Himanshu's Blog - Technology, Entrepreneurship & Business » BarCampBangalore3

Have a unique experience for yourself & stop listening to Clowns : Lakshman Srikanth, Founder – LegalCrystal

Himanshu — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:56:28 +0000

In the past there have been many articles written on this blog on BarCamp i.e. BCB2, BCB3, BCB 4 where I came across lot of smart people working on some cool stuff !!! It is during BCB3 that I met Lakshman Srikanth for the first time when he was a “Microsoft Student Partner”. And now straight out of college he dived into entrepreneurship with his startup GAViSTA TECH that solves a very interesting problem. In this episode, we talk to him about his startup journey, challenges, entrepreneurship, idea & many more things….

Can you let us know about yourself and your startup GAViSTA TECH ?

Well, I am an Entrepreneur. Started working on an idea – LegalCrystal and then later on registered GAViSTA TECH as a firm. LegalCrystal is now a product of GAViSTA TECH.

What is LegalCrystal all about ?

LegalCrystal is a search tool for Advocates, Anyone can use it to find laws, judgments decided at different Courts all over India.

Every idea addresses a problem, so what problem does LegalCrystal cater to ?

LegalCrystal addresses two problems mainly-

Before we started working on LegalCrystal, we researched existing softwares and came to the conclusion that Searching relevant judgments using phrase is the main problem. We started developing our own algorithm and indexers & built a search engine which is particularly tailored to Indian Law.
User Interface messed up in other softwares. Lawyers need to undergo a Teaching Class in order to use the product.! That is just lame. So we worked on UI and “Search Features” which makes advocate’s life much simpler and easier.

So would it fair to say that “LegalCrystal wants to be the Google of Law industry” ?

Well Google is for the WEB and we are for Lawyers on the WEB! With respect to Search Engine and ease of use you might say we are as good as “Google for Indian Law”.

How do you guys ensure that the information on LegalCrystal is up to date with the changes in the law system [penal code etc.] ?

We have a dedicated team to handle updates. We get case-laws from Judgement Information System hosted by National Informatics Center(NIC). For Few we go to respective courts and apply for a copy and then Convert it to text using OCR’s. We have another team which will take care of the data entry. As every judgement is sent to a panel of advocates who write Headnotes, Case Analysis etc. and then its paraphrased , formatted and updated on the website.

GAViSTA came up with the corporate offering of your flagship product LegalCrystal, how has been the response so far ?

Response has been really good! They just FEEL comfortable using LegalCrystal Corporate. We have approached International Law firms, Companies… First thing they like about the product is the User Experience and then the Search, Features. We are expanding the reach to other states very soon.

LegalCrystal started out as a college project, off late there have been many other Indian startups born in a similar manner, do you think that times are changing where students are getting more serious about last year projects ?

It depends on the individual, but there are lot of students who are trying hard to build something unique; Commercializing their invention is what they need to look into..!

Being a student entrepreneur [i.e. right from college], how did you get about hiring the initial team members & getting them to join you ?

As I was Microsoft Student Partner Lead, I already had a network of students in every college in Bangalore. So initially my friends & I started in my room, then later on we hired few folks from MSRIT and PESIT as interns who worked on really challenging tasks. Well, joining a startup isnt a joke! because there are too many uncertainties involved. As we had a solid product with great market scope we were able to convince them!

Can you list some mistakes you made [during the initial days] that might be helpful for other entrepreneurs ?

Investing on unnecessary things is what I did & hate the most. We opted for Payment Gateway which was really a terrible decision because advocates aren’t accustomed using Debit Cards online. They were negligent to use Online Payment Gateway. You will have to take care of Pricing as your users will really take that into consideration when you have competitors. We made few mistakes with respect to pricing.

How are you currently funding GAViSTA TECH & are you looking for institutional funding ?

GAViSTA TECH is breaking even. We are self funded company; initially my uncle Badrinath (IBM) funded. Of course we are looking for institutional funding to expand the reach to other states and countries too!

I am sure lot of students who are working on final year projects would think that their idea can “Change the world”, what are some of things that they can look into their idea ?

First thing is. I was hyper initially when we started. I used to think I can sell LegalCrystal to 1000 in one month. In reality, things are different, there are too many unknown variables and emotions involved, it’s not just pure logic which will make users buy your product. Everything should merge into one single place. So I would say… There is nothing to look into your IDEA. Just get up & start up because each one is different, your idea different. So please go and have a unique experience for yourself and stop listening to Clowns.

We met at BCB 3, how much do you feel that BCB [& other unconferences] have contributed to the entrepreneurial community ?

Ghosh!! I love BarCamp Bangalore [BCB]. BCB is about freedom, You can go and talk about your product, share , get feedback.! Really like BCB. BCB is the soul and heart of Startups, It has helped in networking with founders of great products. When I was at BCB3 , Fusion Charts was a startup they had just launched their product. I was really impressed with their product, Now it’s a big company! That’s what its all about, You get to see & experience on how it will be when you have your own product! that’s what drives entrepreneurs! We need freedom to showcase our thoughts ideas, share, talk , learn! & BCB is all about that.

What according to you are top three key qualities of an entrepreneur ?

There are no top three or top five qualities! One thing what you really need is ability to sustain emotional, financial stress.

What is in pipeline for GAViSTA TECH ? apart from LegalCrystal ?

We are about to launch “AskLegalCrystal” a product which aims at normal users to ask questions related to law or if you are in need of a legal document or agreement/affidavit. Well you can just put a request on AskLegalCrystal & we have a bunch of lawyers who are existing subscribers of LegalCrystal who will respond”

Any closing comments from your side ?

People on a whole should support Entrepreneurs. I hope 80% of people who graduate start something on their own than joining big companies & boasting it on social network’s as if they are super heroes.!

