I know i am writing after a gap but that was because i couldnt find one which was innovative enough to be a part of this list.
Seventymm is one of the interesting startups i found and it offers movie rental services to its members across 6 cities in India, namely Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Delhi and Mumbai. The portal offers its subscribers over 18, 000 movie titles to choose from and also offers its consumers flexible subscription options under the three subscription plans - one DVD Basic, one DVD Unlimited and the two DVDs Unlimited plan to choose from. Not only that Seventymm also offers free pick up of movies as per consumers' convenience. The good part is that it has an efficient and reliable logistics infrastructure to which delivers and pick-up movies from the consumers' doorstep absolutely free.
So all that you need to do is login on the website and become a member and you have so many movies at your doorstep.
To read more hit www.seventymm.com
creADivity - TATA NEN Hottest Startups
creADivity has been nominated in TATA NEN Hottest Startups list and after winning TiE EAP last July this is its second such achievement. Currently ranked 148 amongst 500+ startups, creADivity is an online marketing and advertising platform. To know more on creADivity hit http://creADivity.com and if you feel it deserves a vote - hit http://hotteststartups.in/viewandvote.do?method=fetch&businessFn=viewandvote&startupId=465 login and vote!
Bamboo House India
Moving away from the commercial ventures, Bamboo House is a venture started with an intention of providing livelihood to rural artisans and craftsmen in the bamboo sector. Bamboo house provides a platform for buying & selling bamboo products and hence helping many Indian farmers survive. Bamboo House also provides training and support to the craftsmen and by creating market and awareness provides them with a platform to sell. The products include furniture, curtains, carvings etc - all made by Bamboo! Started by Prashant Lingam Bamboo House had NMBA-CII-APTDC-IIT(D)-AP Forest Dept funding an exclusive bamboo showroom in Hyderabad and IL&FS & TBM agreeing to support marketing initiatives of Bamboo House. To read more hit http://www.greenlivelihoods.org/home.asp
Adhyatam
Ever wondered having an online puja in your place or having a pujari whenever you wanted.
Adhyatam has been able to bring a new term - e-Religion. So now all our religious needs can be fulfilled online & thats what Adyantam aims for. Started by Ajay Goyal from BITS Pilani, Adhyatam also provides live telecast to online puja. And they seems to have gone into details so there is not one or two types of puja available but 64 different types at different rates. Further you can book your pooja by pandit or generically.
Though i liked the concept and it surely is extremely innovative i have a feeling that this will take us further apart from our religion. Its like going through an Online MBA - There's no bonus points in answering which one is better online MBA or the normal one, same ways how much successful Adhyatam can be will depend on how much flexible the audience is. What do you think, is it a good idea?
To know more hit http://www.adhyatm.com/default.aspx
Adhyatam has been able to bring a new term - e-Religion. So now all our religious needs can be fulfilled online & thats what Adyantam aims for. Started by Ajay Goyal from BITS Pilani, Adhyatam also provides live telecast to online puja. And they seems to have gone into details so there is not one or two types of puja available but 64 different types at different rates. Further you can book your pooja by pandit or generically.
Though i liked the concept and it surely is extremely innovative i have a feeling that this will take us further apart from our religion. Its like going through an Online MBA - There's no bonus points in answering which one is better online MBA or the normal one, same ways how much successful Adhyatam can be will depend on how much flexible the audience is. What do you think, is it a good idea?
To know more hit http://www.adhyatm.com/default.aspx
creADivity set to be Launched: Partners with TiE
creADivity is all set to be launched worldwide on 1st Oct'2008 00:00 hrs and has partnered with TiE to provide advertising and creative support to TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2008. i-Startups which would be covering the complete TiE Entrepreneurial Summit was told that creADivity will be providing all creative support and hence would provide a great opportunity to registered creatives on creADivity. The competitions and pitch preparation will begin after the launch of creADivity portal.
creAdivity is a TiE Entrepreneur Startup and has recently been selected in TATA - NEN Hottest Startups after winning TiE EAP in July.
To know more hit http://creADivity.com
creAdivity is a TiE Entrepreneur Startup and has recently been selected in TATA - NEN Hottest Startups after winning TiE EAP in July.
To know more hit http://creADivity.com
TiE Entrepreneurship Summit
The TiE Entrepreneurship is back & this time its happening in Bangalore from December 16 to 18 2008.
The summit focusses on arming entrepreneurs with shields to meet the global challenges. The planning for the event is underway and it is expected to be attended by around 1500 people including VCs, Startups, Entrepreneurs and some of the biggest names in corporate world. The event has already been able to get sponsorship from KPMG, Infosys, ICICI Bank etc. and the list of speakers include Prof C K Prahlad, Charu Sharma, R Gopalakrishnan, J P Solomon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Nandan Nilekani, Naren Gupta and many others.
i-Startups will be covering the entire event and will continue to update you about the latest happenings on the event. To know more on the event hit http://tieworld.org/
The summit focusses on arming entrepreneurs with shields to meet the global challenges. The planning for the event is underway and it is expected to be attended by around 1500 people including VCs, Startups, Entrepreneurs and some of the biggest names in corporate world. The event has already been able to get sponsorship from KPMG, Infosys, ICICI Bank etc. and the list of speakers include Prof C K Prahlad, Charu Sharma, R Gopalakrishnan, J P Solomon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Nandan Nilekani, Naren Gupta and many others.
i-Startups will be covering the entire event and will continue to update you about the latest happenings on the event. To know more on the event hit http://tieworld.org/
Drishti launches DACX Ameyo - Communications suite for Contact Centers and Enterprises
Drishti launches comprehensive communications suite for emerging contact centers and enterprises. The SOA and MDA based technology platform offers telco-grade reliability, high scalability, rapid application development, deployment flexibility along with multi-tenancy capabilities.
Gurgaon, 24 September, 2008 – Drishti-Soft Solutions, a leading provider of communications solutions, announces the launch of an innovative communications suite for contact centers and enterprises. After the huge success of its flagship product DACX Contact Center Suite that has made Drishti a market leader, Drishti has launched a cutting-edge communications solution – DACX Ameyo.
DACX Ameyo is an all-in-one communication suite for enterprises offering next-generation information and communications management capabilities including ACD, IP-PBX, CTI, IVR, Predictive dialer, Voice Logger, Presence, Sales Management, Customer Care, and Reporting. It specifically boasts of its custom communication flows with application integration and collaboration capabilities across multiple media (Voice, Video, Chat, SMS, E-mail).
DACX Ameyo has been designed with a view to offer innovative business packages, on Hosted (SaaS), On-Premise and hybrid models, as per specific needs of enterprises with processes and business models across different verticals such as Telecom, BFSI, Healthcare, Travel and Hospitality. This approach empowers Contact Centers and Enterprises to extract the most from their technology while keeping their technology costs manageable. They can pick-n-choose the best package in terms of price-performance proposition and add on more capabilities as they grow.
Based on new age technologies and concepts like SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture), Drishti's patent pending ComponentService™ framework offers high availability by eliminating single point of failure while processing events and messages in a real-time environment in an enterprise communication system. DACX Ameyo ensures telco-grade reliability at a software level that is difficult to achieve in conventional setups. "Such capabilities have allowed us to innovate further and bring to our customers rich functionalities that empower them to be more agile and adaptable to their changing business environments, "says Nayan Jain, CTO at Drishti. He further elucidates, "MDA enables us to develop new functionalities and capabilities in record time using simple drag and drop interface. It helps us cut back on coding time as well as development costs, the benefits of which are passed on to our customers."
Some of the benefits that DACX Ameyo offers to businesses are -
• Ability to better meet changing business requirements
• Telco-grade reliability in software with distributed architecture
• Lower hardware and technology investments
• Ability to leverage existing applications and infrastructure
• Ability to integrate with communication infrastructure (telephony/data network) and business applications (CRM, HRMS, MIS, CMS) to build composite applications that can be administered and managed centrally
• Flexible business offerings for On-premise, Distributed sites, as well as hosted (SaaS) setups.
Leveraging SOA and open standards, the web-enabled solution facilitates application collaboration and integration. This enhances information flow across different departments and system entities across the enterprise leading to a seamless communications experience.
By providing actionable business intelligence with parameters like Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), management can spend time on improving productivity rather than wasting bandwidth on escalations and internal negotiations. This is critical to improve workforce throughput and operational efficiencies that ultimately impact the bottom - and top-line of the organization.
Moreover the enterprises can leverage their existing applications or systems and do away with the costly maintenance and software upgrades. DACX Ameyo runs on industry-grade, commercial-off-the-shelf servers and does not need expensive legacy gateways, cards, etc. With its all-in-one approach DACX Ameyo also minimizes dependence on third-party applications and tools.
DACX Ameyo has already been recognized with technology awards such as IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Award 2008 and Member's Choice Award 2008. It has been successfully powering business processes at Motilal Oswal Securities Limited (a leading financial advisory firm), Damas (a global brand in jewellery and watch collection) and many other reputed organizations.
About DACX Ameyo
DACX Ameyo is an all-in-one communications suite that offers holistic contact management capabilities for contact centers and enterprises.The IP-based communications solution provides interaction management features such as multi-site, need-based and skill-based routing, self- and assisted-service, multimedia integration (Email, SMS, chat, Fax), IP-PBX/PBX call processing with voicemail and call recording, outbound capability with predictive dialing, ACD with multimedia queuing, IVR with Communication flow Designer, CTI, Quality Monitoring, Collaboration capabilities (Unified Messaging, Presence Management, Conferencing) and Cradle-to-Grave Reporting.Tools such as the Ticketing system and Notification & Reminders can be effortlessly integrated with other back office applications to increase process efficiency levels.For more information, visit www.dacxameyo.com.
About Drishti
Drishti is a leading provider of Contact Center Software & Enterprise Communications Solutions. Drishti's award-winning flagship offering – DACX Contact Center Suite has been a huge success in India and Philippines within a span of two years. Drishti creates innovative Communications technologies for the next-generation Enterprises, empowering them to dynamically manage their Business Processes. Drishti's customers enjoy significant benefits in terms of increase in efficiency levels, reduction in operational costs, flexibility to grow, consistent user experience and a demonstrable ROI.Drishti's innovative solutions are running successfully at more than 200 client locations across India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Dubai and US as recognized by the three awards IP Contact Center Technology Awards 2008, Member's Choice Award 2008 (Best ACD/Switch, Best in Class Overall Category Winner - Best Outbound Solution and Highly Recommended Best After Sales Support) and BPONews Best Contact Center Solution 2007.
Daily Dump
Now dump was the last thing you could have imagined to have a startup coming. Yes, Daily Dump as the name suggests is about composting of the kitchen dump and hence convert all that dump to high quality compost. So what was a natural process is now becoming mechanical but then composting through natural processes takes a lot of time and not as efficient a method as what Daily Dump proposes. Started by some 5 people today Daily Dump has a big list of names in the team section. Last year Daily Dump got nominated for INDEX Awards 2007 for improving the quality of life. Poonam the lady behind the startup is a NID graduate and calls herself Compostwali - now thats surely a innovative designation :)
A nice startup doing extremely good. To know more check http://www.dailydump.org/content/
A nice startup doing extremely good. To know more check http://www.dailydump.org/content/
creADivity nominated in Tata NEN Hottest Startups list
After winning the illustrious TiE EAP award in July, creADivity is back with nomination in Tata NEN HottestStartups list. Though still not ranked, creADivity aims to be listed in top 50 startups of the year. So if by any chance you feel creADivity deserves to be in the list vote for it at http://www.hotteststartups.in/
Cane-O-La
We have seen so many startups on food and beverages but atleast i never thought there was scope of coming up with a venture focussing on only fresh cane juice in different flavors. So if you are looking at having fresh cane juice in mint flavor, or in lemonade flavor Cane-O-La is the place for it. Started in Bangalore they also take orders for parties and have around 5 outlets in Bangalore. Surprisingly it gets around 1500 customers per outlet per month which surely is a huge number.
And trust me on this, they do give some really nice flavored juices and most importantly cane juice has always been given road side raising question on cleanliness, but Cane-O-La is extremely well managed and neat and clean. I have been to there outlet in Jayanagar Bangalore three years back and it was a nice experience.
To know more on Cane-O-La check http://www.cane-o-la.com/index.php
And trust me on this, they do give some really nice flavored juices and most importantly cane juice has always been given road side raising question on cleanliness, but Cane-O-La is extremely well managed and neat and clean. I have been to there outlet in Jayanagar Bangalore three years back and it was a nice experience.
To know more on Cane-O-La check http://www.cane-o-la.com/index.php
Blessingz
The first line i read about this was "Seeking God's blessings in a new age way"! So now God has also gone up the value chain and started giving blessings the new way! :)
But a really nice startup for designer pooja kits which are further customized for every festival. With more than 8 pooja kits for festivals like Diwali, Holi, Ganpati etc. Blessingz has been able to cater to all religious requirements. The concept is similar to Occasionz and only differentiator is the price and so called value & quality. But considering that there's space for many more, Blessingz is at the right place at the right time. It has been able to rack up profits of around 16 L in last year and has more than 50 customers in its client list.
Started by Prakash Mundhra, masters from Symbiosis, it surely is an innovative idea. To know more hit http://www.blessingzonline.com/
But a really nice startup for designer pooja kits which are further customized for every festival. With more than 8 pooja kits for festivals like Diwali, Holi, Ganpati etc. Blessingz has been able to cater to all religious requirements. The concept is similar to Occasionz and only differentiator is the price and so called value & quality. But considering that there's space for many more, Blessingz is at the right place at the right time. It has been able to rack up profits of around 16 L in last year and has more than 50 customers in its client list.
Started by Prakash Mundhra, masters from Symbiosis, it surely is an innovative idea. To know more hit http://www.blessingzonline.com/
Peek-A-Boo
Cute Name!
And yeah so is the startup. Peek-A-Boo designs customized things for kids (so a further split down on ASAP). Peek-A-Boo designs stuff like curtains, blinds, sheers, tie backs, cushion covers etc. So all in all the startup will design your house as per your needs!
As ASAP, this is again started by another lady - Garima Agarwal. Garima who landed in Chennai after her marriage started this in Feb 2005 and today her startup is one of the top 50 startups in TATA-NEN Coolest startup.
Seems like customization and niche are the key words!!To know more hit http://www.peekaboopatterns.com/home.html
And yeah so is the startup. Peek-A-Boo designs customized things for kids (so a further split down on ASAP). Peek-A-Boo designs stuff like curtains, blinds, sheers, tie backs, cushion covers etc. So all in all the startup will design your house as per your needs!
