With both parents working late hours, there's hardly any time for them to learn parenting.
With most people becoming "internet" glued, internet is where people look at to find out what they dont know!
So that's where Hiraj.com comes in as a personalized online baby journal that helps parents chronicle their child’s life and safely share with friends and family. So if you want to record how you child looked while he took his first step or if you wanted to make an online diary, video gallery or anything which would make you smile when you grow old - Hiraj.com provides a wonderful platform for all of that.
Hiraj.com recently completed the beta phase and will be coming out with lot more features - but the idea is something which i would surely call "iNnovative"
Seventymm
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
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/