All Posts by Himanshu Sheth

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Most people think of stock trading as gambling your money away, but nothing could be further from the truth. Trading in stocks is actually a skill set that can be learned by anyone with a fair amount of discipline, dedication, and appetite for risk. It is not an easy practice, but if you play your cards right, it is entirely possible to turn a neat profit on your investment.

Image Source – Stock Market

Choose a Comfortable Trading Style

Trading means buying and selling stocks by holding them for a fixed duration that could range from a few seconds to a few years. The first and most important rule of trading in share market live is to invest in what you understand. Doing so will help you recognize how you can grow your earnings and enable you to pick a trading style you are comfortable with. The different styles of trading include:

• Scalp Trading, in which shares are held only for a few seconds or minutes.
• Day Trading, in which shares are traded within a day and not held overnight.
• Swing trading, in which shares are held for anywhere between a day to two weeks.
• Position Trading, in which shares are traded across a span of months to years.

Be Aware of Good Stocks

To invest in good stocks, you first have to know what makes a stock good. Factors such as the revenue growth, profit margin, and dividends of a company play crucial roles in determining its overall financial health.

Another important consideration when buying stocks is its share price. When stock is available at a low price, it means the business is running and potentially growing slowly, whereas expensive stock signifies that business is expected to grow at a rapid rate in the near future. However, bear in mind that you should not buy a stock based on price alone. Make sure you understand the psychology behind each value.

Additionally, pay attention to the liquidity of the stock. You don’t want to invest in shares that cannot be bought or sold easily and quickly.

Know When to Sell

As beneficial as it is to know when to buy, you won’t actually start generating profits unless you sell on time. There are several indicators that will tell you when it’s time to sell, most of them depending on your own criteria. If the stock hits your price target, the company’s financial health deteriorates, or if it decides to cut dividends, the wise move would be to sell. Designing a selling plan will help you minimize losses and maximize gains.

Hire a Stockbroker

If you want to earn profits through stock trading but don’t have the time or knowledge it requires, you may want to think about hiring a stockbroker. They are professionals who will supply you with effective suggestions on where, when, and how to invest based on your capital and the type of investor you are. Not only that, stockbrokers can also manage your trades and maintain important documents. They will provide you with a better understanding of the market and apply their skills to improve your finances. It is a big investment decision, one that must not be made without considerable thought. Don’t forget to weigh the pros and cons before you sign up for any services.

The share market live is a great place to explore the market and enhance your financial portfolio. Of course, you first need to develop key skills and get accustomed to its volatile environment before you can become a pro. But if making profits is your aim, then start by following these tips and you will find success.

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Sweep-stake giveaways have long been a popular tool for companies looking to increase their customer satisfaction. After all, happy customers means repeat customers. But, did you know that you can leverage the viral potential of the Internet to not only make your existing customers happy, but also increase your customer base and your sales? Let’s look at the steps you must take in order to make your next sweep-stake giveaway a true hit with both old and new customers alike.

Tie Your Giveaway to Your Brand

If you are selling bicycles, you don’t need to give away a laptop. After all, that’s not what your target audience, and most of your visitors, are looking for. Besides, by tying your giveaway to your brand, you can leverage all manner of marketing tie-ins later, thus increasing your reach. Keep your giveaway related to your brand and make sure the giveaway is something that your customers love and would want. No one wants to win a piece of junk. Make sure it is a worthy prize to receive.

Determine All the Legalities

I know this isn’t the most fun part of the job, but before you release any type of giveaway, you must make sure you meet all the laws in the areas you plan on running your sweepstakes. Since this is the Internet, it’s possible that could be everywhere, but it could just be in the country where you do business. For example, you could release your giveaway for anyone in the United States. If that’s the case, you must make sure you meet all the laws and regulations for a sweepstakes giveaway in all of the states where you plan on offering the giveaway.

If you decide not to run it in certain states, you must make that known as part of your announcement and make sure it’s clear to everyone who signs up for the giveaway.