As ASAP, this is again started by another lady - Garima Agarwal. Garima who landed in Chennai after her marriage started this in Feb 2005 and today her startup is one of the top 50 startups in TATA-NEN Coolest startup.
Seems like customization and niche are the key words!!To know more hit http://www.peekaboopatterns.com/home.html
creADivity: All set to be launched
creADivity, an online advertising and marketing portal, after having a successful beta phase is all set to be launched on 11th Sept. creADivity has been able to attract decent number of creatives in last few months and have gone ahead and signed their first few clients as well. Over and above that, creADivity was selected amongst the top startups in TiE Enterpreneurial Accelerated Program - which surely is a matter of pride.
Already on job, creADivity has started competitions through its blog http://thecreadivityblog.wordpress.com/ and is getting tremendous response from creatives and business buyers. Building on the success, creADivity gets launched on 9-11 with a strengthened team and stronger focus to make it "The most creAtive company in the world".
Already on job, creADivity has started competitions through its blog http://thecreadivityblog.wordpress.com/ and is getting tremendous response from creatives and business buyers. Building on the success, creADivity gets launched on 9-11 with a strengthened team and stronger focus to make it "The most creAtive company in the world".
Interview with MS Rao - Founder Aujas Networks - Part 1
Here are some excerpts from the interview of Mr.M Srinivas Rao, Co-founder and CEO of Aujas Networks. Aujas is a pure play digital security services provider offering life-cycle security services such as Application Security, IT Risk Management, Identity Management and Vulnerability Management. Aujas was co-founded by Srinivasa Rao, Sameer Shelke and Manjula Sridhar in 2008. The company received seed funding of $3 million from IDG Ventures India. This is the part 1 of the interview & this will be followed by the video sessions of the interview.
About Mr.Rao’s background: After passing out of IIM Bangalore Mr.Rao joined Sonata Software when it was still an early stage enterprise. From there on, his corporate journey has taken him to a number of small companies that he helped grow large –Network Solutions (Netsol) being an exemplary success. He has also worked for Microland (was again one its first few employees), IBM-Netsol and Cisco (his last corporate stint before starting Aujas).
Q: Mr.Rao, are you a first generation entrepreneur in your family? You have obviously enjoyed your entrepreneurial journey, was it difficult?
A: Yes and No! Entrepreneurship does not run in my family and I have been the first person to go down this path. But it’s not that I started out all of a sudden in entrepreneurship. It was a gradual process. I joined Sonata Software after graduating from IIM B, you can classify this as a bit risky but not totally entrepreneurial. My subsequent jobs were similar in nature and risk levels. I was amongst the initial employees in Microland and started their distribution division & handled various divisions like education services etc. Then Network Solutions happened – I was a partner in the company and we built it up for 8 years before selling it to IBM. Aujas would qualify as the first company that I am attempting to build from ground zero.
Q: A number of our readers are MBA aspirants and are also interested in entrepreneurship. You worked for a start-up after the MBA, any advice for our readers?
A: Well, I joined IIMB right after my engineering without any work-ex. Actually, I did work for 5 days at a cement plant as an electrical engineer (smiles). In my opinion, having some work-ex before doing an MBA gives more value as you are able to relate the concepts that you study to real business life. For a fresh grad, it will all be just theory. Having said that, for me IIM B was a great experience. I made great friends there, learned a lot and there are absolutely no regrets on doing it right after graduation.
Q: So just before you started out in Aujas, you were working with Cisco. What role did the Cisco environment play to spur you to start something on your own?
A: I would say whatever Cisco and other big companies do to do well works for them. There are standard procedures for doing things and there is certain amount inflexibility – of course it works for them. But from a personal point of view, there are factors you cannot control and a number of times you have to toe the line – so to say. I had gone to Cisco thinking that I would spend the next 2 years in the company but exited in about 7 months.
Q: What’s your take on serial entrepreneurship? This is your second entrepreneurial venture after Netsol.
A: Yes, I would say 1990 onwards, the nature of my work has been entrepreneurial. Serial entrepreneurship excites me a lot mainly because when you work in a smaller organization your ability to ‘impact and influence’ is a lot more than when you work for a large company. So that is very encouraging of course. When I worked with IBM after the sale of Netsol to them, my leeway got decreased. Basically the degree to which you can ‘impact and influence’ goes down in such cases.
Q: So what made you stick to IBM-Netsol for one-and-a-half years?
A: Well, we had sold Netsol to IBM and being part of the top management at Netsol we were legally obliged (also, we felt we were duty bound) to integrate Netsol with IBM. We also had to ensure that the interests of our employees – who had become IBM employees then – were protected in the new environment. Another important reason for my staying around was the protection and enhancement of the several successful customer relationships we had built by then. So I basically worked until I could safely say that all interests were taken care of.
Q: One major facet of entrepreneurship is the ability to build teams. What has your experience been in the case of Aujas and what major quality of yours has come in handy while forming this team?
A: Oh! This is an interesting story. Manjula Sridhar (now the Chief Technology Officer at Aujas) was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at IDG Ventures building technology in the area of digital security services. IDG was keen to invest in this space and had been supporting her endeavors. When Manjula’s technology was ready to go into business, IDG asked her to build a suitable team. That’s when she found me on “Linked-in” (http://www.linkedin.com/) and liked my profile. She contacted me and I got interested too. Then we met the IDG team and were asked to prepare a business plan and build the complete start-up team.
As for the other team members, I had known Sameer (Sameer Shelke – Chief Operating Officer for Aujas) from my days at Netsol. He was with the Professional Services team at Cisco and I represented Netsol in an engagement with Cisco. We had a few things in common too – both had worked at Microland at some point in time and both had worked at Cisco too. He joined us as COO. Our other team mate, Naveen is also a Netsol Alumnus.
Q: Interesting, so you were just an acquaintance with Sameer but obviously you remembered him as someone who could join you. How do you manage to identify people with such qualities?
A: I basically look for people who have an entrepreneurial proclivity. You may be working for a large company but your entrepreneurial nature is evident a lot of times. A lot of us secretly aspire (smiles) to be entrepreneurs but are worried what might happen if the company goes bust – worried about our security and safety. Many such people need that one spark to spur them on.
Q: Ok. Let’s come to Aujas specifically. How big is the size of the opportunity for Aujas?
A:
About Mr.Rao’s background: After passing out of IIM Bangalore Mr.Rao joined Sonata Software when it was still an early stage enterprise. From there on, his corporate journey has taken him to a number of small companies that he helped grow large –Network Solutions (Netsol) being an exemplary success. He has also worked for Microland (was again one its first few employees), IBM-Netsol and Cisco (his last corporate stint before starting Aujas).
Q: Mr.Rao, are you a first generation entrepreneur in your family? You have obviously enjoyed your entrepreneurial journey, was it difficult?
A: Yes and No! Entrepreneurship does not run in my family and I have been the first person to go down this path. But it’s not that I started out all of a sudden in entrepreneurship. It was a gradual process. I joined Sonata Software after graduating from IIM B, you can classify this as a bit risky but not totally entrepreneurial. My subsequent jobs were similar in nature and risk levels. I was amongst the initial employees in Microland and started their distribution division & handled various divisions like education services etc. Then Network Solutions happened – I was a partner in the company and we built it up for 8 years before selling it to IBM. Aujas would qualify as the first company that I am attempting to build from ground zero.
Q: A number of our readers are MBA aspirants and are also interested in entrepreneurship. You worked for a start-up after the MBA, any advice for our readers?
A: Well, I joined IIMB right after my engineering without any work-ex. Actually, I did work for 5 days at a cement plant as an electrical engineer (smiles). In my opinion, having some work-ex before doing an MBA gives more value as you are able to relate the concepts that you study to real business life. For a fresh grad, it will all be just theory. Having said that, for me IIM B was a great experience. I made great friends there, learned a lot and there are absolutely no regrets on doing it right after graduation.
Q: So just before you started out in Aujas, you were working with Cisco. What role did the Cisco environment play to spur you to start something on your own?
A: I would say whatever Cisco and other big companies do to do well works for them. There are standard procedures for doing things and there is certain amount inflexibility – of course it works for them. But from a personal point of view, there are factors you cannot control and a number of times you have to toe the line – so to say. I had gone to Cisco thinking that I would spend the next 2 years in the company but exited in about 7 months.
Q: What’s your take on serial entrepreneurship? This is your second entrepreneurial venture after Netsol.
A: Yes, I would say 1990 onwards, the nature of my work has been entrepreneurial. Serial entrepreneurship excites me a lot mainly because when you work in a smaller organization your ability to ‘impact and influence’ is a lot more than when you work for a large company. So that is very encouraging of course. When I worked with IBM after the sale of Netsol to them, my leeway got decreased. Basically the degree to which you can ‘impact and influence’ goes down in such cases.
Q: So what made you stick to IBM-Netsol for one-and-a-half years?
A: Well, we had sold Netsol to IBM and being part of the top management at Netsol we were legally obliged (also, we felt we were duty bound) to integrate Netsol with IBM. We also had to ensure that the interests of our employees – who had become IBM employees then – were protected in the new environment. Another important reason for my staying around was the protection and enhancement of the several successful customer relationships we had built by then. So I basically worked until I could safely say that all interests were taken care of.
Q: One major facet of entrepreneurship is the ability to build teams. What has your experience been in the case of Aujas and what major quality of yours has come in handy while forming this team?
A: Oh! This is an interesting story. Manjula Sridhar (now the Chief Technology Officer at Aujas) was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at IDG Ventures building technology in the area of digital security services. IDG was keen to invest in this space and had been supporting her endeavors. When Manjula’s technology was ready to go into business, IDG asked her to build a suitable team. That’s when she found me on “Linked-in” (http://www.linkedin.com/) and liked my profile. She contacted me and I got interested too. Then we met the IDG team and were asked to prepare a business plan and build the complete start-up team.
As for the other team members, I had known Sameer (Sameer Shelke – Chief Operating Officer for Aujas) from my days at Netsol. He was with the Professional Services team at Cisco and I represented Netsol in an engagement with Cisco. We had a few things in common too – both had worked at Microland at some point in time and both had worked at Cisco too. He joined us as COO. Our other team mate, Naveen is also a Netsol Alumnus.
Q: Interesting, so you were just an acquaintance with Sameer but obviously you remembered him as someone who could join you. How do you manage to identify people with such qualities?
A: I basically look for people who have an entrepreneurial proclivity. You may be working for a large company but your entrepreneurial nature is evident a lot of times. A lot of us secretly aspire (smiles) to be entrepreneurs but are worried what might happen if the company goes bust – worried about our security and safety. Many such people need that one spark to spur them on.
Q: Ok. Let’s come to Aujas specifically. How big is the size of the opportunity for Aujas?
A:
Dignity Second Careers
We have seen many job portals & recently some of them targetting specific group of people. Going in same direction, Dignity Foundation started Dignity Second Careers, a job portal for people above 50 yrs of age. So much like Naukri.com or JobsAhead.com, DignitySecondCareers.com works the same way and supports people who have recently retired and have had a relaxed 3-4 months of break but have started feeling restless sitting idle at home.
Though i couldnt find the similar numbers of job openings like on naukri etc. but the numbers were good, the profiles seemed good and frankly speaking you cant expect the same traction or nos. considering that these job openings needs to be very specific.
A good initiative to help those retired & active souls who still want to go to office at 9 AM and not sit back at home and keep sipping coffee :). To know more hit http://www.dignitysecondcareers.org/Default.aspx
Though i couldnt find the similar numbers of job openings like on naukri etc. but the numbers were good, the profiles seemed good and frankly speaking you cant expect the same traction or nos. considering that these job openings needs to be very specific.
A good initiative to help those retired & active souls who still want to go to office at 9 AM and not sit back at home and keep sipping coffee :). To know more hit http://www.dignitysecondcareers.org/Default.aspx
Bigshoebazaar.com
Bigshoebazaar!
Not many amongst us would have wondered of having an online shoe shop. But yes thats what is the latest on the "i" Startups.
Bigshowbazaar brings to you a collection of world's biggest brands on one platform & to add to it the luxury of having discounts. Not only that, most of the shoes come with 100 days gauratee and free home delivery. Though on one hand you really feel its an innovative thing but on the other there's this feeling of nothing great in the concept. But all said & done, a smile crossed my face on seeing such a shop. To read more hit http://www.bigshoebazaar.com/
Not many amongst us would have wondered of having an online shoe shop. But yes thats what is the latest on the "i" Startups.
Bigshowbazaar brings to you a collection of world's biggest brands on one platform & to add to it the luxury of having discounts. Not only that, most of the shoes come with 100 days gauratee and free home delivery. Though on one hand you really feel its an innovative thing but on the other there's this feeling of nothing great in the concept. But all said & done, a smile crossed my face on seeing such a shop. To read more hit http://www.bigshoebazaar.com/
Wizdom.in
With so many students in India preparing for GRE, Wizdom is the first adaptive learning service for GRE with an aim to provide enjoyable and effective learning anywhere any time. Started a few years back by Anand Kannan from IIT Madras and Yogish Lavanis who holds a degree from IT BHU and IISc Bangalore, Wizdom has been able to bank on the huge market for educational needs. Wizdom connects the Student to an expert teacher, a server with algorithms and a student facilitator to deliver adaptive learning on both PC & Mobile. The method has proved to be effective, convinient and enjoyable and hence Wizdom has been able to attract many students to become a part of the system.
To know more hit http://wizdom.in/index.html
To know more hit http://wizdom.in/index.html
Party Hard Drivers
Party Hard Drivers - I am sure the name makes you feel what it would be!
A novel & wonderful concept executed well in Bombay, Party Hard Drivers provides drivers to drive "your car" back home after you have had "more than justified" alcohol and hence make you reach home safe! PDH (Party Hard Drivers) has banked on the "dont drink & drive" laws and has helped people come, have fun, drink and enjoy till as late as they want without worrying who & how would the car be driven.
Surely a new idea and i am sure it would have been difficult to convience people to handover the keys of their cars to an unkown driver and not just car even your lives and privacy. But then PHD has gone ahead & done a thorough check on drivers, have a detailed record of them and hence slowly have been able to convience people to use their services. Started in Mumbai with 20 drivers, they were able to break even in as less as 4 months & now are planning to move to other locations.
