Is this what you have to stoop to, to get funded?

This morning, I was pointed to an investment deck by a Company called 'Brand and Me' that was available in the public domain - http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21925134/1233689099/name/Teaser_Branda...

My colleague Rohit Nair picked this up since this slide gets picked up in the SEO search for c2w:

Since I know the promoter of BrandandMe, I wrote this mail to him:

From: Alok Kejriwal <alok@games2win.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Subject: Fwd: BrandandMe Investment Summary
To: Surjendu Kuila <surjendu@brandandme.com>
Cc: MR Anurag Batra <abatra@exchange4media.com>, Rohit Nair <rohit@c2w.com>, Satish Iyer <satish@c2wgroup.com>


Dear Surjendu,

 
A colleague of mine sent me this deck of yours that mentions that 

Gaming Websites: E.g: Contests2win (C2W) i. C2W is defunct for all business purposes. C2W was very successful at one point in time but the promoter lost interest due to other ventures. Mitigation: The founders of B&M are solely focused on making B&M successful. B&M will be the platform on which all other value added services will be provided.

First of all:

- C2W is CERTAINLY not 'Defunct'. It makes me wonder who teaches you these terms!

- Also, it's in VERY BAD TASTE to create public documents that deride competition in this manner.

I am sorry, but this is disgusting.

Please also treat this to be an official notice to change this statement in the next 12 hours.

Wishing you the best,

Alok Kejriwal
CEO and Co-Founder
Games2win - a global top 20 online games biz

India Handphone + 91 98200-82558
'In Karma I trust'
 
And this is the mail trail that followed:
 
From: Surjendu Kuila <surjendu@brandandme.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Subject: Re: BrandandMe Investment Summary
To: Alok Kejriwal <alok@games2win.com>
Cc: MR Anurag Batra <abatra@exchange4media.com>, Rohit Nair <rohit@c2w.com>, Satish Iyer <satish@c2wgroup.com>


Dear Alok
Thanks for your email. I am replying to this email only because I personally hold you in high regard.
Before I jump onto the context I would like to inform you that we have moved on from Gaming or Adverquizzing. We recently got funded ( though we haven't made that public ) and are focussing on building the next gen product review platform. Our product release is in the next 10 days.
Now to the context:
This was a very early stage investment pitch and it was done by our investment banker. We were not aware that anything of this sort is in public domain. If you could let me know the exact place from where you got this we would ensure that it stays there no more. However, if google has already indexed that then there is nothing much we could do about it. But, rest assured we would try our best.
Regards
Surjendu

From: Alok Kejriwal <alok@games2win.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: BrandandMe Investment Summary
To: Surjendu Kuila <surjendu@brandandme.com>
Cc: MR Anurag Batra <abatra@exchange4media.com>, Rohit Nair <rohit@c2w.com>, Satish Iyer <satish@c2wgroup.com>


well 2 comments:

- As a CEO - you MUST reply to such mails even if you don't hold the person in high esteem.
- Even though your investment banker/finance consultant made this, it never went up until it was approved by you. No IB puts stuff up without validation from the client.
So, it's a silly excuse to make.

Wishing you the best,

Alok Kejriwal

 

From: Surjendu Kuila <surjendu@brandandme.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: BrandandMe Investment Summary
To: Alok Kejriwal <alok@games2win.com>
Cc: MR Anurag Batra <abatra@exchange4media.com>, Rohit Nair <rohit@c2w.com>, Satish Iyer <satish@c2wgroup.com>


Dear Alok

Again thanks for your email.
First of all I am not the CEO - Just a co-founder. And, what you said is your belief. My belief is a complete antithesis to yours.
Secondly I never said that the investment pitch was not approved by us. It was definitely approved by us. What I said was "I was not aware that this is in public domain".
I hope you are not dictating me what I write/speak in our internal memorandum. There are many competitor of ours ( read in the product review space) who badmouth us. I don't have the time, energy chasing them asking them to amend facts or rectify mistakes. We believe that our work should speak of itself and seriously do not bother much about grapevine.
According to me building a business is analogous to WAR ( read do or die) and you must be familiar with the popular adage - Everything is fair in .......
Signing off by letting you know that I love reading your blogs.
Regards
Surjendu
From: Alok Kejriwal <alok@games2win.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 12:52 PM
Subject: Re: BrandandMe Investment Summary
To: Surjendu Kuila <surjendu@brandandme.com>
Cc: MR Anurag Batra <abatra@exchange4media.com>, Rohit Nair <rohit@c2w.com>, Satish Iyer <satish@c2wgroup.com>


thanks.
i am signing off thinking that:
what you say in the 'private' domain is one thing and what you say in the 'public' domain is another!
Secondly, if you call c2w 'defunct' in a public document, then you stand the risk of legal action from our side since you are maligning us.
i don't really care about what you say, who you say it to, what you believe in, what blogs you read or like. I only know that if you badmouth / malign someone in the public domain, then you will have to answer for it.
stay tuned

Wishing you the best,

Alok Kejriwal
*****
So, this is the NEW STANDARD of fund raising??

