December 23rd will be one of the memorable days in the history of OCC. For the first time since the inception in August, we had more folks who are founders/co founders of companies than those who are planning to. There were 7 startups and the discussions that ensued was simply of real quality. There were two key insights from this meeting. Read on for more.
We had an informal discussions for the first forty minutes then we decided to get on a round where each of the founders talk about their startups.
DyAnsys is a medical instrumentation company. Gunasekaran a co founder is an active participant of both OCC Chennai and OCC Bangalore was present. DyAnsys is mainly into manufacturing and marketing low cost medical instruments.
udrool is to launch it's products in first quarter next year. The co founder Vaasu had some great insights into Marketing and why all startups should have a marketing guy in the founding team. Later on in the discussion he provided some great insights. udrool is the company which has a few products in pipeline and has technological offerings from a consumer perspective in the domain of sales, content aggregation etc.
adventure advertising solutions is a web design, graphic design, marketing, brand building company. Harsha one of the co founders is a very passionate guy. These folks have done some good work and are on an expansion path.
Steadfast has a product called Pactus is "an application aimed at SMBs handling product sales, service and contracts. It is an “easy to install and simple to use” CRM Software".We had Anand, one of the co founders with us. An organically built company, now on the way to move to the next level.
flipkart is an online book store. It boasts of pretty huge collection of books and decent UI for the site. The founders Binny, Sachin launched this a few months back and have done a good job so far.
maxheap is a technology company and they are launching a product in the sphere of social networking. They launched a networking site for residents of an apartment by the name Common Floor. An interesting concept of building a site for an existing community of apartment owners. Sumit and Lalit the cofounders have done a good job and with the vision they have for the product let's keep our fingers crossed and watch them.
muziboo the original music sharing site which promises to get you an audience. Prateek and Nithya who recently got featured in Economic Times for their startup promis to provide an audience for your latent musical talents.
Take Aways:
i) Include a Marketing person in your founding team. Most of us being techies ignore this fundamental requirement that we need good marketing folks on the floor. Vaasu has rightly pointed out that there is a huge gap in Indian startups in the founders abilities in technology and marketing.
ii) This is one of the favorite topics around. What social networking models will work out. maxHeap with their CommonFloor is doing something that I haven't seen any of the Indian social networking startups do. Provide a platform for already existing apartment communities. This and ensuing discussion let me to the following key point on what kind of social networks will succeed in India.
Traditionally we in India have a a large number of communities. My family network, my work network, and a lot of other networks. We are different from the western society in that, we are a community based society than an individual based society. However, what we see in the social networking space is companies trying to push the US specific individual social networking platforms in our community based society. What we need is products which identify the problems which existing communities face and address those issues. CommonFloor is one step in this direction. I am sure companies which figure this out will be the ones which will make a mark.
iii) The other hot discussion topic is the gap between the VC's and the angel's in India. We all agree that their needs to be more and more angel's than VC's. But, most of the discussions stop at discussing this point than offering a solution. Vaasu has a very good idea which I feel is very practical and will take the entrepreneurial activity in this country to a different level. For now read on how Vaasu addresses the issue.
"India needs not USD 40 billion VC funds, but 40 million angel funds. There is an imbalance that needs to be addressed in the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem.
google had a Ram Shriram much before they had a VC. What India needs are many more such Ram(s). Where are they ? There are just a handful of angels or angel firms to to the dozens of VCs. A clear imbalance in the ecosystem.
A proposal should be made to the Govt of India to give a tax break for anyone or any company that makes a seed investment with a ceiling of USD 1 million. Or be even bolder and pardon black money that gets invested as seed capital The administrative mechanism can work on similar lines of giving money to charity.
This will inspire the many hidden Rams, who want a little incentive to make the leap. Bodies like TIE and NEN can channel these seed funds, as individual angels might not know the process.
We need the support of the press to champion this cause along with Entrepreneurs. Imagine an India bustling with entrepreneurs ! Isn't that what built America ?
Vaasu
"
Brood over it. A simple but very practical stuff according to me.
I will write about this in more detail in a later post.
Liked this Post: Subscribe to the RSS feed to get the posts to you. You have the advantage of getting my deli.cio.us links on the feed.
Founders at OCC, and a few break through Insights
Bangalore Open Coffee Kick Starts with Bang
What do you call a meet where about 60+ people interested in entrepreneurship drop by to share ideas? That's Bangalore Open Coffee Club for you all. I am speechless at the number of people and the quality (many of them are people who run their own start ups, a few VC's) . When me and Vaibhav started the marketing of this event, we expected about 15-20 to be a good number to call this event a success. Now the numbers speak for themselves of the success of the inaugural meet. Read on for more details.
I was there at Brewhaha a few minutes before 11:00am, and man there were about 10 people already over there. There was a bit of silence and I felt a bit awkward, but the talk started rolling out and then there was no stopping. By about 11:15am, there was fairly a large crowd(yes yes!!), and then I started out with an introduction of what we were going to do over the next two hours. Then it was Vaibhav's turn to speak and then the ball rolled on to all others. More than 55 folks introduced themselves, and there expectations from OCC Bangalore. Jace, Hari tried to live blog the event thanks a lot to them(i guess, there was some issue, but do check out for their version). I will mention some of the folks who were present, at the end of this post (the rest of you please excuse me and my memory, I will include the link to you, if you send across a mail).
Some key people for the event apart from all the interested and enthusiastic folks were Laura A. Perkin from the finance of NEN Online, Mr. SameerKanth a consultant at NEN Online, Yiting Shen a MIT Sloan student (she manages a fund, more details later). It was really wonderful to have you here at OCC Bangalore, thanks a lot and hope to see you more at the event.