With Indian culture becoming more westernized and with late night parties increasing, PHD surely has cashed in on the idea and are all set to mint millions out of it. to read more hit http://www.partyharddrivers.com/home.html
A novel & wonderful concept executed well in Bombay, Party Hard Drivers provides drivers to drive "your car" back home after you have had "more than justified" alcohol and hence make you reach home safe! PDH (Party Hard Drivers) has banked on the "dont drink & drive" laws and has helped people come, have fun, drink and enjoy till as late as they want without worrying who & how would the car be driven.
Surely a new idea and i am sure it would have been difficult to convience people to handover the keys of their cars to an unkown driver and not just car even your lives and privacy. But then PHD has gone ahead & done a thorough check on drivers, have a detailed record of them and hence slowly have been able to convience people to use their services. Started in Mumbai with 20 drivers, they were able to break even in as less as 4 months & now are planning to move to other locations.
With Indian culture becoming more westernized and with late night parties increasing, PHD surely has cashed in on the idea and are all set to mint millions out of it. to read more hit http://www.partyharddrivers.com/home.html
Discussion with Founder - ASAP!
ASAP - Its not as soon as possible but the name of a venture which is making waves and has been able to create a niche for itself in a period of just 1 year. Today we discuss with Ruchi Chopra, Founder Any Surprise Any Place (ASAP) on how she has been able to build something which is truly innovative.
Manik - Hi Ruchi, So how has the journey been right from ideation of this wonderful idea to execution.
Ruchi - ASAP is someting that i started working on while i was still involved in my corporate career with a clothing giant. From working on weekends to taking it full time its been an exciting and exhilariting journey & i have enjoyed every bit of it.
Manik - Tell us about the execution part of it, i mean how many people are involved and how are you planning to expand both in terms of business and people.
Ruchi - As of now there are 4 people and we are operating out of Haus Khaz Delhi (though we plan to shift soon like we have been doing over last 6 months - laughs). In terms of ideation, it s completely handled by me and my team members support me in the execution effort. Besides this team there is a virtual team of free lancers across the globe whom i involve on need basis. About expansion, we are currently providing services across India & for that matter we have been serving global clients with most of the off shelf products and similar products. In terms of people we are looking at recruiting people and i am trying to find people who can think likewise and dont compromise on the quality front as thats what is highly important for us - one bad service & the word of mouth starts
Manik - Most of your products are serviced to individuals. Any plans to serve corporate customers?
Ruchi - Yes, we have provided services to a few corporate clients last year and are in talks with around 5-6 corporates in Mumbai. (I keep flying to Mumbai & have a small sales team in Mumbai)
Manik - Any advice to youngsters who plan to start afresh?
Ruchi - Hmmm, Some days back i was at LSR and this is one thing that i told there also that you cant have a huge set up to start with. When i started i started very small and hence you cant imagine to have a glass office and other luxuries to begin with. Also, you got to have faith in your idea else its difficult to actually take it forward.
Manik - Great! Thanks Ruchi it was nice speaking to you and wish you all the best in future!
To know more please hit http://www.asap.co.in/
Manik - Hi Ruchi, So how has the journey been right from ideation of this wonderful idea to execution.
Ruchi - ASAP is someting that i started working on while i was still involved in my corporate career with a clothing giant. From working on weekends to taking it full time its been an exciting and exhilariting journey & i have enjoyed every bit of it.
Manik - Tell us about the execution part of it, i mean how many people are involved and how are you planning to expand both in terms of business and people.
Ruchi - As of now there are 4 people and we are operating out of Haus Khaz Delhi (though we plan to shift soon like we have been doing over last 6 months - laughs). In terms of ideation, it s completely handled by me and my team members support me in the execution effort. Besides this team there is a virtual team of free lancers across the globe whom i involve on need basis. About expansion, we are currently providing services across India & for that matter we have been serving global clients with most of the off shelf products and similar products. In terms of people we are looking at recruiting people and i am trying to find people who can think likewise and dont compromise on the quality front as thats what is highly important for us - one bad service & the word of mouth starts
Manik - Most of your products are serviced to individuals. Any plans to serve corporate customers?
Ruchi - Yes, we have provided services to a few corporate clients last year and are in talks with around 5-6 corporates in Mumbai. (I keep flying to Mumbai & have a small sales team in Mumbai)
Manik - Any advice to youngsters who plan to start afresh?
Ruchi - Hmmm, Some days back i was at LSR and this is one thing that i told there also that you cant have a huge set up to start with. When i started i started very small and hence you cant imagine to have a glass office and other luxuries to begin with. Also, you got to have faith in your idea else its difficult to actually take it forward.
Manik - Great! Thanks Ruchi it was nice speaking to you and wish you all the best in future!
To know more please hit http://www.asap.co.in/
Interview with youCharades
youCharades is based on the popular guessing game Charades where one player acts out the words from movies, books etc. We have played the game so often but never imagined having an online version of the same & thats what Alok Kejriwal has for you at youCharades.com.
An interview with the Product Management Team of youCharades -
1. youCharades brings online a concept which is extremely popular. How has the response been and how many users/hits have you been able to generate?
We have been able to achieve a substantial amount of traffic and traction since our launch. We've had a lot of User Generated Charades created. The webcam record feature has really helped. InviziAds.com (Which is a sister concern) were our launch partners and we are happy with the results. It can only get better now.
2. Considering that it falls under the overall umbrella of online games how do you plan to compete with websites which offer similar but vast range of games (incld parent company contests2win)
Its a video entertainment platform. Users can have a lot of fun and it also acts as a Video Talent Platform. Be sure to check out our Facebook app too: http://apps.facebook.com/youcharades
3. What is the current team strength & who all are there in management team?
It's the entire team of Contests2win.com. Alok Kejriwal is the Chairman, Raj Menon is the COO.
4. What is the operating model (revenue) and what are the future plans both in terms of branding and hence increasing the audience base?
We have a well planned marketing plan. We'll concentrate on content and viral marketing too. We are in the process of signing up a lot of partners and this will help in getting some traction too.
To know more hit http://youcharades.com/
An interview with the Product Management Team of youCharades -
1. youCharades brings online a concept which is extremely popular. How has the response been and how many users/hits have you been able to generate?
We have been able to achieve a substantial amount of traffic and traction since our launch. We've had a lot of User Generated Charades created. The webcam record feature has really helped. InviziAds.com (Which is a sister concern) were our launch partners and we are happy with the results. It can only get better now.
2. Considering that it falls under the overall umbrella of online games how do you plan to compete with websites which offer similar but vast range of games (incld parent company contests2win)
Its a video entertainment platform. Users can have a lot of fun and it also acts as a Video Talent Platform. Be sure to check out our Facebook app too: http://apps.facebook.com/youcharades
3. What is the current team strength & who all are there in management team?
It's the entire team of Contests2win.com. Alok Kejriwal is the Chairman, Raj Menon is the COO.
4. What is the operating model (revenue) and what are the future plans both in terms of branding and hence increasing the audience base?
We have a well planned marketing plan. We'll concentrate on content and viral marketing too. We are in the process of signing up a lot of partners and this will help in getting some traction too.
To know more hit http://youcharades.com/
Mobicules
They say they make sense out of social networks!
Most of us do know that social networks provides endless opportunities but how ...we dont know. Thats where Mobicules come into picture. Mobicules builds applications that fits into social networks & "unleash the power". So whether it is conceptualizing, designing, implementing, maintaining or marketing of social network - they do it all! Mobicules already has many applications running on "Facebook" - iAspire & GizmoGuru are the prominent ones and have Spleak Media and BH Networks in the client list.
The brains behind the concept - IIT Kharagpur Alumni - Munish Bansal, Niraj Ranjan & Nitesh Nandy!
To Read more hit http://www.mobicules.com/
Most of us do know that social networks provides endless opportunities but how ...we dont know. Thats where Mobicules come into picture. Mobicules builds applications that fits into social networks & "unleash the power". So whether it is conceptualizing, designing, implementing, maintaining or marketing of social network - they do it all! Mobicules already has many applications running on "Facebook" - iAspire & GizmoGuru are the prominent ones and have Spleak Media and BH Networks in the client list.
The brains behind the concept - IIT Kharagpur Alumni - Munish Bansal, Niraj Ranjan & Nitesh Nandy!
To Read more hit http://www.mobicules.com/
Guruji.com
The trend seems to be catching. Everytime i write about a website, the name seems to get more catchy!
Guruji.com is a Indian search engine. Reading this the first reaction was - another search engine. Then i went ahead and read the reason behind the name Guruji. Guru is a Indian word mostly use for spiritual reasons. Keeping the same in mind Guruji.com was developed to become a technology guru showcasing Indian content. Fair enough, but that doesnt make it an innovative startup.
I went ahead and checked the Management Team and found out that founders had a strong background with good pedagogy and relevant experience. All the more reasons for me to be shocked - How can 4 people with such strong background come up with a product which has no differentiator. To add to it Sequoia Capital as investors!!...
But there are some good points which i only realised when i checked the search engine. One, It is very India specific so what you get is specific information. Two, you have a coloumn "City" and when you search using that you get the contact details for such websites where applicable. Third, if you want to see movies it can be a good search engine. Despite the above three couldnt find a "WOW" factor unless missed something.
May be a discussion with founders or if you find something which i missed, pls. comment! Read more on http://guruji.com
Guruji.com is a Indian search engine. Reading this the first reaction was - another search engine. Then i went ahead and read the reason behind the name Guruji. Guru is a Indian word mostly use for spiritual reasons. Keeping the same in mind Guruji.com was developed to become a technology guru showcasing Indian content. Fair enough, but that doesnt make it an innovative startup.
I went ahead and checked the Management Team and found out that founders had a strong background with good pedagogy and relevant experience. All the more reasons for me to be shocked - How can 4 people with such strong background come up with a product which has no differentiator. To add to it Sequoia Capital as investors!!...
But there are some good points which i only realised when i checked the search engine. One, It is very India specific so what you get is specific information. Two, you have a coloumn "City" and when you search using that you get the contact details for such websites where applicable. Third, if you want to see movies it can be a good search engine. Despite the above three couldnt find a "WOW" factor unless missed something.
May be a discussion with founders or if you find something which i missed, pls. comment! Read more on http://guruji.com
Entrepreneurs in India: Are they missing on creating differentiators?
Over last few years there have been so many startups coming up in India that it has become extremely difficult to differentiate amongst them. So you really don’t find many sectors which are still unexplored but that also means that there’s lots of scope of innovation. Sectors like online travel which wasn’t a hot bed for startups a few years back now has more than 15 competitors in India providing services from booking tickets online to booking hotels. A year back a bus ticketing website would have been a dream – a far fetched one - but today you have websites like RedBus.in, ticketwala.com, ElineBus.com and many similar websites providing services.
To Read the complete article pls. click Evan Carmicheal
To Read the complete article pls. click Evan Carmicheal
Smart Campus
Smart Campus, an extremely comprehensive suite of "campus" solution by iDenizen was in news recently for receiving USD 2.25 million funding from Indo-US Ventures.
Designed for educational institutes, Smart Campus integrates various departments and functions ensuring a technology enabled campus. So whether it is the admission details or the attendance details of students and staff - Smart Campus covers it all. All this thereby brings in streamlining of the entire process and hence increase staff productivity.
Now one of the things which made me look skeptically was "WOW factor for students". One it is making the process disciplined, two it has a detailed attendance feature - still WOW for students..Poor chaps, where is the WOW. WOW which it brings for students is reduction in administrative work and hence more focus on academics. I really dont know if students would like it! :)
Anyways a nice product and now that i am out of college i "can" say - surely a value add. To know more hit http://www.smartcampus.in/
Designed for educational institutes, Smart Campus integrates various departments and functions ensuring a technology enabled campus. So whether it is the admission details or the attendance details of students and staff - Smart Campus covers it all. All this thereby brings in streamlining of the entire process and hence increase staff productivity.
Now one of the things which made me look skeptically was "WOW factor for students". One it is making the process disciplined, two it has a detailed attendance feature - still WOW for students..Poor chaps, where is the WOW. WOW which it brings for students is reduction in administrative work and hence more focus on academics. I really dont know if students would like it! :)
Anyways a nice product and now that i am out of college i "can" say - surely a value add. To know more hit http://www.smartcampus.in/
LordsOfOdds
LordsOfOdds - Nice name, brings to mind the battle field with many horses or Lords of Rings!
But LordsofOdds is slightly different - A platform with a mission to showcase Wisdom of Crowds through exiciting games on sports, entertainment and current affairs. LordsOfOdds is a user driven platform where users can drive the website through fun filled inputs. So you predict an event, get people to buy or sell "Loots" points for that event and win/lose based on the outcome of the event. Also as the players/audiences keep trading the prices keep going up & down.
Isnt that gambling! So would Sachin make more runs or Dravid?? Wouldnt that question qualify for our "Satta Market".
Now this gets me thinking, may be we should ask the founders on this. Anyways to know more keep reading http://www.lordsofodds.com/index/
But LordsofOdds is slightly different - A platform with a mission to showcase Wisdom of Crowds through exiciting games on sports, entertainment and current affairs. LordsOfOdds is a user driven platform where users can drive the website through fun filled inputs. So you predict an event, get people to buy or sell "Loots" points for that event and win/lose based on the outcome of the event. Also as the players/audiences keep trading the prices keep going up & down.
Isnt that gambling! So would Sachin make more runs or Dravid?? Wouldnt that question qualify for our "Satta Market".
Now this gets me thinking, may be we should ask the founders on this. Anyways to know more keep reading http://www.lordsofodds.com/index/
Old Post: Tyroo Launches Localization feature for SMEs
Though its a little old and many would already be knowing about this feature, i thought i will still write it down.
Tyroo has launched its new localization strategy for SMEs advertising. SMEs in India hasnt been able to enjoy the full benefit of online advertising because whenever you place an online ad & someone clicks on the same - it takes you to the website of the SME. Considering that the SME market in India is still in growing stage most of the SMEs dont have a personal website and hence havent gone ahead with online advertising.
It is here that Tyroo's Localization feature adds value to Indian SMEs. Using Tyroo's software whenever one clicks on the add it takes to a webpage with a form which when filled by the user automatically sends a message to the SME on his/her mobile. Now this helps him get the valuable leads on his mobile.
Awesome feature! I am sure by now many SMEs will have enjoyed & reaped benefits out of it and those who havent please go ahead and try it.
Tyroo has launched its new localization strategy for SMEs advertising. SMEs in India hasnt been able to enjoy the full benefit of online advertising because whenever you place an online ad & someone clicks on the same - it takes you to the website of the SME. Considering that the SME market in India is still in growing stage most of the SMEs dont have a personal website and hence havent gone ahead with online advertising.
