Praveen Gopal Krishnan
@peegeekay
Followers
14,053
Following
992
Media
322
Statuses
3,631
COO @TheKenWeb | Write The Nutgraf | Ex- @Inmobi , @Myntra | 💬 Subscriptions. Product. Media. Growth. Journalism |
Bangalore
Joined February 2008
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Leverkusen
• 485626 Tweets
Lookman
• 377811 Tweets
Atalanta
• 374193 Tweets
Europa League
• 259714 Tweets
Luna Park
• 154739 Tweets
Nikki Haley
• 90824 Tweets
Gasperini
• 82948 Tweets
Emiliano
• 59566 Tweets
Haddad
• 59325 Tweets
キスの日
• 49016 Tweets
アミューズ
• 45825 Tweets
Vitória
• 44057 Tweets
Kyrie
• 42879 Tweets
Atlético
• 37876 Tweets
法的措置
• 37837 Tweets
滝沢ガレソ
• 34510 Tweets
All-NBA
• 33969 Tweets
Soto
• 24811 Tweets
Patricia Benavides
• 22667 Tweets
#AEWDynamite
• 20167 Tweets
Cacá
• 19128 Tweets
Amazonas
• 18911 Tweets
アタランタ
• 15348 Tweets
Draymond
• 15127 Tweets
Kawhi
• 14552 Tweets
Yuri Alberto
• 11098 Tweets
#Survivor46
• 10485 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
It's been a strange, beautiful year.
And in 2022, for the 4th year running, I explored this in detail in The Nutgraf, India's leading paid newsletter, by telling stories about connections and consequences across business, technology and society.
Here are the best editions.
4
9
54
If you are 18+ and live in Bangalore, the only way to get vaccine appointments is to use python scripts that ping CoWin's public API and setup notification alerts via Telegram, Twitter or SMS.
Yes, the vaccination drive is now officially a hackathon.
159
1K
7K
A lot has been written about Bangalore's water crisis, so here's a story.
In January 2018, I found myself in Cape Town, and while waiting for my bags at the conveyor belt, this sign stared back at me.
64
867
4K
During the Bangalore floods, an area that was badly affected was Outer Ring Road i.e ground zero of tech companies.
In all the footage, you'll notice a red skywalk appear again and again.
There's a story behind this skywalk.
And it's a metaphor for the city's urban governance.
89
872
4K
"Where do we watch Succession now?"
First the IPL and now HBO, it's clear that Disney is going to going to lose Hotstar subscribers in India.
This is intentional.
It's a story about activist investors, a new-old CEO, how Hotstar is essentially cable TV and a myth of bundling.
100
546
3K
Thank you Bangalore for giving a lifetime worth of standup material to Trevor Noah.
16
147
2K
No more Indian credit cards on Apple.
The most valuable company in the world with services revenue in the billions of dollars every year has decided that even with its infinite resources that it’s not worth complying with India’s new mandate on subscriptions.
Thank you RBI 🙏
81
520
2K
"Who buys clothes online?"
It’s 2011.
I’ve just joined Myntra as a Product Manager.
Neither of us have any idea what I’m doing here. As I’d tell people later, I suspected that Myntra had hired me 20 minutes after getting funded.
25
57
2K
Just emailed Elon Musk the RBI regulations on recurring payments. Will keep everyone posted on developments.
40
71
1K
Has anyone explained what startup founders can learn from Will Smith on LinkedIn yet?
22
123
1K
Zepto website
From one month ago (left) to today (right).
It's official.
The 10-minute grocery category is finally dead in India.
58
98
1K
Via a subscriber, who sent me an analyst report:
"85% of all OTT viewership volume in India come from telco-bundled OTT platforms, where customers don’t pay for OTT services"
Validates what I've been saying all along i.e OTT in India looks almost exactly like cable television.
21
98
950
The Wire's coverage on Bharat Biotech has been an act of incredible, award-winning science-backed journalism. We owe them a debt of gratitude for the questions they raised.
Instead what they received was an order to take them down, which came to their attention via a law blog.
45
233
741
I mean in the current environment, even Domlur flyover is preparing for an IPO...
16
50
686
But nothing is more stark than how Cape Town used technology to solve the problem, and how Bangalore's leaders, executives, startups and community view tech.
That's the heart of what I wrote about today.