The introductions were mostly about who they were? what they do? and what they expect from OCC Bangalore? To summarize the expectations, my key takeaways are as follows(please feel free to comment/add to these)
There were three kinds of participants at the meet.
The key expectations from OCC (not in any particular order)
Then we had a discussion on what people want from a regular meeting like this. Rajan tossed of his ideas from organizing MoMo Bangalore. Then there was a flowing discussion where Tejas, Bhaskar V Kode, Sandeep, Amit, Guna(was there at Chennai Open Coffee) and lots of others pitched in on what could be the direction for this event.
There were a lot more ideas that were tossed in but thankfully my memory again deserts me at the moment of writing.
Finally we concluded with the idea that we will meet again on 2nd September 2007 at Brewhaha from 11am to 1pm. This time we will have an agenda over which we will meet. Post your thoughts on what you want here on the group (opencoffeeatbangalore).
On a personal note, there were so many folks whom I knew by face from barcamp who were here, Harish, Hari, Jace, Aashish, Amit, Mansi, Shivku, Manoj, Piyush, Rajan, Keshav, Himanshu, Saurabh, Anand, Sandeep,Akshat (If I missed someone whom I knew, memory dump!!).
Some of the others who were there (mentioning those who run companies,others whom I missed out please let me know)
It was really interesting and to meet you all. Bangalore Open Coffee Meet is your meet. It's a place where you want to meet others, learn with others and grow.
Spread the word, drop by, share your experience, and grow.
See you at the next meet.
PS: Thank you all for paying up for the coffee/snacks you bought. In the scale of the event, some of you have missed out on paying your due. Thanks to Vaibhav for sharing the spoils.
Releated Posts:
Post Event Blogging:
Vaibhav at Technofriends
Himanshu Sheth at Thoughts Prevail
Harinath at Harisays
Jace on Livejournal
Saurabh at the100rabh
Piyush at Silicon Tryst
Sid at Siddhi
Liked this Post: Subscribe to the RSS feed to get the posts to you. You have the advantage of getting my deli.cio.us links on the feed.
Business Card on Mobile
I was at Proto.in then was at BCB4 last month. One problem I and most of the people I met, have at such events is that, they are exhausted of the business cards long before the event comes to an end. Another issue with Business Cards is, the details change pretty fast, either your designation changes, the company address changes, the phone number or host of other things. Also business cards are a difficult to maintain on the recipients part. So do we have a solution to this? Though not a complete solution at this point, an Indian Startup Zakly tries to address this problem. Read on for a review of their offering.
The Product
Zakly calls the product "your electronic calling card". The concept is simple, register yourself with the requested details. Enter the details like name, company, designation phone number and you are done. Now you can access your card from any mobile with GPRS using the following link http://zakly.mobi/
Apart from the idea, it is also very easy to use. One just needs to register and enter the details asked for. A don't make me think implementation makes it simple to use. It also helps that there is nothing much more one needs to do. Same while accessing the calling card from the mobile. Just type in the url and viola you are there.
Now coming to some hiccups. The low contrast between the text and the background of the main body make it a bit difficult to read. Considering there is ample space, the design could have been better. The forms look cluttered and screaming for space.
I was pleasantly surprised when I came to know that this company is based out of Goa. Is it a sign that the startup bug is spreading wide across India? You have to tell.
I haven't talked to any one from Zakly but the reply to the feed back given was very prompt. Also I am not sure I can call Zakly a startup in true sense as it is a venture of Dogears Print Media Pvt. Ltd. Will post more information once I have it.
My Take
The concept is simple and sounds pretty good. However, it is a long way before they go anywhere. They have done a good job by releasing the basic feature early. However, in its current form, it can be copied in a couple of days by any one. There is a fundamental pain point it addresses, but has a long way to go before i would use it.
* Why do they restrict accessing the profile only to a mobile? I am surprised that I am not allowed to access it from my web browser.(check zook.in)
* If you see the way the information is displayed on the mobile, it is very rudimentary. Can't they spice up the look?
* Why do they call it a calling card? First thing that comes to my mind is the bsnl calling card or reliance calling card. Am sure need to change this branding immediately.
Improvements
* Allow me to access the information over SMS/Web browser.
* Give me a choice of customizable look, where I can choose the color, format in which the card will be displayed on the browsers(both mobile and web).
* I get to see that they have been in for more than two months. However, I guess they haven't done much improvements to the current offering. What they need to do is release more features on a periodic basis.
* Why limit the product to web access and mobiles? Small widgets which can help me put the information on blogs, websites etc.
* This is a bit futuristic but, they can integrate the information with maps, and provide call on click kind of feature (Integrate with Google Maps and Jajah)
* How are these guys going to monetize the stuff. I have a few ideas, but I guess they have to go a long way before they get to start doing that.
What do you think of Zakly? Will you use it? If you have used it, share your experiences!
Source
Webyantra
Liked this Post: Subscribe to the RSS feed to get the posts to you. You have the advantage of getting my deli.cio.us links on the feed.
Green Entrepreneur, Green Startup,Green Waste, Green Bangalore
I have always maintained a corner for non-it startups (Pixelninc, ion, easylifeservices, brewhaha) in this blog. And design is my passion. What can be better than a startup which combines these two. In this post I will be introducing you to one such startup .
"Oh! Man, I have to throw that stinking waste basket from the kitchen", said a friend of mine when I visited him. He's just married and as with most of the people find it difficult to keep the kitchen clean. I am sure most of you can identify with this situation. I for one am lucky that the maid cleans up the waste basket in kitchen daily.(If she does not come for a day, my kitchen is in for a toss).