It is here that Tyroo's Localization feature adds value to Indian SMEs. Using Tyroo's software whenever one clicks on the add it takes to a webpage with a form which when filled by the user automatically sends a message to the SME on his/her mobile. Now this helps him get the valuable leads on his mobile.
Awesome feature! I am sure by now many SMEs will have enjoyed & reaped benefits out of it and those who havent please go ahead and try it.
ApnaBill.com
The name itself says it all!
ApnaBill.com is a platform to turn the offline model into an online one - targetting the prepaid segment. So though we had airtel & tata's of the world helping us pay our bills online, ApnaBill.com has gone a step ahead and tied up with these vendors and hence reduced the operational overhead involved. Some of the operators include Airtel, Aircel, BPL Mobile, Dish TV, Spice, Tata etc.
A product of four fraction from Delhi, team at ApnaBill.com consists of Mayank who has around 4 yrs of IT exp and a B Tech degree, Sandeep again from IT industry with similar background and Sameer who is a Post Graduate in International Marketing and looks afer the marketing of ApnaBill.com. All in all a very young and enthusiastic team.
ApnaBill.com was also a part of the startups list at the 4th edition of Proto which was recently held at IIT Delhi on 18/19th July and are currently looking for Venture Capital Investments. So if you are a VC and want to invest in a budding idea you know where to go!
An idea which already existed in the market but an audience which wasnt targetted - all the best folks! To Read more http://www.apnabill.com/
ApnaBill.com is a platform to turn the offline model into an online one - targetting the prepaid segment. So though we had airtel & tata's of the world helping us pay our bills online, ApnaBill.com has gone a step ahead and tied up with these vendors and hence reduced the operational overhead involved. Some of the operators include Airtel, Aircel, BPL Mobile, Dish TV, Spice, Tata etc.
A product of four fraction from Delhi, team at ApnaBill.com consists of Mayank who has around 4 yrs of IT exp and a B Tech degree, Sandeep again from IT industry with similar background and Sameer who is a Post Graduate in International Marketing and looks afer the marketing of ApnaBill.com. All in all a very young and enthusiastic team.
ApnaBill.com was also a part of the startups list at the 4th edition of Proto which was recently held at IIT Delhi on 18/19th July and are currently looking for Venture Capital Investments. So if you are a VC and want to invest in a budding idea you know where to go!
An idea which already existed in the market but an audience which wasnt targetted - all the best folks! To Read more http://www.apnabill.com/
Updates on i-Startups Library
Latest Updates on i-Startups Library: Articles
1. 7 Habits of highly successul founders by V C Karthic - Founder BuzzWorks
2. Why Business Plans dont get funded by Akira Hirai - Founder Cayenne Consulting
3. Making a Great Product by Sachin Bhatia - Co Founder Drishti
Read them on http://www.i-startups.com/Library.html
1. 7 Habits of highly successul founders by V C Karthic - Founder BuzzWorks
2. Why Business Plans dont get funded by Akira Hirai - Founder Cayenne Consulting
3. Making a Great Product by Sachin Bhatia - Co Founder Drishti
Read them on http://www.i-startups.com/Library.html
Proto
The fourth edition of Proto took place at IIT, Delhi on 18-19 July. Though i wasnt lucky enough to reach the venue i did happen to see some of it through live video streaming.
The event had an impressive lineup of 15 startups from different segments & also saw amazing support from across the startup community. The list included companies like LootStreet, Crederity, Muziboo, ApnaBill and many others.
Considering the fact that Proto was only started around 2 years ago the response that it has been getting is just amazing. And considering the increasing number of enterpreneurs India is witnessing, events like Proto are only going to see these numbers going up
The event had an impressive lineup of 15 startups from different segments & also saw amazing support from across the startup community. The list included companies like LootStreet, Crederity, Muziboo, ApnaBill and many others.
Considering the fact that Proto was only started around 2 years ago the response that it has been getting is just amazing. And considering the increasing number of enterpreneurs India is witnessing, events like Proto are only going to see these numbers going up
Webyantra
A Tech Blog which covers profiles of Indian products and services, Webyantra is a forum for those products which use internet as a delivery.
Despite being a very generic idea, the content on the website brings a lot of knowledge on table. Online Partner for Proto (July'08 Delhi Edition) the fundamentals of webyantra is very similar to i-Startups (another reason for it being a part of the illustrious list on this blog). Much like what i-Startups is to all the Startups, Webyantra is to Web 2.0 (though they say they are also tragetting Web 1.0). And all this web focussed have to have Indian connection to be a part of Webyantra. So whether its Navajo (word based facebook)or Kelly Services India Salary Handbook - all of that is present on Webyantra.
To read more on the same hit http://www.webyantra.net/
Despite being a very generic idea, the content on the website brings a lot of knowledge on table. Online Partner for Proto (July'08 Delhi Edition) the fundamentals of webyantra is very similar to i-Startups (another reason for it being a part of the illustrious list on this blog). Much like what i-Startups is to all the Startups, Webyantra is to Web 2.0 (though they say they are also tragetting Web 1.0). And all this web focussed have to have Indian connection to be a part of Webyantra. So whether its Navajo (word based facebook)or Kelly Services India Salary Handbook - all of that is present on Webyantra.
To read more on the same hit http://www.webyantra.net/
i-Startups Library
i-Startups Consulting has added one more feature on the website, i-Startups Library and with the same has moved a step closer to its vision of building a one stop sTartup shop.
i-Startups Library will be a database for wealth of information that is required by a young enterpreneur during his startups journey. So whether it is Business Plans, Market Strategy, Collaterals, or experiences of fellow enterprenaurs: i-Startups Library will have all that.
To access the same check http://i-startups.com/Library.html
i-Startups Library will be a database for wealth of information that is required by a young enterpreneur during his startups journey. So whether it is Business Plans, Market Strategy, Collaterals, or experiences of fellow enterprenaurs: i-Startups Library will have all that.
To access the same check http://i-startups.com/Library.html
Memsaab
The name sounds like its just the website that's "just for women"!
And actually thats true. Memsaab.com is a networking website for "memsaab's" around the world, providing the Indian women a platform to join hands together. And its not another female centric orkut but "one voice" to the female community. The existence has had to be for a purpose which is support females around globe, fight against injustice as a single voice, build a sense of togetherness and host regional chapters to build a community feeling.
The platform covers a whole lot of things like Blogging section, Discussion forums, and a chat section all very female oriented.
To me its another startup with little purpose! 1 on 5...Hit http://www.memsaab.com/ to know more
And actually thats true. Memsaab.com is a networking website for "memsaab's" around the world, providing the Indian women a platform to join hands together. And its not another female centric orkut but "one voice" to the female community. The existence has had to be for a purpose which is support females around globe, fight against injustice as a single voice, build a sense of togetherness and host regional chapters to build a community feeling.
The platform covers a whole lot of things like Blogging section, Discussion forums, and a chat section all very female oriented.
To me its another startup with little purpose! 1 on 5...Hit http://www.memsaab.com/ to know more
New @ i-Startups
Though i started the blog with the idea of covering only innovative startups, but over the past few days i have felt that i really need to cover a lot more things if i-Startups intends to become a one stop shop for all startup needs. And based on that i have come across some of the things which i plan to add to the i-Startups Setup. Some of them are mentioned below and you are free to give your feedback on the same:
1. Video Interviews - This section will cover video interviews of startup founders who have made a mark over the last few years.
2. Editorial Section - This section will involve articles from people who have been there done it all. The articles will be around their experiences and any other topic of interest directly related to enterpreneurship. This section will be hosted on i-Startups Library (http://i-startups.com/Library.html)
So is you feel you can and would like to contribute towards building i-Startups as a "One Stop" startup shop for all the budding and young enterprenaurs, please mail me with the subject line as "Video Interviews". "Editorial Section" or "Blogger's Coloumn" on contact@i-startups.com and i will be quick to get back to you.
1. Video Interviews - This section will cover video interviews of startup founders who have made a mark over the last few years.
2. Editorial Section - This section will involve articles from people who have been there done it all. The articles will be around their experiences and any other topic of interest directly related to enterpreneurship. This section will be hosted on i-Startups Library (http://i-startups.com/Library.html)
So is you feel you can and would like to contribute towards building i-Startups as a "One Stop" startup shop for all the budding and young enterprenaurs, please mail me with the subject line as "Video Interviews". "Editorial Section" or "Blogger's Coloumn" on contact@i-startups.com and i will be quick to get back to you.
Powerset
Founded in 2005, Powerset's first product is search engine for Wikipedia.
So after google, we now have a dedicated wiki search. But do we need it and isnt google more effective. To a certain extent yes, but if you want a detailed and in depth search on Wiki than Powerset seems to be an awesome solution. You can type sentences, phrases or keywords and Powerset will get you the closest answer in Wiki and sometimes even gets the correct answer directly. Besides Wikipedia, Powerset also get the articles/responses from Freebase which is an open community with tons of information.
Though fundamentally it s a search engine and there's nothing much to differentiate except that its in a niche segment - Wiki Users.
To check if it works well hit http://www.powerset.com/
So after google, we now have a dedicated wiki search. But do we need it and isnt google more effective. To a certain extent yes, but if you want a detailed and in depth search on Wiki than Powerset seems to be an awesome solution. You can type sentences, phrases or keywords and Powerset will get you the closest answer in Wiki and sometimes even gets the correct answer directly. Besides Wikipedia, Powerset also get the articles/responses from Freebase which is an open community with tons of information.
Though fundamentally it s a search engine and there's nothing much to differentiate except that its in a niche segment - Wiki Users.
To check if it works well hit http://www.powerset.com/
Interview with Founder & CEO - Management Paradise
1. Brief us about the value proposition of Management Paradise and how it is different from other MBA forums like PG or CoolAvenues?
Management Paradise like PG and CoolAvenues is a community. If you ask me, PG's expertise lies in Helping students crack CAT, Coolavenue's expertise lies in bschool related news, while MP has a strong foundation in helping students in their research reports. So if a person is confused about what he should include in his report on "Venture Capital", he logs on to MP and puts up a help request, he gets help on it and after completing his project he posts that report on the forum. Now another student doing the same research will use it as a reference point and build on it. Our TG started from BMS, we expanded into MBA. After finding that the market for Banking and Insurance has become lucrative, we spearheaded it with Priyanka Pisat TYBBI student and Founder for our BBI forum on our side. Our vision is simple, to make MP a resource so powerful that every person who has interest in Management Education, regardless of whether he has secured admission in a bschool or not, can become as proficient by learning from others experiences. And all this without any pressure on his/her pocket.
2. Since when has Management Paradise being in existence and what all were the problems you faced in building it up?
Management Paradise has been in existence since Nov 2004. It all began when I was studying in SYBMS. I had a strong urge to do something big, to change the way things worked and to better the education system. With this in mind I founded MP which flourished with the help of many like minded people.There were a lot of problems in the beginning because technologically challenged professors do not understand that the web is all about sharing information. If there was not sharing of information, the internet wouldnt be such big a thing. So while a few spread bad PR about the forum in the beginning, the same were found asking me to refer students to them for coaching classes after the forum showed signs of success.The forum is still misunderstood by many as a place from where they can just copy paste project reports but most of the members know that its an ocean of information about management education, a double edged sword that can be used either way.Getting people when you arent making enough monetary gains to pay them and expecting the same amount of commitment and passion has been one more challenge but i'm lucky to have found some gems that have stood with me like pillarstones.
3. Besides you who all are inolved in setting up of Management Paradise and brief us about the profiles of Founders?
Management Paradise the concept was my brainchild, and was founded by me. Though as days went by a lot many people joined MP and worked voluntarily for it. Many people have worked with me in the past 4 years though Key people include.
Bhavin Mehta : Marketing Head and Administrator, the stallion, pursuing his MBA from UTS, Sydney, Australia.
Nilesh Nagdev: Head Forum Moderator and content developer, is trying to crack the CAT
Nikhil Gadodia: Human Resource Head works full time with a media house as senior HR manager.
Vishal Bhawsinghka: Head Public Relations and is pursuing his MBA from XLRI which has been sponsored by accenture where he is undergoing training.
Pratik Mehta: person who Co-authored 2 books for tybms students under the MP publication umbrella is pursuing his MBA from Lala Lajpatrai
Kartik Raichura: Founder and CEO, is juggling with his MBA at Welingkars and managing this brilliant team that is commited to revolutionize management education.
Every leader needs followers and its only fair that I mention other potential leaders in MP which include Roshni Bhatia, Deepak Khanna, Melroy Lopes, Rahul Parab, Rohan Kachalia and Fatima Khan who played key roles to take MP reach where it is today.
4. Any messages you would like to give to young enterprenaurs?
YOU are always right. The world might not be ready for your innovations, you might be considered a wannabe , a whacko, your ideas might be laughed or frowned upon but the only thing you need to know is, if you truly feel that YOUR idea is going to help change lives, then there is nothing that should stop you from giving it your best shot. Your passion will drive your team achieve excellence. There is NO right or wrong in this world. Everything is relative which is why you should never shy away from experimenting.
IIM A alumni sells vegetables in Bihar
Yes, I am sure the heading made you sit up.
27-year-old Kaushalendra, an IIM A alumni has a dream of making Bihar a Vegetable hub and has put in the first steps to realize his dream. He launched the private - public venture about a couple of months ago with assistance from Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) with just one pushcart and has now gone on to place an order for 50 more carts, thanks to a collateral-free loan of Rs 50 lakh from Punjab National Bank. with more than 300 farmers associated with him in his venture, he is all set to bring vegetables from Bihar on every Indian dinning table and who knows 5 years down the line this might become a global phenomenon. and thats what he wants to target - "In five years, we would like to target the vegetable markets in the US, Europe and Japan," Kaushalendra says
He has brought in a new concept of the pushcarts being used for selling vegetable - Ice cooled vegetable push carts - providing fresh vegetables to the buyers. With electronic weighing machines and a cashmemo authenticating the quality and quantity of vegetables, he has been able to touch the pulse of Indian buyers.
"I am not only selling vegetables, but also the name of the farmer and the village where it has been grown. The farmer should not remain an unsung hero any more," he says pointing at the tag on the vegetables which has the mention of the name of the farmer and his village.
Amongst the many innovative startups that i have mentioned on my blog over the past few months, this seems to be the most innovative and most courageous of the lot.
I am sure Lalu Prasad Yadav would be sitting proudly seeing his native Bihar creating waves.
