All Posts in startups

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

With the vision of tapping into the highly potent app market in India, Plobal Apps announced the launch of its Do It Yourself [DIY] mobile app development platform.

Today, not just the startups but also most of the established names in the retail industry are looking to build a strong mobile presence to cater to the needs of customers who are increasingly going mobile. However, developing an app can be expensive and often involves a lot of time.

Plobal Apps promises to revolutionize the app building process by providing its customers an app in as less as 5 minutes. The entire concept revolves around the essence of DIY – Do It Yourself, which enables technology experts as well as non-techies to create their own apps in a few simple steps! Plobal Apps has already helped more than 500 businesses across industries like Hospitality, Entertainment and Lifestyle to build and launch their mobile apps.

India, a highly diverse and dynamic market, sees many SMBs coming up every day. Adding to that the huge number of already existing SMBs and you have a scenario where 77% of the market leaders agree that customers now expect businesses to have a mobile presence. Approximately 75% of emerging market SMEs surveyed report that mobile has helped them grow revenue, become more efficient, and be more innovative.

Plobal Apps also has a channel partner program that enables advertising agencies, digital marketing agencies, social media agencies and web development companies to create fully native apps on both Android and iOS Mobile Platforms for their clients using the company platform. Plobal Apps, one of the fastest growing and most promising M-commerce startups in India, provides just the right solution with unique features that cater to the needs of the current market.

USPs of using Plobal Apps DIY Platform

  • No technical knowledge or coding skills required
  • Can build and publish apps in under 5 minutes
  • Fully Native apps for iOS and Android platforms
  • Extremely affordable pricing plans
  • Platform designed for multiple industries

Talking about the technology Atul Poharkar, Co-Founder & CEO, Plobal Apps said

We have built Plobal Apps with a vision of providing quick, affordable and easy app development solutions to SMBs. Today every business needs a mobile app and we feel our platform will help SMBs break the barrier of technology and compete with the biggest names in the industry. This is a first of its kind attempt in India, as DIY apps industry is at a very nascent stage here. We look forward to revolutionizing the mobile app space in India.

About Plobal Apps

Plobal Apps is India’s only technology platform to provide SMBs with mobile apps and integrated business solutions. It is a two-year-old start-up founded by 4 young entrepreneurs who set out to create a technology platform with an aim to allow users with no programming skills to create applications for smartphones.

Plobal Apps also offers a channel partner program to enable advertising agencies, digital marketing agencies, social media agencies and web development companies to create fully native apps on both Android and iOS Mobile Platforms for their clients using the company platform. For more information, please visit Plobal Apps

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

In an effort to accelerate digital transformation at the start-up level, NASSCOM in partnership with IBM, launched Techstartup.in Delhi on IBM Cloud.

Techstartup.in was first launched in Bangalore in October 2015. The new, localized Delhi version of the site is designed to help stimulate innovation in Delhi while spurring growth within the entire Indian start-up economy. The portal is a first-of-its-kind online platform that will serve as a centralized hub for India’s tech ecosystem city by city providing information and resources to help turn ideas into businesses, deliver valuable tools for tech startups, and connect citizen entrepreneurs to opportunities in the tech ecosystem.

This is a platform for the entire Indian start-up & product ecosystem to network, stimulate local innovation and grow the economy.

The Indian technology start-ups landscape has seen a remarkable growth towards creation of innovative start-ups. India, a home to a new breed of young start-ups, has clearly evolved to become the third largest base of technology start-ups in the world. As per NASSCOM Start-up Report 2015, within one year, the number of start-ups in India has grown by 40 per cent, and this number is expected to cross 4,200 by the end of 2015. With over 100 per cent growth in number of PE/VCs/Angel investors along with a 125 per cent growth in funding over last year, the Indian start-up ecosystem has risen to the next level. The total funding in the India based start-ups is estimated to be nearly $5 billion by the end of 2015.