One more thing that concerns me most of the time is that all this waste is thrown in the overflowing dustbins on the road (mind you not road side). All the waste degenerates on the roads and makes the best of the best roads stinking fowl. This is not just a problem in Bangalore but across the country.
An old saying goes like this "Win at home, before you conquer the world". One more "Little drops maketh an Ocean". Same here, before we get to clean the roads of Bangalore let us clean our houses first (without dirtying the roads) .
You might ask, what do we do about it? Ok, I might have a solution up my sleeve. I came across this old-new startup from Bangalore which precisely helps you in doing this. I am referring to DailyDump, trying to make good of the waste.
[tHe sTory bEhind?]
Most of the waste generated in an Indian home is organic in nature. We all know that organic waste makes an excellent ingredient for compost. This compost is made using organic waste like dead leaves, cooked food, vegetable peels etc. It makes good supplement and nutrient for the crops, gardens etc. Composting is a time taking and tedious process(Ask me, I was on a project with AID Bangalore). What DailyDump tried to do is make composting in your house a decently simple and clean process.
[wHat tHey dO]
"Our products are designed to make your environment better - both aesthetically and ecologically " is the line from DailyDump. Check out the photos in this blog, that should speak of what good job these folks are doing. Though at this point I am not very sure on how all this stuff works (exact mechanics), I feel it should be a bit straight forward.(I don't guarantee it at this point). Check out the names of the products, simple vernacular !!.
[cOst]
I know your next question is how much it costs me? (I mean you!).
Depending on the size of the container, it might cost you anywhere between 100rs to 750 rs.
[pItfalls]
No service/product can be without pitfalls. I am so happy that dailydump has openly come up with the problems that people might face and offer workarounds.
"Composting at home could take some getting used to, but Daily Dump’s Service Team is there, anytime, anywhere, to help you. You could either sign up for a Service Plan or call us when you feel the need.
We find that some customers are hesitant to begin by themselves and need some support to fall back on, which is why the service plans are flexible and you can choose from four options." (DailDump)
There is a service option to people who find it difficult to maintain the stuff.
"The daily dump current range needs a bit of maintenance by the urban consumer. A city needs multiple solutions, at the community level and larger scale. The daily dump addresses only the problem of home waste." (Index 2007 Awards)[aCcolades]
With such a great design can the accolades be far behind. DailyDump has been nominated by the Index 2007 Awards under the Home category (Index is a NPO- focusing on design to improve Life worldwide). There is also a mention on springwise and trendhunters two of the sites that bring out the innovative things across the world.
[fUture]
So what does dailydump see in the future.
[pEople bHeind]
If you think it's a one man show it is not. Check out the page where the team behind dailydump is introduced. I guess every one involved found a place here.
I am planning to have a podcast/videocast with her and the team. Will get to know more details then and let you all know about, one more face who cares for design. Check out this page where she describes why she chose this approach to composting.
[cOol fActor]
The pictures, very impressive. The website has a nice, cool interface. (Somethings can be improved). And the best part is, Poonam says the content and the business model is opensource.
"Also people – lots of them have shaped it in many ways – so this project does not belong to me alone – it belongs to the many that will shape it as time moves on. This project therefore is dedicated to everyone who wishes to do something with it – and all the material is available on this site under a creative commons license." (DailyDump)
That's the zing factor, I bow to her for the vision. She is an inspiration to all of us.
[mY Opinion]
Ok, we come to the last part. I am impressed.But I do have concerns that you might have. Does it really stand up to the claims. What will happen in rains, if I am away from house, if the pot breaks, so on and so forth. Also I haven't got the exact nature of work on my part if I start using this in my house. As mentioned earlier in this post, I plan to talk to Poonam next.
Drop by all your queries in comments. I will try to get them answered.
[sUbscribe]
If you liked what you read and would like to read more stuff like this. Subscribe to the rss feed of this blog.
[cRedits]
Photo of Garbage: The Hindu
You Tube video of Daily Dump
Other Photos: Index
MoMo Bangalore: Mobile Search
Last Monday, I was at the Mobile Monday Bangalore. I have talked about my experiences with MoMo in my earlier post. This time the topic on hand was on Mobile Search. The founder and CEO of Ziva software Ajay Sethi presented there mobile search platform Zook.
Though the presentation was mostly on what Zook and how to use Zook. The ensuing discussion brought some interesting points in the mobile search space. The discussion brought the following issues to the forefront.
i) LBS in search. The influence of search results based on the location of a person.
ii) Search results based on the previous searches. (The system capable of adapting itself to previous search)
iii) Use community as source of information.
iv) Voice based search.
v) Results based on recency, frequency of the data.
vi) Phonetic based search to eliminate typos.
Check out the last lines of this post for a summary of my views.
There were some other questions on the business model of Ziva Software but was not discussed at length. Zook is the technology behind JustDial. For more juice about Ziva and the story behind check this interview with Ajay Sethi by Ashish from Pluggd.in
I have mentioned Active Mobs! in my last post about MoMo. This time around I got to see one more start up, this is in the Social Networking Space. Check out BabaLife, I got to meet the person behind this and see a preview of what is to come. I am sure if it is anywhere close to what it promises it's going to give a run for money to all others in the space. Infact, I might be the first blogger to release the juice about BabaLife here. I promise you, I will get you more juice on it. Just keep tuned over here.
Apart from that I got to meet Param from Onwardresearch, had a brief talk on what his company does in the area of user research. Check out his post on mobile search here. He's also a very good photographer, check his work here. Had a great time with a few folks over beer. And that's about it.
To come back to the mobile search, it is definitely a different ball game. In here apart from what is searched, the context, time plays a very important role. The usage patterns matters a lot more than what it does in the web search. Will have to see how Google, Microsoft Live Search, and others take on this area. What do you think??