27-year-old Kaushalendra, an IIM A alumni has a dream of making Bihar a Vegetable hub and has put in the first steps to realize his dream. He launched the private - public venture about a couple of months ago with assistance from Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) with just one pushcart and has now gone on to place an order for 50 more carts, thanks to a collateral-free loan of Rs 50 lakh from Punjab National Bank. with more than 300 farmers associated with him in his venture, he is all set to bring vegetables from Bihar on every Indian dinning table and who knows 5 years down the line this might become a global phenomenon. and thats what he wants to target - "In five years, we would like to target the vegetable markets in the US, Europe and Japan," Kaushalendra says
He has brought in a new concept of the pushcarts being used for selling vegetable - Ice cooled vegetable push carts - providing fresh vegetables to the buyers. With electronic weighing machines and a cashmemo authenticating the quality and quantity of vegetables, he has been able to touch the pulse of Indian buyers.
"I am not only selling vegetables, but also the name of the farmer and the village where it has been grown. The farmer should not remain an unsung hero any more," he says pointing at the tag on the vegetables which has the mention of the name of the farmer and his village.
Amongst the many innovative startups that i have mentioned on my blog over the past few months, this seems to be the most innovative and most courageous of the lot.
I am sure Lalu Prasad Yadav would be sitting proudly seeing his native Bihar creating waves.
OnlyGizmos
OnlyGizmos.com – Your Daily Dose of Technology!
As the years pass the role of technology in our lives and the society has grown significantly. Gadgets and Gizmos is the heartbeat of the youth and OnlyGizmos presents technology in a unique way.
OnlyGizmos actively covers technology festivals and events. The coverage of the IIT TechFest 2008 has been the most significant till date. OnlyGizmos brings an all new culture of online media, we cover important events live and Report them live over the web. Our live reporting of the IIT TechFest 08 and several other product launches across the globe brings the latest to our readers just as it happens.
“In the last 6 months we have had over 300000 hits, mainly from India. We are committed to bring the latest in technology to our audience. We live technology, we dream technology, we wakeup every morning to see new gadgets and gizmos.”. - said Annkur P Agarwal, Editor – OnlyGizmos.com and CEO Kratee e-commerce and consulting Ltd.
What more, listen to the industry gurus speaking exclusively on technology, internet and more. OnlyGizmos invites CEO’s and techgurus to publish guest posts on their view of the tech world.
The team at OnlyGizmos features several writers from different fields and this provide a unique mix to the readers. OnlyGizmos presents a variety of exclusive content ranging from tech-reviews to tech-tips.
About Kratee:
Founded in 1985 Kratee e-commerce and consulting Ltd (Previously known as Olympic Advertising Ltd) worked as an advertising agency in the early 90’s. With changing trends recently the company has dedicated its focus on e-commerce. Kratee plans to expand its operations in areas of ecommerce, software development and online media.
As the years pass the role of technology in our lives and the society has grown significantly. Gadgets and Gizmos is the heartbeat of the youth and OnlyGizmos presents technology in a unique way.
OnlyGizmos actively covers technology festivals and events. The coverage of the IIT TechFest 2008 has been the most significant till date. OnlyGizmos brings an all new culture of online media, we cover important events live and Report them live over the web. Our live reporting of the IIT TechFest 08 and several other product launches across the globe brings the latest to our readers just as it happens.
“In the last 6 months we have had over 300000 hits, mainly from India. We are committed to bring the latest in technology to our audience. We live technology, we dream technology, we wakeup every morning to see new gadgets and gizmos.”. - said Annkur P Agarwal, Editor – OnlyGizmos.com and CEO Kratee e-commerce and consulting Ltd.
What more, listen to the industry gurus speaking exclusively on technology, internet and more. OnlyGizmos invites CEO’s and techgurus to publish guest posts on their view of the tech world.
The team at OnlyGizmos features several writers from different fields and this provide a unique mix to the readers. OnlyGizmos presents a variety of exclusive content ranging from tech-reviews to tech-tips.
About Kratee:
Founded in 1985 Kratee e-commerce and consulting Ltd (Previously known as Olympic Advertising Ltd) worked as an advertising agency in the early 90’s. With changing trends recently the company has dedicated its focus on e-commerce. Kratee plans to expand its operations in areas of ecommerce, software development and online media.
NeedGrub
After MealPundit, its time for another foodie startup.
NeedGrub - An online food guide is very similar to Meals Pundit and surely a competitor. It offers similar services in terms of the restaurants and other food hang outs but has a far more spread out reach and covers more regions that MealPundit. Besides the online guide, it has also pages dedicated to food events so if you want to find out where is the most delicious buffet going to happen on this sunday - NeedGrub is the place to check.
NeedGrub also scores over MealPundit over its ease of use both for the users and audience - with user friendly and dynamic pages restaurant owners can add their specialities, restaurant details, special events etc.
Thats not all, all the connosuiers can add their foodie reviews and help the other foodies know which is the place to be for a evening snack & by writing reviews you are not just helping other hungry souls but also making yourself eligible to win a NeedGrub T Shirt.
Though there's not much difference in terms of concept, NeedGrub surely has packaged it wonderfully well and surely scores above its competitors.
To read more hit http://needgrub.com/
Meal Pundit
After having search engines for almost all the things on earth, its time to cater to the man's basic needs (not talking about that... )
Meals Pundit is an end to end food junction with options to search your favorite restaurants, know your cuisines and other foodie stuff. So you will find places to search coffee bars/pubs/pizza parlours etc and also find receipes for chinese food/gujrati food etc. And as a token of "pls. comeback to my site" meals pundit also have contests of the month, monthly health tips and monthly myth buster. Ater covering Delhi, Pune and Chennai the next destination for meals pundit is Mumbai.
A decent startup on a very sensitive issue - Meals :) Know more by checking http://mealpundit.com/default.aspx?mp=2
Meals Pundit is an end to end food junction with options to search your favorite restaurants, know your cuisines and other foodie stuff. So you will find places to search coffee bars/pubs/pizza parlours etc and also find receipes for chinese food/gujrati food etc. And as a token of "pls. comeback to my site" meals pundit also have contests of the month, monthly health tips and monthly myth buster. Ater covering Delhi, Pune and Chennai the next destination for meals pundit is Mumbai.
A decent startup on a very sensitive issue - Meals :) Know more by checking http://mealpundit.com/default.aspx?mp=2
Yulop
Pronounced You Loop!
Yulop is a bangalore based company with an aim to provide location based services. So if you are in bangalore and want to search a hangout place, yulop is the place to check. Yulop covers the events happening in the cities and even provides an extensive search based on an individual’s needs. Covering basically Bangalore, the spectrum seems to be too small and considering that almost everyone seems to know atleast 3-4 pals in Bangalore, a need of similar services exists in other cities more than in Bangalore. Rental’s and PGs are important considering so many people travel to Bangalore from other parts of India, and hence that is one thing that seems to catch attention.
Keeping all in mind, the scope of services seems small though they have been able to cover Bangalore extremely well. To know more hit http://www.yulop.com/.
2.5 on a scale of 5.
AdvocateKhoj
I am sure most of us would have gone through tough times to get the forms attested, get a notary signature or get in touch with advocates when we were caught riding bikes without licence. That was some days back…Today, we again find ourselves searching for legal advises whether it is for opening & registering a company or something else.
AdvocateKhoj seems to have been able to read the pulse of millions of Indians and have created a communication platform to connect millions of people to qualified legal help at which ever location they are. AdvocateKhoj works on web and hence the hassles are far reduced. So the only thing you need to do is to login and send across your query & the legal assistance is all yours. Based on the responses of “n” advocates you can choose one and go ahead with him/her during your session with court.
Considering the confidentiality of details, AdvocateKhoj has used Internal Messaging System (IMS) for security purposes. And if you have any questions/queries that you would want to do research on, AdvocateKhoj comes with a Law Library and hence you have all the details on your screen at the click of mouse.
A nice package, wonderfully executed. Hit http://www.advocatekhoj.com/index.php to know more.
AdvocateKhoj seems to have been able to read the pulse of millions of Indians and have created a communication platform to connect millions of people to qualified legal help at which ever location they are. AdvocateKhoj works on web and hence the hassles are far reduced. So the only thing you need to do is to login and send across your query & the legal assistance is all yours. Based on the responses of “n” advocates you can choose one and go ahead with him/her during your session with court.
Considering the confidentiality of details, AdvocateKhoj has used Internal Messaging System (IMS) for security purposes. And if you have any questions/queries that you would want to do research on, AdvocateKhoj comes with a Law Library and hence you have all the details on your screen at the click of mouse.
A nice package, wonderfully executed. Hit http://www.advocatekhoj.com/index.php to know more.
Tolmolbol
Web Guide!
That seems to be the buzz word these days and all of a sudden you will find lots of web guides on internet. Some of them very basic and some trying to keep pace with changing environment. Tolmolbol is “another” web guide, but with a difference. Atleast i felt that way.
The Website is in beta stage and has already been able to get a huge database on various categories and various cities compiled. So whether it is Delhi or Faridabad or it is Health & Medical, Tolmolbol has been able to get most of them in place. The web interface is smartly designed and unlike most web guides it comes with attractive and easy to use interface. And it doesnt stop only on helping you find locations but also has place to get “social” and meet new friends ask tips etc. Now thats something which is already present in every second website on the web world.
Tolmolbol has been able to nicely display things and brings freshness to the “web guide” culture but besides that its the same website you will find at many places on the web. So the challenge would not just be branding but also keeping the database updated as thats the only differentiator it would have & with a team of 5 people from BITS Pilani involved in setting this up, i do hope that will be possible.
To read more on Tolmolbol hit http://www.tolmolbol.com/index/
That seems to be the buzz word these days and all of a sudden you will find lots of web guides on internet. Some of them very basic and some trying to keep pace with changing environment. Tolmolbol is “another” web guide, but with a difference. Atleast i felt that way.
The Website is in beta stage and has already been able to get a huge database on various categories and various cities compiled. So whether it is Delhi or Faridabad or it is Health & Medical, Tolmolbol has been able to get most of them in place. The web interface is smartly designed and unlike most web guides it comes with attractive and easy to use interface. And it doesnt stop only on helping you find locations but also has place to get “social” and meet new friends ask tips etc. Now thats something which is already present in every second website on the web world.
Tolmolbol has been able to nicely display things and brings freshness to the “web guide” culture but besides that its the same website you will find at many places on the web. So the challenge would not just be branding but also keeping the database updated as thats the only differentiator it would have & with a team of 5 people from BITS Pilani involved in setting this up, i do hope that will be possible.
To read more on Tolmolbol hit http://www.tolmolbol.com/index/
Interview with Founder BrewHaHA
1. Please provide a brief on your venture “BrewHaHa” & also how you happened to choose the name?
BrewHaHa is a venture in the retail space that looks to deliver “fun for groups”. We do this by providing a unique dining/cafe experience centered on board games, events and hobbies of different kinds.
The name is a pun on the word brouhaha (which means “hubub/excitement/commotion/uproar”). We chose it because it communicates the concept of food/beverages (brews) and fun (HAHA!), and “smart fun” at that, which appeals to our core demographic of young, hip/smart users!
2. Who all are involved in “BrewHaHa” & a very small introduction of them.
The concept was founded by Sreeram (myself) and Mansur. Surga joined the team later. You can read more about us at http://brewhaha.in/about.html
3. What were the issues you faced while coming up with this platform?
Real estate costs, domain experience, funding and manpower/staffing were the main challenge areas
4. How has the response been to “BrewHaHa” and how do you foresee it in future?
The user response has been tremendously encouraging. We get lots of franchise enquiries as well as folks blogging about their time here, evangelizing the concept through chain mails as well as high level of repeat walk ins. So its super cool to see customers being passionate about the concept.
If you have any queries, please feel free to mail me at istartups@gmail.com and i will forward the same to Sreeram - Founder, BrewHaHa
BrewHaHa is a venture in the retail space that looks to deliver “fun for groups”. We do this by providing a unique dining/cafe experience centered on board games, events and hobbies of different kinds.
The name is a pun on the word brouhaha (which means “hubub/excitement/commotion/uproar”). We chose it because it communicates the concept of food/beverages (brews) and fun (HAHA!), and “smart fun” at that, which appeals to our core demographic of young, hip/smart users!
2. Who all are involved in “BrewHaHa” & a very small introduction of them.
The concept was founded by Sreeram (myself) and Mansur. Surga joined the team later. You can read more about us at http://brewhaha.in/about.html
3. What were the issues you faced while coming up with this platform?
Real estate costs, domain experience, funding and manpower/staffing were the main challenge areas
4. How has the response been to “BrewHaHa” and how do you foresee it in future?
The user response has been tremendously encouraging. We get lots of franchise enquiries as well as folks blogging about their time here, evangelizing the concept through chain mails as well as high level of repeat walk ins. So its super cool to see customers being passionate about the concept.
If you have any queries, please feel free to mail me at istartups@gmail.com and i will forward the same to Sreeram - Founder, BrewHaHa
Loconomy
Loconomy is a year old startup, currently operating only in Bangalore. It aims to combine the concepts of web/application hosting, local search and user reviews into a single unified platform.
For consumer-oriented local businesses, Loconomy is first publishing platform. It provides tools and backend support for businesses to publish and manage all type of business information including catalogues, photos, videos, deals, events and more.
Loconomy Loco sites platform allows businesses to create custom designed dynamic websites, managed and hosted by Loconomy. In addition to this, Loconomy also provides a growing set of applications that businesses can choose to subscribe to e.g. online table booking, appointment booking and ordering.
For end users, Loconomy is the one stop destination to search and interact with local businesses via web or mobile. Because all the loco sites hosted by Loconomy are part of the same platform, Loconomy is able to provide a deeper search experience than any other site.
Team overview:
Loconomy was started by Sanjay, Gaurav, Pallavi and Naveen. They bring vast technology, retail and marketing expertise to Loconomy. Loconomy has been under development since March, 2007. You may find details about founders at: http://www.loconomy.com/home/about
Competitive Advantage
For the end users, a common example that shows the difference is - search for “neer dosa” in koramangala [http://bangalore.loconomy.com/search/searchall?q=neer+dosa&l=koramangala] on Loconomy and on any other site. If you like neer dosa, you will become an instant fan of loconomy.com.
Please feel free to send your comments to sanjay@loconomy.com
For consumer-oriented local businesses, Loconomy is first publishing platform. It provides tools and backend support for businesses to publish and manage all type of business information including catalogues, photos, videos, deals, events and more.