Release the Giveaway Online

Next, you must make this giveaway an online sweepstakes. This is necessary in order to control where it’s released and increase the chances of it going viral. At the end of the day, that’s the goal, and calling in and signing up isn’t going to get the job done. While it is okay to give them the option to enter by another means, make it clear that online is the preferred method of signing up for the sweepstakes.

But, when you do, make sure signing up is easy to do and only takes a few seconds. Long drawn out forms will not be a popular choice. While you need to make sure you collect everything you need to be able to giveaway your prize, don’t collect anymore than you have to, no matter how tempting it may be.

Encourage Sharing from Customers

One of the biggest assets you have are your customers. In the end, it will be up to them to make your sweepstakes giveaway go viral. Encourage them to share your giveaway with their friends and family through social media and email. It will be your existing customers that will help you get the word out, so make it easy to share and make the rules clear so it’s easy for them to get their friends to sign up for a chance to win.

Be Responsive

When your customers do share your giveaway with others, make sure you acknowledge that act as quickly as possible. This means that you must monitor social media and any other channels that could cause your giveaway to go viral regularly. When they share it, respond to it and thank them for the share and wish the new person luck on the giveaway. Engage the customers as they help you get the word out about your sweepstakes and they will return the favor.

Create an Email Campaign

In addition to your normal avenues of advertising, create an email campaign to get the word out. Sure, this will only reach your existing customers, but it should cover anyone that has missed your other online advertising methods of showing off your giveaway. In the campaign, make sure you encourage your customers to share it with others so you can further increase your reach. Just like above, make sure you respond to each and every share you receive.

Giveaway Your Prize

Once the contest ends, you need to follow through and giveaway your prize. Announce who the winner is for everyone to see, but make sure you take steps to protect their privacy. Try saying things like, ‘Congratulations Lisa, from Denver’, or something like that. After you announce it, send the prize to them as quickly as possible. While a good giveaway can create a lot of goodwill, not delivering the promised prize will do far more harm to your reputation. Once it is delivered, encourage the winner to share a picture of the prize and comment on it so everyone can see that you send out your free gift as promised.

Conclusion

All of the steps above should give you more than enough to create and market a successful sweepstakes giveaway. At the end of the day, it’s all about engaging your customer base. The giveaway will get them talking, but true success will be keeping them talking about your brand and your products, but a sweepstakes giveaway is one of the best ways of doing just that for both old and new customers.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

With over 100 million daily active users, and a growing number of Truecaller Pro subscribers, Truecaller has reintroduced the much requested ‘Who Viewed Your Profile’ feature for its Pro subscribers. The feature allows users to see who has viewed their profile, keeping them prepared for which calls to expect and from whom.

How does it work?

Truecaller Pro users will receive a notification when another user has viewed their profile using Truecaller. However, this only applies if someone has tapped on the profile to view it, not searched for it.

Depending on the user’s privacy settings, contact information such as their phone number added by a user could be hidden. Users will still have to send a Contact Request for additional details.

By going to the ‘Privacy center’ in the Settings of their Truecaller app, users can always control who views what information on their profile.

Image Source – TrueCaller

Private Mode

When a user becomes a Pro subscriber, they can toggle on or off the Private mode, which means that another user will not be notified if they’ve viewed their profile.

This is a first of many new Truecaller Pro features that Truecaller will be releasing soon. In the coming weeks, the Pro feature will be re-branded to Premium and the company will be adding more features to make communication safe & efficient.

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Intraday trading or day trading, as the name suggests, refers to the buying and selling of stocks on the same day. Many beginners in the stock market find this style of trading to be an attractive proposition to jump in and make a few extra bucks. However, they lack the expertise and knowledge required to earn good returns on their investments.