If you have something in the space of mobiles, drop by a few comments. I will be happy to take it up further with some of these folks who are really cool and know their turf i.e. Mobiles.
Tangled Web!!
This was a very interesting post by Atanu Dey. If you follow this blog regularly this name will strike a chord. Check this post on mobile advertising.
In this he talks about Death, Vagabond and A Cab ride. I am waiting for the next post. Will update the link on this post. So keep tuned.
Since I am here and I have to fill up a few pages, I will introduce you to a new startup a cafe' in Bangalore. It's called BrewHaHa, a very interesting concept of Cafe' where you can hang out, play games, dance, play music, and what not. Check them out!!. I will be there this weekend and will let you know more about the folks behind this.
Until then check out what the people behind BrewHaHa say about themselves,
"BrewHaHa is a community-driven entertainment lounge where there's always something to do. Whether it's one of our 65 specially imported board games designed at group audiences, our fun events or hobby classes, we assure you there's no way you're going to be bored in Koramangala any more. Unless of course you're not at BrewHaHa!"
Inasra Hotel Search in India
I love traveling and travel quite a few times in an year. The most important thing for me, and I guess for folks of my ilk is, finding a decent shelter without straining our purse. To find a place to stay in a big city or a relatively remote place is difficult and with the two constraints mentioned earlier it becomes a nightmare. Inasra a search engine from India promises to just address this issue.
[tHe pRoduct]
Inasra is a search engine for hotels in India. They cover pretty much all the major cities in all the Indian states. With over 3000 hotels across 300 cities there are not many places you would miss out. The best part about the listing is it lets you search the hotels based on various criteria like price,the rating, amenities(Business center, travel desk etc ), cuisines(continental,Chinese etc). You can get details like amenities, cuisines served, tariff structure and other information about all the hotels listed.
[tHe sIte]
It has got one of the most simple and user friendly home page design I have seen in recent times. A simple, to the point home page which concentrates more on the search feature without all the clutter that we get to see with many travel sites(read makemytrip, yatra etc). The basic navigation to hotels in a city and booking a room is pretty straight forward stuff. Intelligent use of Ajax gives it a rich neat look. Unfortunately the good things end here, the site lacks in some of the usability aspects. I will do a detailed review of the site design in a later post.
[tHe vErdict]
Inasra is one of the few, in fact the only search engine, specific to hotel search, in India. It's decent database of hotels and wide reach of cities within India, coupled with cool user interface and excellent search capabilities makes it an automatic choice for me and probably to you. You can read more about Inasra in this post at pluggd.in.
I found this interesting piece on the About Us page.
"Funding : We are a privately held company where all the investment in terms of money, time and effort has been made by the founders themselves (infact this is being written by us). For us, business (inasra) is personal and not just a profit making machine for shareholders (profit is a pertinent factor, but not at the cost of ethics). So we will be a privately held company in the near future too."
What's with Indian Web2.0 Startups Design
Ok, I know it's easy to criticize. However, my frustration at the increasing number of web2.0 companies from India with interfaces that are a far cry in basics of design makes me post this. I am disappointed to see this more and more. I agree your technology and your product are great but basic lack of courtesy to design and lack of usage perspective will hamper your growth and also lead to a very negative impression.
In this post I will discuss some of the basic mistakes and how these can be avoided. There is one site which has impressed me with there approach. Picsquare, I have pointed to them in one of my earlier posts on hungrybangalore.
[tHe hOme]
The days of dead pan html and spartan looks are gone, its the age of color and style. Check this screenshot from a site which comes up after I login.
If this is what I need to use to navigate, I will think twice before I proceed. Forget about the web2.0 looks, this site has got the ground basics wrong. The font size is too small. I doubt if the person who designed this page can read the menu right below my name. Remember, its not what technology you offer that makes your company great, it's what the consumer perceives. This kind of a design is not going to win any one for you.
[lOgin!!]
Oh! my god, I just hate the login screen, I hate to login to every site. This is not just Indian but global phenomena. I don't understand why they make login mandatory and design such useless interface. This particular page has a bug, once I submit the screen, it does not go to a new page which tells me that my account information is saved or some blah blah. It just stays on the same page with mandatory fields marked in red. Considering this is a site for buying and selling, will you be comfortable with doing business with them? Check out my earlier post on registration and usability.
[nAvigation]
The most important thing that one looks for when one visits a site is to go through it. I find it most difficult to maneuver through the sites and find what I want. This is something that most of these have got right to some extent. The only suggestion being make it more visible (distinct), so that some one who wants something from the site can find how to get to that easily without haggling around.
[fOnts]
This I find is the least cared about in all most all the sites. The font style changes from navigation menu, to content, to page header to page footer. There is no uniformity in the fonts selected nor in the font size. You have to realize that these are some design principles which have come over time. It's not a nice idea to break them unless you have a ground breaking stuff.
[wHat nExt]
Some of these sites offer a plugin/software for download. However, there is not a single page on how to install. Not even in FAQ's. I have never taken the pain to test some of the products just because there is no instruction how to use them and I don't have all the time in the world to figure their usage.
[wHo aRe yOu ]
This was the most surprising and bizarre. What do you do? It is essential to know what your company offers? And this should be apparent from the first view of your site. Not after scrolling down and under.
[iN sUmmary]
i.Don't break the basic design rules.
ii. Make it easy for user to use your site.
iii. Don't make me use a microscope to read your site.
I will review some of the sites in detail in the coming days, and see what they got right and where they can improve.
Mobile Webcam
Ok Folks, Hold on, I know I haven't been posting for almost a week. No excuses, I take all the blame.(Caught up with some personal work). Coming to some cool stuff, I came across this interesting stuff and am sure you will find it great.
