October 2006 Archives

Kanwaldeep of BrainGain Media emailed me to inform me about MeraVideo. Mera Video is a self confessed YouTube clone as of now. The site has very similar features with the main difference being that the content is targeted towards an Indian audience. I had two obvious questions for Kanwaldeep:

 

1. What are your plans in terms of scalability? YouTube was burning more than a million dollars a month on bandwidth costs. How do you plan to monetize the website to keep it sustainable? Are you raising money for the same?

Kanwaldeep:

MeraVideo can be termed ‘as of now’ the Desi version of YouTube but has been designed to eventually generate monies thru various unexplored revenue streams. Some of the revenue streams include: Syndication of Content, A Television show called ‘India’s Amazing/Funny Videos’ and selling of premium accounts for users with high bandwidth usage requirements. The eventual goal is to be a ‘Media Content Aggregator’ for India. The main source of revenue ‘at this point of time’ is ‘Confidential’ and we plan to unleash it with the rollout of our Beta Version slated to be sometime end of this year. I am not in a position to share the ‘main revenue’ or monetization source at this point of time due to its confidentiality.

I agree, the main barrier to entry when it comes to scalability is ‘the high bandwidth requirements’ for running a video sharing site. To address the same, MeraVideo is raising its first round of funding. A lot of angels as well as early stage VC funds have expressed interest in this venture. We expect to close the first round in the next 20 days. The first round of funding is intended to address the following: Infrastructure, Scalability and Manpower, PR.

2. What is your stance on copyright material? I see lot of copyright material on your site. How do you plan to deal with that issue?

Kanwaldeep:

The real truth is that due to the sensitive nature of the subject it is very difficult to prevent any violation infringements with regards to the ‘intrusion of private space’. The other violation i.e. reuse of components such as Music, Clips etc. can be easily monitored using a skilled set of researchers who screen the videos manually. Apart from this we will always have the standard ‘Terms of Use’ and the ‘Privacy Agreement’ as our first defense mechanism. We screen every video that is uploaded on our site. We have taken permissions from respective producers and studios for most of the copyrighted stuff that you can see on our website i.e. movie promos etc. To further this, we are finalizing contracts with Sahara Motion pictures and UTV to allow MeraVideo to showcase their films/promos as well as movies. Being a part of the Producers Guild in Mumbai, we actually are very particular about copyrights infringement. That is probably the reason why you do not see any clips from Indian TV shows (like the laughter challenge) etc.

My Take

In general I am skeptical about clones of any sort. I think MeraVideo or any India targeted video portal will have to innovate locally in some aspects. My guess is that mobile integration could be the killer feature for the desi audience. The fact that MeraVideo has tie ups with big media houses is definitely a big plus in their favor. At the same time, the popularity of YouTube was to a large extent due to the availability of copyright TV content there. It would be interesting to see how VCs react to Video sharing sites post-YouTube acquisition. This is one space where you can not survive long without VC money! All the best to MeraVideo!

It was an interesting day at TiECon Delhi today. Some quick observations:

1. VCs are everywhere! I think there were more VC firms in presence than aspiring entrepreneurs! This is of course great news for the local startup scene. VCs were lamenting on lack of quality entrpreneurship. A few moderators and speakers took light hearted digs at the "vulture" capitalists. All in good fun!

2. Mobile and consumer internet remain dominant ares of interest in both VC and startup circles.

3. Web 2.0 and KPO are the latest buzzwords. Everybody is using those terms (I know I am myself guilty of hyping the former!)

4. I was impressed by the concerted effort that Orissa is making as a state to attract investments. I was also surprised to hear that more than 11% of all FDI flows in via Orissa!

5. Movie stars Anupam Kher and Satish Kaushik announced the launch of their new movie production house. I got a chance to talk 1-1 with Mr. Kher! They are looking to raise money for their new company. Mr. Kher and Mr. Kaushik drove across the point that the Indian film industry is making a very conscious effort to become more professional in its approach. Mr. Kher categorically stated that today not a single movie star accepts or demands cash renumeration. Impressive!

6. TiECon is one of the best conferences for networking. Though I am noticing that ultimately its the same usual suspects you run into in all conferences! I think after attending a dozen or so conferences, I will run out of new people whom I can meet up at such events :)

This post also posted on the Venturewoods Blog.