This growth will only increase as thousands of start-ups are expected to establish themselves in India, generating employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people. This will not only pave the way for innovative services, but will also act as a major booster for the development and the progress of the Indian economy.

Mr. Rajat Tandon, Vice President, NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups, said

With Techstartup.in we want to democratize access to key resources and information across the country digitally connecting India’s expanding tech-preneurs. Building it together in support with IBM, it will be a personification of a united commitment to increase jobs, train the workforce of the future, support new startups, and ultimately ensure India is at the centre of technology innovation

Built on IBM Cloud, TechStartup.in will be updated regularly using tools from Bluemix, IBM’s cloud platform that includes tools for social, mobile, analytics, cloud integration, Internet of Things, Watson cognitive computing and more.

Additionally, as part of its commitment to the global startup community, IBM will offer up to $120,000 of free IBM Cloud credits for local qualified startups to use as they build their businesses on IBM Cloud.

Ms. Sandy Carter, General Manager, Cloud Ecosystem and Developers, IBM, said

Our collaboration with NASSCOM helps IBM deliver on its commitment to empower entrepreneurs on both the local and global levels. Techstartup.in allows Indian start-up communities to experience first-hand the benefits of IBM Cloud, while providing a supportive environment for the entire start-up ecosystem to connect, learn, network and thrive in both the local and global marketplaces.

Techstartup.in, a playground for 10,000 start-ups will further support the progressive phase of start-ups in India. The platform will offer a pioneering search engine and database which will profile virtually every city-based tech company and investor; a continuously updated list of tech and start-up job openings, a citywide tech event and class calendar; an interactive map of tech companies, start-up resources across the boroughs; and additional features that combine to create a comprehensive one-stop shop for everything start-up.

About 10,000 Startups

Started in April 2013, 10,000 Startups is an ambitious attempt by NASSCOM to scale up the startup ecosystem in India by 10x. 10,000 Startups aims to enable incubation, funding and support for 10,000 technology startups in India over the next ten years. The initiative brings together key stakeholders of the ecosystem including startup incubators, accelerators, angel investors, venture capitalists, startup support groups, mentors, and technology corporations.

Since its launch in April 2013, they have done about 450+ events in 22 cities of the country which were attended by a whopping 25,000 attendees and received 9000 Applicants, 800 Startups Shortlists, and 150 Impacts.

Nasscom-Partners

For more information about IBM Cloud, please visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing

|In: General|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

With India becoming world’s fastest growing startup ecosystem country today, Startup India is the new buzzword by the Government of India. The numbers are telling—from 3,100 startups in 2014 to a projection of more than 11,500 by 2020… this is certainly not a passing trend.

Venture capital investments in India reached INR 15,600 crore till June 2015, surpassing the total INR 14,850 crore invested in entire 2014, setting the stage for another record year as interest in local technology startups peak.

In order to highlight the specific areas of growth opportunities and challenges being faced in and by the incubation ecosystem, Incubation India 2015, a Conference on Business Labs comprising the Investor, Incubator startups ecosystem was organized in Delhi.

Dr. Raghunandan Rajamani, Executive Director, Indian Steps & Business Incubators Association said

India needs several folds increase in mechanism such as incubation & acceleration that can assimilate entrepreneurs to make them globally successful.

Incubation in India is not more than decade old but it has and can create a huge impact. Incubation in healthcare and life sciences is far too complex if we were to compare it with IT. Healthcare is a very social subject hence tightly regulated and needs a completely different and dynamic ecosystem to take the product from bench side to bed side.

As per the detailed analysis by BIORx Venture Advisors, Healthcare is a favourable incubation sector and liked by all the investors as long as it is asset light but technologically sound and patentable.

Mr. Gandhi, Founder & Executive Director, BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd said

Medical devices is one such sub sector which is gaining a lot of traction from all the players of the ecosystem. This is largely on the assumption that India’s own domestic consumption for such products is very high hence financially lucrative and viable for the medium to long-stage investors who will benefit the country’s healthcare needs.