[tHe sTory]
All of us have a mobile phone and most of us have a camera in it. It's a wonderful tool, take photos anytime anywhere and save it on to your system, upload to net and share it with friends and family. Now you have this nice idea of using camera in your mobile phone and do a video chat with your friend in the US of A.
You move to new house in Bangalore and want to show it to your parents.
That little kid of yours is never stable to pose before a webcam. So what is the answer for all this.
How do you do it? Read on...
[tHe pRoduct]
Let me present you wwigo (Webcam Where ever I Go), it's a new product from Motvik. The product idea is very cool. It makes your mobile phone with a camera into a webcam, using which you can video chat on some of your favorite clients (Skype, YM!, MSN etc). Currently it is available for most of the nokia series handsets. Hope they extend the support to other models too.
[tHe Buzz]
I just got to see this product today, haven't yet got to try it. (I don't use a Nokia!!). Any way I see a lot fo potential and usage and hacks too using this. Will post more details once I get to test it. If you have have had the chance to use it drop by a few words on your experience.
[tHe cOmpany]
Motvik is founded by Rajan about who is also the confounder of Momo Bangalore. I have talked about Momo Bangalore in an earlier post of mine here. I have interacted with Rajan over mail, he sounds like a pretty nice guy. More about Motvik and Rajan in the coming days.
Just Dial the Story Behind
JustDial is the local directory listing service in India. I have mentioned about it in one of my previous post on customer service. I seem to like it so much, that I call them two to three times a fortnight. It is fascinating to know the the story behind just dial.
My quest for this information landed me on this article on livemint. Also for details on who powers JustDial go check out this post by Ashish on Pluggd.in. Here are a few excerpts from the post on livemint.
The conference room has walls of glass through which he can see busy directory operators, but V.S.S. Mani’s eyes are focused elsewhere, on some far-away point, as he speaks of the visions he used to have. Back before he founded directory service firm Just Dial Private Ltd, Mani would only have to close his eyes and he would see numbers—not bank balances or account numbers, but phone numbers. “I used to just dream numbers, easy numbers, like 2222 or 8888,” he says. Just Dial’s own number is easy too: 39999999 (across the country). Mani says that there should not be a single person who needs to call Just Dial, but cannot remember the number.
Amazing dream isn't it. JustDial is valued at about Rs521 crore with over Rs 110 crore in revenue. Mani has plans of expanding into US. It will be interesting to see how JustDial will compete in the more aggressive and organised US markets. What ever it be, it's a kick ass service and Mani is a visionary beyond his times.
Open Coffee! Wanna Have a Coffee in Bangalore
[hIstory]A brain child of Saul Klein based in London, a venture partner at Index Ventures and a VP of Skype. It all started in March this year. For details on what OpenCoffee Club is all about check out this post by Saul Kelin on his blog. To know more about the happenings keep tuned over here .
[hOw iT wOrks]
The concept is simple, events are arranged at a predefined venue and a predefined time where entrepreneurs and interested people come over to chat, discuss their ideas, and most important of all build relationships. It's not just the entrepreneurs who come but also the VC's (the people with power!!). This gives the entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their ideas and see if the VC's might be interested in them. The best part, all of this happens informally, no boardrooms, no presentations. Check out the thoughts behind OCC .
[wHere dO i fInd oNe]
I know by now you are excited about all this and just screaming at me where do I find an OCC? Is there one near my city? To answer you, since OCC started in London, there are now over 39(as of writing) locations across the Globe. Check them out to see if your place has one. Don't find your city? Nothing to worry, you can start one. Just get started and get in touch with Saul.
[oUr oWn bAngalore]
For all those in Bangalore, I have created profile for myself on OCC. Also started a discussion titled "Coffee in Bangalore." I see an encouraging response and plan to kick start the first meet next weekend. If you are interested drop a mail or a comment to this post. I will keep you folks updated on the happenings.
So, what are you waiting for, get this kicking, this is your event, this is your future.
Credits: The First photo is by David Terrar, the second one is by Jason Mendelson.
Update: Folks from Bangalore, we now have a Open Coffee Club Bangalore group on Upcoming. Join that for keeping up to date on the happenings.
Relocation to Bangalore /NCR is now just a Walkin
"Congratulations for the new job!! I am very happy that you will be shifting to Bangalore.", I said to Ravi(my friend) when he was moving to Bangalore. Yes, I was very happy he was coming here. The date had come when finally Ravi was in this city and thus started a fortnight of running around the brokers, analysing the traffic, moving the luggage to Bangalore, scouting for an agent to supply a water purifier, and innumerable other things that all of us have faced sometime or the other. That was when I felt, If only someone offers me a service to get all these things done, without me running around it would be great. From a business and entrepreneurial view point there is huge untapped market to address.
About a month back, a friend of mine directed me to a service which promises to address the above issue. "easylifeservices", this new kid on the block(about 2months old) promises to do just what I was telling. A one stop service for all relocation issues. I like the idea, if you go to their site, they talk about services from travel plan to essential amenities.
Moving to a new location is always an issue, packing, searching for a new house which is in a good location, fits your budget, near the office is a big challenge, moving the car, registering it, my God! it's not easy. If you are married, you have the issue of school, hospital for kids and a great deal of other stuff like getting the essential services like phone, cable and host of other things to get up and running. easylifeservices is in this space and address these issues.