 

One of the laments of Indian technology entrepreneurs is that we lack a healthy vibrant ecosystem for fostering entrepreneurship. Often we site example of the Silicon Valley and how absence of such an environment here inhibits entrepreneurship in India. While, that argument is true to some extent, we should also not forget that historically India has been a very entrepreneurial nation. In fact according to statistics (which I can't find right now!), majority of Indians are self employed. To the eyes of your average technologist, the andewaala (egg seller) on the road side or the local panwari (grocery seller) don't appear to be entrepreneurs. For that matter, the rich uncle with a thriving "business" or three "factories in U.P" also don't qualify. Fact of the matter is that all these people who we come across in our daily lives have built sustainable profitable businesses. At its core, a business is a business is a business. It doesn't matter whether it is a hi-tech business or a manufacturing business. It doesn't matter whether it is VC funded or bootstrapped.

Having interacted very closely with a few successful "traditional" Indian businessmen over the last two years, I have realized that for an entrepreneur here, the real lessons are to be learnt from these traditional businesses. So instead of cribbing about lack of "ecosystem" and constantly looking towards the Silicon Valley for guidance, let us learn from our non-tech. local entrepreneurs. Here are some lessons I have picked up:

1. Bootstrapping works Most traditional entrepreneurs here have never heard of the phrase "venture capital". Almost all businesses are bootstrapped with personal savings or bank loans. Raising money against equity is rare. Yet, a lot of businesses succeed and scale. It takes time and sweat but it is definitely doable. The biggest Indian businesses houses, right from TATAs to Reliance were built without any venture capital.
2. Selling price - Cost price = Profit Seems obvious but somehow we (especially the web 2.0 enthusiasts amongst us ;)) overlook that fact when we think of a new idea or a business. My friends from the traditional business background ask this question first - how are you going to make money in that business? Technologists often ask that question last (if ever they do!)
3. Business plans and excel sheets are overhyped A lot many successful businesses get started without a formal business plan. Initial cash flow projections and sales targets are often based on gut feel and past experience. More often than not, it works out fine. Sure, to scale a business beyond a point, more formal business planning is required. But to get a business started, a formal business plan need not be a bottleneck.
4. Indian consumer is really hard to sell to This is a really valuable lesson for anybody targeting a product at the Indian market. The Indian consumer is a tough cookie to sell to. He expects best quality and world class of service, wants to pay lowest possible price (and still bargain on that price) and has almost no brand loyalty. It is yet to be seen if the Indian consumer will pay a premium for intangibles like better customer service. Traditionally he hasn't.
5. Don't build to flip. Traditionally, businesses have been created to generate enough profit to sustain livelihood of the stakeholders (employees and promoters). Promoters make a living solely off the dividends that their business generates. This is very different from how many technology startups start. Promoters are often salaried (from venture money) and on day one, an "exit strategy" is incorporated in the business plan. The whole concept of a "liquidation event" as a means of wealth generation seems "absurd" to most seasoned traditional entrepreneurs. I agree with that line of thought. When you are building a new business, you need to build it as if your livelihood depended on it (and in fact your livelihood should depend on it!). That is the best way to keep focussed on point 2 above too.

There is a lot more that technology entrepreneurs can learn from traditional entrepreneurs. So about time, we stopped cribbing and started making the most of the rich entrepreneurial experience that exists in India!

 

Interesting match. Please dont call me a sexist but a female cricket commentator just doesn't cut it for me. Sorry. It just doesn't sound right.

It has been exactly two years since I started this blog. I never imagined that blogging could ever become such an important part of my life. By nature, I am NOT a person of habits. I rarely sustain interest in anything new for any significant period of time. So when I started blogging, I didn't really think I would still be doing it after two years.
This is how I started my first post ever:

Hello! My name is Gaurav Bhatnagar. After working for 3 years in Microsoft here in Redmond, WA, I am moving back to India at the end of this month. Many people have asked me about the experience and how hard or easy it is for an NRI to go back to India. That prompted me to start this blog. I will be using this blog for documenting my R2I (return to India) experiences.