Various Key decision makers, Start-ups, Incubators, VC’s & Young Entrepreneurs were the part of this first of its kind niche Conference in India to discuss the Initiatives taken to promote the concept of technology and business incubation in India, Marketing & communications strategies for early stage startups Incubating in Healthcare sector:Opportunities and Challenges

According to Mr. Kapil Malhotra, Founder Marketing Director, Total Solutions Group

A part of the Total Solutions Group Have been investing in startups over the past decade ranging from telecom, FMCG, IT, skill development amongst others. We believe that India is at the perfect point to offer entrepreneurs opportunities for growth through incubation that has not been previously available. Events like Incubation India are the perfect platform for bringing entrepreneurs, incubators, funders &mentors together. We believe that many of the start ups present today will become unicorns of the future.

Themed ‘Creating Value 360°‘, the Incubation India 2015 conference provided an opportunity for interactive discussions and insights on incubation trends, solutions and unique initiatives. 

According to Mr. Ashish Taneja, CO-Founder & Managing Director, Grow X Ventures

It’s a great initiative by Incubation India to raise awareness about role of an Incubator and Accelerator on the Initial step of Startup.

Some of the Key issues discussed in the conference

  • Impact of Business Incubation on the economy.
  • Value creation strategies in Business Incubation.
  • When does a Start-up turn into a Scale Up?
  • Valuing to exit and exiting for a value: Startups, VC’s, Incubators.
  • Marketing and communication strategies for early stage startups
  • Growing impact of Venture Capital in Business Incubation.
  • Fuelling entrepreneurial activity: Incubators, Accelerators, Co-Working Spaces,Technology Hubs.
  • Initiatives taken by the Government and Non-Government organisations, educational institutions to promote the concept of Technology and Business Incubation.
  • Opportunities for startups in investment management services.

For more information on Incubation India, please visit Incubation India Homepage

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Web Summit, the planet’s largest and most influential tech and startup event, is launching its Indian edition as SURGE 2016. Aimed at the tech and startup communities in India and internationally, SURGE 2016 will be held in Bangalore on February 23-24, 2016.

Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of Web Summit, announced the event along with Vikram Ahuja, founder, Byond Travel outlined how SURGE will act as a catalyst in supporting the startup community in the country and the region.

Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder of Web Summit said

Web Summit is now the biggest and most influential startup gathering in the world. In recent years, we’ve seen a significant rise in the number of Indian startups attending our global conferences. India is increasingly producing globally competitive startups that have disrupted markets and the way we live. Bangalore is a significant part of the global startup ecosystem and we think it is the ideal venue for SURGE 2016.

In its first year SURGE 2016 is expected to attract more than 4,000 attendees, including startups, investors, media and speakers, from India and beyond. The Web Summit flagship event, held in Dublin for the last five years has seen growth from 400 attendees to over 42,000 from more than 134 countries in 2015.

Vikram Ahuja, founder Byond Travel, said

Bangalore is leading the way for the rapidly developing startup ecosystem in India. It’s great that SURGE is coming to Bangalore. I am sure SURGE will be an important part of the startup ecosystem in India within a very short space of time.

In the past, Web Summit has hosted some of the most influential speakers including Da Vinci Code’s Dan Brown, Tinder’s Sean Rad, Instagram’s Ed Catmul & Tour De France Winner Chris Froome along with 30,000 attendees, over 2000 start-ups, 1000 investors and 650 speakers.

Paddy Cosgrave added

100’s of Indian startups and founders have been to our events in recent years, principally to Web Summit in Dublin. This year 80 Indian startups came to our RISE event in Hong Kong.

Attendee numbers are rising fast and we expect to have several thousand entrepreneurs, investors, media and speakers at SURGE, including 500 of the most exciting startups from across the region. We already have 300 startups and 2,000 attendees registered.

