How many times have you found that the short poem or quote you posted on Facebook or Twitter was copied by someone else and no due credit was given to the creator đ Wouldn’t it be great if your work was recognized including the one-liners [or quotes] which you felt would be liked by others!
Whether it is a one-liner/poem/stories, with YourQuote you can showcase your work to the online fraternity with the credit given to you. YourQuote is a mobile-first micro-blogging platform for writers that is created with a vision to empower every person who writes to have their writings one Google search away.
Today we have a discussion with Harsh Snehanshu, Co-founder & CEO of YourQuote where we discuss about journey of YourQuote, learnings for entrepreneurs, Hiring for startups, etc.
So, let’s get started with the Q&A….
How was the idea of YourQuote born ?
The idea came primarily because one of us is a writer and felt the dearth of any good writing app. We being two co-founders, Ashish Singh & Harsh Snehanshu,
Can you give a small background about you, your start-up and itâs founders ?
We are two IIT Delhi grads of 2011 batch. Ashish Singh is the Co-founder and CTO, Harsh Snehanshu is the Co-founder and CEO. Harsh is also a writer, with 6 books and 36 magazine features in his portfolio.
What were some of the crucial learnings for you [as an entrepreneur] when you started WhereAbout [then later moved to found YourQuote] ?
Major learning was to not start-up in a domain where we lacked key insight. For YourQuote, I as a writer for the past ten years had a lot of behavioural and psychological insight as in what do writers want. For Whereabout, we lacked any key insight. Everything was based on hypothesis.
Please walk us through the Business Model of YourQuote ?
Right now, our focus is on community building instead of revenue model. However, we run marketing campaigns for brands where brands crowd-source creative content using our app.
How does your team ensure that there is no Content Infringement of the Quotes used by your users ?
Every quote has a flag button. You can flag a quote for abuse/spam/plagiarism and our community values the original content. So if you post anything copied, the community will flag it immediately.
Your startup recently re-located to the Himalaya’s, what are some of the pros [and cons] w.r.t hiring, scaling, etc. or any other points that you would like to share ?
Pros are many, especially if your team is small. It’s a distraction free environment and you get a lot of work done. You need to have a team that’s eager to move to contemplate going to a smaller town. In our case, we had. For a bigger team, it might get a little difficult. I wrote an elaborate article on our learnings for YourStory and the link is here
Just like Twitter, would YourQuote remain free to use or there is any freemium model planned for YourQuote ?
Yes, it will remain free. We will make revenue by running branding contests for corporates.
Any plans of launching YourQuote Ads or YourQuote for brands ?
Too soon to monetize. We are a social product. We will rather focus on community building right now.
Please share some insights into hiring for startups [especially from the backdrop of WhereAbout] ?
Hiring requires people whose values match with yours. We are very lean, flexible and don’t fear dirtying our hands if need be. We look for such people. Generally, anyone who has run a start-up before or scaled or built a product before.
Is YourQuote available only for Android or is it available for iOS users as well ?
YourQuote is also available on iOS and Desktop.
Is YourQuote bootstrapped, are you planning to raise external funding
Yes, we are currently in talks with investors.
Are there any existing competitors of YourQuote, how has the response been so far from the users ?
Response has been great. Textgram, lettrs are our competitors.
What are the initial challenges that you faced once you started working on the idea [or turned an entrepreneur] ?
Finding good talent at less cost was quite a challenge. Moving to the Himalayas helped.
What are some of the growth hacking techniques that are being used for YourQuote and some tips for our readers.
Building the right product. Making the user feel good about themselves also works like a charm.
YourQuote has not yet raised external funding, when according to you should an entrepreneur look out for external funding ?
After reaching product market fit, in the current market.
Some tips for aspiring entrepreneurs and something that keeps you motivated everyday for your startup ?
I would like to advise young entrepreneur the best advice I got from my mentor, Ashish Tulsian [CEO, Posist], and that is – Don’t startup if you are not mentally prepared to bootstrap for at least 2 years.
If you are a writer or aspiring to be one, then you can download the YourQuote app for Android or YourQuote for iOS. You can leave your feedback for the app in the comments section. If you have any further questions for YourQuote team, please leave them in the comments section or shoot a mail to himanshu.sheth@gmail.com and we would get it answered for you..