Now we truly look forward to celebrating a bright and prosperous New Year with you.

Onto more success in 2010.

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A New Year & A New Start is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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Startups.

Please tell us more about FindBillboard.com?

Findbillboard.com is an online Marketplace for Outdoor Advertising Solutions. Our main aim is to provide an interactive service for advertisers & publishers and directly help grow their business drastically. We are here to offer a platform for Advertisers, Publishers & Ad agencies to reach out their target market with ease. FindBillboard maintains a large database of outdoor advertising solutions across the world. You will get all the details of your prospective Signboard, Hoardings or Digital Boards for free.

Our interactive site lets you choose the best for your outdoor advertising needs. Presently, there are 18 advertising solution categories to choose from. Prepare your advertising campaign with few mouse clicks. Additionally you can also incorporate similar application into your existing site at reasonable price. Interested readers can contact us at integrate [at] findbillboard.com with such inquiries.

Surely, outdoor marketing is one of the most challenging jobs, how do you deal with this?

We provide an absolutely free service to Advertisers, Product Manufactures who are looking for the best advertising solutions available. Advertisers can just visit our interactive site. With few clicks of mouse they can come up with outdoor advertising options right away.

They can find the solutions demographically, view pictures of how their Sign board/Digital Sign board will look like, they could see all the details/specification of solutions available as well as ask for production support & more. We offer a range of products, services, resources and functionality for buyers and sellers of advertising space, ad agencies, industry suppliers, freelancers and any professional who is interested, or fundamentally involved in the advertising industry. FindBillBoard.com can help you in many different ways.

What is your pitch to ad agencies?

Sellers of advertising space from around the world can create Media profile pages, which are displayed in “Hot Spot” database. This media listing is absolutely free for all users. If you want to sell ad space in any media, we can send potential buyers your way. We also have additional services, which have been designed to help you. You can even post special offers for your ad inventory on this site. Advertising agencies can reach a brand new client base, by adding an agency profile page on FindBillBoard.com. There are many reasons why we can drive potential customers to your page within the Agency database.

In which parts of the world do you provide services?

Our services are available all over the world. FindBillBoard.com uses a interactive Google map to post the billboard/signboard/hoarding location anywhere on the map. Advertisers from any part of the world – can find your signboard, it’s details, images on FindBillBoard.com.

Please share with us the motivation and the story behind FindBillboard.com?

We wanted to hire a signboard in Mumbai, India for 1 month. We searched all over the web to find one. This process is time consuming & less effective. So we decided to produce an easy solution for this task & the concept of FindBillBoard.com came up.

With the number of players providing similar services, what makes you stand out among them?

We find only 2 major competitors as below.

Our distinguishing features:
1. Post, choose, find advertising space in 18 categories.
2. We allow users to express their thoughts, successes, knowledge on FindBillBoard.com through Forums, Articles.
3. FindBillBoard.com allows you to build a professional network & also has features like emailing, private messaging. This allows agencies to build online client database.
4. All services are free.

We also provide list of popular agencies, manufactures under “Resources”.

How is your start-up doing from the time of its inception?

To build a huge database FindBillBoard.com has started a promotional offer – FindBillBoard.com staff builds your Billboard/signboard/hoarding inventory on your behalf. We send leads to you. All you have to do is email us at KC [at] FindBillboard.com with all the details of your signboard/billboard/hording.

Could you tell us more about yourself, your position & other key players, if any?

FindBillBoard.com is Designed & Maintained by udspl.com. I’m the Director at Ultramodern Design Systems Pvt. Ltd, India.

How many members are there in your team?

We are proud to be small (5 members) & yet to deliver a complex application like FindBillBoard.com

How is your startup being funded so far? Do you plan on seeking external funding in the future?

udspl.com is the funding agency for this project. We are seeking international partners to promote our services in their country. The advertising revenue will be shared with our partners.

What were the initial barriers that you had to overcome while executing your plans for the first time?

Making agencies post their database is the biggest challenge. So we have started to post agencies inventory on their behalf.

What are key technologies your service is built upon and why did you opt for them?

udspl.com loves open source. FindBillBoard.com is developed in PHP, Joomla & Google Map API.

In your experience, what has been the most effective way to market a business?

Email marketing.

In which parts of the world are you already active?

We have users from US, Europe & India.

Get noticed. Find billboard.

(If you are an Indian startup and would like to be interviewed or featured on Startups.in then we’d be happy to talk to you. Contact us right away.)

