Rendezvous with CEO of Redbus.in

Redbus is one of the renowned ticketing site for inter city bus services of private operators. Started in 2006 with three people on-board in a small office in Domlur the company is already in a break-even stage and is looking forward to setup offices in other major cities of India. In a interview  to Eblues team the CEO of the company Phanindra Sama shared his remarkable journey of last 3 years.

Eureka moment
It was vacation time during Diwali in 2005 and many of Phani's friends were already left to their hometown. Initially not being sure about taking off from work Phani postponed his decision to book tickets. Finally when he decided to go to his hometown Hyderabad and the ticket booking saga took him no where. First he contacted his usual travel agent, later he contacted each and every known travel agent for a single ticket to Hyderabad. The series of unsuccessful attempts for booking tickers made him realize massiveness of the unorganized industry involving operators and travel agents. 40 buses from Bangalore to Hyderabad everyday! Being alone in Bangalore a golden idea struck him. Eureka! Eureka! why not organize this bus industry with help of a software so that it turns out to be win-win-win for bus operators, travel agents and of course for passengers. He discussed about the idea with his pals of BITS Pilani - Sudhakar and Charan. They started with a plan of making a software which maintains the inventory of the bus routes and assists the travel agents in booking tickets.

Key moment and the USP
Being member of TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) forum, Phani along with his friends submitted the idea to one of the competitions of the forum. Phani still believes the major reason for the project to get selected was the way it was presented. The allotted duration for presentation was 30 minutes, therefore they planned presentation for only for 15 minutes(rest for Q&A) with only 7-8 slides. 1- slide about the team, 1-slide about the unorganized industry and 1-slide about their solution and so on.

Godfather's insights
After the project was shortlisted in TiE competition, the team was alloted three mentors for further progress, one of them was Sanjay Anatharam. He helped the team getting the right VC and added some valuable inputs to the project. According to Sanjay, deploying the software for each and every travel agent all over India won't be practical, a lot of effort will be needed to make it work without any issues. Target city customer with a website to book the tickets online. Anyways in future Internet connection will be as ubiquitous as mobile phone connection.

Testing times
The venture went thru a lot of testing times. First of all convincing bus operators that the new medium will work took a lot of effort. The high pressure phase was the first two weeks after launch of the site redbus.in in Auguest 2006. They had to show the sales to the operators. The team went all out as for publicising about the ticketing site. They went in front of software companies during lunch hours for distributing the pamphlets and simultaneously explaining about the site.

The breakthrough moment
It was indeed the moment when the first ticket was booked by a software engineer of Infosys. It really was an auspicious beginning as the ticket booked was from Bangalore to Tirupathi! For the first customer the team ensured the safe travel by assisting the passenger for boarding the bus!

Engineers turned Travel agents
The way of earning changed completely. For every ticket booked the commission was about Rs.20. The expected amount of sales needed were very high to compensate for the salaries they used earn in their last jobs. There were slight thoughts of giving up, but the persistence of Sudhakar(co-founder) kept the team focused for achieving the goals. Also, when one starts a business even the minute details/rules can't be ignored like maintaining a attendance register, having a Kannada in sign boards etc.

Role Model & Inspiration
The major inspiration for Phani has been Richard Branson and his autobiography 'Losing my Virginity'. Branson's thoughts on colour red has been the major influence for naming the company 'Red'bus.

Meeting different kinds of people
Being a CEO at such an young age has been challenging. As part of work he has handle people with twice/thrice as his experience. Every person is unique, some people pamper him even not doing anything great and some blast him for not doing any mistake. These things one never faces being an employee of a big company.

Expansion plans
The main interaction with customer happens thru customer care operators. The company hires operators as employees, instead of outsourcing the work to a third party. The long term plan is to open offices all over India which includes even North-East Indian cities. But the expansion is planned/done in a organic way. When the one office breaks even with respect to investment the other office in a different city will be set up.

The edited video of the interview is embedded below.

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Videos

Entrepreneur Blues




RedBus


Muziboo

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Prateek and Nitya Muziboo

Muziboo is an online community of musicians. The members of this community share whatever music they make with other members of the community. They can also upload cover versions of songs and get comments from the other users.

