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Alok's Posts / Startup

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

By Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal on 44 Comments / 5269 views

This morning, I was pointed to an investment deck by a Company called ‘Brand and Me’ that was available in the public domain – https://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21925134/1233689099/name/Teaser_BrandandMe_15+July.pdf

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!!!!

 

******

 

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44 Comments

  1. Alok,if you keeps silence more and more such people will come up and going to tarnish your brand value and your personal image.Take them on hard ,serve them a legal notice as soon as possible 🙂

  2. True,This is the new standard to raise funds for Surjendu and for Alok its writing nonsense about a place(Read Hyderabad a place for scams) to market himself and his site.

    Alok ! Salesman?????

  3. Smith – who are you? why do you visit my site when you dont like me?

  4. Alok I really like your Site and what you write.

    But I Love Hyderabad……..ok.

  5. ok.

  6. hi smith,

    just fyi, on an average 10 members a day are added on therodinhoods.wpengine.com WITHOUT ANY MARKETING. 

    your profile doesn’t say much about yourself (except that YOU’re the one with a SALES background. and that you’re from hyd) i suggest you fill in those gaps as it’s always nice to know more about each rodinhooder.

    i’ve lived in hyd briefly and love the city… have many many close friends there. but that won’t stop me from banning you from this site if you EVER suggest any rodinhooder writes nonsense. we are not here to write nonsense. we’ve got better things to do. 

    you’re entitled to an opinion. not some ridiculous allegation. 

  7. Ok Asha.

  8. sweet! 

  9. 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 .

  10. 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?

  11. oh, we are suing them for sure!

  12. 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?

  13. All said & done, I went to their site. Why do I get the feeling that its somewhere a SpeakAsia thingy in the making ?? Provide reviews, win awards. Hmm. Surveys !

  14. Well, this is the IIT / IIM training shining through.

    The arrogance, the contempt, the don’t teach me what to say, the – this is WAR thing.

    well, he is gonna get not a simple war but a NUCLEAR one.

  15. All things considered, I find it amusing that a blog post comes up on the c2w blog today after 2 years of no activity, not sure what to make of it.

  16. Alok, Ignoring Surjendu and team’s methods for a moment, wouldn’t you agree that there is probably a modicum of truth in what they have claimed in their ppt about c2w.com

    I mean i still remember c2w.com from my college days,the bright and vibrant design of the site and the countless hours spent trying to win prizes. Here is snapshot of what it used to look like in 2004 and 2005

    https://web.archive.org/web/20040212222524/https://server1.c2w.com/do…

    Am sorry to say this but today, the site seems like a former shadow of itself. Now this maybe due to a variety of non compete agreements and business focus but it is what it is.

    Instead, your post seems to have given B&M free publicity 🙂

    And before i get flamed, I have absolutely no connection to the B&M team.

    cheers

  17. Well you should definitely sue their pants off.

    Someone please tell me who funded them? 😉 I can already see it is a sunk investment.

  18. c2w today is not c2w yesterday. agreed 100%

    Say its not popular, not in the news, exactly what you wrote above

    but is it DEFUNCT??

    This is what WIKI says:

    Adjective

    defunct (comparative more defunct, superlative most defunct)

    1. (now rare) Deceased, dead.

    2. No longer in use, inactive.

    3. (computing) Specifically, of a program: that has terminated but is still shown in the list of processes because the parent process that created it is still running and has not yetreaped it. See also zombie, zombie process.

    4. (business) No longer in business or service.

  19. well, Rohit Nair is the new COO of c2w and he is reviving the business :-)))

    Today he discovered this piece of garbage and thats what inspired the post.

  20. Abhik’s post brought back old memories and I agree with him WRT the format of C2W and its popularity.

    Alok, I remember the T-Shirts I won on C2W as a kid back in early 2000s. Infact I may have one lying around still. Would love to see C2W back in a similarly exciting format. I was a regular till brand based contests gave way to the current format. I’m sure there was some reason behind the change. But would love to see my old C2W.

  21. its coming – not in the same way but more like a quizzing machine.

    the problem of the old format was the ‘give aways’ that could not be scaled beyond a point.

    but…. now that its a recurring theme in this discussion, let me and Rohit get thinking :-))))

  22. i agree…defunct is a pretty harsh word to use but i guess they wanted to make a point with their investors.

    People have been known to kill for 5000 bucks. They just needed 1.5 crores 😉

  23. I suggest, You should forward this mail to their So called VC’s too…………means, how can you tarnish someone’s image and that too in writing and then have cheek to defend your self.
    If they think that with a philosophy like this, they would stay afloat for wrong, then They are Wrong!! They should be SU(crw)ED Royally!!

  24. Superb. All the Best for it !! I think ‘scaling up’ incentives is besides the point. Whatever was offered was pretty good indeed and may stay that way. And I guess that format is very relevant and there could not be a better time than now, in the day and age of social media awesomeness that it comes back with a bang. You guys were way ahead of your time back then. 

    All the Best again ! Really happy to know that something great’s cookin up !

  25. I think a simple apology from Surjendu and owning up the mistake could not only saved all this unpleasantness but you must have respected him more for this.This arrogance and ego will not only cost him in this matter but in life and business going forward and I am saying this with my 35 years of experience of business as well as life.

  26. Really a shame on part of Surjendu, I really wonder he understands the meanings of everything is fair in …, I hope if he had spent few days even training for a war, he would realize how much we army officers are trained to respect other soldiers and give them the respect they deserve like we do! 