They have been telling us for some time that Web Summit should come to India and we have been blown away by their creativity and innovation. India has arguably the most important and accessible startup ecosystem in the world right now and we want to support it by giving them a world-class event where they can gather, network and grow.

Speakers already confirmed for SURGE

  • Nicolas Brusson, Co-Founder & COO, BlaBlaCar
  • Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder & CEO, Flipkart.com
  • Rohit Bansal, Co Founder & COO, Snapdeal
  • Ambarish Mitra, Founder & CEO, Blippar
  • Greg Moran, Co-Founder, Zoomcar

Investors already confirmed for SURGE

  • Dave McClure, Founding Partner, 500 Startups
  • Subrata Mitra, Partner, Accel Partners
  • Saul Klein, Founder, Seedcamp
  • Bharati Jacob, Managing Partner, Seedfund

For more information about Web Summit please visit this link In order to register for the event, please visit SURGE 2016 Registration Page

About Web Summit

Web Summit is a global technology conference hosted annually in Dublin. It was founded in 2010 by Paddy Cosgrave along with Daire Hickey and David Kelly. In 2014, more than 22,000 attendees from over 100 countries flew to Dublin for Web Summit. Speakers have included the founders and CEOs of Twitter, YouTube, Netflix, Skype, Tesla, PayPal and Oculus VR.

In addition to Web Summit, the team runs a series of founders events, which have been described by Bloomberg as “Davos for Geeks” and are regular gatherings that include 150 CEOs of the world’s leading technology companies.

In 2015 Web Summit has hosted a number of international events including Collision and RISE, based in the US and Hong Kong respectively. Over 50,000 people have attended Web Summit events across the globe in 2015.

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Hike messenger, India’s biggest local messaging app and one of the fastest growing internet company have announced that its users are exchanging over 1 billion messages per day, amounting to over a mammoth 30 billion messages per month.

The company has crossed this milestone a month before it anticipated. This number has grown by 50% in a span of 3 months, since the company’s previous announcement of 20 billion message exchanges in August this year.

This upsurge in messaging volume has been observed post launch of latest version of Hike, Hike 4.0. The latest version came packed with some brand new experiences such as automatic sticker suggestions, hike direct, which allows users to chat and share files without the internet, 500 member group chat with multi-admins, free group calling with up to 100 people, News in English and Hindi, coupons from over 100 brands and special photo filters and doodles.

The upgraded version of hike is available free for android consumers on the Google Play store & for Apple consumers on the iOS App store.

Commenting on the growth, Kavin Bharti Mittal, Founder & CEO Hike messenger said

We are now doing over a billion messages per day. That’s no small feat. We got there quicker than we expected. It’s incredible how well hike 4.0 is doing. The year still isn’t over and there’s a lot still more to come. Stay tuned.

The company recently crossed 70 million users in October this year, making it by far the 2nd largest messaging app of the country. On an average a user spends also over 140 minutes per week on Hike messenger.

Hike’s Growth Story

  • Dec 2012 – Global launch
  • Feb 2013 – Messaging traffic grows 10X week on week
  • April 2013 – Hit the first 5M user milestone in just 4 months of its launch | Raised $7M from BSB
  • Feb 2014 – Hit the 15M user mark
  • April 2014 – Received $14M fresh funding from BSB
  • June 2014 – Crossed 20M user mark, launched first TVC
  • July 2014 – Hit #1 rank on App stores
  • August 2014 – Crossed 35M user mark, receives $65M fresh funding led by Tiger Global & BSB
  • November 2014 – Launches regional stickers on hike
  • January 2015 – Launched free Hike Calls
  • February 2015 – Launched Cricket Scores on hike
  • Aug 2015: Hike announces 20 billion messages per month and launched Hike News
  • Sep 2015: Launched Group Calling with upto 100 people

Additional information

You can download the app at – http://get.hike.in For more information, please visit the Hike Blog

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Delhi-based Wigzo, an enterprise marketing automation suite has raised $500K [INR 3 Crore] in Pre-Series A round of funding led by led by Aarin Capital Partners and chairman of Manipal Global Education, TV Mohandas Pai, AdvantEdge Partners, Singapore Angel Network, ah! Ventures, Sachin Bhatia [CEO & co-founder of TrulyMadly & MakeMyTrip], Kunal Khattar [Serial entrepreneur & angel investor], Akshay Garg [Co-founder, Komli Media].