- Say anything about anybody without a care because it's "private"??
 
- When you get told about it, you don't care because it's "WAR" out there????
 
- Maligning Companies and saying things that may be false is something that doesn't need correction??
 
- The responsible person writes back because he holds me in "high" esteem and not because he should be writing so as a responsible officer of the Company??
 
This, to me, signifies the ROT and absolute DEPRAVITY that some Entrepreneurs stoop to when they are desperate to prove something!
 
I think this guy and his attitude are beyond repair, but I would suggest:
 
- Before making claims about Companies in ANY DOCUMENT - be it private or public, check the facts and DON'T make false and loose statements.
 
- Please have the manners and courtesy to stand corrected and be HUMBLE about it.
 
- Fight a MARKET "WAR" - not a MORAL one!!!!
 
******

 

Tags: BrandandMe, Brandandme funding, C2W, Surjendu Kuila

Views: 2926

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on March 22, 2012 at 8:17pm

thanks for the gyaan. i would suggest you check yourself out.

Permalink Reply by Ashwin C Parulkar on March 22, 2012 at 8:50pm
Sanchita I think

THis site is the PRrsonal IP (intellectual property) of Alok and we cannot expect it to be DEMOCRATIC by any way
Just we can be
Nice around here....
just as running (www.gizmobhai.com)
Is. Completely your own choice
Permalink Reply by asha chaudhry on March 22, 2012 at 9:48pm

ashwin.... the last time i looked here, this was a place where like-minded people hung out. right now as we speak, like-minded people are networking in the main room!!!! so why the snide remarks?

no one forces anyone to be here. 

peace. laughter. sunshine. okay? 

Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on March 22, 2012 at 10:02pm

Ashwin,

If this is a "PR" site of Alok as you call it from the remarks above, WHAT MAKES U ADD 103 COMMENTS TO THE POSTS AND DISCUSSIONS HERE?

103 COMMENTS IS NOT TRIVIAL RIGHT?

IF THIS SMELT LIKE A PR SITE, WOULD YOU COMMENT AT ALL? OR MAYBE YOU WOULD COMMENT ONCE SAYING 'THIS IS A PR SITE'. 

BUT YOU HAVE ADDED A STORY BLOG (HARE AND TORTOISE) AND ALSO COMMENTED  103 TIMES?

ERRRRRRRRRRRRR - ARE U SURE THE PR IS FOR ME AND NOT FOR YOU??

Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on March 22, 2012 at 10:54pm

thanks for inspiring me to write this:

when u are a monkey, people want u to become a man. as a man, people want u to become a gentleman. as a gentleman, people want you to be a noblemen. as a nobleman, people want u to become a saint. and as a saint, people want you to become god. 

this is dedicated to all those people who find faults in me (and others) despite our best efforts. well, sorry.... i am just A MAN.

Permalink Reply by Bhaskar Jha on March 23, 2012 at 2:12am

Man, you are an inspiration, really :)

Permalink Reply by Tanutejas Saraswat on March 19, 2012 at 4:13pm


Games2win - "a global top 20 online games biz"


  " A global top 20 online games biz" :-)   

WoW...It should be the first sentence. 

Don't know about others but I got goosebumps after reading this. Unbeatable .

Permalink Reply by Anirudh B Balotiaa on March 19, 2012 at 4:31pm

This is a real shame...I am surprised how can even people indulge in these types of "pulling" competitors down and that too, to such an extent.

I agree to RohitN about taking legal action, if this is not rectified asap! If possible once the legal suit has been filed, get in the media to deter other people doing the same.

On another note, just curious how this got picked up in SEO...was this put up in SlideShare.net or something?

Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on March 19, 2012 at 4:40pm

oh, we are suing them for sure!

Permalink Reply by Deepak Sharma on March 26, 2012 at 10:43pm

Alok, I'm sure you have got the best legal team but my 2 cents, such case will not hold merit in any court of law. emails drafted by other CEO are well shall we say very clever. It would be wastage of your precious time & money. Instead go after them in Civil Liability Claims for Misleading Advertisements. You can make money suing their asses for false representation. :-)

Permalink Reply by Alok 'Rodinhood' Kejriwal on March 26, 2012 at 11:30pm

who cares about winning? i want the CEO and his Company to run around courts and lawyers and remember never to make loose statements ever again. thats justice done!

tomorrow, these guys will call anyone anything!!

Permalink Reply by Aditya Gupta on March 19, 2012 at 5:16pm

I wonder what kind of a VC or PE would have funded them having read such a plan?? Don't they cross verify the facts and figures stated in the presentation?

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