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Get noticed. Find a billboard. is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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1. Advertising on Wheels

1. What is BASECAMP India?

BASECAMP is an integrated Outbound Training and Adventure Travel organization; an offspring of avid, well-trained and certified professionals from Adventure sports and Human Resource field.

Our undying zeal to live on the edge coupled with the passion to promote adventure as a learning tool and to inculcate the spirit of adventure among people from all walks of life had enabled us to develop programs to suit the needs of one and all. It is imperative to be environmentally aware and help in conserving nature, all activities strictly follow clear conventional guidelines.

Our vision is to, ‘Evolve adventure as the most effective learning tool, to revive the spirit of adventure among people from all walks of life, and be environment cognizant.’

2. Where all can I seek to camp using your services?

BASECAMP organizes programs across India, the Himalayas in India & Nepal. We have mapped over 200 Trekking, Hiking, Mountaineering routes which range from 2 – 20 day programs. We also have a network of Rafting, Paragliding and Skiing locations that we include in our programs.

3. According to you how important is the tourism industry for the Indian Economy? Do you focus on the domestic markets only?

Tourism is very critical for not only the economy of the country but it acts as a great social and political stability indicator. Influx of foreign travelers depends on the safety and stability of a nation. Economically, it brings in foreign exchange and generates employment both in the urban and rural India. India has seen a 25-30% increase in the tourism revenues and Adventure Travel which accounts to 450 crores.

India is a nation that can offer everything a traveler expects. Adventure travel in particular is an year round opportunity ranging from the Himalayas, rocky Deccan Plateau, the vast seas, the rivers etc. All adventure sports one can imagine are possible in India.

We focus on both Indian & Foreign Adventure travelers and offer season based programs and events.

4. What is your USP? Any significant features we should know?

BASECAMP is unique in its approach and methodologies, we at BASECAMP work with the spirit, ‘Think Outdoor Think BASECAMP – The Outdoor People‘.

We bring to the table:

• Pan India integrated Outbound Training & Adventure Travel solutions
• Team qualified in Adventure sports/ Travel/ Wilderness management
• Experienced team with Sr Management background
• Domain expertise
• Comprehensive Operating Methodology
• Associate & Partner network
• Focused business approach

5. Who are your major competitors?

One of the advantages or disadvantages in the Adventure Travel industry is the lack of organized players. There are several local players in each markets but the outlook has never been to focus on large operation or pan India operations.

6. How is BASECAMP doing do so far?

We are focusing on 60 Corporate, Himalayan and week-end programs for the year 2010 with an average of 22 people per program. In 2009 we have done 25 programs with an average of 12 people per program.

7. What is your revenue generating model?

Our revenue model is event/program based, and our pricing model is based on per person per day and the variation is in the type and level of the program.

When we do Corporate Outbound Training we work on the pricing model based on the level/grade of the participants eg Team members / Team Leaders / Managers / Sr Management. Similarly for Adventure Travel it is based on the location or terrain; the costing factor for a Himalayan event is different from that of a trek in South of India.

8. Tell us more about yourself, your position & other key players within the startup, if any?

I have spent over 14 years in the corporate world; initially I started in Marketing & PR but later moved into different roles like Staffing, Operations and Customer Services. I have been part of two start-up companies and my last role was as Co-Founder Vice President of TeamLease.

We are a team of 3 Women (Kavitha Reddy, Jigna Modh & Bianca Dias) who share the same passion and a common goal that resulted in BASECAMP. We are India’s 1st all women Outbound & Adventure Travel organization and hope we will not be the only :-).

We met during a mountaineering program and I had already made up my mind on BASECAMP and planned my exit from the organization I was working in.

All 3 of us are qualified mountaineers and love outdoor and particularly the Himalayas. We have 2 people on our advisory board and two more people who take care of the back end operations. We are looking at providing employment at a local level and have built a network of support staff like guides, porters, doctors, trainers and facilitators who work with us during the events/programs.

9. Any interesting trips that you have undertaken in the past?

Every trip is very interesting because you are with different people each time, I always feel that next time the trip will get more interesting and the greed goes on :-). One trip I am definitely looking forward to is the High Altitude Trekking Expedition (HATE) that is planned exclusively for the people in Sr Management roles.

