouring of support was amazing. The video is below:
What most people don’t know is that for the past 6 years my dad has slowly been working near his village of Shujalpur, Madhya Pradesh to help people in need. He has helped over 50 families and given out interest free loans of around Rs. 10 lakhs (USD $15,000). The default rate on these loans is something that not even a top banker at ICICI Bank can touch. He has had a single default of $60 because the person passed away before they could pay back the loan back!
My dad tells me it’s not about the money for many people, they need guidance. A simple example is someone wanted to open a small provisions store and so may dad gave them a loan. After a month, my dad went back and asked about the sales. That person didn’t keep track, so my dad said get a diary and write down all the sales. Once this person did this, he could see a pattern emerge and realized what sold and what didn’t.
To most people this would seem standard to track daily sales but for many people that’s not the case. This person was able to figure out that certain days were consistently slow, so he would close the shop and go into town on that day to buy more goods. A clear example of where money helped but the guidance and knowledge was much more useful.
For the past 6 years, my dad has kept a blog describing all the people he has given loans to. The stories are really interesting to read, visit ShantiSeva.org to read more.
Several months ago we renovated our flat and I decided it was also time to upgrade the home network. Before the renovation, I had a simple Linksys Wi-Fi 1200 router and everything connected via Wi-Fi. It was working but I wanted to add some new devices like a NAS (network-attached storage) box and IP cameras. It was clear the Linksys Wi-Fi 1200 transmitting on the 2.4GHz band (max 300Mbps) was not going to cut it.
I decided NOT to cable the house with Cat6 cable because I thought Wi-FI on 5Ghz would be good enough and fast enough. Uh, big mistake. The wireless speeds were good, however with a wired network I could have put wireless access points and IP cameras anywhere. By running a single ethernet cable to the device it would be connected to the network AND get powered from the LAN switch. Oh well, you live and learn.
I switched out the Linksys Wi-Fi 1200 for a Linksys WRT1900ACS wireless router. The WRT1900ACS is a dual radio router which means you can run 2.4GHz and 5GHz at the same time. In other routers, if you have a single device connecting at 2.4Ghz then all the devices connecting to the access point have to run at 2.4GHz, which is not ideal. Although I went with a Linksys WRT1900ACS wireless access point, I would suggest looking at eero if your house is over 2,500 sq. ft. since it uses the latest in wireless mesh technology to eliminate dead spots in a large house.
The second addition to my home network was the Synology 218 NAS device. It’s a two bay device and the really big feature is the ability to provide on the fly transcoding of 4K 10-bit H.265 files, the latest video codec standard. I populated the NAS box with a couple of Western Digital 2TB Red Series drives and configured them for Raid 1. Raid 1 mirrors the data on both drives, which means my NAS box has a total capacity of 2 terabytes.
Before buying the Synology I was pretty sure it would be overkill for my needs but after using it for a month or so I have found 3 good uses so far:
Before I was using Apple’s Time Machine to backup my iMac and MacBook to an external hard drive attached to my iMac. Now I have both computers backing up to the NAS box.
Download torrents directly to the NAS box using the Synology DiskStation Manager software
Stream content to my TVs and phones with on the fly transcoding
What’s next? In the next couple of months I’ll be adding an IP camera to the mix and I’ll be able to stream that video feed to the NAS box as well. I would highly recommend a NAS box to anyone that is serious about having a complete home entertainment center. Granted it’s not something that is plug and play but it’s highly useful as our lives continue to revolve around digital content.
Several months ago, I talked about moving to Android and most of my family and friends were like “whatever, you will never move.” Hell has frozen over, my new daily driver phone is now a OnePlus 5T which runs on Android. I got it as a Christmas present from Santa Claus and so far it’s been great.
In my original blog post I wasn’t clear WHY I was planning to switch to Android. Below are my main reasons:
1. 3rd party keyboards still don’t work smoothly on iOS. It blows my mind that the default iOS keyboard still does not support typing by sliding your finger such as SwiftKey, Gboard, Flesky and Swype to name a few. And it’s even crazier that so many iOS users have no idea what they are missing by swiping instead of typing.
2. The ability to record phone calls. I’ve been in several situations where people agree to certain terms and conditions on a call and then later seemed to have forgotten what they agreed to. In Android it’s down right easy to record calls and share them quickly if required, the app I’ve been using is called Automatic Call Recorder.
3. Truecaller support. Getting SPAM calls is so much worse then SPAM email and that’s where Truecaller can identify callers before you pickup the call. I have tried Truecaller on iOS and it’s wonky, it has a mind of it’s own when it wants to work.
4. Pricing. With the introduction of the iPhone X it’s clear Apple is moving up the pricing curve because people are willing to pay. I don’t blame them but there are several excellent phone brands in the Android ecosystem such as OnePlus that offer great value for money.
Over the past several weeks when taking pictures of friends and family, several of them have commented quite loudly “Oh my god, you did switch.” I very much did…finally.
Above are the screenshots from my new OnePlus 5T and the apps I have loaded.