The deal was advised and syndicated by ah! Ventures and led to closure on its private equity investment platform, CLUBah.com

Wigzo was founded in 2013 by Umair Mohammed, Himanshu Kaushik, Shamail Tayyab & Vikrant Khushu. It is an Enterprise marketing automation suite built on top of proprietary Machine Learning Algorithms and a Predictive Engine. The suite allows brands and marketers to personalise any form of communication across multiple channels including Email, Push, Browser Push as well as Facebook and Google Ads from a single infinitely-scalable dashboard.

Wigzo enables a brand to understand and communicate with its customers on a one-on-one basis by creating personalized content, based on context and usage patterns of the user, across all customer touch points from a single, integrated digital marketing platform without changing service providers.

The funds raised will be used to expand its team and build out its delivery channels – including mobile, email, and web.

In the coming months, Wigzo also plans to aggressively improve its algorithms, work on industry-specific requirements in terms of machine learning communications, deepen its APAC market penetration and provide customised solutions to the content, media, e-commerce and BFSI sectors to scale their SAAS model.

Umair Mohammed, CEO, Wigzo, stated

Larger organizations have built excellent engagement channels with their subscribers using a Data-driven Approach. We want to take the same capabilities to all online businesses, irrespective of their size and scale, and allow them to leverage our machine learning capabilities and Predictive Technology to Hyper Personalise to each individual user.

Pranav Pai, investing on behalf of Mohandas Pai, said

As enterprises and brands compete in the new mobile economy, their ability to engage and retain their customers across multiple channels will help them differentiate their offerings in their respective categories. Re-engaging your customers effectively builds brand recall and loyalty, and multi-channel strategies that utilise real-time analytics will be the most efficient mechanism. We are excited about working with Wigzo because we see tremendous potential for an Indian company to work with brands and drive them to rise above the plateau of standard customer re-targeting and engagement strategies.

Giving an investor perspective, Harshad Lahoti, Founder & CEO, ah! Ventures, said

We have been always interested in technology startups and Wigzo is definitely a promising one. The fact that they are the only tech company in Asia – Pacific, which combines ‘Predictive Insights’ with ‘Personalisation’ to enhance the brand’s ability to convert its customer centric data into customized messages, should be reason enough for heightened investor interest. Their IP is much robust, scalable and privacy driven targeted approach is set to redefine the next level of consumer engagement. The deal was concluded on private equity investment platform, CLUBah.com.

Wigzo will be the second consumer engagement tech startup in recent times that ah! Ventures has helped raised capital for apart from Singapore based Eywa Media. Wigzo had earlier raised $100K in seed funding led by Nikunj Jain, Outbox ventures & Ritesh Malik.

ah! Ventures is in the process of closing 2 more deals in the coming weeks.

About Wigzo

Wigzo is an Enterprise marketing automation suite built on top of proprietary Machine learning algorithms and a Predictive engine that allows Brands and Marketeers to personalise any form of communication across multiple channels including Email, Push, Browser Push as well as Facebook and Google Ads from a single infinitely-scalable dashboard. In layman terms, Wigzo empowers brands to send marketing content that people want to receive.

About ah! Ventures

ah! Ventures is a startup focused growth catalyst that brings together promising businesses and investors by creating wealth creation opportunities for both. ah!’s unique model serves investors, entrepreneurs and enablers through a unique blend of customized services, skill, and industry & domain experience.