Image Source – IntraDay Trading

This is when brokerage comes into the picture. Intraday trading brokerage is the commission charged by the broker who aids in trading. All trading platforms charge brokerage to provide a portal to the investors. Thereafter, a certain percentage is charged on every transaction facilitated through this platform. For instance, if the volume and value of your trade is huge, your brokerage fee will also be heavy and vice-versa.

Brokerage charges may vary from one broker to another. Some brokers may charge you 0.10 % while others may levy a hefty amount of 0.55% per transaction.

This ultimately impacts the intraday trader’s overall profits to a large extent. So if need be, the cost of brokerage can be reduced to increase the trader’s profits. For this, you can enable a simple solution called free intraday trading.

Unlike the brokerage fee that is charged as a percentage on the value and volume of the transactions made, free intraday trading is charged at a flat fee. A very affordable amount of Rs. 999 is applied for a year, which is less than Rs. 4 per day. This not only gives traders the chance to keep a maximum percentage of their profits, but also gives them the freedom to take buy-sell decisions for themselves.

Other benefits of free intraday trading are as follows:

  • Unlimited access to equity and other important reports by a team of experts.
  • Up-to-date account information.
  • Live-streaming stock market data and information on top gainers and losers.
  • Availability to make your personal watch list and keep a track of certain stocks of your choice.
  • Options to create graphs and charts tracking your past and future performance.
  • Receive stock recommendations that assist in making informed decisions.

One must remember that free intraday trading is only for self-traders who would like to trade from the platform directly. If a trader would like to trade with the help of a dealer or broker, charges may vary.

A flat brokerage amount encourages huge savings for intraday traders. It also helps maximize their return. Moreover, this freedom allows intraday traders to make better decisions and earn more profits.

Intraday trading acquired a bad reputation in the early 1990s. This was primarily because many traders jumped onto the new online trading platform without applying any tested strategies. This unplanned move obviously resulted in adverse results, and traders’ typically incurred huge losses.

So, before you invest your time and money into this trading program, ensure you have the right knowledge and assistance that is required. Once you learn the rules and get a hang of the strategies needed for anticipating market moves, you will be able to make good profits in the future. However, remember, patience and discipline is the key to success in intraday trading.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Happn, the hugely popular dating app which helps daters find people they have crossed paths with have today unveiled an innovative new element to their app – happn map.

Image Source – Happn

Launched in India in 2016, happn has been a huge hit with people on the lookout for romance, particularly in cities, as it uses geo-location to help individuals crush with those they have walked past in the street, sat next to on the train or spotted from afar who appear on their easy to view timeline. But now, the interactive mapping feature will give individuals the opportunity to tap any location they have visited over the past seven days and see other individuals on the lookout for love.

So – you remember crossing paths with someone that took your fancy three days ago, but you haven’t seen them since?  If you remember where, in a matter of seconds, just open the mapping feature, click on the location and see if they appear as the location of all happners you have crossed paths with over the past seven days will appear.  For example – if you were at a concert, a sporting event or a bar – he or she can find others at the same event – or within a 250 metres radius – and immediately have something in common!

The launch coincides with the announcement of happn having 50 million users worldwide which founder Didier Rappaport describes as ‘an incredible achievement for the team’.

Didier Rappaport, CEO and Co-founder – Happn, said

The crossing of paths between two people has always been the DNA of happn. With happn map, we go further in our promise by separating the dimensions of space and time, because time flies, but places stay still!  The profiles are no longer only sorted in chronological order and in real time but also according to your place of geographical crossings.

The new timeline we launched in spring quickly appealed to users as we saw a significant increase in their activity in the app.  However, we felt something was missing – the possibility of having an over-arching view of people you have crossed paths with is a massive win that we hope will be very popular.  Scroll your timeline or explore the map – it’s your choice!

happn is constantly evolving depending on the needs of their users.  Earlier in the year happn launched a new version of its timeline that allowed for more prominent and easier to read profiles while last month they announced a new ‘invisibility mode’ feature that gives users the freedom to make their profiles invisible during certain points in the day – something that has proved hugely popular in the workplace! The new mapping feature will use the same geo-location data that happn use already to help individuals scroll through their timeline.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

There was a time when the basic necessities of mankind used to be Roti [Food], Kapda [Clothing] and Makaan [Shelter], but with fast-changing times, a fourth requirement has been added to the list i.e. Internet. Whether it is about buying clothing, electronics, ordering food or planning an outing with your near & dear ones, the fast penetrating medium of internet has made our lives simpler and important things accessible with a click of a button!

