Marcellus Insights

Banks race to launch blockchain trade platforms

“When Texas-based Tricon Energy wanted to buy Polymers from India’s Reliance Energy, the two companies avoided the usual rigmarole of phone calls, couriered documents and emails by logging into a new Blockchain system called Voltron. Within minutes they had completed negotiations of the terms of the sale and then secured a letter of credit and […]

Humanity’s calling card is the destruction of our planet

Last week China controversially reinstated the trade in rhino horns. In fact, the Chinese Government decided that it is alright once again to use and trade rhino and tiger parts. Globally, there are 30,000 rhinos and 4,000 tigers in the wild. China seems to be implicitly telling the world “we need these beasts for traditional […]

The girl who took women’s cricket to the next level

Harmanpreet Kaur’s 51-ball century against New Zealand in the ongoing Women’s T20 world cup, follows her spectacular 171 not out in last year’s World Cup semi-finals against Australia where she single handedly steered her team to victory. This piece in Cricinfo’s The Cricket Monthly, profiles her life and career and highlights the impact she has […]

USAID, Monsanto and the real reason behind Delhi’s horrific smoke season

For those of us who grew up in Delhi and cannot understand why smoke from Punjabi farmers burning rice stubble has become such a major source of pollution for the capital city, this story gives one interesting answer and one controversial answer. The interesting answer is this: “Until a few years ago, when farmers in […]

Amma goes to school

Neuroscience has shown that the neurons in our brain gradually start dying from middle age and therefore our brain starts slowing down unless we keep it active by pushing it to learn new things. This heartwarming story from the Indian Express shows that ordinary Indians don’t need neuroscience to tell them such things. They figured […]

Coffee Can Investing: Saurabh Mukherjea

The role of Outsiders in investing

Published on: 11 Nov, 2018 The success of non-establishment figures in reshaping the investment landscape in America over the past 40 years gives India a useful template. The outsiders have already made their mark in the VC and PE space in India. Now such thinkers seem likely to make their mark in the public market […]

As Moore’s law fades, computing seeks a new dimension

Moore’s law, named after Gordon Moore, the founder of Intel, implied computing power would double every two years. This did hold true for 40years contributing immensely to availability of computing power to enterprises and individuals alike and the consequent gains in productivity. However, this law hasn’t kept pace in the recent past fazed by physical […]

How a Welsh schoolgirl disrupted the publishing world

In 2011, Beth Reeks a 15-year old Welsh schoolgirl decided to write a teenage romantic novel. So after finishing her homework, she would stay up all night writing her novel. Then she chose a “route to market” which was unique. Rather than hiring a literary agent to find a publisher, she posted three chapters of […]

The New Atlanta Billionaires Behind An Unlikely Tech Unicorn

At Marcellus, we are fans of Mailchimp. In fact you are reading this email thanks to the cost-effective and user friendly platform that Mailchimp makes available for SMEs like Marcellus. This story is about how two self-taught techies in Atlanta used their own savings and 18 years of hard work to build a business with […]

The rickety house of Paytm

As the latest scandal to hit Paytm ripples across the media (the CEO’s PA might have tried to extort Rs 20 crores from him or, depending on which story you believe, she might be the victim of other vested interests working in the firm), this story summarises the other scandals to have hit the firm […]

Business education – the waning popularity of the American MBA

Even well established American business schools are seeing a step drop in applications for their MBA courses. Top tier MBAs like Harvard, Fuqua and Haas are seeing falling demand for their MBA courses. Given the red-hot state of the US economy, why is this happening? This article cites three drivers for the waning popularity of […]