It will be interesting in many ways, as the objective of HATE is to not only to enable people in Senior Management roles to challenge & re-discover themselves and take a break from laptops, blackberrys, cell phones, but also to experience:

- Adventure at different heights
- Building stronger teams starts from within – discover your own potential to handle extremes
- Survival of the fittest – on your terms
- Challenge yourself and rediscover your strengths
- Tune-in to yourself amongst nature
- Understand impact on local economy due to global warming

10. Any difficult-to-navigate paths you traversed on your way to establishing BASECAMP?

Start-up on your own is challenging and equally exciting, but having been a part of two start-up companies in the last 9 year and having worked closely with some of the best entrepreneurs gave me an opportunity to experience the ups and downs of a start-up. We as a team at BASECAMP are prepared to take up new challenges but with our prior experience we should be able to skip the learning curve in many areas.

11. What are key tech skills you bank upon and why?

Technology is a key aspect of our business from both Marketing and PR perspective. Since there is a need to reach out to people of all age groups we use the technology platform to address it. We approach our prospects (corporate & individuals) from different age groups through various channels. We have invested time and money in creating a presence and communication via Websites, Blogs, Social Networking sites, SMS, Mailers.

We are also required to manage our prospect and customer database as well as ensure seamless communication. Initiatives like customer loyalty program etc., are not possible without technology and investment in a good CRM solution. Going forward we also plan to set up an inbound call-center integrated with e-mailing and SMS system which we believe will help increase our reach and spread eventually.

12. How do you reach out to people with your services and how effective is it?

Marketing is a very critical part of our business given the fact that there are local and small time players and that there is a lack of awareness in India on adventure. We emphasize a lot on our marketing strategy.

We have built multiple media marketing avenues like mailer, web registrations, social networking sites, websites, blogs, print media and electronic media. We have used SMS and CRM extensively to monitor our prospects and customers.

For customers, we have a loyalty program and we keep in touch with them on a consistent basis and a large part of our business is also by word of mouth.

We also plan our events to suite the requirement of specific target groups; corporate, Sr Management, children and individuals which helps us create large brand awareness.

So far, we have been successful but we want to use technology on an ongoing basis to increase our reach.

13. Major difficulties that you come across very often in your expeditions?

Expeditions need a lot of patience and very extensive planning. One needs to assess every possible risk and be prepared to address them. The major difficulties we face are the unpredicted climate changes that are getting more and more unpredictable due to the global warming. At times it could simply even be the hard-to-convince participants who have a hard time understanding that we cannot go against the weather/climate conditions and instead assume that it is something we can control.

14. On a personal front, who is your role model?

It’s difficult to name one single person; my role models are people whom I have worked/work with, my friends and family who have inspired me all the time. There cannot be better role models than the people who inspire you every day, appreciate and accept me for being myself. Over the years many people have played a role in my life and making me who I am today and who I will be tomorrow. I believe that altitude of your aspirations is directly proportional to the number of people who believe in you.

15. Do you get enough time for yourself/family after organizing such interesting expeditions?

The best part of BASECAMP is that I get paid for holidaying :-) and since I love outdoors and being in the mountains, I do not need any more time for myself. Yes, I do miss spending time with family but I make it up with family outings.

16. One thing that is closest to your heart?

Mountains. I simply fall in love with them every time, they are the very best definition of everything I believe in.

Go Camping.

(If you are an Indian startup and would like to be interviewed or featured on Startups.in then we’d be happy to talk to you. Contact us right away.)

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Think Outdoor…..Think BASECAMP !!! is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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1. Meet the Travel Deal Experts
2. Thrillophilia – A Thrilling Startup
3. Staffing Business is about Creating Avenues – Lotussutra

Here is a chance to listen to Mr. Vinod Dham on how being an Indian has advantages and disadvantages in Silicon Valley. Mr. Vinod Dham, the father of Pentium and a successful venture capitalist will be speaking about his life journey. He will share how he overcame the obstacles and roadblocks to success; his experiences with Intel, AMD, entrepreneurial experiences with NexGen and now NEA-IndoUS Ventures.

The event is scheduled for 5th November, 2009 and will be at the Seminar Hall, IIT Delhi.

Then on November 11th, Sanjeev Bikchandani in another event will help glorify the fervor infused by Dham’s rhetoric. For more details on these events and to learn more about eDC’s initiatives, visit the website of Entrepreneurship Development Cell – IIT, Delhi.

(If you know of a startup event and would like it to be featured on Startups.in then contact us right away. Visit startups.in/events to learn about all the premier Indian startup events.)

