It Rocks to be in Yahoo! Date:   Friday , December 02, 2005 When Yahoo 360o Taiwan was launched on Nov. 14, the Yahoo Software Development Centre Limited, at Bangalore received an email alert at mid-night with the message “Hey, Taiwan blog is up”. The Center had been working on developing and running Yahoo blogs across continents. The message was an indication of appreciation, ownership and pride for the team, which manages Yahoo blogs around the world. The development center in Bangalore is the epicenter for Yahoo’s 360o blog for the U.S., South Korea and Taiwan. Each blog is unique in its own way as they blend the global image of Yahoo and a country’s culture, audience requirements and functionality to cater to a diverse set of users. “It was a challenge, for our team to think out-of-the box and yet meet the market requirement of Taiwan,” says Venkat Panchapakesan, Chief Executive Officer, Yahoo Software Development India. Arising with the challenge the team visited the country several times researching and gathering data for a better understanding of the requirements. Yahoo Bangalore does not only develop blogs but also Podcasts for this Internet service provider. Podcasts are radio shows hosted via the Internet. “A user can listen online, download and subscribe to Podcasts by downloading our software. Once subscribed new shows are automatically downloaded to the subscriber’s system,” says Panchapakesan. With heavy R&D work belted out of Yahoo Bangalore, the company has already received 10 patents in the year 2005 with a bunch still pending. While the development side of the company is hot with new applications, product engineering at Yahoo Bangalore is focused toward classifieds, vertical search and desktop search. “The desktop search is not restricted to a PC alone but also on mobile phones, laptop or on a browser,” he says. Yahoo Bangalore also boasts of exclusive research teams, which have helped in developing products for the company. “In our pure research team we have around 10 Ph. Ds who work in tandem with professors at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and New Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore to develop new algorithms,” Panchapakesan says. While one of the teams focuses on developing new algorithms, another works to convert into products, these teams come from both Yahoo and other companies. “The company believes in industry-academia trend for growth,” he adds. Accordingly, a tie-up with the IIT Bombay has proved fruitful for Yahoo, when the university completed a study about teen behavior replete with likes and dislikes for better planning of Yahoo ‘teen blog’. The blog will enable teens to create a virtual life around Yahoo. “We want the blog to address all the aspects which relate to teen. We will give them tools to customize their blogs in tandem to their personality and life,” says the CEO. Without any cross-fertilization the Bangalore team is developing these products. “Only for few big projects we do cross checking from our U.S headquarters. Like other centres Yahoo Bangalore is an independent entity working under Yahoo Inc.’s umbrella,” he adds. Four years ago when Yahoo Bangalore started operations, the center felt the lack of people with product, domain and customers knowledge. “India has plenty of software engineers but we were looking for people with market and technology knowledge. People who returned to India from experience abroad covered that gap,” he confirms. According to Panchapakesan, about 10-15 percent of the returnees work at key positions in Yahoo India. “We are the only company in the world that touches lives of 400 million users everyday,” he says. Returnees with domain knowledge and experience look to Yahoo as a potential employer to make an impact in the growing Internet market. “The most attractive thing in Yahoo is not only the brand name but also its presence in products, management, engineering and design areas that attracts the young techies,” explains Panchapakesan. The company has lined up impressive talent mainly through employer referrals. “More than 60 percent of our people come through internal reference,” reveals the CEO. With a total headcount of 500, Yahoo Bangalore has an attrition rate of about 10 percent, which is much lower than the industry average of 19 percent. Fostering a fun environment Panchapakesan is often game to playing pranks in the organization. He reveals how his colleagues duped him, by tendering their resignation within the first few days of his tenure. “I was completely shocked and later realized it was a prank, now even I participate in their mischief,” smiles Panchapakesan as he goes around saying, “Let’s rock!”