Founded in 2010, ah! Ventures has systematically disrupted India’s early stage funding ecosystem through its innovative approach toward startup investing. First of its kind initiatives like the CLUB ah! network & platform, ah! Angels (India’s largest angel network), ah! Seeders and ah! VC networks (India’s first seed & VC investment networks respectively), have brought together and integrated the otherwise previously segregated startup funding life-cycle, under one roof.

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Public Transportation is one of the most discussed topics & connected transport is still one of the issues that needs to be fixed in India. Today we have a chat with the founders of a Mumbai based startup TransitPedia that aims to Transform city travel by use of this smart app making it a Smart City

TransitPedia was co-founded by Mehul Sutariya & Vaibhav Vasa who quit their cushy jobs in USA to make Daily Commute Smarter in India. Without further ado, we start our Q&A with them.

transitpedia

Can you give a small background about you, your start-up and its founders ?

Mehul Sutariya and Vaibhav Vasa [Co-Founders of TransitPedia], having been friends for 15 years and having studied and worked in the USA for over half a decade, decided to launch an application that would change the public transportation scene in India, helping the 55 million commuters travelling daily by clubbing all user specific needs in an all-in-one app.

TransitPedia has been operating successfully for 4 months now with a team of 8 people operating from Mumbai and a user base of 9,000 already. The app is designed to cover time, cost, distance, and mode of transit as well as onward route displaying the most effective solutions to reach a destination. From informing a commuter about how to get from ‘Place A to Place B’ using the easiest and shortest routes, to helping one out with information about the most appropriate transportation vehicle, this app gives the user one platform to connect with the people travelling to and from their location and how!

The primary idea behind our venture is to compile multi-city data in a single application and provide a multi-mode transit solution in order to turn the public transportation scene in India to a “well-organized technology aided system”. The app currently covers data for Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad.

Mehul, a sports and coding fanatic, completed his MS in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and worked for Google and Amazon, USA as a software engineer responsible for creating scalable and distributed solutions. On the other hand, Vaibhav completed his MS in Operations Research from Case Western University, Ohio, followed by a job as a planning/project manager at Avery Dennison for over 5 years.

Together with Mehul’s vast experience in software development and Vaibhav’s managerial skills in Operations Research, who also happens to have a Six Sigma Black Belt certificate in it, we have managed to set up a rather interesting venture and hope to see the changes we wish to bring about in the transportation system across the country.

Every idea is born out of a problem, what was the trigger of starting TransitPedia ?

Having studied and worked in USA for over 5 years, there was always some discussion about new technology and solution that we could bring about in India that would make life much easier. As we continued using public transport there like anyone else, we were amazed by the organized efficient nature of it.

Comparing this to what we experienced in India, there was a huge gap which also meant that there was immense room for improvement. Thus came up the idea to rectify the dismal state of public transportation in our country. We decided to quit our jobs, come back to India and venture into a startup.

We noticed that when people travelled to new cities, they had no idea about the routes or the best mode of transport to pick.  We also saw that people liked to travel in groups, may they be college students or office employees. Some travelled together because it was fun, while others to share their cost.

Unfortunately in India, people have become so used to the ongoing haphazard way of travelling that their daily commute hardly accesses technology, which could help them make better transit decisions in real time. This is where we thought we could help by providing the solution in the form of an application. We thought of building a platform that could help everyone travelling everyday anywhere in India, which led to the creation of TransitPedia.

Transport being an un-organized sector, what are some of the initial challenges face while working on TransitPedia ?

There are more than 1500 apps across the country that cater to the transportation sector, providing static/dynamic, mode specific/multi-mode information. Many of which comply with the needs specific to their city. The initial challenge was to figure out which way of presenting the results of the transit problems to the audience would be easy and most effective in helping improve travelling as we know it.

Mapping the exact timings of each transit was the toughest task and in the beginning the results were static and not very satisfying, but we realized that we must show people the next step in travelling by working on this and coming up with results not just related to the best transportation vehicle to opt for but also telling them of the shortest and easiest routes and the cheapest form of transit.

Which are the cities where TransitPedia is currently operational ?