You can read it here. It's a free read.
9
99
621
India is quietly building an Amazon and Flipkart killer. It’s called the ONDC, and it’s purpose is to shift power away from all the incumbents.
At least that’s the plan.
In reality, the ones who are the most interested in joining it, are…the incumbents.
But why?
20
70
560
In March 2018, Down to Earth did a study to estimate cities that were most vulnerable to water scarcity.
They identified 200 cities. They narrowed down 10 that were fast moving towards Day Zero.
Nairobi. Kabul. Buenos Aires.
Only one Indian city made the top 10.
Bangalore.
2
76
539
So finally, the companies took matters in their own hands, and financed and built a skywalk for their own employees.
It was built at a cost of ~5 crore. The money wasn't the problem. It wasn't even a rounding error for these companies.
That's the red skywalk you see today.
6
56
508
Good morning to everyone except Reserve Bank of India and their e-mandate directive for recurring payments.
6
46
486
After this, companies in ORR got involved in urban development.
They helped get funding to accelerate the metro construction.
Many even hired cranes on standby so vehicles that broke down could be removed to keep traffic flowing.
Even the WSJ covered it. See their lead image.
6
44
482
Everyone knows that Bengaluru’s public infrastructure is broken. We've seen the dug-up roads, abandoned flyovers, and encroached lakes.
So they see this skywalk as a success story.
Public private partnership.
Hyperlocal urban development.
A marketplace solution.
3
27
472
Most importantly, I learned how to take 90 second showers — the maximum permitted by the law.
During my shower, I had to place a bucket in front of me, and the little water I collected was to be used for watering plants.
There were helpful infographics everywhere.
1
36
395
Many believe that the big problem in Bengaluru is the lack of development.
Not true.
The bigger problem is what people *think* successful development is supposed to look like.
The solution is part of the problem.
2
26
392
What I've heard about
@TheKenWeb
's TAM:
2017 : Only Indiranagar people will pay
2018 : Only Bangalore techies will pay
2019 : Only news junkies will pay
2020 : Only startup operators in India will pay
2021 : Only startup operators in India + SEA will pay
2022 :
12
19
390
Around 5 years back, ask anyone worked at ORR, and they'd tell you that the biggest problem wasn't floods or traffic jams.
It was something much more life-threatening.
There was no way to cross the road.
No skywalk. No pedestrian crossing. No police.
Nothing.
3
27
363
You know things are totally upside down when Ranveer Singh is telling us to calm down
3
24
362
Back in 1980, the political theorist Langdon Winner (
@langdonw
) published a journal article titled ‘Do Artifacts Have politics?’
As one of most influential academic papers ever, it’s been cited by 1000s, and is mandatory reading if you work in society, politics, and technology.
2
29
354
I get my bags and get to my Airbnb.
This is the sign in my room.
1
17
349
🎉🎉After months of effort by The Ken's *incredible* engineering team, our mobile app has finally hit a perfect 5.0 on Google Play Store in India after 850+ reviews (and climbing everyday) from our subscribers. 🎯
14
23
336
I know this is supposed to be funny but my larger point is about how tech can be exclusionary.
1/ Donate :
2/ I work at The Ken, a business+tech publication funded by subscribers. Sign up at . If you can't afford a sub, DM me.
10
34
327
Once you go down the rabbit hole, you discover all kinds of things, like why Bangalore has other kinds of politics to deal with. (via
@TVMohandasPai
)
10
36
324
Back in December, I described Zepto as a bro-cery startup.
I wrote that it seemed like a company started by bros, to solve a problem that bros face, marketed at bros in bro locations with bro testimonials, funded by the most bro investors.
5
24
321
The authorities who designed the road assumed that people would come in cars or private vehicles which would take them directly into their tech offices.
Except, thousands used public transport, usually buses.
And had to figure out how to get to the other side
3
23
313
In early 2018, Cape Town almost ran out of water.
Just when I landed, the government had just announced a countdown to “Day Zero” — when water supply across the city would be shut off and 4 million people would have queue up at taps to collect water, supervised by armed guards
1
12
310
The Nutgraf is India's leading paid newsletter about business and technology. Every Saturday, I tell a story by synthesizing the events of the last week in one broad narrative arc.
Today's edition, though is free.
Please read. RT. Share. Etc.