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Vinod Dham on being an Indian in Silicon Valley is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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1. Guest Lecture by Rashmi Bansal at Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur
2. Startup Events You Must Attend

Techies are the experts from Travel Industry who carefully choose the deals after searching through thousands of travel offers & put the 25 best travel deals on TravelTechie.com based on their Unique Value Proposition.

1. What is TravelTechie.com? Please explain the ‘techie’ part of it.

TravelTechie is India’s 1st Travel Deals Site. It aggregates the best deals in Travel from various Travel service operators including Airlines, Hotels, Travel Agents & brings it in one place for the convenience of the travelers as well as the small & medium travel agents. We simply put up the link of these travel deals on Traveltechie.com which takes our users directly to the provider’s’ website where the travelers can book their travel. We are not an online booking site.

‘Techies’ are the experts from Travel Industry who carefully choose the Deals after searching through thousands of travel offers & put the best 25 Travel Deals on our site based on their Unique Value Proposition by way of their cost saving offers or uniqueness.

2. How long have you been in service and how is the customer response so far?

We have just launched last month & we have seen an amazing response from our user base which is growing at an exponential rate. Travel operators too have realized this potential & have been using our services to promote their special offers.

3. What is your business model?

We promote the best deals in travel by regularly publishing the details on our site. We also email these deals each week to our user base comprised of Travelers & Travel Agents. This will help the travel operators get more traffic, more visibility & consequently increase sales of the of the travel deals they promote from time to time. In addition, travelers will gain easy access to the Best Travel Deals & we will gain revenue from the ads on our site. So it’s a win-win-win situation for all.

4. Any significant features of TravelTechie.com that makes it stand apart from its competitors?

TravelTechie.com is not a booking site. We bring to you the best deals in Travel from various sources in an unbiased way along with the link to the operator’s website. We generate meaningful traffic of travelers who are actually looking to purchase tickets & direct them to the supplier’s site. The deals are chosen editorially based on their value proposition.

5. What are the benefits of being a user of TravelTechie.com?

Everyone keeps on hearing about 30% cash backs on Airlines & other special offers all the time. But when you actually want to travel, you don’t know where the best travel deals are available. TravelTechie.com aggregates the best deals in travel after searching through thousands of websites & puts up their details in one place along with the link to the operator’s website. This way any user just needs to visit TravelTechie & they will know the best offers available in the market without having to waste time by individually searching through various sites. The user will also save money by finding cheaper or cost saving travel offers. This apart, TravelTechie also presents some really unique & exotic Travel packages which are not much known, like the 7 Nights / 8 Days River cruise in Assam which takes you through Kaziranga National Park & North East Hinterland.

6. Could you tell us more about yourself, your position & other key players, if any?

I have been in the Travel Industry for more than 15 years having worked with key travel players including Discover The World Marketing, Orbitz Trade Fairs, Travel Corporation India & lately Arzoo.com where I was Heading their Marketing. I have done my MBA in Marketing from Sydenham Institute of Management.

7. How large is the team behind your start-up? Are you all based in India?

We are currently a small team of seven & based out of Mumbai.

8. What is your revenue model?

Our revenue Model is advertisement based.

9. Any particular marketing strategy that you find very effective for your start-up and why?

There are several strategies in place which include positioning yourself uniquely, generating lots of PR , Word of mouth, using social media marketing effectively & creating a buzz. This will bring you traffic at the fraction of your advertisement costs.

10. What is your take on increasing number of startups in India?

Startups are good & I salute the spirit of entrepreneurship. However, one must be extremely careful of the cash burns involved. Also, cash flows need to be maintained positive without which the business is slated to be doomed sooner or later.

11. What is the best advice you’ve ever received.

Distinguish between essentials & nice to haves and then get on with it instead of haggling over small glitches & issues.

12. Do you follow any other websites religiously?

Google.com because of their continuous innovation & gtms-inc.com for the marketing resources it offers besides various Online technology & travel websites. And of course, startups.in for the insights it brings into the entrepreneurial challenges.

13. Your role model?

There is no one in particular but I like the way Richard Branson & Vijay Mallya have flamboyantly built their businesses.

14. How much time do you spend on your venture on a daily basis?

I believe that the quality of innovation or value addition is more important than the quantity of time. Sometimes I am on it for just about 7 hours & some days it stretches to 20 hours.

(If you are an Indian startup and would like to be interviewed or featured on Startups.in then we’d be happy to talk to you. Contact us right away.)