    Pity him that he can only raise funds by describing others as defunct, Alok I think you should be proud of yourself to have challenged him and take a pity on him and his ways of raising funds, really a SHAM for him!

  27. I feel sorry for the VC/ Angel who invested in him. I mean if one of your major competitors is “defunct” then maybe you shouldn’t be getting into a “defunct” business area ?

  28. Alok,

    why, oh why does it have to descend to trashing an entire IIT/IIM fraternity?

    Surjendu did something/ his company did something- go ahead, trash him and his company. Why this sudden swipe at IIT/IIM training?

    Before you ask; yes, I plead guilty 🙂 But, I would have protested even if you had made a swipe against Stepahnians, or heck Jhumritalaia Institutes of Technology.

    Peace

    Anindya

  29. Hi, Alok, Asha

    this is something really disturbing since i too love this site a lot. but there is some pondering required on the following issues:

    1. Making exchange of private emails public is in bad taste. Always. Without Exception. No matter what the reason is.

    2. Alok, i really hope this site remains a democratic place rather than autocratic one. One should have equal rights even if he/she doesnt like YOU, Site or anyone else here, AS LONG AS ITS NOT A HATE MAIL or similar stuff.

    3. Asha, personal attacks or pointing out personal follies of someone who speaks something against those in Charge of site or the site is so “CONGRESS LIKE”. Again would leave a bitter taste.

    4. Asha, a little humility goes a long way. “Banning You” is an easy option if you are part of site team. but using it for someone who has written something which may be non-sense to you but actually may not a hate mail should be ok. Also high-handed ness is something that is felt here too, N avoidable.

    BTW, had not heard of brandyou before. But curious to know what it is now.

    So, Alok, see how you have helped the site who may be genuinely incorrect by giving him your valuable space even when all you wanted to do was to deride him.

    Hope, i wont be on the BAN list for writing above

    regds, Sanchita (http://www.gizmobhai.com)

  30. I dont think writing ‘clever’ mails like these impress me.

    If this person can put a PUBLIC document that calls my flagship business ‘defunct’, then the least i will do is put these mails in public.

    if you are living in some clouds, then i suggest you look up what RTI – right to information act is.

    Sanchita, I am not Father Teresa. I do this all for free and spend family time and weekends typing away for the benefit of all these people who visit – like yourself.

    My editor (asha) and i have all the rights and high handidness to ban anyone we want, without grief or regret.

    and trust me, at 43 years, I have seen that the best of things and people happen with discipline.

    Tomorrow, you will say ‘shouting at a child’ is bad – ‘telling’ your spouse is bad?!

  31. sanchita…  there is no ban list. what disgusts me & most people are irrelevant comments & inappropriate comments. there was ABSOLUTELY NO RELEVANCE OF THAT PARTICULAR COMMENT. was anyone talking about hyderabad or scams from hyderabad here????!!!!! what was so “salesman-like” about this blog post?

    sanchita, you of all people know, that it takes time & effort to write. NO ONE who doesn’t create original content themselves, has the right to call other people’s content NONSENSE.

    it’s not about democracy. it’s about decency.

    everyone has a right to comment. but we really don’t have to be mean and stoop to name-calling.

    and as far as humility goes thank you for the reminder. but i will still continue to shepherd ANYONE who is attacked by irrelevant comments. 

  32. Alok,

    ur reply to my last says it all and leaves me with little to add to what points i have been making. Im aware that the fellow Robinhooders are all intelligent people and will perhaps understand the points i was making and the ones ur making.

    “Clever mails to impress you?” or anybody 4 tht matter?

    Ya, i appreciate the fact now that rights & high handedness is prerogative of the owners only ( “Clouds”, “Father Teresa”, “without grief or regret”) not the lesser mortals like the common Robinhooders

    And i also appreciate now that the need for “discipline” and “best of things” is only for the “praja” and not the “RAJA”

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

  34. 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 (http://www.gizmobhai.com)
    Is. Completely your own choice

  35. 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? 

  36. 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??

  37. 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.

  38. Man, you are an inspiration, really 🙂

  39. Alok:

    From a strictly legal point of view:

    You said that Surjendu wrongly claimed your business is defunct. You are saying Rohit Nair is the new COO and is reviving the business. 

    If Tejas’ comment that C2W Blog was inactive for 2 years and a comment appeared today, all Surjendu has to prove is that he made this comment in that  2 year period. As an outsider, Surjendu can claim that no activity on the website means that it is defunct, he cannot have visibility into your thinking and planning process.

    He might guilty of bad taste, poor discretion and hubris (of the IIT/IIM variety, no less), none of them might be punishable under law.

    Do keep us posted of every twist and turn in the legal process.

  40. nope. no court of law will accept that a ‘blog’ of a business that is not updated means that the ‘business’ is defunct.

    there are zillions of million dollar companies whose WEBSITES are not updated for years – that does not make them ‘defunct’.

    the business of c2w should have to be wound up to call it defunct. else it is maligning the business.

  41. I agree with Alok, there are many big companies websites are not updated for years .that doesn’t meant their business is shutdown ,even scores of government websites are not updated for ages.Is that means government is defunct?!

  42. 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. 🙂

  43. 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!!

  44. yep, very true… doesnt it remind us of Boman Irani in 3 idiots… “Life is a race” and the “broken undaa”… hahaha… I hope they concentrate more on their business and growing it rather than these tricks. Alok – All the best for a win to set an example.

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