Do give LegalCrystal & AskLegalCrystal a spin & share your feedback in the comments. If you have any other questions for Lakshman, please leave a comment or shoot an email to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

BarcampBangalore 3: An event to be cherished

Himanshu — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 18:14:00 +0000

This was my third BarCamp and I should admit that “It was one of the most memorable unconferences I have ever attended Great effort by Jace,Arpit,Kesava and his team for organizing such an event.

So,what was different for me in BCB3 as compared to BCB2?
The event (particularly the second day) was excellent and everyone enjoyed the second day a lot.It was discussion and networking for the two days of the event.I met all the old timers in BCB3- Shiv,Ashwin,Kiruba,Syed(K & S of the Knowledge Foundation fame)

Also, after the end of BCB3,I had good conversation with the guys from MobileMonday,Bangalore-Rajan and Rajiv….Along with this,met many Entrepreneurs and to -be Entrepreneurs.Looks like I would get good help for setting up my venture Anyways,below is one of the photos(At least I look smart in Photos ), where I am there with my “Love-The laptop”

BarCampBangalore3: Day 2 – ThinFone demo by Sedna Wireless

Himanshu — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:53:00 +0000

Rajiv Poddar is the founder of Sedna Wireless,a Banaglore based startup and he gave a demo of his product called ThinFone.You can know more about Sedna here

There was a demo of the product by Sedna which is slated for release in Summer 2007.The demo is available in a movie file which would be uploaded on Youtube and hence have not recorded much

Below is a small insight into what ThinFone is all about :

ThinFone is a WLAN device which acts as a cordless extension to your PC and provides VoIP Call Transfer and Audio Streaming facilities. It is 802.11 b/g compliant and comes with inbuilt speaker, microphone, antenna, battery and USB port. It is Skype, Yahoo Messenger and GTalk compatible provides VoIP call transfer capability for all these clients. It can also be used to stream high quality audio from the computer playing any kind of locally stored, CD or an Internet Radio service.

The ThinFone System consists of a Server software and the handset device. The Server software is installed on a computer running Windows XP. The ThinFone system has been designed for residential users and requires a pre-installed 802.11 b/g wireless router along with the broadband connection.

The video would be available on my blog once it is available

BarCampBangalore3 : Day 2 – Podcast workshop by Kiruba Shankar

Himanshu — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:36:00 +0000

Kiruba Shankar is one of the early stage blogger’s in India and has been podcasting for Podtech.He had a few tips for people who are new to podcasting and who have the myth that Podcasting is difficult

Q. Why don’t many people podcast just has people do blogging?
There were mixed reactions which are given below:

Consumption is not easy
Equipment is very costly and hence many people don’t prefer podcasting
More preparation is needed
Editing
Quite environment
Permission
No easy application
Good Content

Ans. Some of the answers given by Kiruba were a. Podcasting is not a geeky stuff but is also not so simple You just need a PC, Headset with a mic to do a podcast and none of the equipments are costly.Audacity is one of the best softwares to edit audio and damn,it is available for free.Some of the best podcast sites are PodBazaar,Odeo

Q. What is one of the most important things you need to focus in a podcast?
More preparation and content is very much important for a good podcast

He touched upon Mobile Podcasting which is very prevalent in western countries but is in a nascent stage in India

14 Mantras for a good podcast:

Podcasts should be short( maximum of 10 minutes)
Be passionate about your subject
Have fun
Segmentize
Cram good stuff
Edit and than edit again
Continuously improve
Be regular
Invest in equipments
Get a buddy
Preferably a girl
Use music
Time stamp
Subscribe to every feed

More would follow once the slide is up on SlideShare

Ashwin of CruiseManiac has also covered the session here

BarCampBangalore3: Day 1 in a nutshell

Himanshu — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:23:00 +0000

I could not blog many of the events(live),which I attended since my laptop was drained out and later on,I had some problems with my internet connectivity.But again SlideShare came to the rescue and I was able to find few Slides on SlideShare.Two of the sessions are given below:

Web 2.0 Social Blogging Platform

This session was given by Vibhash(8th Semester student) and I had spoken to him during my lunch break.I was impressed with his passion and excitement and I am sure he would go a long way .Below is a session on his blogging platform called bForBlogs

Widgets and Open Standards – Opera

This session was given by Vivek and Navjot from Opera Software,Chandigarh.The session was excellent and the debate was all about widgets with the Opera Browser.There was a debate as to whether the opera widgets would work with Firefox I guess everyone knows the answer

Fortunately Ashwin had blogged about it and you can an excellent coverage here
More updates on Day 1 would soon follow and I would definitely try to cover everything live tomorrow

Unconference for Geeks on the way: BarCampBangalore3

Himanshu — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 04:16:00 +0000

So,finally I managed to get up early at around 6:30AM(damn,6:30 AM is too early for me ) and reached Indian Institute of Management(IIMB) at around 8:15 AM.Yup,I was very early at the BCB3 and this time I had good company of my fellow blogger Ashwin.

Finally, I managed to get a place where I could have the adaptor connected to the laptop so,blogging live would be great fun

Check out session list in a small diagram below

Till than let me read something and get me in the mood

BarCamp days are back and now it is BCB3 !!!

Himanshu — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 18:03:00 +0000

The days of unconferences are back.Yes,Bar Camp,Bangalore is back and this time it is being tagged as “Bar Camp Bangalore3“.Even though the Logo of the unconference not yet finalized , there are already 90+ participants who have already registered for the event.

Do not miss the opportunity to Network,Learn and Share knowledge so, quickly register for the event here before it’s too late.

You can check out some of the BarCamp Bangalore 3 logos designed by Vijay Kiran here .Good work Vijay