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Meet the Travel Deal Experts is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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In any case here we go.

Before we get to the interview, there is one thing that I’d like to mention.

There is no single recipe to forming a great “Startup”. Yes, you have heard(read) it right – there is no single recipe to forming a great “Startup”.

If we look around, we can come across cases where mega corps with big bucks and huge resources have failed, while a small team of two or perhaps three individuals with little or no resources to start with have took the same idea to mega success. To quote an example. Microsoft vs Google in how they executed the “Search” engine.

Way before Google came onto the scene, Microsoft (and even Yahoo, Excite and the likes) with their huge deep pockets could not revolutionize the search engine space while a relatively unknown team of two bright kids studying in Stanford and with absolutely no resources executed a simple idea so well, which ended up in the form of Google that we all know today.

The point again being, there is no “single” recipe to a successful startup. If there is one such, then we would all be seeing and hearing only to stories of successful startups and everyone would be quitting their jobs to startup.

As with any other food recipe, the secret is to experiment time and again until it works for you and the people around you love it.

So, “Startups” are only for those who can persist and have the courage and determination. It is not for people faint at heart.

Rewards and success are only a natural outcome but is not something that motivates true entrepreneurs. What drives an entrepreneur is the passion to innovate.

With that said, let’s begin the interview.

[OL] Please mention the steps which one needs to follow to have a business up and running, starting from the ideation stage. I would like to have an idea of each of the main steps and what it involves. Any tips/strategies?

[Nag.B] In general and at a minimum, one would of course need an idea. While ideas as they say are dime a dozen, what truly differentiates is the execution. Execution would require a proper planning and a great team.

So, forming a team would be the next step.

While a comprehensive business plan might not be a mandatory requirement at this stage, it is always good to have
a good understanding of your goals, vision and mission and of course, the economics associated with your business.

Naming, formalizing and legalizing the business (incorporation etc.) would be next logical step. Again, while it might or might not be a mandatory depending on the business you are in and the city where you conduct your business, it is something that would have to be done eventually. So, just get it done. Also, pay due diligence when branding a product/business or service. Proper branding always helps.

Next comes execution. This is where you set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd. I can’t stress enough on its importance. Also, be ready to change your strategy and business model, if you realize that things aren’t working as expected. Entrepreneurs should learn to be flexible, adaptive and willing to learn from mistakes.

Also, make sure you keep into consideration the requirement to scale your business in future right during the execution stage. There have been many startups which failed as they couldn’t scale.

Stage of growth: As your business grows, so would your funding needs. If you can sustain with the revenues being generated by your startup, then well and good. If not, be prepared to raise funding. Raising capital can be a herculean task, so plan accordingly.

Exit strategy: No, I don’t mean exit strategy for your startup but rather an exit strategy for you as “<fill in your role here>”. It could be exiting as a founder, CEO, CxO or what ever role you took on initially. Not many startup founders like the idea of giving up their title. But a true entrepreneur would know when the time is right to bring in a more seasoned professional to grow the company. No one entrepreneur can handle it all – sales, marketing, hiring and all the
other departments. So, be prepared to bring in a change.

2. What are the different funding options for startups? Do certain ideas lend them to certain funding options? For example do ideas in the Tech space lend themselves to investments from VCs? How does one find out what is the best funding option for his business?

Let’s take this one at a time.

First, the available options . This varies depending on the stage of startup. For seed funding, the usual option is to dip into the the savings or turn to the most obvious choice for many a entrepreneur and is what is usually termed as “FFF” option; meaning “Friends”, “Family” and “Fools” :)

Other option would be to go with small business loans provided by many banks and/or government agencies or approach Angel investors.

During growth stage where the requirement is usually on a higher scale, the startups can look at raising Venture Capital.

Each of these come with their associated risk/rewards. So, it is utmost important to explore and understand all the options really well.

Now onto the other part of your question. Ideas opening to funding avenue – do ideas in the Tech space lend
themselves to investments from VCs?

Well, not exactly. But what I would rather say is startups in a particular industry might interest a particular segment of investors. For example, startups in solar industry have a chance of evincing more interest when they approach investors with a past investment history in that sector.

( Related: Expert Advice on Why You Could Fail to Get Funded )

Finally, as to how does one find what is the best option? As a general rule of thumb, DO NOT raise OUTSIDE capital unless you absolutely must.

You can also consult with seasoned entrepreneurs or experienced people in the industry. You’d be surprised, but most people are willing to help only if you’d ask for it.