TransitPedia is currently live in 5 cities, namely Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi.

What is the revenue model of TransitPedia ?

As our app provides information about all means of public transport to the daily commuter, it is and will always be free to use. There are several revenue generation streams that we are looking into, like cab/rickshaw bookings, featured destinations, car-pooling etc. We are also lining up with an update for national transit soon, which is when we are going to decide the revenue stream that we’d follow.

How do you keep your app updated with latest changes in train/bus timings as they are dynamic in nature ?

We keep a keen eye on websites and government agencies which cater to mass transportation in every city that we are present in. We keep a constant tab and refer to pre-existing data published by governmental bodies and get our live stream of information via Twitter, which has become our savior of sorts. All of this helps us keep our application and our users updated.

Do you plan to solve the issue of “Onward Travelling” with TransitPedia [Like take bus from Andheri and then have association with Ola for onward journey] ?

We are a multi-mode transit app. From bus to train to a rickshaw to your home – all such information rests within the app already. Associations with cab aggregators are under progress in order to make travelling simpler.

How has been the feedback so far for TransitPedia on Play Store? Any plans on releasing the iOS App ?

The response in the past 4 months we have been able to reach 10,000 downloads. Looking at our rate of growth, we will soon be launching an iOS application as well.

How does TransitPedia stake up against competitors like M-Indicator [in Mumbai] or startups catering to similar segment ?

M-Indicator is a front runner in Mumbai currently. This app has been really helpful for daily commuters in Mumbai and is somewhere installed in the Mumbaikar’s subconscious as the go-to app for public transport.

TransitPedia as compared to M-Indicator is providing a lot more when it comes to features, as the latter provides static timetables and single mode A2B which means one can search from ‘Point A to Point B’ in a city only for any one medium of transport. As compared to the others like ZopHop, Ridlr and other city specific apps, TransitPedia provides more of a consolidated platform that gives the most comprehensive information about your complete transit in major Indian cities which includes mode comparison, time adjustment, sorting of results, fares and maps, all under one roof.

What are the major changes that you experienced when you moved from US to startup in India ?

Startup culture in India has grown rapidly over the past few years and they are now preferred over the traditional corporate companies. This will definitely help India turn into a country that innovates and not a country that does outsourced work as far as tech is concerned.

What are your key advice(s) to people who want to start-up ?

One of the most important things while starting up is setting your expectation right in terms of what you are signing up for. This includes your finances, your relationships, social pressures, etc. When you have your startup you are working all days of the week even if you are not at your desk. This will help you have a right mindset and in turn enable you to create great businesses.

What are some of the Growth-Hacking strategies that can be applied for an App-Based startup ?

App virality is one of the key features for any app. Right from the ability to share the content from your app to incentivising the users to install the app. The key factor is to find out by trial what marketing works for your app, what your target audience is and then doubling down on that. Finding the balance in long term vs short term marketing strategies is important.

Can you give some pointers on Scaling up & Customer Acquisition ?

As entrepreneurs, scaling up vs doing things right is always tricky. So, scaling fast while keeping existing customers happy is very important. Defining a target audience is very important for customer acquisition, spreading out thin makes it difficult to focus on what you want.

Bootstrapping or External Funding, what are your views on the same ?

Both are appropriate in their own phases. If you have an idea, you will have to bootstrap it or secure funds for it from your relatives. If you have a hyper-growth startup and your product has a market fit, you will need more funds to grow your business. If your business can grow without funding, even better. Managing the cash flow is more important in the early stages than profitability.

How important it for startups especially web, mobile to follow Lean Methodology ?

Talking about lean methodology is far easier than actually following it as it needs to be inculcated in your daily actions. You need to have a culture where every employee knows and follows it rigorously. I feel 1 startup month is equivalent to 1 corporate year and hence you want to validate things fast. Lean principles will help you to iterate faster without spending significant time in developing.

Any parting words from you for budding entrepreneurs ?