The tagline of Muziboo is “Get an audience”. Muziboo does provide audience for the music a member creates and for the covers he sings or plays. It is basically targeted at amateur musicians who need their music to be reviewed.

Some of the things that you can do as a member of this community are

• Share your music

• Comment on music

• Build your online profile

• Find new friends and band members

• Create a page for your band

• Talk on groups and find help for your queries.

There is hardly any genre of music which is not shared or discussed. The community provides rich audience for whatever genre of music you upload or discuss. It brings together those musicians who’ve just started playing and those musicians who’ve been creating good music for some time. The blend of “newbies” and “professionals” in the community adds to its essence. There are many with original compositions, and also there are people who have sung covers, wanting a feedback from peers on their singing.

The community is still growing. All it takes to become a member of this community is an account in their official website muziboo.com. The procedure is fairly simple and hardly takes any time. Another important aspect of Muziboo is that it does not rate music which is shared, though it has a “most played section” which will hint users about the popular ones.

The community has been appreciated for its idea and the help it offers to upcoming musicians. The website was launched by its founders Prateek and Nithya in August 2007.

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Yusuf Motiwala, Tring Me

TringMe is a product company focussed on building next generation communication platform.The people at TringMe are driven by the passion to provide people with cutting-edge technology, which will make communication a amazing experience.Their line of products will make the communication between individuals easy and pleasureful.

TringSwitch is one such product which integrates the might of existing voice and text communication devices, the power of the internet and the capabilities of SIP devices. It supports both web and the mobile platforms by providing a fully embeddable web-client for the web and an equally good VOIP-client for the mobile platform.

The key features of TringSwitch are:

• High availability and real-time platform optimized for web-based and Mobile-VOIP applications.
• It is the core back-end platform for all TringMe offerings 3. Supports Phones, IMIs, Mobile phones, SIP phones, SIP clients, Internet as organisation and termination points.
• Exposes Flash and REST APIs so that innovative voice-enabled we apps can be written by third parties as well.
• Can be integrated with any telephony backend including SIP server. 6. Enterprise ready with redundancy and clustering/load balancing support.
• Voice over Instant Messenger (VOIM) - Gtalk and Jabber are fully supported. Support for Yahoo, Skype and MSN is coming soon...
• Text-to-speech (TTS) engine is in the works. 9. Exposes easy to use APSs to enable tight integration

TringPhone is another product from this company which showcases their innovative capabilities.It is a web-based phone which provides the ability to call a phone anywhere in the world. TringPhone is classic example of a software which is easy to use and has an high value for the customer

The key features of TringPhone are:

1. It is directly accessible from a web browser. No software installation is required.
2. It is very easy to use. Login, Dial and Talk.
3. No complex settings - e.g. SIP settings, NAT traversal, Unblocking firewall portsd etc- to deal with.
4. Supports calling a phone number, a SIP phone or IM ( Gtalk )
5. Call is truly initiated from the PC that`s connected to the web
6. Doesn`t use callback technique to establish calls between the two parties.
7. Branding and Customization is fully supported. 8. Can specify your own VOIP provider.

About the Founder (Yusuf Motiwala) :

• 13+ years of experience in communication and multimedia industries. - Held several levels of technical (architecture) and management roles in Flextronics, Lucent, Texas Instruments (TI) – strong technical background.
• Education: Masters degree (EE). Associated with premier education institutes (IIT-Bombay/Stanford).
  
• Author of the popular DVD encoder YMPEG ( www.ympeg.com).
  
• Several excellence awards in technical, skills management areas.
  
• Participated in System level architecture review and similar initiatives in Lucent, TI.
  
• Has filed 2 patents on telecom/IPTV domain.
  
• Authored few IEEE papers and got special mention in RFC 4067 (wireless context transfer protocol).
  
• Speaker for IETE Broadband and communications Conference 2005 – EFCoS 05 - Organizer of Barcamp Bangalore II, Dec 2006.

by
Lakshman Srikanth and Phaneendra Kaddi

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Poonam Bir Kasturi, Daily Dump

Hi all, I am Ramjee Ganti, let me give you a sneak preview of Daily Dump, a company which we are going to feature under Cleantech.

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.