To avail yourself of services from easylifeservices, you need to sign up and sign in. Once inside you click on the "New Relocation Request". There are few questions regarding your relocation plans, which you need to fillup and submit. That is it, the people from easylifeservices will contact you and set the ball rolling. No more running around from pillar to post, all the concerned parties will contact you and address your issues.Currently they are having operations in the NCR region and Bangalore, I am sure they plan to start in other cities too. They have partnered with various firms to offer these services.Ok, now you are worried, one more guy to lighten your pocket. Hold on right here, the best part about this service is that it's absolutely free to you. What more the vendors offer you a discounted price if you go through easylifeservices. Doesn't it sound too good to be true? Yes It does, but then It's true.
You might be in any place on earth and if you wish to relocate, I guess easylifeservices will make your life simpler. I have talked to one of the founders Manas Agarwal of easylifeservices. Keep tuned to this space for a design/business review and also for an interview with Manas and hear what he has to say to all of you.
ion: Made in India. Available only in India
[tHe pRoduct]
http://www.ion.co.in, As mentioned earlier "ion" is the name of the product(possibly also the company). The product a USB based iPod charger, which can also me used to charge any of the numerous other devices (which can be charged via USB). The advantages, no need to have a PC around to charge your device, you can use it in any remote place in India, can happily listen to your music which charging the device. Last but not the least it comes at just Rs. 399 (For those of you who count in $$, its under $10), isn't it great.[tHe sIte]
The homepage is simple and tells you just what ion is all about without any need to move around. They don't talk lot of things about themselves or try to obscure you with puzzles about the product. Bang on target they tell you what ion is all about and what its primary purpose is. No need to traverse multiple links to know the price of their product, It's right there on the first page.
To buy one you need to click on buy now which will take you through simple steps to fill in the mailing details. No registration required. You can pay via paypal or use your credit card as payment options. That is it. The people behind say that you will get the shipment in 2-3 days time.
The site has a Web1.0 look and feel about it. However, as I mentioned earlier they have laid out all the necessary information in a easy to find manner. The FAQ is detailed enough to answer most of the queries.
[aBout tHem]
This is one of the most interesting part, the founders are three young people in their early to mid tweens. Vikram, Niara, and Swaroop, all the three based out of Bangalore, India. Check out their about page for more information. Have a go at this blog post by Swaroop for some snippets about ion.
[iN mY eYes]
Definitely a small step towards something big. Though I haven't used the product, the confidence of these youngsters gives me a confidence that they are not here to take people for a ride, and hence belief that the product is good. (It's a dangerous thing in product review, so I will update this post once I check it myself).
At this point I am sure their hands are full with marketing the charger and meeting the sales and manufacturing requirements. What we have to look for is how they are going to handle the future. There are many challenges these folks face for the leap ahead
i) Challenge from other low cost manufacturers. I guess there is no innovative technology behind the charger, so any bigee who sees an opportunity may jump in.
ii) How long can they survive with the one product strategy, they have to move over to other products. Now what will those be, will these products have the same appeal as "ion", will they be as easy and economic to produce? Does the ion team have enough resources to get things out at a decent pace?
iii) I don't have an idea of their market at this point, but if they start growing they will need lot of moolah.
The second one is a serious concern in my opinion. If they get it right, it should not be difficult to get the other two in place. We will have to wait and see how the "ion" team take it into the future.
[tHe eNd]
As I keep mentioning , it takes courage to do something different and these folks have demonstrated that they do have the courage. What they have done which not many I know have done is trying to solve a simple but pervasive problem. This approach is what gives me confidence that says watch them. For those of you who are just interested in a charger I recommend you to order one right away.
Pixel n Ink
You all know, I get very excited about non IT start ups. Though I don't have anything about IT start ups, Non-IT interests me. That too, if it happens to be started by someone I know, by someone with whom I spent time in the past. It's just plain joy to hear of them.
[tHe fIrm]
Now, if you feel the reason "Pixel n Ink" finds a place here on my blog is because I know the co founder, no one can be more wrong than you. Just take a look at the kind of work they have done and then we will talk more about them.
Impressive aren't they. Now to come to a few more details about the founders. Check out this slide show.
I am sure you don't have any more qualms about what these two can do. Mukesh and I were in the same hostel for two years. From what I know of him he is a very energetic, creative guy. I still remember our night outs before diwali for the Illumination competition.In reply to a few questions from me, Mukesh gave the following answers(edited). If any of you feel "Pixel n Inc" can make a difference to your life contact them.
[iN tEeir wOrds]
What kind of advertising do you do(Print, TV, Web, etc)?
We are into following domains
- Print ads (newspaper, magazines, brochure, hoardings etc)
- Online ads
- Logo design + Packaging
- Television ads
- Radio ads
- T-shirt printing (slogan designing + printing)
Whom do you take as customers?
We accept pretty much any customer. e.g social service, roommate, telecom, wedding, ITES, personals, apparels, theater. To give you an idea, we pretty much cover all industries.
What is the differentiating factor with Pixel n Inc, with so many other advertising
firms around?
In advertising industry, ideas and presentation are the two main things which can distinguish if at all from other companies. Humour is our USP and we showcased it in our presentation. At the same time we showcased our ideation and presentation skills. If somebody finds them different/better than others, they should come to us.
Are you looking for investors at this point in time? What are your growth plans?
We are not looking for investors at the moment. So we haven't publicized our growth plans/milestones etc. But we do have some internal milestones and we are doing pretty good with those targets.
There website should be up at any time. On, me quizzing this issue, this is what Mukesh had to say, "It demands good effort in designing and maintaining, while right now we are having a lot of projects to deliver and we feel that is of higher priority.But yes, site will definitely be up in few days, and when it is up, it will have all the required details, not only 1-2 pages." (Do I hear First things First or Customer First)
[iN mY eYes]
From what I know of Mukesh, and the no nonsense approach with which he and Karthik seem to approach "Pixel n Inc", I am sure they are high on my list of to watch start ups. They also earn the project to design my wedding card (If and When I get married ;)).
