The unit is located in Cosmo, a condominium at Guillemard Crescent which is connected to Guillemard Road and near to Geylang, the famous red light district of Singapore. We have rented a duplex unit on the eleventh floor which has bay windows all over allowing the place to be naturally illuminated in the day. The wind is terrific too as the condominium is surrounded by only low-rise buildings.

Work area

View from work area

Stairs leading up to 2nd floor

We spent the past two weeks sketching, planning and buying the things we need, like furniture and supplies. We wanted the office to look real good, sophisticated and designed by designers so we spent a lot of effort and time to get things right. We visited a variety of places such as MUJI and IKEA and purchased some really nice stuff.

White desk chair from MUJI

We found the MUJI chair at ION Orchard. They are priced reasonably, looks minimal but are surprisingly comfortable and do not feel tight at all. We got a pair of matching arms for each chair. The MUJI table which was promoted together with the chair is too pricey so we did not go for that one.

MELLTORP table from IKEA

We got the really nice MELLTORP tables from IKEA Tampines which looked really Japanese and could easily pass as a MUJI product. The simple design and straight lines compliments the space perfectly. We got a big and a medium one to fit a comfortable maximum of three persons.

The other stuff we got

We will upload more images once we have moved in and settled down this coming Wednesday.

Who do you think has a stronger brand? Movie star or political messiah?

While being two of the most followed Indian celebrities and share some similar fundamental objectives, Shah Rukh Khan and Shashi Tharoor are really quite different. They appeal to different audiences, are motivated by dissimilar ideals and their approach is starkly unalike. Comparing Shah Rukh Khan to Shashi Tharoor is like comparing Steve Jobs to Paris Hilton, there are surely more Paris Hilton fans than Steve Jobs fans. Shah Rukh Khan will be able to reach a much higher number of Twitter followers simply because of the potential in the vast number of Bollywood movie-goers compared to political aficionados. And looking at his popularity and the amount of hype he generated with his latest film “My Name is Khan” which I really enjoyed watching, overtaking Shashi Tharoor is definitely possible, but in my opinion hardly anything to shout about. What will be meaningful is the magnitude of the influence they will have on their really big groups of technology-savvy, educated and well-informed followers. It’s always good for people who have positive stories to tell to have a bigger audience.

Looking at the chart above which plots the growth of Twitter followers for both Shashi Tharoor and Shah Rukh Khan over the past three months, we can say Shah Rukh Khan is not going to catch up to Shashi Tharoor any time soon. So while Shah Rukh Khan tries to catch up we will work harder with Shashi Tharoor to extend his reach to as many as we can. Catching up is not going to be easy :)

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has engaged COMA to provide social strategy consulting over the course of the 3rd season games which will take place between March 12 and April 25, 2010. The IPL, is a Twenty20 cricket competition created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and chaired by the Chairman & Commissioner IPL, BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi and has recently been awarded the 22nd place in FastCompany’s list of 50 Most Innovative Companies 2010. It will be the first ever cricket tournament which will be broadcast live on YouTube. The final four Matches of IPL 3 will be screened in 3D across Movie halls in India.

COMA will be providing social strategy consulting services to the IPL which will include real-time sentiment tracking and analysis to help the IPL reach and serve its fanbase more effectively. Not only will we be watching the games, we will also be watching listening to you!

Press Contacts

Email to hello@coma.sg

See you there.

Video after the jump

Like it? Tell Ben you love him by writing in the comments below. We are so going to make him perform more.

We made our own video and submitted it two days ago on Sunday and here it is.

The big idea is that we can use the space as a platform for ideas. People will come into the space and exchange ideas and work together to turn good ones into things i.e. technology, products, platforms, etc that will benefit people.

The place will be equipped with free WiFi, broadband internet, plentiful power points and other essential facilities and people can just bring their laptops and do stuff. The walls of the space will be lined with big bookshelves fill with books on innovation, design, technology, science and philosophy and they can come from donations, sponsors or purchased cheaply from used books stores. There will also be a nice cosy corner with a projector for presentations, talks, pecha kuchas and all kinds of show-and-tell. It will be like our own mini TED conferences.

The whole purpose of this idea is to provide a platform for the generation of ideas by encouraging people to think, make and do, and to encourage the exchange of these ideas though sharing, discussion and collaboration. The goal is to develop an open platform for thinking and collaboration to create business and societal value by collectively and intelligently solving problems and improving the world. If we win this and the idea becomes a reality, I intend to operate this as a non-profit, like Wikipedia and TED and probably rely on membership fees, sponsorship, corporate programs, etc to sustain operation.

It is just a big idea at the moment but we will surely pursue it if we win. Please spare some minutes and vote for our idea at http://www.ultimatestartupspace.com.sg/#/rate-entry/75. And do share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Shaily graduated with an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and have a engineering degree from McGill University, Canada. Shaily loves to travel, meet new people and paint, and recently held her own art exhibition in Bombay.

Shaily will be heading our operations in India and will be responsible for growing COMA business in that part of the world. She can be reached at shaily@coma.sg.

Our experts at COMA created a user-friendly site that reflected Tharoor’s image of humility and his humanitarian vision. With a backdrop of subtle, but pleasant green and grey hues, and high resolution photos of happy women and children, COMA has packaged and delivered the essence of Tharoor to the world. Moreover, the site is extremely user friendly, with pictures, words and phrases that provide visitors with clear directions to different pages within, with seamless transitions from page to page. Moreover, the text clearly encapsulates what Tharoor’s foundation is about, who it is serving and how visitors to the site can get involved. As a package, the site tells the story of the Tharoor legacy of humanitarian work, a man’s past achievements and his son’s vision to carry on his father’s work. The story inspires others to support, and perhaps join, Shashi Tharoor in his movement.