" A mechanised composter for homes, which handles the task of having to turn the compost pile by the owner. Composting products for specific needs like big restaurants, cafes, marriage halls, convention centres and larger hotels. “Bangalore has a lot of vegetable, fruit and flower co-operative outlets. These need specific low-cost well-designed solutions,” feels Poonam. On the anvil is composting for large flats that can effectively use ‘In-house composting units’. Products for other urban needs, like rain-water harvesting, organic farming, non-formal sector businesses are also in the plan. " (Deccan Herald)

[pEople bHeind]

This is the brain child Poonam Kasturi, one of the co founders of Srishti Design School. She is an NID Ahmedabad 85 batch alumnus. Check out her paper at design with India conference in 2006. A go through the paper tells you about her deep insights into the design and what kind of design we need in India.
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
Posted Earlier on sodidi as Green Entrepreneur under Innovation.

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The support team

Here are the great team members who have an important role to play in this initiative:

(1) Ankur Jain, works in Bell Labs, initiator of the idea
(2) Hemanth Haridas, works in Cisco, catalyst
(3) Mrinal Paul, works in Intel, enthusiast
(4) Gaurav Ahuja, works in National Instruments, support/enthusiast
(5) Amit Singh, freelancer, KickStart, contacts

We together handle the camera, conduct interviews, coordinate appointments, take down notes, update blog. But we still need more people to pitch in to help us be more effective.

In particular, we need video editing guys/gals who have made documentaries before. It will be great too, if people volunteer to show this documentary film in their colleges all over India.

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Interviews, interviews and interviews

Till now, we have interviewed 17 entrepreneurs. During our discussion with them, we could clearly see their enthusiasm, energy and struggle. Though we could see similarities in opinions, still there were difference of views when it comes to execution.

We interviewed the following entrepreneurs:-

Interior Design
(1) Mamta

Web 2.0
(2) Shashank, CEO of Naabo Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
(3) Pranav Bhasin, Lifeblob
(4) Prateek Dayal and Nithya, Muziboo

Technology
(5) Yusuf Motiwala, TringMe

Creative Arts
(6) Ashish Solanki, NetBramha
(7) Raksha Shriram, Active Canvas

Services
(8) Vishwas and Sandeep, Jobeehive
(9) Priyanka , Hungry Bangalore
(10) Sonu Mishra, Refer-India
(11) Phanindra , RedBus
(12) Amarindar, Core Objects

Educational Sector
(13) Sandhya, Sudiksha

Theatre
(14) Pawan Kumar, ACTor Productions

Franchising
(15) Shabarish

Serial Entrepreneur
(16) Rajeev Kumar, ChromoSoul Technologies India

Clean Technology
(17) Poonam - Daily Dump

Check out their photographs and videos on our blog...

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The Making of Entrepreneur Blues

The making of a documentary film

Entrepreneurship is being talked about a lot now-a-days. Many books, courses, coaching and online help are available for the young enthusiastic minds. But still bunch of our young Indian population is weak when it comes to taking risk in life, which happens to be the foundation of opening a venture.

People say a picture is worth thousand words. So why not make a documentary film on the life of an entrepreneur? This movie will not only help the young entrepreneurs answer most of their doubts about startups but would also make it clear what it takes to be an entrepreneur. During the course of this exersice we will unearth the pattern in all the entrepreneurs in the way they have been and are living life!

What do we do with the film?

We will show the movie in different forums like NeN, TiE, Barcamp, OCC, Kickstart, Mobile Monday, Startup Saturday. Most importantly we will showcase this in engineering colleges so that students have a good idea of what a startup is and are better informed to make their choices during placements. Not only in engineering colleges ,we shall also showcase this in colleges of other streams like arts and science. We are also trying to rope in a media partner.

How can you contribute?

If you are an entrepreneur and are inspired by the vision, my team would like to interview you for 10-20 minutes. All you have to do is to pour your experiences out. Please consider the possibility of sparing your time for the big cause and mail us your response to

1. Ankur Jain - ankurj[dot]iitd[at]gmail[dot]com +91-998-079-7667
2. Hemanth Haridas - hhemanth[at]gmail[dot]com +91 9886685724

What do you get from the movie when you contribute ?

1. You will get famous and your company will be known India-wide
2. You may get to recruit freshers from colleges, may get interns too.
3. You may get a cool way to give back and contribute to the society.

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