Shot by Zaka Shafiq at Columbia Business School

I had always wondered what it would feel like to be shot by the remarkable Zaka Shafiq.Zaka is a Columbia Business School Class of 2013 candidate who is really handy with a lens. We have all seen his work over the last two years as he documented his business school education through his camera lens.This [...]

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On Startup Failure – OPEN Washington DC Chapter Fireside chat

Thursday night fire side chat on startup failure organized by the OPEN Washington DC chapter turned out to be a brilliant experience. In the end it’s the audience that determines how well a session goes and the OPEN DC audience was everything a speaker could ask for. Receptive, interactive and generous with their feedback [...]

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Be careful of who you sit next to on your next Emirates flight.

This Saturday, at midnight, somewhere over the Persian Gulf, I stooped to an all time low.Our creative and editing team had been burning the midnight oil for the last week to ensure that we were able to ship Reboot, 3rd edition for the iPad before I headed out to New York. At 254 pages, 8 [...]

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Columbia Business School & OPEN DC – Heart to heart on Startup Failure

Ever wondered what it feels to go through the failure of your startup? How do entrepreneur deal with it? Was it really as bad as you thought it would be?Come see my short lecture Columbia Business School this evening (16th April) and at the OPEN fireside chat on Thursday (18th April) in DC.Format is [...]

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New York Spring – Cherry trees and startup mode.

Finally got a chance to go back to Columbia’s campus yesterday evening and spend some time shooting the cherry tree in bloom at the entrance to Earl Hall. Brought back fond memories.Broadway and Amsterdam. New York, the year 1999. Cherry trees in full blossom, sunny afternoons, and Sundays. That’s how I remember the beginning. Sunday [...]

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Return to New York – A drive down memory lane

New York, New York.Saboor Bhai and I go for a drive down memory lane in Manhattan. Figure 1 18 month at 122nd & Broadway. The fondest of memories Figure 2 Warren Hall, the joint Columbia Business, Columbia Law School building Figure 3 Church of St. John Divine on Amsterdam, my all time favorite Figure 4 Newyork Spring. Cherry trees [...]

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Data Analysis, Data Tables & Excel

Data Analysis, Data Tables & Excel. This is our third post in our Data Analysis series using Excel spreadsheets. The series covers correlations, trailing correlations, histograms, pivot charts and data tables. See the following prior posts for data analysis context.Correlations basics Data Analysis. 5 tools in twenty minutes Data Tables introductionThere are many questions that Excel can help [...]

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Data Analysis. Data Tables for sensitivity testing

Data Analysis. Using Excel Data Tables for Sensitivity Testing You have built your financial model, now is the time to test it. The objective of stress testing or sensitivity testing is to evaluate your financial model across a range of values. Sometimes we do this to test the model, more often the objective is to present a [...]

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Data Analysis – Snapshots of an Excel Evangelist

I ran the data analysis using Microsoft Excel for activists yesterday afternoon for P@SHA and Sheba Najmi’s Civic Hackathon. Was caught in the act by P@SHA Saira Khan at T2F with P@SHA, T2F, Pring and 70 others attendees as witnesses. Organized on the 6th and 7th April 2013 as a first attempt to use our collective [...]

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Data Analysis in Excel. Five tools in 20 minutes.

Yesterday I ran a short twenty minute session for 60 civil activists participating in the city’s first civic hackathon. The topic was data analysis in Excel. Here are my notes from the session.As a data specialist there are few common themes that I keep running across whenever I open up Excel to do real work.Understanding [...]

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