3. Can we say that some ideas work better during recession or does every idea work when properly implemented? What is it that one should keep in mind when starting a business during times such as these?

Yes and No.

Yes, because it is easier to find excellent resources for less during recession. So, recession could in fact be a good time to startup.

No, not every idea would work during recession even when “properly implemented”. You’d have to have an exceptional strategy and an equally outstanding implementation to turn dust into gold during times of recession.

4. What are the several ways a startup can look to reduce cost as far as initial and working capital is concerned? Please mention a few actionable areas.

If there are somethings better done and done for less when outsourced, then do not hesitate to do so.

Also, you don’t have to spend a fortune on marketing unless you build a product that people don’t like or understand and you are trying to push it onto them. If not, bank on viral marketing as much as possible.

5. Please describe the startup ecosystem in the country. What are the different resources that are available for a startup? Please give an idea of resources like startup consultants, barcamps, startup networks, incubators, blogs, forums etc, that one needs to be tuned into. How does one increase visibility/stay connected and whom does one turn to for the help and advice?

Unfortunately, in our country we still have a long way to go before claiming that the startup ecosystem in India is comparable to the one in other developed nations. With the exception of very few un-conferences and also some universities and colleges which have their own entrepreneurship cells, there aren’t (m)any that truly deserve a
mention. Most of the so called networks and incubators are out there exploiting people and taking them for a ride. Rest of them have their own agenda.

As in any other case, the people would have to mindful of what they are getting into. In this day and age, ones best friend is the Internet. Do your due diligence and spend sometime researching online to know the good and bad about each resource.

Needless to say, the best advice, connections, visibility are all possible on Internet.

6. How can one find out if one has it in him or her to start a business? What is it that he should ask himself to find out? Is there a checklist one can go through to find out? (which could explore both personal and financial traits of a person?)

This is a huge topic in itself but Robert Sullivan, the author of “Small Business Startup Guide” has a great checklist which is a must read.

Also, check out the following set of questions for entrepreneurs originally published on Forbes.

(If you are an Indian startup and would like to be interviewed or featured on Startups.in then we’d be happy to talk to you. Contact us right away.)

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Recipe for a Great “Startup” is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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1. Startup Advice You Could Use

1. What is FreeMarriage.in?

FreeMarriage.in is a online matrimony service oriented towards Indian audience.

2. What was the driving force behind your start-up?

Matrimonial portals in India are concentrating more on making money and less on everything else. They keep comparing among themselves with absolutely no out-of-the-box thinking. This approach is harming the customers who want innovative services at lower rates. Rise of technologically advanced portals worldwide has set a new benchmark, which the existing Indian Matrimony portals have failed to meet so far.

We saw an opportunity here and we are investing into innovative features while at the same time ensuring smooth and hassle free online experience. We are in process of implementing some innovative and path breaking ideas which we’ll discuss in the near future.

“Never feel discouraged even in most trying situations during your entrepreneurship journey.”

3. Would you mind sharing at least some insights into those “ground-breaking” features now?

To begin with – we are not charging any of our users and have been providing all our services absolutely free of cost. While our service is fully functional as of now, we are developing more innovative features which will make us unique. Some of those features are:

i) Providing option of matrimonial web service, which would be COMPLETELY in Hindi. Users who do not understand English would be able to use all of our services.
ii) GeoLocating: We are using google services to add exciting geographic location features for users.
iii) HoroMatch: Automatically creating and matching horoscopes.

4. How far do you see the acceptance of your service to the masses?

Users of Online Matrimony Service is expected to reach 21 million users within the next 2 years. We already have an edge over the competition in terms of uniqueness and usability and by then we would be in position to attract a very large user base.

5. How is your start-up doing do so far? Any significant achievements to share?

While we are witnessing a huge interest from Indian user base, we were pleased to note that a large user base of user base is outside India as well. This proves we are able to attract a global user base with emphasis on India.

6. Please tell us more about yourself, your position & other key players in your start-up.

Our team has a right mix of technical and business know-how. We have put-in our hard work to successfully create and run a matrimonial portal. While we all have requisite knowledge for managing such a portal, we anticipate many challenges ahead. Those challenges can be technical, business related or related to efficient utilization of available resources at hand.