Last weekend (December 17, 2017), Navnit Motors the Mumbai dealer for Ferrari held an event to celebrate Ferrari’s 70th anniversary. A total of 25 Ferrari’s showed up and it was an amazing sight to see a sea of red Ferrari’s. If you love Ferrari’s then this was the place to be. This blog post is broken into 3 parts:
Photos and videos from the Ferrari 70th anniversary event in Mumbai
History of Ferrari in India
History of Ferrari
Part 1: Photos and videos from the Ferrari 70th anniversary event in Mumbai
List of cars:
00 – 488 GTB, Red
01 – 488 GTB, Yellow
02 – 458 Aperta, Red
03 – GTC4Lusso, Orange
04 – 488 Spider, Red
05 – 458 Spider, Red
06 – 488 Spider, Red
07 – 458 Spider, Red
08 – 488 GTB, Red
09 – 488 GTB, Red
10 – 458, Red
11 – 458, Red
12 – F430, Red
13 – California, Blue
14 – 488 GTB, Red
15 – 458, Yellow
16 – 488 GTB, Red
17 – 458, Red
18 – 458, Black
19 – California, Red
20 – 458, White
21 – California, Red
22 – F430, Red
23 – F430 Scuderia, Red
24 – GTC4Lusso, Red
Part 2: History of Ferrari in India Ferrari has had a storied past in India with many of biggest names in Bollywood, business and sports owning a Ferrari. Sachin Tendulkar was famously given a Ferrari 360 Modena from Fiat as a gift in 2002 for achieving his 29th test century. Ratan Tata, Vijay Mallaya and Gautam Singhania have owned Ferrari’s as well. Gautam was the first person in India to get a Ferrari 458, that too in yellow and not the traditional rosso corsa (racing red) color. In Bollywood, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan and Imran Khan are actors that have owned Ferrari’s.
Prior to 2011 there were no dealerships to walk into and buy a Ferrari. At that time you had to work with “agents” or know someone at Ferrari to order a car. Then you had to deal with the whole issue of importing the car, getting it homologated for India, getting it registered and having a small pooja for the car before you could drive it on the roads of India. If all the sounds painful, it was. And yes, homologation is a real word. All of this was about to change in 2011.
Before we get to 2011 let’s go back to 2003 to set the stage. In 2003, Ashish Chordia of Shreyans Group was a mover and shaker with high-end clothing brands and soon wanted to make his mark on the Indian automotive scene. He was able to get a sweetheart deal from Porsche AG where his company Precision Motors would be the sole importer/distributor of Porsche products and would also maintain their dealer network. In essence, he would be Porsche’s one and only guy on the ground in India. For Porsche it seemed like a great idea since the volumes were low, they would only have to deal with one person. That turned out to be a terrible mistake on the part of Porsche AG.
By the time the financial crisis hit of 2008, Porsche customers were complaining of advances being taken for vehicles and delivery dates kept on being pushed. With Ashish controlling the entire operations in India, customers really had no recourse. Most of the issues never made it to the press, so from the outside everything looked fine.
In 2010, Ferrari came knocking and Ashish hit the jackpot and became the sole importer/distributor and dealer for Ferrari. Ashish negotiated the same setup as he had with Porsche AG. He setup Automobili Italia Pvt. Ltd. which would import and distribute Ferrari’s and sell them exclusively through his dealer network, which initially was going to be in Delhi and Mumbai. In May 2011, the Delhi showroom was opened and the Mumbai showroom was rumored to be setup in Poonam Chambers in Worli. However, that Worli showroom never opened and by early 2014 Ferrari severed all ties with Ashish Chordia.
Ashish had built a bad reputation with his customers not only at Ferrari but also with his Porsche dealerships. In fact, Fortune Magazine wrote an article about his lawsuit with Porsche which eventually led him to flee the country.
After Ferrari shut down operations in 2014, a year later it realized it needed to re-enter India and this time it would be the sole importer/distributer of cars and then it would appoint separate dealers to sell the cars. In Delhi, Select Cars was chosen and for Mumbai, Navnit Motors was chosen to cover the West and South regions of India. Navnit Motors has a long history of selling cars and also many high-end cars like Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Land Rover and BMW. With this arrangement, Ferrari avoided many of the issues that led to their demise the first time around.
Part 3: History of Ferrari Back in 1947, Enzo Ferrari created the 125 S which was badge as a Ferrari, the first one. It has been a 70 year journey that has created a cult like following for the “prancing horse” (The Ferrari logo) and in the process Enzo built a racing empire. Maranello, Italy is the current headquarters of Ferrari.
When I had visited the Ferrari Museum in Modena, I was surprised to learn that Enzo Ferrari had a term-sheet to sell 50% of Ferrari to Ford in 1963 for $10 million. However, at the last minute Enzo said no. But, in 1969 he ended up selling 50% to Fiat SpA, which I didn’t realize was an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (FIAT).
There is no point in me writing about the complete history of Ferrari, so I suggest you start by reading the Wikipedia page for Ferrari.
For many years we have been hearing the term Software as a Service (SaaS), where software is licensed on a subscription basis and charged on a monthly or yearly cycle. Companies like Salesforce and Dropbox have built their companies on this pricing model.