Entrepreneurship completely changes the way in which you think about businesses as opposed to doing a job. One is forced to wear multiple hats especially when the startup is young and that is quite educative. To stay focused is very important.

We thank the TransitPedia team for sharing insights into their entrepreneurial & providing useful tips to the budding entrepreneurs. If you have any questions for the TransitPedia team or want to share feedback about the TransitPedia app, please let them in the comments section.

[Image Credit* – IndianExpress]

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Today we have a guest article by Clay Clark who is former United States Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year, an award-winning speaker & founder of the Thrive15.com online business education platform designed to help people to start a business, grow a business or advance in their careers.

Note – I in the article refers to Clay. Some of his views might be only applicable for US based startups.

He shares  sixteen Business laws every Entrepreneur should know. So let’s get started with his guest article.

Action is the real measure of intelligence : Napoleon Hill

After consulting countless entrepreneurs in nearly every industry imaginable, I have found the following universal business laws that successful entrepreneurs follow and you should too –

Dream big and then focus on turning those big ideas into small action steps

You have to begin with the end goal in mind, knowing that a goal is a dream with a deadline. You must believe and understand that if you do not impose a deadline for your dreams on yourself, your dreams will never become reality because they will never get done. You must learn to break down your big ideas into the small actionable items needed to get things done. This is skill that you can learn and a skill that is taught in the book Scale by Jeff Hoffman and David Finkel.

Learn to sell or your business will go to hell

If you can’t sell your product, it goes from being an asset to a liability. Learn to sell, partner with someone who can sell, or learn to be poor. And when I say “learn to sell” I realize that most people (not you) immediately formulate a mental picture a man similar to the sales hack below. My friend, the man featured below is not selling, he demonstrating high-pressure “jackassery” in combination with a lack of tact, knowledge and skill.

If you are serious about learning to sell make sure to read Soft Selling In A Hard World by Jerry Vass, Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, The New Conceptual Selling by Robert Miller and Relationship Selling by Jim Cathcart. There are as many highly-skilled natural sales people as there are natural cricket players or American-style football players. Learn to sell or you will come across like the man below.

Over deliver and you will soon be over paid

Over deliver on promises and deadlines. Show up early, deliver your product early, and deliver more than you promised. Over deliver now and in the future, and you will be overpaid. My friend this concept of over-delivery and forming the “Habit of Doing More Than Paid For” is described in great detail by Napoleon Hill in his bestselling book, Think and Grow Rich. The habit of doing less than paid for and always doing everything a day late or just in time and slightly wrong is taught by everyone else. Don’t do what everyone else is doing if you want to get paid like the top 5%.

Always deliver on your promises

Even when it’s not fun, easy, or conveniently affordable, you must deliver on your promises. Build a foundation for success around a solid reputation so that you can exponentially grow your level of compensation. Most entrepreneurs really struggle with this and it’s usually a result of poor organization habits. If you are choosing to be disorganized you are going to start dropping the ball and forgetting to complete tasks.

To be a successful entrepreneur you must have a maniacal focus on details. Most struggling entrepreneurs are visionary generalists who lack the discipline needed to sit down, shut up and write down all of the actionable details needed to move from point A to point B. However, ALL SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE HISTORY OF THIS GREAT PLANET are either phenomenal when it comes writing out the specific details or they have hired someone on their team who is phenomenal with the details. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple was correct when he once said – This is what customers pay us for – to sweat all these details so it’s easy and pleasant for them to use our computers.

Standardize everything

Common sense is not common; thus, you must create duplicable processes for every facet of your business. Think like GE, Southwest, and QuikTrip; not like some ridiculous and perpetually-just-barely-surviving-bait-shop-or-taco-truck. My friend mentally marinate on this for a moment.

Warren Buffet, who is one of the world’s wealthiest people and arguable the most successful investor of all time said, “I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.” What does this mean? It means that you must build your business based around standardized systems that work and not around the minds of people who will go and go.

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