10
52
303
For years, everyone has been predicting Bangalore would witness acute, persistent, water shortages.
The causes are also well-known and blame given. Perhaps it’s the government, or climate change, or migrants.
I disagree.
Bangalore's solutions are Bangalore's problems.
2
21
306
Bangalore's solutions are what we are already familiar with.
The government believes that fines are better than rewards.
The people who live here believe that withdrawal, either by leaving it or by closing themselves off in gated communities, is better than the alternative.
1
23
304
Bridges in Long Island are quite low, which was done deliberately by Robert Moses, who was responsible for designing the urban landscape of New York.
All to make sure that cars and lower clearance vehicles can get to Long Island, but buses could not.
Why?
Well...
6
39
300
It's been 24 hours but people still haven't figured out that one CEO woke up and created an ad on LinkedIn yesterday, and everyone else boosted him with free distribution across all channels. Excellent. Carry on.
9
14
292
This crisis didn’t happen overnight. Cape Town’s water crisis had escalated over several months, and the city implemented civic water restrictions slowly, over months, and assigned levels to it depending on the severity.
Think of it like DEFCON levels for nuclear war.
1
11
295
After a 15-hour journey from Bengaluru, I’m exhausted, and cranky. No internet, so nothing to distract myself with.
I give up and head to the restroom.
There's no running water, but I see signs everywhere.
1
13
284
Blows my mind there are people *still* defending this government's vaccine strategy. After being shown how India had the opportunity...and the capital...and the private companies ready to step up...AND how other functioning democracies managed much better.
Just...blows my mind.
8
51
275
You know what I just realised?
The 11 cricketers that beat Australia at the Gabba will almost certainly never play together again.
16
22
280
Just a reminder that the biggest companies in the world have all changed their FAQs to tell users that they don’t have a solution to India’s new subscription mandates.
So even companies who *want* to pay, can’t.
5
68
269
In today's edition of The Nutgraf, I write about the politics of the city's objects, and how they were built.
I write about air-conditioned airports, expressways, pavemented roads, the Utility Building, and the city's town hall.
Bengaluru’s solutions are Bengaluru’s problems.
5
19
269
I’ve travelled to all kinds of places under various circumstances, but nothing comes close to the couple of weeks of dystopia I experienced that summer at Cape Town
I still did all the touristy things, like the Table Mountain, food and making friends with penguins.
1
9
273
This becomes more apparent if you look at what Bangalore is doing in 2024, and contrast it with what Cape Town did in 2018.
Cape Town co-opted the city. It took demand-side and supply-side measures. It rewarded good behaviour.
It made the city care.
And the city responded.
3
16
272
Accidents were routine. Many died crossing a road trying to get to their office, or to get back home. Parents even made their kids give up classes that was just across the road.
Complaints were made to the BBMP, the city's municipality. There were online petitions.
Nothing.
3
24
259
And that's why, very simply...
Hotstar must die for Disney+ to live.
That's what I wrote about today in The Nutgraf, India's leading business newsletter.
Every week, I tell one story about connections and consequences.
20
15
260
But wherever I went, whatever I did, I was constantly reminded that water, something I took for granted, was just out of reach.
At bars, you could have all the beer, but nobody would serve you water. At grocery stores, purchases of bottled water were controlled.
1
10
258
Super impressed by how Swiggy has integrated Instamart and now Minis into their app. Can't think of another company that designs, builds and executes better at their scale. 💯
2
4
257
I wrote about this in detail back in October.
5
54
250
Last week, CRED launched CRED Pay, to helps users scan and pay, like an UPI app.
On the face of it, it's a strange move.
UPI apps have been around since 2017. And all of them do more or less the same thing.
And yet, CRED did this.
Why?
That's what I set out to answer.
5
31
245
What a story, and what a headline.
5
40
241
Winner asks a simple question:
Do technological objects have political properties? Do they have attributes that give them power and authority?
You may be tempted to say no.
You may argue that technology isn’t inherently political.
Its usage is what makes it political.
4
26
232
So this happened.
Easily the most fun (and hardest) job I've ever had, and all thanks to
@r0h1n
,
@Singh10Seema
and
@sumanthr
and all the amazing people at
@TheKenWeb
70
1
230
This is the secret war that Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime are fighting, and isn't talked about much.