In 2012, Adobe which is known for products like Photoshop and Creative Suite took a chance and decided to move from a traditional pay once license model and move to a SaaS model. The first year was a disaster for revenues and their stock price took a hit. Today, in retrospect that move was brilliant – revenues are up, more people are using their products since the price points are reasonable and software piracy has come down. With the success that Adobe showed many other large companies are moving to a SaaS model, most notably is Microsoft.
Over the past couple of months, Porsche and Volvo have announced their subscription programs for cars. The two programs are very different, Porsche charges $2000 a month and gives you access to a fleet of vehicles such as 718 Boxster, Cayman S, Macan S and Cayenne which you can pick and choose each month. The plan includes vehicle tax, registration, insurance, maintenance and detailing. This is not a lease, where you typically have a large upfront deposit and still have to pay for your own vehicle tax, registration, insurance and maintenance. The Volvo plan is for $600/month and gives you access to an XC40 SUV.
For many people the above model for cars is super. You get a new car every couple of years and the biggest issue of maintenance is solved. It’s in the best interest of the car company to make sure their cars are trouble free since in the end they will be footing the bill if something happens. Of course, what will happen to the car dealers with their showrooms?
Software and cars are not the only businesses I see where this subscription business model can be implemented, what I’m calling Subscriptions as a Service (SaaS). I envision many physical products moving to this model of essentially renting something and all the costs are covered in the monthly/yearly fee. In your home white goods like TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, a dryer or an air-conditioning unit would be a perfect fit. Yes, there are places where you can rent or rent-to-own these devices but those companies are notorious for renting at insane markups and usually do not cover the maintenance or service costs. I’m talking about the manufacturer offering these products directly on a subscription model to the end consumer under their existing brand or a new private label.
Suppose you put your property on Airbnb. You rent it out and something happens to the TV or refrigerator you will most likely have to coordinate with some local person to get those issues resolved. With a subscription service all the issues and headaches are handled by someone else.
Also, you can space out your payments and if you don’t want to rent the property for a year, you can cancel the TV, washing machine, dryer, etc. This model for white goods works brilliantly. This again ensures that the manufacturers make great products because if not, they will end up eating the cost of fixing any issues. With this shift to a sharing economy model, subscriptions for everything makes sense.
Tesla pulled a “just one more thing” at their Tesla Semi Truck event and it looks amazing – the Tesla Roadster 2.0. I’m calling it 2.0 since the very first Tesla car was a sports car and it was called a Roadster as well.
Overnight Tesla has put every hyper/super/exotic sports car manufacturer on notice. The Roadster 2.0 is beautiful and the specs are industry leading, 0 to 60 MPH in 1.9 seconds is the fastest production car EVER. I’m a hugh car fan and if I had to put down $250,000 for a Tesla Roadster 2.0 or a Ferrari 488 Spider, I would lean towards the Tesla. And that is saying a lot. If you were to ask me my top 3 car picks, they would be:
Even knowing the history of Ferrari with it’s strong racing culture and it’s exclusiveness, I would still lean towards the Tesla. To hear the engine rev or hear the exhaust note of the Ferrari 488 gets me excited every time I hear one, yet I would still leans towards Tesla. Granted I would have to see the final production version of the Tesla Roadster 2.0 but having seen other Tesla products I’m pretty sure the Roadster 2.0 is the real deal.
Ferrari and every other hyper/super/exotic sports car manufacturer is in a typical innovator’s dilemma. They stick to what they know and yet what they know is being disrupted yet they still cling to the past. The internal combustion engine (ICE) is going the way of the dinosaur and the only place to see those cars in the future will be in museums.
For the past 20 years car manufacturers have been in an arms race to shove the biggest ICE into the engine bay and get higher and higher HP (horsepower) numbers. When I bought my first car in 1996, it was a Nissan Maxima SE and it had a 190 HP engine and at that time that was a big deal for a 4 door sedan. Today, that same Maxima carries a 300 HP engine. I’m guessing most consumers don’t care about those numbers and that’s the issue, the industry is changing. Yet, someone forget to tell the big automakers about this structural shift that is happening.
If I were a shareholder of Ferrari, which is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol – RACE, I would be worried. Ferrari has capped the number of cars they produce in a year to make sure they don’t flood the market but at some point, people will no longer want ICE cars. Time and time again they have said they are not looking at EVs (electric vehicles) or SUVs (sport utility vehicle). However, they are starting to change their stance on SUVs and I’m sure sooner or later they will have to push their chips into the pot and say they are all in for EVs.
Tesla is the future just like Ferrari and Porsche were the future in the 60’s and 70’s. Time will tell if Tesla is the winner, but one thing is for sure that EVs are here to stay and are the future.
Several months ago, I talked about 
For many years we have been hearing the term Software as a Service (SaaS), where software is licensed on a subscription basis and charged on a monthly or yearly cycle. Companies like Salesforce and Dropbox have built their companies on this pricing model.
Tesla pulled a “just one more thing” at their Tesla Semi Truck event and it looks amazing – the Tesla Roadster 2.0. I’m calling it 2.0 since the very first Tesla car was a sports car and it was called a 