Loconomy Loco sites platform allows businesses to create custom designed dynamic websites, managed and hosted by Loconomy. In addition to this, Loconomy also provides a growing set of applications that businesses can choose to subscribe to e.g. online table booking, appointment booking and ordering.
For end users, Loconomy is the one stop destination to search and interact with local businesses via web or mobile. Because all the loco sites hosted by Loconomy are part of the same platform, Loconomy is able to provide a deeper search experience than any other site.
Team overview:
Loconomy was started by Sanjay, Gaurav, Pallavi and Naveen. They bring vast technology, retail and marketing expertise to Loconomy. Loconomy has been under development since March, 2007. You may find details about founders at: http://www.loconomy.com/home/about
Competitive Advantage
For the end users, a common example that shows the difference is - search for “neer dosa” in koramangala [http://bangalore.loconomy.com/search/searchall?q=neer+dosa&l=koramangala] on Loconomy and on any other site. If you like neer dosa, you will become an instant fan of loconomy.com.
Please feel free to send your comments to sanjay@loconomy.com
Pringoo
New Home of creativity! - Print your imagination
Thats what you will find if you click http://www.pringoo.com/. Pringoo is a ecommerce platform that allows you to build & create your own designs, styles thereby providing a vent to creativity of millions across globe. You can create, sell & buy products with unique designs on apparels, ceramic products, gift items & home and office accessories.
Like many other similar websites where you can create (design) your own creations, Pringoo offers all the services & wonderful tools to build unique and creative form of arts. But unlike most forums where you cant engage in ecommerce on “similar” products, Pringoo offers facilities to buy & sell and hence create a forum for many to earn their living. With products like T shirts, mugs, teddy bears, posters, bags, greeting cards and lot more Pringoo’s offerings range across wide spectrum.
Arpana Priyadarshini, Founder & CEO, is the brain responsible for setting up strategies and execution. She is an MBA from Virginia, USA. She is supported for all technological matters by Jai Kumar as Founder & CTO, and is a BE (REC Jamshedpur) & MS (University of Virginia USA).
All in all a concept which is “not” a novel concept but is surely executed with value adds which makes it a part of “Innovative Startups”.
Thats what you will find if you click http://www.pringoo.com/. Pringoo is a ecommerce platform that allows you to build & create your own designs, styles thereby providing a vent to creativity of millions across globe. You can create, sell & buy products with unique designs on apparels, ceramic products, gift items & home and office accessories.
Like many other similar websites where you can create (design) your own creations, Pringoo offers all the services & wonderful tools to build unique and creative form of arts. But unlike most forums where you cant engage in ecommerce on “similar” products, Pringoo offers facilities to buy & sell and hence create a forum for many to earn their living. With products like T shirts, mugs, teddy bears, posters, bags, greeting cards and lot more Pringoo’s offerings range across wide spectrum.
Arpana Priyadarshini, Founder & CEO, is the brain responsible for setting up strategies and execution. She is an MBA from Virginia, USA. She is supported for all technological matters by Jai Kumar as Founder & CTO, and is a BE (REC Jamshedpur) & MS (University of Virginia USA).
All in all a concept which is “not” a novel concept but is surely executed with value adds which makes it a part of “Innovative Startups”.
SutraHR
About Sutra HR
As a people consulting firm, Sutra HR’s founding team has more than cumulative six years of market experience in fulfilling people related services ranging from hiring to realigning, assessing, training and assessment for startups, small and growing companies, and entrepreneur-driven companies, mostly in the IT, Internet, digital and mobile domain.
SutraHR with its small driven set of entrepreneurial talent without the baggage of conventional metrics of a ‘good’ candidate acts as a remote People Development Center and offers price, timing and effort advantage to startups and emerging companies to stop worrying about their most important resources that walk down the elevator every evening.
At SutraHR, we understand your unique blend of challenges and constantly strive to become partners of choice for startups.
Vision Statement
To be a partner for start up and entrepreneurial driven companies, and help them fuel their growth by ensuring a steady, dependable stream of talented people.
Mission Statement
To reform the mindset of people about working for a start up, and make a difference to the start up and entrepreneurial culture in India.
USP/Differentiator
SutraHR’s speciality is talent integration. It brings together diverse professionals in cross functional teams, made up of multi-skilled individuals such as entrepreneurs, techies, business development stalwarts, along with fresh out of college graduates who have no prior work experience, but have a lot of attitude and the will to learn as they go along. Each of these forms a constituent of the fabric of any start up, as ‘multi-hatting’ is a prevalent norm in start ups, as opposed to straight-jacket dead pan jobs offered by some of the big brand employers.
Sutra HR’s business mantra is rather simple. The small firm partners with other start up and entrepreneurial-driven companies, and provides them with a steady stream of talent to fuel their growth.
Strategy
Being small and nimble ourselves, Sutra HR wears the shoes of startups and entrepreneurial companies every morning, and sets out to find not just employees, skill sets, and profile for out clients, but also people who are dependable, a good fit, and have the same drive and values that support and grow a small company such as yours. We are the partners you were looking for, to take on your worries about people; training, assessment, increasing operational efficiencies with dashboard as you grow, and to stand by you in the long haul to fame and glory.
Future Plans
Presently, SutraHR has a focus on the online and digital space, given that most new startups in India come from this field. Going forward, SutraHr plans to target a lot of mobile companies and companies providing value-added services to the booming Indian telecommunications sector, which are involved in implementing some cutting edge work in the mobile value-added services (VAS) and advertising space. SutraHR also plans to partner with startups in financial service and microfinance space sometime in the near future, as part of its objective to be associated with companies that have a social cause attached to their business models and impact the lives of millions of people.
About the Founder:
Waqar Azmi completed his engineering in 2006, and though he was presented with numerous attractive career opportunities, he preferred to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations, motivated by the success of his father as an entrepreneur. The idea for his online venture took root when Waqar was involved with some start ups, either directly or indirectly. One thing that he noticed was that funds, ideas and infrastructure was not a problem for them, but finding the right people for there organisation was a huge challenge. Seeing a huge gap in the market, SutraHR started up as a startup to help other startups in finding a solution to the biggest problem faced by them. To Read more hit http://www.sutrahr.com/
As a people consulting firm, Sutra HR’s founding team has more than cumulative six years of market experience in fulfilling people related services ranging from hiring to realigning, assessing, training and assessment for startups, small and growing companies, and entrepreneur-driven companies, mostly in the IT, Internet, digital and mobile domain.
SutraHR with its small driven set of entrepreneurial talent without the baggage of conventional metrics of a ‘good’ candidate acts as a remote People Development Center and offers price, timing and effort advantage to startups and emerging companies to stop worrying about their most important resources that walk down the elevator every evening.
At SutraHR, we understand your unique blend of challenges and constantly strive to become partners of choice for startups.
Vision Statement
To be a partner for start up and entrepreneurial driven companies, and help them fuel their growth by ensuring a steady, dependable stream of talented people.
Mission Statement
To reform the mindset of people about working for a start up, and make a difference to the start up and entrepreneurial culture in India.
USP/Differentiator
SutraHR’s speciality is talent integration. It brings together diverse professionals in cross functional teams, made up of multi-skilled individuals such as entrepreneurs, techies, business development stalwarts, along with fresh out of college graduates who have no prior work experience, but have a lot of attitude and the will to learn as they go along. Each of these forms a constituent of the fabric of any start up, as ‘multi-hatting’ is a prevalent norm in start ups, as opposed to straight-jacket dead pan jobs offered by some of the big brand employers.
Sutra HR’s business mantra is rather simple. The small firm partners with other start up and entrepreneurial-driven companies, and provides them with a steady stream of talent to fuel their growth.
Strategy
Being small and nimble ourselves, Sutra HR wears the shoes of startups and entrepreneurial companies every morning, and sets out to find not just employees, skill sets, and profile for out clients, but also people who are dependable, a good fit, and have the same drive and values that support and grow a small company such as yours. We are the partners you were looking for, to take on your worries about people; training, assessment, increasing operational efficiencies with dashboard as you grow, and to stand by you in the long haul to fame and glory.
Future Plans
Presently, SutraHR has a focus on the online and digital space, given that most new startups in India come from this field. Going forward, SutraHr plans to target a lot of mobile companies and companies providing value-added services to the booming Indian telecommunications sector, which are involved in implementing some cutting edge work in the mobile value-added services (VAS) and advertising space. SutraHR also plans to partner with startups in financial service and microfinance space sometime in the near future, as part of its objective to be associated with companies that have a social cause attached to their business models and impact the lives of millions of people.
About the Founder:
Waqar Azmi completed his engineering in 2006, and though he was presented with numerous attractive career opportunities, he preferred to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations, motivated by the success of his father as an entrepreneur. The idea for his online venture took root when Waqar was involved with some start ups, either directly or indirectly. One thing that he noticed was that funds, ideas and infrastructure was not a problem for them, but finding the right people for there organisation was a huge challenge. Seeing a huge gap in the market, SutraHR started up as a startup to help other startups in finding a solution to the biggest problem faced by them. To Read more hit http://www.sutrahr.com/
DilSeBol
About DilSeBol:
DilSeBol Customized Apparel Pvt Ltd was established in 2006 and our portal, www.DilSeBol.com was launched officially on 14th April 2007. DilSeBol specializes in production of customized printed products, the designs for which can be easily and quickly created by users at www.dilsebol.com using our proprietary design tool called “The Artist”. The current products available include t-shirts, mugs, coasters, ceramic tiles, mouse pads, shirts, caps and polo t-shirts. In the near future, paper print products like posters, photo books etc will also be introduced. As the focus is on creating customized products as per the customer’s requirement, each design is printed on the product only on order and the entire order processing set-up is geared towards handling single, unique items. This approach is different from that of mass manufacturer’s who make large lots and keep it as inventory.
Founding and Management Team:
The founding team consists of Suresh Subbian, Ravi Kumar and Kapil Vishwanathan.
Suresh has an Engineering background and has been associated with a few ventures in Tirupur related to garment dyeing and manufacturing. Suresh is also the co-founder of CK Technologies, a Chennai-based software company specializing in Indian language computing.
Ravi Kumar is a management graduate from IIMA and has worked across different areas in Sales and Marketing in the world’s largest beverage company and in Supply chain & Project Management in one of the leading consulting companies in the world. This is Ravi’s first experience in creating a new venture.
Kapil Vishwanathan is a Harvard and Stanford alumni and is also the co-founder of PreMedia Global, a cross-border publishing services company with operations in the US and India.
Suresh and Ravi manage the day to day operations of DilSeBol.com. Suresh mainly takes care of manufacturing and procurement while Ravi looks at customer service, marketing and website development.
DilSeBol Customized Apparel Pvt Ltd was established in 2006 and our portal, www.DilSeBol.com was launched officially on 14th April 2007. DilSeBol specializes in production of customized printed products, the designs for which can be easily and quickly created by users at www.dilsebol.com using our proprietary design tool called “The Artist”. The current products available include t-shirts, mugs, coasters, ceramic tiles, mouse pads, shirts, caps and polo t-shirts. In the near future, paper print products like posters, photo books etc will also be introduced. As the focus is on creating customized products as per the customer’s requirement, each design is printed on the product only on order and the entire order processing set-up is geared towards handling single, unique items. This approach is different from that of mass manufacturer’s who make large lots and keep it as inventory.
Founding and Management Team:
The founding team consists of Suresh Subbian, Ravi Kumar and Kapil Vishwanathan.
Suresh has an Engineering background and has been associated with a few ventures in Tirupur related to garment dyeing and manufacturing. Suresh is also the co-founder of CK Technologies, a Chennai-based software company specializing in Indian language computing.
Ravi Kumar is a management graduate from IIMA and has worked across different areas in Sales and Marketing in the world’s largest beverage company and in Supply chain & Project Management in one of the leading consulting companies in the world. This is Ravi’s first experience in creating a new venture.
Kapil Vishwanathan is a Harvard and Stanford alumni and is also the co-founder of PreMedia Global, a cross-border publishing services company with operations in the US and India.
Suresh and Ravi manage the day to day operations of DilSeBol.com. Suresh mainly takes care of manufacturing and procurement while Ravi looks at customer service, marketing and website development.
Focus Areas:
We plan to focus on a few things to differentiate ourselves
1. Great focus on apparels which implies offering a lot of options in terms of styles and colors.
2. High quality commitment with a no questions asked replacement guarantee. We have our own apparel label made as per our specifications, under strict quality control standards. We also have a great combination of different printing methods that we use to get the best output for each design based on its unique requirements. This gives us great confidence in our quality which makes offering a free replacement not a big challenge for us, because there are so few complaints! We don’t believe in empty boasts like “best customized products” etc, but we have a great number of repeat customers and great positive feedback coming our way, which makes us believe that we are delivering what we promise consistently!
3. Our proprietary design application which is probably the easiest design application available online today will continue to evolve and offer more features to users while remaining highly user-friendly
We plan to focus on a few things to differentiate ourselves
1. Great focus on apparels which implies offering a lot of options in terms of styles and colors.
2. High quality commitment with a no questions asked replacement guarantee. We have our own apparel label made as per our specifications, under strict quality control standards. We also have a great combination of different printing methods that we use to get the best output for each design based on its unique requirements. This gives us great confidence in our quality which makes offering a free replacement not a big challenge for us, because there are so few complaints! We don’t believe in empty boasts like “best customized products” etc, but we have a great number of repeat customers and great positive feedback coming our way, which makes us believe that we are delivering what we promise consistently!
3. Our proprietary design application which is probably the easiest design application available online today will continue to evolve and offer more features to users while remaining highly user-friendly
Differentiators for DilSeBol.com:
DilSeBol provides the tools required for people to create their own designs, review it online to see how it will turn out on a product and then ultimately, order it with us if they like what they see. Our easy to use, proprietary design tool, “The Artist” is ideal for everyone, even people not familiar with design software like Photoshop etc. This is probably the most attractive feature. Also, we don’t place restrictions on the picture resolution that is to be uploaded, so we work on even low resolution pictures and enhance it to bring out good quality output.
Finally, we offer a slew of color options on apparel which is hard to find anywhere else.
DilSeBol provides the tools required for people to create their own designs, review it online to see how it will turn out on a product and then ultimately, order it with us if they like what they see. Our easy to use, proprietary design tool, “The Artist” is ideal for everyone, even people not familiar with design software like Photoshop etc. This is probably the most attractive feature. Also, we don’t place restrictions on the picture resolution that is to be uploaded, so we work on even low resolution pictures and enhance it to bring out good quality output.
Finally, we offer a slew of color options on apparel which is hard to find anywhere else.