I wrote this back in January 2021, about how for these companies, content may be king, but distribution is God.
2
22
222
Their leadership team drove down from the Myntra office at HSR Layout to the IIMB campus at Bannerghatta Road, crossing Silk Board junction.
Traffic was less of a problem in Bengaluru in 2011, else they’d have probably considered flying to Ahmedabad instead to save time.
1
0
218
You know what this does?
It makes Hotstar look exactly like cable television.
Like I wrote last year.
1
11
217
Last week, Reliance and Meta announced an integration so Indians can buy groceries on JioMart via WhatsApp.
Most people believe this to be a game-changer. This feels revolutionary.
In today's edition of The Nutgraf, I disagree and write why this is harder than it looks.
9
21
216
When I landed in Cape Town in January, the city had just escalated it to Level 6.
It was also the final level.
Level 7 was Day Zero.
1
7
215
In 2016, they set it to Level 2— restricting garden watering to thrice a week for an hour a day.
In June 2017, they raised it to Level 4 — which limited water usage to 100 L per person daily.
By September, this had gone up to Level 5—which banned outdoor use of water.
1
6
212
Which brings us, finally, to Hotstar.
What makes Hotstar unique is that it's the only OTT platform that deliberately chose a bundle that was closely aligned with India's consumer pyramid.
2
13
210
If you want to understand more about the pyramid of online shoppers, I wrote about it two years back.
It's the most popular edition of The Nutgraf, and I have referenced it multiple times to show India's consumer market is smaller than what it appears.
2
15
208
24 hours after getting the vaccine, my head and body feels it was hit by a truck.
If you are getting vaccinated, please stock up on food, paracetamol and don’t schedule important things the next day.
14
18
204
One reason why investors were sceptical about subscribers is actually very simple.
It's in two tables.
On the left -> Disney's paid subscribers
On the right -> Disney's average revenue per subscriber
Just look at the highlighted number.
That's Disney+Hotstar.
1
13
201
God Delhi people are going to be insufferable now isn’t it
24
3
196
When they interviewed me, they figured out instantly that I had no clue what I was talking about, but I must’ve sounded confident doing it—essentially the most important skill for a Product Manager.
So they hired me on the spot.
2
5
192
First, you need to understand what Disney the company is going through right now.
On the left is Bob Iger, who served as Disney CEO from 2005 to 2020, widely considered as one of the company's most successful leaders.
On the right is his namesake, Bob Chapek, who succeeded him.
1
12
184
Not true, says Winner. He argues that objects, just by whether they are built, or the way they are designed, can have political qualities.
All of which has little to do with who wields them.
He makes his point using a memorable example.
Bridges in Long Island, New York.
2
15
184
Excellent advice. In my experience, most of the interesting and smartest people in Bangalore are neither in tech nor on Twitter. Try it out. It’ll change your entire life.
Didn't realise the favour I was doing myself by moving out from Koramangala. Interacting with non start-up folks is life changing.
Not having to see/hear another start-up conversation when you sneeze is the real deal.
There is a life beyond your & other start-ups. Please live.
44
68
2K
4
13
184
Uber India revenue from ride-hailing last year : ~$80 million
Uber's global revenue from ride-hailing last quarter : $5 billion
It's crazy how utterly *insignificant* Uber India's ride-sharing business is for Uber.
Uber India made Rs 679 crore from ride hailing during the previous fiscal.
During FY23, Uber India Systems Private Limited (UISPL) amalgamated with UIRDPL (Uber India Research and Development) and XLI (Xchange Leasing India)
Total revenue: Rs 2,666 Cr
Loss: 331 Cr
1
12
38
11
9
180
Today, there are no companies in the 10-minute grocery delivery category anymore.
Blinkit sold to Zomato.
Ola killed Ola Dash.
And now, finally, Zepto has stopped promising 10-minute groceries.
2
10
177
At one level, the idea that Disney makes less per subscriber from Hotstar in India as compared to Disney+ subscriber overall seems ok.
An annual sub in US is $15.
In India it's about $1.
Except...this is not subscription revenue.
It includes subscription and advertising.
5
7
176
Sidenote : If you want to understand more about this, I *highly* recommend reading this phenomenal thread by the excellent
@gauravsabnis
who breaks this down.