[tHe eNd]
It takes great courage to leave a high paying job with a big firm to chase one's dreams. I am proud of Mukesh and Karthik for what they have started. I wish them both great luck and prosperity, from myself and all of you (my readers).
Proto.in Second Edition
Good news for all those out there in the wild. It's time for you to come out into the open and showcase your brain child to the world. If you are an early stage start up in need to showcase your technology, someone looking for those green backs to take you to the next level, looking out for some smart folks on whom you can bet your money. It's time to act.
"Proto.in" is coming out with its second edition in July 2007. The nominations are open for some time. All you folks out there take time to be present at what can be called the biggest startup fare in India. One more encouraging news is that this time around, they are accepting nominations from other Asian countries. For more information check out there blog.
Now for people like me, who might be interested in just following up on what is happening over there, please wait for some more time until you get more information. Will post more info. once I get closer to it.
iDeas of the Week
Enough of digressing from the post title. I will just provide you with links to some cool stuff that I have come across. Those of you interested can dig it up further. I have no qualms in mentioning that this is the style I picked from New Scientist Technology Blog post Elsewhere today.
Dragon Naturally Speaking a big stride in speech recognition from Nuance Technology. (Digital Inspiration)Website in a widget from Leafletter.com (Venture Beat)
A widget to share files on your blog!! Boxnet (Venture Beat)
On a similar note another easy to use Writeboard, a service which is very lite and easy to use.
The last idea for the day is primetimetables, this site enables you to book tables. It for sure sounds good.
Ok, that's the first list. Will see more in the future. Drop by a few lines on what you want to see in this space and also on how I can improve this blog.
Buy a Handmade Robot with Wii Mobile
Etsy.com, its so cute. Just check out their concept very simple, its a place for people like you and me who fiddle with things and make some other things out of them, to see those things. Pretty common, this is what e-bay does? Isn't it, Did you visit the site before you make a comment.
Etsy rates very high on the coolness, usability factors, and the way they have used technology to create some sexy ways of navigation. Check color, geolocator, treasury, connections , I am at loss to answer if creativity enhances technology or technology enhances creativity. Before I leave, check out the blog, the folks out there are simply amazing.Talk about creativity and the first thing that comes to my mind is what I am going to post here. These amazing photos are probably a big coincidence, but don't they tickle your grey cells for a few moments at the timing and remind you how some people are at the right place at the right time.
Now we will move on to some more mundane stuff. These days all the sites seem to follow one mantra, KISS (Keep It Short and Simple). Check out this site TELLME, a very clean concise, to the point information without all clutter, I usually associate with companies pre Web2.0. Not only that tellme, has come up with a cool applet for you mobiles to locate business, essentially doing what one used to do with 411.(Folks in US throw some light on 411, I am ignorant of what exactly it does).
For sometime we have been hearing a lot about Wii. It has created and continues to create ripples across the gamin world.
But, what sets Wii apart from other consoles is that it has broken into new areas which were traditionally inaccessible to gaming companies. Looks like it has awaken the dormant gamer in every one. One of the main reasons might be the ease of use, where even a small child could use it. The number of hacks making it into a laptop. People have come up with regimens to lose weight. Check out what Brendon Chase has to write about wiimote or the wii remote control.
On a closing note check this small little fellow called PLEN(any Japanese to help me translate the site). According to crunchgear its a humanoid robot that can roller skate around a hard surface. This little fellow also comes equipped with blue tooth and a not so remote possibility of being controlled by your blue tooth mobile phone.Its time of cool, sexy stuff. Small is definitely the in thing!
And now can you make out what the title means?
Hungry Bangalore!!
Being a food freak and a lazy single, I love this idea. A great thing about this site is they don't ask you register before you order, I
bow to the founders for this simple yet bold decision. They now have over 150 restaurants on their site, isn't it awesome. I select Airport Road and get the list of restaurants near by, I can either get the food delivered (provided the restaurant offers the service) or can book a table. Another cool feature is the map. You can choose the area you want to by clicking on the Bangalore map. The review and feed back section tells you all about users experience.The recipe section interests me, with a host of recipes posted. That best part is you can post your recipe too. Wow, If not on my blog, I can find some audience for my culinary experiments. The best part about the site that makes me go back again and again (unfortunately I am not in Bangalore to give them business) is the simple uncluttered interface, more on this latter.
Mind you folks, I am not praising them just because I know them, it is because I just love this concept. I have been reading off late, a lot about user interfaces, it made me think on whats right with the interface of "Hungry Bangalore" and where all they can improve. What does my analysis reveal? In spite of being a great fan of their interface, I find it falls short on many fronts. Some simple and some not so simple things will make it a truly great experience.
Hello!!I am not a great hand at design, but I try to answer one question, "How easy is it for my mom to use a site?". (My blog falls short awfully on this test, I am on the way to fix it. Suggestions are welcome).
I take up one issue at a time, tell you what is wrong with it and how it can be improved.
The first and foremost thing is what is the Hyundai advertisement doing on your front page? I guess this site is into food. First it is right next to the site header, think of what message it sends to your users. Not only does it fit into the color scheme, but also your business.
I click on the plan a party link, it goes to a new page. Great it's simple and just two clicks for me to plan my party. The problem is, instead of asking me to ensure that I give all the details, ensure that no message is sent with incomplete details. It will reduce load on your mail server and also ensure that I get it right the first time.
I am still at plan a party. After sending my request, I am still in the same page. Nothing wrong with it, except that I am using a 800*600 resolution screen and can't seem to find the link to go back to home. Initially I was flustered how you guys can get this wrong, but later I find that you have a nice home sitting in the top right corner. Great stuff! only put it to top left corner.