Challenges:
By far our biggest challenge is to ensure that we are able to maintain our promised delivery time of 4 days or under for customized orders. We need to ensure that our manufacturing process gets completed in time. We find that courier service is still not 100% reliable and therefore, we try and turn around orders on the same day to give one more day to the courier service provider.
By far our biggest challenge is to ensure that we are able to maintain our promised delivery time of 4 days or under for customized orders. We need to ensure that our manufacturing process gets completed in time. We find that courier service is still not 100% reliable and therefore, we try and turn around orders on the same day to give one more day to the courier service provider.
Lootstreet.com
Why buy at a Fixed Price or fight with other buyer in an Auction, when you can directly Haggle and Bargain with the seller as in real life!
About LootStreet.com
Lootstreet.com (www.lootstreet.com) is a next-generation online marketplace which is specially adapted to the Indian/Asian scenario. Lootstreet portal hosts both new and used goods – it follows a unique model of price determination of a sale with a simple underlying ideology - “Every Price is Negotiable”. Most importantly, this will finally give every Indian the right to buy a product at the price he/she thinks is fair. E-commerce, as we have known it in the past, will shortly be re-defined.
The Pain Point being addressed
The lack of a ‘real marketplace’ in the virtual world - that which is specifically suited to the shopping mentality and the purchasing pattern of the ‘involved buyer’ (more specifically Indian/Asian buyer)
Our vision
Our vision of the virtual world and its features is one that gives every user the democratic right to act - in this case ‘shop’ while having a say in the price of the purchased product. A first of its kind – LootStreet.com has successfully customized the online shopping process to suit the preferences and mentality of the Indian buyer by combining the price-flexibilities of real-life shopping and convenience of online shopping.
Founders
The company is headed by two 2008 IIM Ahmedabad graduates who gave up lucrative job offers at some of the world’s best investment banks to build a team of 8 in a short span of time, spearheading them to conduct a full-fledged research on the buying patterns of Indians and launching the promised product within 60 days of their Post graduate convocation ceremony. In February 2008, Kaushik Mukherjee and Arun Balakrishnan, two PGP students of the 2008 batch of IIM Ahmedabad founded AKVENTURE Info Pvt. Ltd. (link:http://www.lootstreet.com/whoarewe/whoarewe.php). LootStreet.com is their first homegrown project.
Uniqueness of Offering and Target Segment
The current online shopping portals either follow the Fixed Priced System or the Auction System, which is more of a Western model (which evolved from the real-life auction houses such as Sotheby’s) that has been force-fitted for the Indian online shopper. In reality, the Indian shopper is a more involved buyer and the average Indian has never even witnessed an auction process in his life. What is unique about LootStreet.com is that is customizes online shopping to presenting every buyer with the exact options that real life shopping has to offer.
How do we accomplish this?
(1) Through innovative yet simple-to-understand process of bargaining
(2) By offering the facility of collective bargaining, where bulk discounts are worked out based on the number of people who are interested in buying a particular item. With a target market of every internet enabled Indians and non-Indians alike, LootStreet is the closest one would get to a real life market!
Growth Story
LootStreet.com received media attention during the March 2008 (IIMA’s placement press conference), owing to the curiosity that surrounds every entrepreneurs decision to take the plunge. With mounting expectations (repeated articles and interviews about an underdevelopment product), competition from other online marketplaces (www.lootmaar.com was launched within 2 weeks of the publicity period), the team managed to build a database of 2000+ visitors to our homepage before launch and partner with 6 of India’s biggest online sellers to offer a comprehensive catalogue of 4000+ products at the time of launch.
About LootStreet.com
Lootstreet.com (www.lootstreet.com) is a next-generation online marketplace which is specially adapted to the Indian/Asian scenario. Lootstreet portal hosts both new and used goods – it follows a unique model of price determination of a sale with a simple underlying ideology - “Every Price is Negotiable”. Most importantly, this will finally give every Indian the right to buy a product at the price he/she thinks is fair. E-commerce, as we have known it in the past, will shortly be re-defined.
The Pain Point being addressed
The lack of a ‘real marketplace’ in the virtual world - that which is specifically suited to the shopping mentality and the purchasing pattern of the ‘involved buyer’ (more specifically Indian/Asian buyer)
Our vision
Our vision of the virtual world and its features is one that gives every user the democratic right to act - in this case ‘shop’ while having a say in the price of the purchased product. A first of its kind – LootStreet.com has successfully customized the online shopping process to suit the preferences and mentality of the Indian buyer by combining the price-flexibilities of real-life shopping and convenience of online shopping.
Founders
The company is headed by two 2008 IIM Ahmedabad graduates who gave up lucrative job offers at some of the world’s best investment banks to build a team of 8 in a short span of time, spearheading them to conduct a full-fledged research on the buying patterns of Indians and launching the promised product within 60 days of their Post graduate convocation ceremony. In February 2008, Kaushik Mukherjee and Arun Balakrishnan, two PGP students of the 2008 batch of IIM Ahmedabad founded AKVENTURE Info Pvt. Ltd. (link:http://www.lootstreet.com/whoarewe/whoarewe.php). LootStreet.com is their first homegrown project.
Uniqueness of Offering and Target Segment
The current online shopping portals either follow the Fixed Priced System or the Auction System, which is more of a Western model (which evolved from the real-life auction houses such as Sotheby’s) that has been force-fitted for the Indian online shopper. In reality, the Indian shopper is a more involved buyer and the average Indian has never even witnessed an auction process in his life. What is unique about LootStreet.com is that is customizes online shopping to presenting every buyer with the exact options that real life shopping has to offer.
How do we accomplish this?
(1) Through innovative yet simple-to-understand process of bargaining
(2) By offering the facility of collective bargaining, where bulk discounts are worked out based on the number of people who are interested in buying a particular item. With a target market of every internet enabled Indians and non-Indians alike, LootStreet is the closest one would get to a real life market!
Growth Story
LootStreet.com received media attention during the March 2008 (IIMA’s placement press conference), owing to the curiosity that surrounds every entrepreneurs decision to take the plunge. With mounting expectations (repeated articles and interviews about an underdevelopment product), competition from other online marketplaces (www.lootmaar.com was launched within 2 weeks of the publicity period), the team managed to build a database of 2000+ visitors to our homepage before launch and partner with 6 of India’s biggest online sellers to offer a comprehensive catalogue of 4000+ products at the time of launch.
webVastra
webVastra is an early stage e-commerce venture in the online retailing of customized fashion apparels. The firm is currently selling customized T-shirts over the internet through the portal http://www.webvastra.in/. The firm’s USP is to provide premium quality customized T-shirts at reasonable price to its target customers. The firm is registered at the Science & Technology Entrepreneurs Park at IIT Kharagpur.
Vision
Provide end to end solutions for premium quality customized apparels to our valued customers at value price by providing a highly immersive shopping environment
Promoters
WebVastra was established on April 2007, from IIT Kharagpur. The site was formally launched on 19th June 2007. The Co founders of the firm are:
· Dharamveer Arora (B.Tech, IT BHU Varanasi, three years of experience in Steel & IT industry)
· Nishank Agrawal (B.Tech, IIT Kanpur, two years experience in Construction industry)
· Santhosh S Subramanium (B. E., Bharti Sadan University three years experience in IT industry)
· Ashutosh Chouksey (B.Tech, MANIT Bhopal)
· Amit V Joshi (B Tech, VNIT Nagpur, four years experience in Defence Research & Automobile Design)
Management Structure
The organization structure is flat with each partner handling the following responsibilities
· Dharamveer Arora – Sales & Marketing and external communication
· Nishank Agrawal – Operations & Finance
· Santhosh S Subramanium – Design and Marketing
· Ashutosh Chouksey – Finance & Logistics
· Amit V Joshi – Design & Marketing
Concept Description
The firm is engaged in providing customized T-shirts to the customers through web portal www.webvastra.in. This user-friendly portal lets the user customize his/her T-shirt in 3 simple steps:
1. Select T-shirt style: Round-neck, V-neck and ring-neck style for men & women.
2. Select the Color: From the color pallet.
3. Select the Design: Around 75 designs in different categories.
The customer can play around with the style, colour or design of the T-shirt .The payment is accepted by means of credit card/net banking/ cheque/ DD/ ITZ cash card once the final product is customized. The firm has hired the services of a payment gateway provider which is Verisign secured for online payments. The T-shirt is delivered at the doorsteps of the customer within eight working days by a reputed courier company.
Bulk orders
The Firm is also engaged in providing complete T-Shirt solutions (from designing, based on the theme, to delivery) to institutional customers like corporate, institutes, events. Customers can place their enquiry on the website in the bulk enquiry segment.
Quality
The quality of the T-shirts offered is comparable to any premium branded T-shirts. The T-shirts are made of 180 GSM super combed smooth cotton fabric. Currently, the firm has tie up with suppliers, based out of Tiruppur (Tamil Nadu), with excellent global client record
Way Ahead
The strategy envisaged by the firm in short term is
· Quality Personalization T-Shirts (where customer can upload his/her own images). Currently there is no good quality personalized T-Shirts available in the market
· Increasing the designs to 500, T-Shirt styles to 8, and T-Shirt colors to 10
· Premium Customized Sweat Shirts
Long-term strategy
· Premium Customized Apparel brand
· One stop Customized T-Shirt solution
· Global delivery model
· Expanding to Ethnic and Western Customized Fashion Apparel
· Offline model (kiosk) in retail outlets
Vision
Provide end to end solutions for premium quality customized apparels to our valued customers at value price by providing a highly immersive shopping environment
Promoters
WebVastra was established on April 2007, from IIT Kharagpur. The site was formally launched on 19th June 2007. The Co founders of the firm are:
· Dharamveer Arora (B.Tech, IT BHU Varanasi, three years of experience in Steel & IT industry)
· Nishank Agrawal (B.Tech, IIT Kanpur, two years experience in Construction industry)
· Santhosh S Subramanium (B. E., Bharti Sadan University three years experience in IT industry)
· Ashutosh Chouksey (B.Tech, MANIT Bhopal)
· Amit V Joshi (B Tech, VNIT Nagpur, four years experience in Defence Research & Automobile Design)
Management Structure
The organization structure is flat with each partner handling the following responsibilities
· Dharamveer Arora – Sales & Marketing and external communication
· Nishank Agrawal – Operations & Finance
· Santhosh S Subramanium – Design and Marketing
· Ashutosh Chouksey – Finance & Logistics
· Amit V Joshi – Design & Marketing
Concept Description
The firm is engaged in providing customized T-shirts to the customers through web portal www.webvastra.in. This user-friendly portal lets the user customize his/her T-shirt in 3 simple steps:
1. Select T-shirt style: Round-neck, V-neck and ring-neck style for men & women.
2. Select the Color: From the color pallet.
3. Select the Design: Around 75 designs in different categories.
The customer can play around with the style, colour or design of the T-shirt .The payment is accepted by means of credit card/net banking/ cheque/ DD/ ITZ cash card once the final product is customized. The firm has hired the services of a payment gateway provider which is Verisign secured for online payments. The T-shirt is delivered at the doorsteps of the customer within eight working days by a reputed courier company.
Bulk orders
The Firm is also engaged in providing complete T-Shirt solutions (from designing, based on the theme, to delivery) to institutional customers like corporate, institutes, events. Customers can place their enquiry on the website in the bulk enquiry segment.
Quality
The quality of the T-shirts offered is comparable to any premium branded T-shirts. The T-shirts are made of 180 GSM super combed smooth cotton fabric. Currently, the firm has tie up with suppliers, based out of Tiruppur (Tamil Nadu), with excellent global client record
Way Ahead
The strategy envisaged by the firm in short term is
· Quality Personalization T-Shirts (where customer can upload his/her own images). Currently there is no good quality personalized T-Shirts available in the market
· Increasing the designs to 500, T-Shirt styles to 8, and T-Shirt colors to 10
· Premium Customized Sweat Shirts
Long-term strategy
· Premium Customized Apparel brand
· One stop Customized T-Shirt solution
· Global delivery model
· Expanding to Ethnic and Western Customized Fashion Apparel
· Offline model (kiosk) in retail outlets
Interview with Founder WIMB
1. Please brief about the team involved behind WhereIsMyBoss.com?
We would like to introduce our career gateway WhereIsMyBoss.com? (WIMB), a career gateway designed to make recruitment easy and effective by offering video interviewing. WIMB is one first of its kind to change the recruitment process for both job seekers and recruiters. WIMB is simple to use, the only requirement is a web cam, mic, ear phone and a broadband connection.
The team behind Whereismyboss.com is a group of young and dynamic professionals with varied experience. Mr.D.Prem a business management Graduate from the Regent Business School, London is the Chairman of PGC Industries including PGC Infotech(Whose offspring is www.Whereismyboss.com) , Mr.AAdith D Vikram a Finance and Management Science graduate from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland is the Managing Director and Vice chairman of PGC Industries which includes PGC Infotech. Mr.Yeragaselvan Kumaraswamy a post graduate in Mobile and Satellite Communications from Westminster, London is the Director of PGC Infotech, along with them is a team of young, talented and professional workforce. Whereismyboss.com is the first of their attempts apart from their mainstream business (Textiles) and we can expect many a more like this from them in the coming days.
2. How do you differentiate it from any other similar internet portals?
We are very different from other job Portals; WIMB is a new generation Portal. Whereismyboss.com is the first portal in India to introduce online video interviewing (Live Connect). In the recruitment industry, it is considered to be the next big thing, in streamlining the candidate screening process, while reducing time and cost for the employers, and its going to be a revolution in the head hunting scene and we will be first to introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Job portals, with the help of AI we will be capturing the data elements from the resumes and presenting the same in a uniform format as per industry requirements, and also ranking or scoring of the resumes for the convenience of the employer, where in the resumes will be matched with the company requirements and ranked or scored according the organization priorities.
3. How has the response been to your platform?
Response to our portal has been very good; the traffic to the site is also improving day by day, we started in January 2008, and till date, we have more than 1 lakh registered users, and that’s really very much encouraging. Because of the uniqueness of the concept many employers and job seekers are registering with us and posting their requirements in the portal.
4. What are the modes/methods that WIMB plans to use to fight against the fraud?
WIMB plans to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to fight against fraud. In this process when an resume is uploaded in the portal, the technology checks the entire resume for any duplications then only the registration is approved.
