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Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

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Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#101

Post by max_ »

beezlebroxxxxxx wrote: post #99
max_ wrote: post #88

I am an African based in Uganda and I am currently working on my project https://labour.quest I wanted to start by using Google Workplace. But then switched to Zoho for the generous free tier. I am so glad I did. Zoho has so many tools that a project needs to run "built in". For example I was thinking of signing up for the services below but Zoho already had these built in. SendGrid - Zepto Mail MailChimp - Zoho Camp…

I'm sure you're aware, but you have to be careful with being very reliant on free-tier products. Once a magnitude of people are "locked in" then they'll start to do some of the pricing and licensing shenanigans where once common features or bundled products get hidden under a fee or broken up after an update. (Interesting project BTW, I'd just recommend having a screenshot or 2 of one of the resumes if you're explici…

Thanks for the feedback.

Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#102

Post by mrtksn »

m_fayer wrote: post #40

I had Zoho set up on the lowest tier for a side-hustle project years ago. It did it's job smoothly and without much intrusion. Then the project ended and I forgot about the Zoho account, changed phone numbers, lost the 2fa keys - all of it. Totally my fault. Their support quickly and competently handheld me through the shutdown process. I can't imagine the nightmare Google would've forced me through to shut down a po…

I also used Zoho for mail, it was pretty nice and they had quite robust support once I got an issue. I left them only because I already pay for iCloud+ and comes with custom domain support, so I realized I didn't need to pay for another service.

The Web UI of the mail and the mobile app was also quite good.

Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#104

Post by alephnerd »

vitus wrote: post #65
alephnerd wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was because they had no choice. Samsung holds the patent and all the IP for OLED displays. The moment a Samsung competitor is large enough, they move to them. For example, switching from Samsung foundaries to TSMC by 2018.

Apple also buys Google Cloud products for iCloud even though there are alternatives that don't have rival mobile platforms. If Google used market research from Cloud customer usage patterns to bolster its Android products, then I would expect various regulatory agencies to start knocking on our door with (more) antitrust action and calling for a breakup of the company. Similarly, I'd be surprised if Samsung uses its…

> Apple also buys Google Cloud products for iCloud even though there are alternatives that don't have rival mobile platforms.

GCP is separate from Google. While they're both Alphabet subsidiaries, the pot of money used by GCP is separate from the pot of money used by the Pixel team (within Google).

Kurien doesn't report to Pichai and vice versa.

> then I would expect various regulatory agencies to start knocking on our door with (more) antitrust action and calling for a breakup of the company

This falls under "competitive intelligence" which ISN'T treated as corporate espionage legally, because you are extrapolating data from sources.

As I've mentioned on here before, Competitive Intel is SOP for all companies, and every largeish (post-Series D) company has a CompIntel department under their PM or PMM org.

Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#105

Post by infecto »

isodev wrote: post #98
infecto wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it took longer for you to write that post than to just do the search. https://www.zoho.com/crm/hipaa/ https://www.zoho.com/gdpr.html https://www.zoho.com/know-your-datacenter.html On the flip side I have known of Zoho for at least a decade, they are not a new player..I never realized they were an Indian company.

Good catch, I did a search but none of these were in the top results for me (I guess that's the state of search these days). My main point however was that India doesn't have an agreement with the EU regarding the transfer and protection of personal data (e.g. the EU-US Privacy Shield and related). So while the links above state how much Zoho cares about privacy, the platform is not suitable for use-cases including p…

No problems. They were at the top of my search for both google and kagi.

Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#106

Post by anal_reactor »

alephnerd wrote: post #2

> Zoho started allowing African companies to pay for its software in local currencies. This decision has been a major reason for Zoho’s success in Africa as it allowed customers and potential clients to avoid regulatory hurdles around dollar spending > Zoho has also been aggressive with its pricing in Africa. Zoho One, a bundle of more than 45 products This is a major reason why Western products aren't landing as wel…

> American companies need to actually localize and build the "cultural competency"

Not gonna happen.

It's much easier to manage a company that has all-American culture, and American market is the biggest anyway, so it makes sense to focus on it as the priority #1 because that's how you achieve fastest growth.

When a local company starts growing too much and threatens your business, you just buy it and allow it to run as a subsidiary. All the money, none of the effort.

Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#107

Post by insane_dreamer »

alephnerd wrote: post #85
jlangenauer wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not exactly the fault of VW/Renault etc. China has quite explicitly encouraged technology transfer as an important strategic imperative for their local firms, so if these companies wanted to play in the (obviously growing) Chinese market, technology transfer was the price to be paid. (Another example of this is the high-speed trains in China - the first generation was built by JVs with Siemens/Hitachi/etc wit…

And they're doing the same in India. There's a reason I mentioned Renault and Dassault - to show that it's not just a China thing. Every country pushes for JVs, but it's up to the individual companies themselves to defend their IP, or at least integrate the host country's talent base with the home country's innovation system so that it's mutually beneficial (eg. What Japanese companies did in Korea in the 1970s-80s).…

US companies haven't had any more success in protecting their IP in China and avoiding "tech transfer" than European companies; it's endemic to operating in China ("somehow" your tech leaks from your JV to your Chinese competitors, who in some cases may even be owned by the same group of people through a web of shell companies). (The solar panel industry is a good example of this.)

Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#108

Post by alephnerd »

anal_reactor wrote: post #106
alephnerd wrote: post #2

> Zoho started allowing African companies to pay for its software in local currencies. This decision has been a major reason for Zoho’s success in Africa as it allowed customers and potential clients to avoid regulatory hurdles around dollar spending > Zoho has also been aggressive with its pricing in Africa. Zoho One, a bundle of more than 45 products This is a major reason why Western products aren't landing as wel…

> American companies need to actually localize and build the "cultural competency" Not gonna happen. It's much easier to manage a company that has all-American culture, and American market is the biggest anyway, so it makes sense to focus on it as the priority #1 because that's how you achieve fastest growth. When a local company starts growing too much and threatens your business, you just buy it and allow it to run…

> Not gonna happen

Depending on the market and industry, it's already started. Take a look at Google and Meta's ad buy in India, Brazil, and Indonesia for example.

> When a local company starts growing too much and threatens your business, you just buy it and allow it to run as a subsidiary. All the money, none of the effort

Some do attempt this (eg. Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart) but it doesn't always succeed.

For example, Zoho was an acquisition target of Google and Yahoo back in the day.

And most countries have regulators that try to bar this kind of a move for competitive reasons.

For example, it was Chinese regulators that crashed Intel's attempt at acquiring Tower, and Broadcom's attempt at acquiring Qualcomm, and there's the whole sordid saga around Carl Ghosn's tenure at Nissan.

Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#109

Post by chucke1992 »

alephnerd wrote: post #96
chucke1992 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is that with India - for example - it is a relatively cheap market and those can afford expensive stuff, but western stuff anyway. Also regarding visa - well there are more indians in the visa queue than probably multiple countries combined. If they make it as fast as other countries - indians will just move in millions and millions simply due to sheer amount of people they have.

> those can afford expensive stuff, but western stuff anyway Western, sure. American, not really. There's a reason American brands like Harley-Davidson and Ford quit India, but Western (NATO+) brands like Toyota and Hyundai thrive in India, and Indian conglomerates like Tata acquired prestige western brands like Jaguar Land Rover. Same thing with China and the acquisition of MG, Volvo, Lotus, etc. > Also regarding vi…

> Western, sure. American, not really.

The thing is that I am not sure what american - that is not software services and some PC hardware - is even sold outside of USA. Coca Cola and McDonalds? But aside that I haven't see much american stuff even in Europe. It is usually german home appliances, local food, nestle (swiss) etc.

> True, but there needs to be a middle path between being selective but also attracting the cream of the crop. Take a look at the placement statistics of IIT graduates nowadays (2017 onwards) - barely 5-10% choose to immigrate abroad now, ad it's a similar trend in mid-tier Indian programs as well.

The problem is that even 5% is a lot. Like Indian's population is probably 2-3 times bigger than the whole europe. My own country has less than 9m people and my friend got his USA passport after 5 years only...

> America's innovation ecosystem only worked because we were able to attract the best and the brightest from Russia, India, China, etc. Without that level of openness, we fall to the same pit of stagnation that Mainland Europe, the UK, and Japan fell into.

One of the reason for western stagnation is just the amount of regulations. That's why heavily regulated industries are usually quite successful in Europe (like pharmaceutical companies), but garage startups? Not really. Sweden is basically the only exception. And UK (every 10 years lol).

> Oppenheimer, Lawrence, Fermi, von Neumann

People like this are exceptions really. Though there are always trends over the years when some countries produce more talents than the other. It is like there is a beacon shining at one point and a lot of talents are born close to each other.

Re: Zoho is attracting the attention of African startup founders

#110

Post by adunsulag »

infecto wrote: post #59
isodev wrote: post #53

Ok, but can Zoho offer things like HIPPA compliance or “EU only” hosting and services for data protection? Kudos to businesses who can make use of this Zoho in a safe way but one would hate to expose one’s users to a company based in some strange dictatorship of a country.

I think it took longer for you to write that post than to just do the search. https://www.zoho.com/crm/hipaa/ https://www.zoho.com/gdpr.html https://www.zoho.com/know-your-datacenter.html On the flip side I have known of Zoho for at least a decade, they are not a new player..I never realized they were an Indian company.

Thank you, I looked at Zoho a number of years ago and when I reached out to their team they did not recommend using them for HIPAA related transactions. I'm happy to see that change!
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