Our Team:
Sudhakar Pratap Singh: COO (Master of Computer Applications)
Diwakar Pratap Singh: Director and CTO (Master of Computer Applications with around 7 years of software industry experiences in communications domain)
Shipra Singh: Head of Marketing and Business Communications (MBA (Marketing))

7. How large is the team behind your start-up?

Right now we are a team of 4. Since we are a startup, we have to keep our team size optimal. We plan to add more associates with us in near future.

8. How are you funded?

We are pitching to a few investors and faring well in our talks with the VCs. Our thought process has been able to evoke a lot of interest and we hope to close a deal pretty soon.

9. What were the hurdles you had to cross while setting up your start-up?

Main hurdles are
i) Turning your idea into a workable model, and
ii) Capital requirement.

While we have overcome the first hurdle, we are in the process of jumping over the other one too.

10. What are key technologies your service is built upon or the ones that aid in your processes and why did you opt for them?

We have opted for open source technologies because of:
i) Freedom from dependency on a vendor
ii) Excellent troubleshooting available on the web for almost all potential problems
iii) Cost factor

11. In your experience, what has been the most effective way to market a business?

So far, we have experienced that Google paid services are very effective way of promotions.

12. What is the best advice you’ve ever received.

Never feel discouraged even in most trying situations during your entrepreneurship journey.

13. On a personal front, who is your role model? Also, do you follow any other websites on a regular basis?

In web world, I would say Sabeer Bhatia because of his vision. Though I feel he could have done better by extending his ideas instead of selling them off.
I follow all Indian startup websites. I like Google news for news and register.co.uk for technical articles.

14. How much time do you devote to your venture on a daily basis?

I personally spend almost 4-5 hours daily on weekdays and full time during weekends. Other team members also devote their precious time to the venture.

15. Does being an entrepreneur affect your lifestyle? Do you get enough time for yourself/family?

It is a bit difficult to get more time for your family but I guess any entrepreneur has to devote more time to the venture initially while on the path to prove themselves.

16. Tell us One thing that you love the most?

Technology.

17. Something that can keep you awake for nights together.

Working on an idea turning it into reality.

(If you are an Indian startup and would like to be interviewed or featured on Startups.in then we’d be happy to talk to you. Contact us right away.)

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Free Marriage – Time to Innovate the Matrimonial Service is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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Nikhil Peter of start-ups caught up with Achin of AdRunIndia to discuss their business model.

1. Please explain the concept and motivation behind AdRunIndia.com.

The concept is about advertising on wheels, the strategy here is to take the advertising to the next level.
Innovation is the motivation behind AdRunIndia.com

2. Are you the pioneers in such kind of advertising?

Definitely.

3. Could you share info about the different ad packages?

We offer 3 types of wraps –
a) Platinum – Full Body Wrap
b) Gold Wrap – Door to Door wrap both sides
c) Silver Wrap – Door to door wrap, single sides

4. Will this new medium affect the current advertising industry and if so, to what extent?

The impact is probably greater than the advertisers in the country can ever realize. There is a huge gap between the need for innovations in advertising & the money being spent by advertisers/companies.

The target of every mode of advertising is to penetrate in the mind of viewers as fast as possible, By choosing our medium, the companies will save huge amount of money in terms of display of ads, in terms of visibility.

5. Being a new startup, how has it been doing so far? How long do we have to wait to see influx of advertisements on the vehicles on the Indian roads?

Well, we are just 2 months old. So, its hard to predict but since this is an unconventional form of advertising and is totally new as per thinking norms of Indians, it might take some time for us to see advertisements on wheels.

6. Could you tell us more about yourself, your position & other key players, if any?

I’m Achin Kansal, Co-Founder. Mahendra Chourey is the other co-founder.
We are supported by Isha Toor & Amrita Kansal, our Ad Managers; Diptansh Tanwar, Manager of Sales.

7. How is your startup being funded so far?

We are self-funded using our individual savings.
But yes, we are looking for funding to expand, for marketing and getting our company on wheels.

8. Any initial problems you faced while setting things up?

Since our concept is totally new, we didn’t have any perfect guide to take us through the uncharted route. We had to design our own route and bank on our instincts.

9. What are key technologies/materials your service is built upon and why did you opt for them?

We use a highly durable material called vinyl. It is manufactured & supplied by 3M in India.
They are the pioneers in doing it. In addition, we use the various software packages to design interesting graphic ads for our customers and in getting their brands on wheels elegantly.