Image Source – Online Real Estate

Rise of online real-estate in India

One sector that has also changed significantly with this internet wave is the ‘Real Estate Sector’. The online real-estate market is expected to reach a staggering $180 billion by 2020. Implementation of government policies like Startup India, Housing For All and RERA [Real Estate Regulatory Authority] Bill have opened up new avenues for entrepreneurs as well as brought trust & focus on the housing sector in India. There was still a problem that had to be solved and the problem was how to enable the ‘buyers’ in a manner that they can choose the best interior decorators & designers to design their rooms or when consumers are looking for interior design for small spaces. This was a potential  ‘gap’ or an opportunity for entrepreneurs to help consumers in providing required architecture & design services in order to fulfill their dream of owning a dream home.

Fragmentation in the ‘Interior Decorator & Designer’ industry

Imagine that you have managed to purchase your dream home with your hard-earned money or as an entrepreneur you have managed to move to a bigger office space due to business expansion, the next hurdle that you might likely face is identifying the right interior decorator for getting the designing right for your home/office. There are slim chances of ‘easily’ shortlisting a well-qualified & experienced interior decorator for the task and implementing the same with minimal distress.

IDprop, a startup based in Ahmedabad is solving that problem and wants to make this entire experience friction-less and ensures that the humongous task of small space interior design, home and office is made easy for the end consumers.

Image Source – IDprop

IDprop – Disrupting the ‘Online Home & office interior design Market’ in India

IDprop is India’s fastest growing network of Home Improvement Professionals. IDprop has more than 11000+ professionals registered with them and has PAN India presence. As a customer who might be looking for furnishing the complete home; you get ‘verified’ options while looking out for interior decorators. Seller’s experience, expertise and recommendations are three major points on which they are evaluated, before they are on-boarded as a seller on the IDprop platform.

Since the sellers are rated for their work, there is transparency and a lower rating pushes the sellers to work on their mistakes & strive for providing a ‘WoW’ customer experience. Interior Decorators or Designers listed on their platform can get more leads for their business and get an opportunity to widen their customer base. As far as the funding is concerned, the Ahmedabad based startup is bootstrapped and is founded by a stellar team that has a vast experience in e-commerce, vendor management and technology. More details about the team can be found here.

IDprop – Conclusion

IDprop is creating real-value for all the stakeholders involved in the fragmented ‘home/office interior industry’ eco-system by bringing them on one single platform. Next time when you are looking to renovate or build interiors for new home/office or looking for small living room design ideas, expand your search horizon and turn to IDprop to narrow down your search…

|In: Wearables|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Keeping the requirements of the smart, stylish and trendy customers in mind, Conzumex Industries Pvt. Ltd an exciting consumer tech start-up that designs, develops and sells consumer electronics is launching their luxury hybrid smartwatch, Muse on Kickstarter today. Designed for the on-the-go generation, who love to wear a watch as part of their style statement, Muse Watch comes at a very affordable price range of Rs. 6,500 ~ 10,000 [only on Kickstarter].

Image Source – Muse Wearables

The watch is built around an ‘Internet of YOU’ platform – an amalgamation of smart devices, AI, and exergaming (video games that are also a form of exercise]. The AI platform is a personal assistant that provides services in fitness, food and personal finance. The mobile game in Muse turns day-to-day activities into a deeply engaging experience for the consumer. Muse’s Planet Watch game generates in-game rewards through the activities tracked by the watch which in turn helps the user remain motivated in the daily routine.