Coupla yrs ago I was part of a discussion on why Netflix/Prime content in US is a lot more experimental & offbeat & "outside Hollywood" compared to India where it is indistinguishable from Bollywood or cable shows. This was a huge reason we agreed on. No direct incentive for it.
9
43
258
3
17
172
Last week, when I used Namma Yatri, the Indian government backed app intended to kill Uber and Ola, something weird popped up on my screen after I couldn’t find a ride.
10
8
173
In 18 months, the bet paid off.
By August 2022, Disney+ crossed Netflix in paid subscribers.
2
8
166
But all this came at a huge cost, and Disney's profits started to narrow and its expenses grew and grew.
And all this time, Disney and Chapek were telling investors, "Forget that, just look at our subscriber numbers".
But investors weren't buying the subscriber numbers story.
1
7
167
Chapek took over as CEO at the worst possible time — in February 2020, one month before the coronavirus hit the world.
Many companies thrived during the pandemic. Not Disney.
That's because Covid shut down one of Disney's most lucrative revenue streams.
Theme parks.
1
7
152
The money had just hit the bank account and once the senior leaders had high-fived and congratulated each other, someone asked, “Now what?”
Someone else said, “Not sure. Maybe we should hire some Product Managers? All the cool companies are doing it.”
And so they did.
1
0
151
For this, you must read
@shishirmehrotra
's phenomenal piece "The Four Myths of Bundling".
Essentially, he argues that the best bundles are those that combine different things.
This is counterintuitive, because we think that bundles work when the products in them are similar.
1
8
151
You’ll know everything you need to know about India’s consumer market once you understand that everyone who can afford to pay the extra 10 rs for 10 min grocery delivery is already doing it.
8
9
149
Has no Bangalore startup bro made a thread of how web3 will solve the problem of muslim girls getting thrown out of classrooms across Karnataka? Disappointed.
8
13
147
Talks like an IIM, walks like an edtech: what exactly is Masters’ Union?
IIMs made placements and salaries into a formidable weapon over decades.
Three-year-old Masters’ Union stole it from them and used it on them.
It's a complicated story, and all isn't what it appears.
6
9
151
Now go back to Hotstar.
Go back and see how they had the greatest bundle of them all.
None of these had anything in common. If anything it maximises casualfan overlap and minimises superfan overlap.
Very simply, every subscriber got some value from Hotstar.
1
6
150
Special thanks to
@acorn
and
@PostitAcademic
who gave me their time and expertise which enabled me to craft today's edition.
10
4
149
In a departure from history, he announced that Disney would no longer provide guidance on subscriber numbers.
And then he said something fascinating that revealed a lot about Disney's bundling strategy.
1
9
146
Yesterday Licious became a unicorn. Today it's Rebel Foods.
Normally, it's unthinkable for niche, vertical players to get these valuations.
So what changed?
Paradoxically, I wrote back in July, it's because India's consumer internet population has stopped growing.
6
15
141
Consider the facts.
Disney had killed the content for India's California users i.e HBO.
Disney killed content for India's middle users i.e IPL.
Expensive content.
But as you can see it all makes sense for Disney.
1
9
141
I wonder if there’s a way for a consortium of all states to band together and form a super entity that could negotiate on behalf of them... like a federal-wait...
Amazed someone on TV is suggesting a “consortium” of states to get together to buy vaccines.
Do. Undo. Redo.
Why?
4
2
16
2
25
142
Today I wrote about how Ola and Uber are being disrupted in Bangalore by EV startups taking away their most profitable customers.
7
15
142
Hi guys considering getting this as my first tattoo. Please give feedback.
17
15
142
One of the first things that Iger did when he came back was he cut cut cut everything.
He announced cost cuts of $5.5 billion, and laid-off 7000 employees.
And the markets loved it.
All of this culminated on Feb 9th, when he led Disney's first earnings call after his return
1
7
136
Oh and my colleague
@tam_arund
wrote about the turmoil inside subscription companies last week.
8
29
133
Then a few months later, I looked at their annual report and wrote how Disney+Hotstar is not a streaming service.
2
13
132
End of the year, so a thread about something I haven't spoken about here.
Since 2019, I’ve been writing a newsletter called The Nutgraf for
@TheKenWeb
.
It's about connections and consequences in India’s business and tech. Published every Saturday for subscribers.
9
12
134