5. Lastly, how do you see it growing and where do you see the same a few years down the line?
The portal is getting very good response with the job seekers and employers registrations, and posting of jobs. An interesting thing we noticed is that the uniqueness of portal is taking it nearer to the masses, according to estimates, of the total recruitment industry revenues, less than a tenth is from job portals, today in India, this has a hu8ge potential to grow, considering the global trends, but for the growth to happen the database has to be current and the matching should happen as per the recruiters needs, with the increase in traffic and registrations we are pretty sure in the next three years we will be among the top five job portals in India, by means of increase in the database as well revenue generation
Mail me all your queries at istartups@gmail.com & i will get back to you with the response. To know more hit http://www.whereismyboss.com/
We would like to introduce our career gateway WhereIsMyBoss.com? (WIMB), a career gateway designed to make recruitment easy and effective by offering video interviewing. WIMB is one first of its kind to change the recruitment process for both job seekers and recruiters. WIMB is simple to use, the only requirement is a web cam, mic, ear phone and a broadband connection.
The team behind Whereismyboss.com is a group of young and dynamic professionals with varied experience. Mr.D.Prem a business management Graduate from the Regent Business School, London is the Chairman of PGC Industries including PGC Infotech(Whose offspring is www.Whereismyboss.com) , Mr.AAdith D Vikram a Finance and Management Science graduate from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland is the Managing Director and Vice chairman of PGC Industries which includes PGC Infotech. Mr.Yeragaselvan Kumaraswamy a post graduate in Mobile and Satellite Communications from Westminster, London is the Director of PGC Infotech, along with them is a team of young, talented and professional workforce. Whereismyboss.com is the first of their attempts apart from their mainstream business (Textiles) and we can expect many a more like this from them in the coming days.
2. How do you differentiate it from any other similar internet portals?
We are very different from other job Portals; WIMB is a new generation Portal. Whereismyboss.com is the first portal in India to introduce online video interviewing (Live Connect). In the recruitment industry, it is considered to be the next big thing, in streamlining the candidate screening process, while reducing time and cost for the employers, and its going to be a revolution in the head hunting scene and we will be first to introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Job portals, with the help of AI we will be capturing the data elements from the resumes and presenting the same in a uniform format as per industry requirements, and also ranking or scoring of the resumes for the convenience of the employer, where in the resumes will be matched with the company requirements and ranked or scored according the organization priorities.
3. How has the response been to your platform?
Response to our portal has been very good; the traffic to the site is also improving day by day, we started in January 2008, and till date, we have more than 1 lakh registered users, and that’s really very much encouraging. Because of the uniqueness of the concept many employers and job seekers are registering with us and posting their requirements in the portal.
4. What are the modes/methods that WIMB plans to use to fight against the fraud?
WIMB plans to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to fight against fraud. In this process when an resume is uploaded in the portal, the technology checks the entire resume for any duplications then only the registration is approved.
5. Lastly, how do you see it growing and where do you see the same a few years down the line?
The portal is getting very good response with the job seekers and employers registrations, and posting of jobs. An interesting thing we noticed is that the uniqueness of portal is taking it nearer to the masses, according to estimates, of the total recruitment industry revenues, less than a tenth is from job portals, today in India, this has a hu8ge potential to grow, considering the global trends, but for the growth to happen the database has to be current and the matching should happen as per the recruiters needs, with the increase in traffic and registrations we are pretty sure in the next three years we will be among the top five job portals in India, by means of increase in the database as well revenue generation
Mail me all your queries at istartups@gmail.com & i will get back to you with the response. To know more hit http://www.whereismyboss.com/
160by2
1997 - Hotmail asked “Why cant personal email be free?”2007 - SMS Country questions “Why cant personal SMS be free?”
Yes, thats exactly what 160by2 a SMS Country initiative introduces its website to the audience. Now, free SMS from web is something that mosts amongst us have known and most of these websites which allow you to send free SMS either have a limitation or asks you to click on some link wherein you have to pay so its all been a gimmick. But 160by2 has come up with a really “iNnovative” idea wherein you can send a maximum of 50 messages a day absolutely free.
Now the catch & the fact on how would SMS Country earn out of this - A 160 character SMS is broken into 2 parts wherein you are allowed to send 80 characters per SMS and the remaining 80 characters are appended with contextual advertisements & so the name 160by2. So the revenue generation would happen from the second part of 160 and the “aam aadmi” would have free 80 characters.
The next & very important question is the fact that there is appended contextual advertisement, what about privacy? SMS Country has made sure that everything is completely automated and there is 0% human intervention so all your messages are in safe hands..or same scripts!. And if you were thinking you would send 50 messages free of cost to your girl friend, 160by2 has got some sharp MBAs designing their cash flows and so only 10 messages per day per number are allowed.
Hats off for this really nice idea & to register for free on 160by2 hit http://160by2.com/index.aspx
myWalkin.com
The name made me go back to years when a few friends of mine had to run from place to place to find a job after engineering. In Bangalore with so many walkins happening it was always a pain to find where - when - (why :() the walkins were happening and i really felt at times if we could have one portal/directory or some mechanism wherein all the walkins are regularly updated and conveyed to the desperate souls like us.
mywalkin.com is one website which does exactly that. Now theres nothing absolutely awesome about the website but its an intelligent thought by maker of the website and caters to a segment of audience who so very desperately needed something like that.
To me its a great concept, only issue remains is how the operations are being managed and how is the website regularly updated to get the latest walkin “in time” for the candidate to attend.
Will try getting in touch with the founder and get answers to most of these questions and if you guys have any post in the comments section or mail me on istartups@gmail.com & all those who want jobs keep hitting http://www.mywalkin.com/
mywalkin.com is one website which does exactly that. Now theres nothing absolutely awesome about the website but its an intelligent thought by maker of the website and caters to a segment of audience who so very desperately needed something like that.
To me its a great concept, only issue remains is how the operations are being managed and how is the website regularly updated to get the latest walkin “in time” for the candidate to attend.
Will try getting in touch with the founder and get answers to most of these questions and if you guys have any post in the comments section or mail me on istartups@gmail.com & all those who want jobs keep hitting http://www.mywalkin.com/
ilaka.in
As the name suggest ilaka.in is an online repository of local information for all parts of India and the good part - It is available on both your mobile & on internet.
A wonderful concept to help people reach where they want to and specifically get the correct and detailed addresses of their destinations. Also, you are free to enter the destinations on the website - And here’s the catch - How does ilaka.in keep a check on the fact that the correct information is added? If they dont that would mean an erroneous database. Also, how regularly would the database be updated - because small shops and companies keep changing their contact informations and hence ilaka.in might not be able to give updated information to its audience.
In terms of cities there are only 8 as of now, but i am sure the same is getting updated and hence we would have more cities on the website.
Also, one more question that i would like to ask the founders is how do they differentiate from a Google search on addresses. And if the answer is that people can add their listing on ilaka.in whereas they cant on Google, i have doubts on the authencity & frequency of updation for those addresses.
Still a nice thought - A Difficult implementation though! Hit http://www.ilaka.in/Home.aspx#
A wonderful concept to help people reach where they want to and specifically get the correct and detailed addresses of their destinations. Also, you are free to enter the destinations on the website - And here’s the catch - How does ilaka.in keep a check on the fact that the correct information is added? If they dont that would mean an erroneous database. Also, how regularly would the database be updated - because small shops and companies keep changing their contact informations and hence ilaka.in might not be able to give updated information to its audience.
In terms of cities there are only 8 as of now, but i am sure the same is getting updated and hence we would have more cities on the website.
Also, one more question that i would like to ask the founders is how do they differentiate from a Google search on addresses. And if the answer is that people can add their listing on ilaka.in whereas they cant on Google, i have doubts on the authencity & frequency of updation for those addresses.
Still a nice thought - A Difficult implementation though! Hit http://www.ilaka.in/Home.aspx#
Interview with Founder - AnyPrice.Net
1. Please brief about your venture - AnyPrice.net & the team involved?
AnyPrice.net is the platform for Sellers and Buyers to trade their stuff, anything from machinery to household items. Unlike auction or bidding sites, here a Seller can trade his item to numerous Buyers very similar to one to one trading. The other advantage of the Portal is that the Buyer and Seller deal directly with each other and have option to ’Inspect Items on Sale’, making the dealing transparent. The portal has various trading options like,
1. B2B - Trade between Businesses for Bulk, High Value or Industry Items.
2. B2C - Trade between Business and Consumer offering discounts and deals to Consumers.
3. C2C - Trade between Consumers to retail used stuff.
4. C2B - Trade between Consumer and Business for buy back or exchange offer.
We are a group of professionals with varied experience, from technology to sales. We got together and formed the company FirstLeap eCommerce Pvt. Ltd., with the objective of offering innovative services that would touch 400 million young people of India. AnyPrice.net is the first of our attempts and very soon we would be launching some more portals that would provide platform for young people to express and entertain.
2. How do you differentiate it from any eBay or other internet shopping portals?
We are very different from Bidding or Auction Portals. At these portals there is only one winner and at times there is no response to an Offer.
At AnyPrice.net, it is different, the Seller can interact with every prospective Buyer and negotiate an individual deal. To give you an example, if a Seller puts up 10 T-Shirts for sale and 5 Buyers respond, he can Sell to each of these Buyers different quantity at different price. It is left to his negotiation skill to close the deal, it is very similar to one to one transacting.
3. How has the response been to your platform?
Response to our portal has been very good, we have many Business and Consumers registering at the site and listing Items for sale. Because of the portal appeal, we have items like Machinery, Garments, Consumer Goods, Personal Items, Household Items etc., offered for Sale.
4. How do you manage the logistics, i mean once the goods are traded how do you track the delivery?
The portal only facilitates the Buyers and Sellers to meet and interact. The transaction and exchange of items after sale is transparent and would be dealt between them. However, we keep monitoring the quality and reliability of the Sellers to ensure that their dealing are fair and they keep their commitments.
5. Lastly, how do you see it growing and where do you see the same a few years down the line?
The portal is getting very good response with Consumer and Business registrations, and listing of Items for Sale. An interesting thing we noticed is that the portal is becoming a good platform to trade in Rejects, Seconds and Used Items with overwhelming response from SME and Manufacturing Companies. We are working on improving the visibility for the portal in this segment. In a year time we will see the transaction volume increase and we would start generating revenues through fixed membership fee, which is free now.
To know more hit http://www.anyprice.net/
All those who have any questions related to AnyPrice.Net, their model etc. pls. feel free to mail me the same on istartups@gmail.com and i will help you get the response to them.
ngpay
ngpay is India’s fastest growing mall.
Yeah thats the first line mentioned on their website, but hold on and read further - “ngpay is India’s fastest growing mall - located entirely on user’s mobile handset”. Yes, ngpay has been able to collaborate with various partners and offers services including buying tickets for movies, buses, trains, paying mobile bills or even shopping for flowers. Yes, ngpay comes as a wonderful utility on your mobile handset and services offered are as wide as any “mall” would do in physical sense.
In terms of security ngpay is as secure as using ATM and comes with a 6 digit PIN for any payment transaction and provides 128 bit end to end financial grade security. It uses a certified appraoch for financial insititutions and hence is safe for any payment transactions.
In terms of requirements, it only requires a GPRS enabled phone and is absolutely free to be used. Also, the phones needs to be JAVA enabled which most of the phones these days are and hence “no extra features required”.
They have been able to partner with RedBus.in, IRCTC, Deccan, Makemytrip for travel tickets and various other brands in there own segments. To read more on ngpay hit http://www.ngpay.com/site/index.html
Yeah thats the first line mentioned on their website, but hold on and read further - “ngpay is India’s fastest growing mall - located entirely on user’s mobile handset”. Yes, ngpay has been able to collaborate with various partners and offers services including buying tickets for movies, buses, trains, paying mobile bills or even shopping for flowers. Yes, ngpay comes as a wonderful utility on your mobile handset and services offered are as wide as any “mall” would do in physical sense.
In terms of security ngpay is as secure as using ATM and comes with a 6 digit PIN for any payment transaction and provides 128 bit end to end financial grade security. It uses a certified appraoch for financial insititutions and hence is safe for any payment transactions.
In terms of requirements, it only requires a GPRS enabled phone and is absolutely free to be used. Also, the phones needs to be JAVA enabled which most of the phones these days are and hence “no extra features required”.
They have been able to partner with RedBus.in, IRCTC, Deccan, Makemytrip for travel tickets and various other brands in there own segments. To read more on ngpay hit http://www.ngpay.com/site/index.html
FINO - Financial Information Network & Operations
FINO is a ASP provider which is supporting banks, financial insitutions and government agencies to manage and support large pan indian projects. Based out of Mumbai, FINO uses cutting edge technologies like biometrics to conceptualize, develop and operationalize projects for financial institutions. FINO is India’s only biometric enabled multiapplication company which has 1 million customers on its platform today.
FINO has vision of providing pan India infrastructure to Banks, financial institutions etc. and link them across a common spectrum and hence help them save on the client acquisition cost and other costs and also fight against the fraud. FINO enables establishment of true identity of the customer and also provide credit worthiness profiles and hence customize the products for rural segment where financial institutions are yet to go with all guns blazing.
With products like Smart Cards for saving accounts and many similar products FINO seems to be making a difference in a fraud struck banking sector struggling to survive especially in US and other economies.
Led by Manish Khera, who is an MBA from Cambridge University - UK and a highly professional and experienced management team FINO, with the punch line - Bringing Urban to Rural, seems to have got most of the things right.
To know more hit http://www.fino.co.in/index.php
WhereIsMyBoss.com
Interesting name & if you are thinking its one gadget to find out where your boss has been spending time instead of working on official matters; i am sorry - its not. I can see a few bosses taking a breath of respite. Jokes Apart!
Another exciting venture started by PGC Infotech, a subsidary of 25 yrs old Tirupur Textile exporter WhereIsMyBoss (WIMB) is a career gateway but with a difference. It brings employers and employees face to face via video interactions hence saving time, cost and effort for both the employer and the employees. Like any other job portal its basic purpose is same but with video recording, interview scheduling it is not just helping save cost in literal terms but also helping employers meet the “genuine” job seekers thereby making the whole process fraud free.
WIMB also will be tackling with problems like fake and unauthenticated resumes, certificates and other documents by making use of various technologies.
Wondeful concept especially at a time when the industry is facing tough times due to fake/fraud applications but as i couldnt get to meet the founder and speak to them personally i am still a little apprehensive about the ways and methods WIMB purposes to use to fight against the fraud.
Any ways to try it yourself hit http://www.whereismyboss.com/wimb/
In the meanwhile, i am trying to get the details as to how WIMB purposes to make it happen.