Muse Wearables caters to the demand of the young with 21 features and promises to solve 50% of the user’s lifestyle problems. It is a first of its kind hybrid smartwatch with NFC payments and comes with an added advantage of up to 1.5 years of battery life. Some additional features include UV tracking, auto time-zone update, nutrition, fitness, sleep tracking, and SoS alerts.

Commenting on the launch, Sai Prasanth, Co-founder, Conzumex Industries Pvt. Ltd said

Keeping the smart and connected consumers in mind, we have come up with this trendy, smart and intelligent watch that caters to their needs of fitness, food, and personal finance on the go. Muse Wearables comes with a battery that lasts for over a year, reducing the hassle of charging every day; thus, giving consumers an unparalleled experience at an extremely affordable price.

The watch can be pre-booked on the Kickstarter platform starting today and will be delivered globally by the company’s vast distribution network.

About Conzumex Industries Pvt. Ltd

Co-founded in 2015 by IIT and NIT graduates – Sai Prasanth, Ajay Yathindra and Prathyusha, Conzumex is one of the few hardware start-ups in India. The company is currently building its second product Muse – an analog smartwatch that is fashionable, intelligent and more immersive than any other regular watch and fitness tracker and is backed by Keiretsu Angel Group, other lead angel groups, and individual HNIs. Eminent personalities like SS Rajamouli and Shobu Yarlagadda [Director and Producer of Baahubali film respectively] have also invested in the start-up through Keiretsu forum.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Doodhwala, a subscription based, early morning delivery platform for fresh milk and other perishable groceries, has announced its expansion to Hyderabad. A household name across Bengaluru and Pune, Doodhwala currently supplies 30,000 liters of milk daily, along with other fresh products sourced directly from local farms and dairies.

Ebrahim Akbari, Doodhwala’s Co-Founder, said

Hyderabad is a milestone victory. We have proved our model in Bangalore and Pune by reaching 4 million orders till date. Our success in both these cities has helped us develop a great playbook for geographic expansion. By pairing our lean operating model with low inventory dependency and a rock bottom Rs 3.3 last mile delivery cost, we are poised to dominate the fresh grocery space.

[L-R] Doodhwala Founders Ebrahim Akbari and Aakaash Agrawal

Doodhwala will initially offer Hyderabad customers a huge variety of fresh milk and dairy products, and over time will add a selection of fresh grocery items including eggs, fruits, vegetables, juices, and breads.  In Bengaluru, the company has partnered with over 50 milk brands including organic and A2 dairy farms, to cater to the diverse needs of Doodhwala customers.

Aakash Agrawal, Doodhwala’s Co-Founder, said

The convenience of ordering milk and daily essentials on a subscription basis guarantees stickiness and reduces customer acquisition costs. Doodhwala has become a beloved part of the morning schedule for its rapidly growing customer base.  Doodhwala is expected to expand across 15 cities in the next two years. By 2021, over 10 million households will subscribe to Dooodhwala.

Commenting on the expansion, Mark Kahn, Founding Partner, Omnivore said

Doodhwala has the leanest e-grocer model in the industry and is well positioned for massive pan-India growth.

In February 2018, Doodhwala received 2.2 million in Seed funding from Omnivore, a venture fund focused on food and agriculture startups. Back in 2017, the company received angel funding from Thomas Varkey, a partner at Stonehill Capital.

About Doodhwala

Doodhwala is a subscription based, early morning delivery platform for fresh milk and other perishable groceries sourced directly from local farms and dairies.  Doodhwala offers customers a variety of fresh milk and dairy products, as well as eggs, fruit, fresh juice, vegetables, meat, and other daily essentials. Doodhwala customers use the company’s app to set their subscription schedule and receive their groceries for the day promptly before 7 am. Founded in 2015 by Aakash Agrawal and Ebrahim Akbari, Doodhwala, is present in Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad. For more information, please visit Doodhwala.