I will get back to contact us later, now will jump to Recipes. Folks frankly you need to spice up this area. I can find the recipes here by googling. Being a food freak I want something more, not a list of ingredients and a list of ten steps on how to proceed. Let the creativity of the viewers come in. Let the viewers post on how they made a wonderful dish last evening. Let them post the photos, let others comment it. Make it a place for all food junkies to discuss their prized culinary skills. I love this blog by annie, check out this post on pies. I just can't wait to get to my kitchen to try this. In short bring in the pizzaz and personal element in this section.
The FAQ's very essential for a site like yours. Good that you folks gave the necessary details. Try using peekaboo interface here (+/-) . Add some pictures than just plain text on how to go about using your site(my mom will be able to use it).
The other links is embedded in the column which looks like an advertisement and sounds as if it will take me outside the site.
Rename it immediately. The color combination of the article though goes well needs rework, to suite an overall theme. The buffet takes me to a table of restaurants, offering buffet. Why is this information not available at the restaurant details? Its the traditional way of doing things. Static tables are past, make it dynamic in use. (More on presenting data in a later post)Ah! I come to search, this is my pet topic. Drop boxes are passe, it's a pain for me to search through the list of a hundred different locations/restaurants in a drop box. Think different employ tag clouds (I will talk about tag clouds and how they can spice up an interface in a later post). I would replace the drop boxes with two tag clouds and a context sensitive search box (no need of a go button). Check out wikiseek and Quintura, the way they employ tags and context search is simply superb. Use cookies so that the next time I visit the site, it shows the restaurants from my last selection.
The "Advanced Search" link looks as if it takes me to a new link, put a (+/-) or some other symbol to tell the user that its a collapsible link and will not open a new page or take time to reload. Now why is this important? It is observed that users tend not to click on the links unless they really need it. One more tip, combine the above selection of clouds with a different clouds here. I guess it will be awesome. Why do you have the radio button? Isn't it redundant. If you see what I see there, you can do away with it.
Coming to the main section with the tabs. The home tab is good. Well utilized, to sell the idea. Why do you have the catering inquiry? Isn't it redundant and confuse with plan a party. Use consistent conventions across. The map feature is amazing as I said earlier.
What applies to recipes and the buffet section applies to review section. It is not consistent, does not have date. The date feature helps the viewer to gauge the relevance of the comments(check this). Though it may reveal a bit about your site statistics, I still will go put the date. And please do something about those boundaries, it makes me feel as if I am reading a government tender(Too much, I should restraint myself).Continuing with the review section, work on the links. Once I select the review for a restaurant, and I want to add a review I have to click on the link above(for which I might have to to scroll my page up and click a link). This is a pain, I would avoid it at all cost.
Have a text box below the rating where it will auto save what ever one enters(use CATCHPA, you can do away with save!!). Put another text box for name. It makes life simpler for me to give feedback or write a review. I reiterate do away with the drop box. It simply will not do.If there is one thing I have no complaints against , its the announcement tab. It is just right. But it would be nice to have a preview feature for the links to the news articles. (Call me impossible to please -:) ).
God!! I am tired of writing. This probably the single largest piece of document that I have written at a stretch after my Final year thesis. Any way let me continue and finish of with what I feel are the last but nevertheless important sections.
Coming to what I left out earlier Contact Us, it serves the purpose. Use CATCHPA, else you will get lots of junk in your mail servers. After I go to an area and a restaurant, I can see again a table (I just seem to hate them). Why do you have that Rs.0.0 as if its a bata showroom with a price tag Rs.99.99. Just give an integer price. Why is the min order column there if there is no home delivery from that restaurant. Revamp this section. It's not an absolute must, but it adds to overall perception in the viewers mind. It would be nice if you can add the restaurants picture (Entrance, interior,any a flickr link).
Moving on to the menu offerings, I see that you folks are working on adding images to each link.
Also a nice way to say if the item is veg or non-veg. That is great. I hope you get it done fast. I have talked enough about tables so will not mention them here. Now if the menu runs over one page, I see the page1, next links to the bottom left corner, it will be more convenient to have it towards the bottom right corner. The left corner with various sections is bland, work on to spice it up. Put images, animations, art, or what not. Don't just leave it like that.If I select an item and say add to cart, you have the view my cart at the top right corner, it might serve more useful purpose at the bottom right corner or at both the places. Once I proceed, why do I need the recalculate button, are you not confident!!. Work on the colors here, I should not miss the final Total.
I will come back to the main page. What message are you sending by putting advertisements over and above your site announcements? It is totally out of place. Some suggestions, do away with the formal(search criteria entered was) and technical language(Email Id is a required field).Show your passion, don't be modest.
Try video reviews, video recipes, make Hungry Bangalore the first stop for food. Make it the first place for people like me when I think of eating. I would love to see this venture create a paradigm shift.I thank you folks for providing a site which I could go through exhaustively (I might have missed a lot, do let me know ;) ) and hone my skills in design. Thanks to many of you who took the pain of going through this long boring monologue.
A few last words to both of you and also to host of other people (if any) who read this post. I know how passionate you all are about your venture. It' s great, but show the same passion in your website (must if you are Web based). Check this company called PicSquare , they have a great website which is one of the few sites that I find are very easy to use. Another thing before I close is don't be too corporate type. You folks are entering the lives of people, so be like them talk like them, use lingo, no dictionary words, make viewers, part of your site, don't make them feel as if you are a third party providing service. Make them feel you are a part of their life. Bring life to your site, Spice up if you are already living.
Posts