10. Your thoughts on effective ways to market a business.

The goal of every advertiser is to increase the exposure of their business and ultimately improve the market share.
While I’d be biased, we would want to welcome all companies to try our medium for advertising. It would definitely turn out to be the most effective medium that exists out there today when compared with other modes like Radio, TV, Internet/Blogs, SMS, Banners/Hoardings/Billboards etc.

11. The best advice you’ve ever received.

An idea can change your life.

12. Who is your role model?

My father, Mr. SK Kansal and then Mr. Bill Gates (Chairman of Microsoft)

13. What is your dream for the company?

Our basic dream is to serve companies, & customers on a world wide basis. We will roll out many new concepts in the future which can assist companies & customers to benefit on a day to day basis.

I personally believe in the slogan – “stay connected” and we want everybody to be connected.

Raftaar Pe Vyapaar with AdRunIndia.

(If you are an Indian startup and would like to be interviewed or featured on Startups.in then we’d be happy to talk to you. Contact us right away.)

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Advertising on Wheels is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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Read the thank you note from Divyesh Kharade.

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No matter who you are — a startup entrepreneur, student or someone thinking about forming a startup, a service provider or an investor actively pursuing entrepreneur communities, these are some of the events you don’t want to miss.

1. Eureka! Asia’s Largest Bplan Competition

Eureka! 2009 is a business plan competition organized by The Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Bombay and presented by State Bank of India. With a prize money of INR 2.1 million, Eureka! has become Asia’s Premier and Largest bplan Competition.

Eureka! provides its participants to opportunity to grow their idea or fledgling startup into a successful business through its 6 month period of mentoring and guidance. The top 40 teams after being judged by Indian Angel Network, VCs, Industry experts and corporate, shall be allotted a mentor to convert their idea into a good business plan.

These teams shall also be invited to the Mentors Meet where they can interact with over 25 corporate, investors and industry experts to validate and improve their business models. The teams shall be appointed to 4 mentors who shall guide them by reviewing their rough draft to come up with a good bplan.

The top 8 teams in the finals shall be called to IIT Bombay during ESummit where they will be given the opportunity to present their bplan in front of a panel of judges consisting of veteran entrepreneurs, corporate and VCs. The best teams shall get the opportunity to present their bplans to a panel from Mumbai Angels and Indian Angel Network.

Eureka! is a great platform for entrepreneurs to validate their business model and get due mentoring to form a successful business. 8 points System, winner of Eureka! 2007 went on to get an on the spot funding of Rs. 55 lakhs. Auratronics, winner of 3^rd prize in Eureka! 2007 has got incubated in USA. ECPS which came 3^rd in Eureka! 2008, represented India at Carnegie Mellon University, USA in the cleantech category. An article on his company was featured in Outlook Money. These are only few of the successful companies that have come out of Eureka!.

Important Dates:

Last date for submission of Executive Summaries is 9^th October. Register by visiting www.eureka.ecell.in.

Last date of submission of Business Plans is 27^th December.

2. International Entrepreneurship Challenge

Entrepreneurship Cell @ the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi is organizing an annual B-Plan competition, the International Entrepreneurship Challenge wherein students and young entrepreneurs compete for a grand prize along with an opportunity to receive seed funding from prominent Venture Capitalists.

The event is divided into three stages.

Round I of the event, is currently underway and involves submission of Executive Summaries by the participating teams.

Based on the evaluation of the initial entries, 20-30 teams will be shortlisted for Round II. This would be a mentorship phase wherein each team would be working on their B-Plans under the guidance of an experts from the industry relevant to their business idea. The mentors consist of experienced and high level corporate officials, entrepreneurs and academicians. At the end of Round II, the shortlisted teams would have to submit their final B-Plans which would then be evaluated to select the finalists for the event.

Round III, the Grand Finale would be held in the first week of December at FMS, Delhi. The finalists would have to present their B-Plans to a panel of eminent Board of Directors who would provide critical analysis to the teams about their business plans and select the winning teams. On the whole, the event will be a great learning experience for the participants.

Important Dates:

Deadline for submitting Executive Summaries: 11:59 PM October 9th, 2009
Mentoring Sessions: From October 25th, 2009
Grand Finale: 1st week of December, 2009

For more details about the event and instructions to apply, download the Event Brochure, visit FMS Delhi website or send a mail to ecell@fms.edu

(If you know of a startup event and would like it to be featured on Startups.in then contact us right away. Visit startups.in/events to learn about all the premier Indian startup events.)

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Startup Events You Must Attend is a post from: News, Views, Reviews & Interviews of Indian startups

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