My views about blogging have gone under lot of transformation over these two years. I started with the idea of
documenting my experiences on returning back to India so that others in similar situation could gain from it. Eventually my blog became more about entrepreneurship and technology. I guess, as expected, this blog is a reflection of my own life. It is very gratifying to know that people read my blog far and wide. I get email thru my blog almost on a daily basis. Professionally, blogging has helped a lot. It has helped clients understand our style of working and it has attracted people to come work at Tekriti. In fact, at times, I have felt that the blog has become bigger than me! People identify more with "New Delhi Times" rather myself as a person. This is especially true for people I primarily know thru my blog or those who have read my blog before they meet me in person.

I have only one issue with blogging. Blogging is like talking, and we all know that talk is cheap. It is easy to self-proclaim greatness on one's blog and also easy enough to start believing in your own hype. There are many bloggers out there who are known primarily for their blog. While there is nothing wrong with it, I think I don't want to be in that category. I would rather that I come to be known as a successful entrepreneur or a technologist and not just a "prominent blogger". I would rather walk the walk, instead of just talking the talk. There was a period of time when I was very concerned about how many people read my blog, who links to my blog, where it appears in search engine rankings, how many comments I am getting etc. Fortunately, I have managed to move past that stage. I blog when I have something interesting to say. I don't want my blog to be my claim to fame. Hence my motto - "Blog less and slog more"! Nevertheless, it has been a roller coaster two years. The beginning of this blog also marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I think I wont be giving up blogging anytime soon!

Youtube got bought over by Google for a whopping $1.6 Billion (no links here - its all over the place!). Going by how popular the site has become, it was only a matter of time before one of the big guys bought it out. Congrats to them! Our company, Tekriti, started off building one of the earliest video sharing sites back in Feb-March 2005 for our first client. Ourmedia.org was launched in March 2005. YouTube came along almost 9 months later. Ourmedia had a host of video and media experts on its panel of advisors and it had (and has) a team of volunteer editors to wean out copyright content. YouTube on the other hand has the policy of letting copyright content remain online until the copyright owner objects. Ourmedia allows users to download the original high quality video while YouTube only allows online viewing of very low res. flash versions. So for a site that started with a 9 month lead, it feels like Ourmedia was a missed oppurtunity. Of course, to be clear, Ourmedia is a non-profit and making billions of dollars wasnt even the aim and it still gets significant traffic and has over 100,000 videos hosted. But the kind of popularity that Ourmedia should have seen never came along. At a personal level, it helped us get our company started and gave us the initial credibility any startup needs. So Ourmedia remains very special to me.

Looking back, I think there are some very useful lessons to be learnt:

1. Keep it simple and stupid. A lot of time was spent on defining what metadata should be captured while uploading a video. The result was this huge page (login required) with hundreds of form fields to be filled in. Even though most of those fields were optional, it was daunting for the average user to figure out this form. A simple minimalistic user interface helps!

2. Reliability is the key. Ourmedia uses the Internet Archive for storing media. This is great because it provides for free storage. But there were major problems with getting this integration to work. Essentially the video was first uploaded to Ourmedia and then copied over to the Archive using FTP. This was slow and often the servers would simply not respond. I think this is the killer feature of YouTube. It just works!

3. Focus! In my opinion, Ourmedia tried to be too many things at the same time. The site supported audio, image and text uploads along with videos. It supported forums, groups, user profiles and social networking as well. All in the alpha version. In hindsight (which, of course is 20/20), it would have been much more prudent to have done just one core feature (video upload and view) and make it work 100% of the times. Feature bloat is also a side effect of using a prebuilt platform (Drupal in the case of Ourmedia) since you seem to get so many features for "free" so you might as well add them to your site. In reality, adding a feature to an application should be driven by user demand and not by how easy it is to implement.

4. Virality. YouTube allowed embedding videos published there on other websites and blogs. This contributed in a big way to the exponential growth of YouTube. Same can be said for Flickr as well. Ourmedia did not have that viral effect because the user had to come to the website to view a video.

To be fair to Ourmedia, it came into existence in the very early phases of the "web 2.0" phenomenon. So a lot of things that seem obvious now were very new or unheard of back then. Besides, Ourmedia does have the cleanest terms of use - you own everything that you publish on the site. Very few (if any) other video sharing sites offer such generous terms of use. Ourmedia was also not backed by funding so it was challenging to develop, maintain and upgrade the website on a shoestring budget.

Based on our experiences in doing Video portals, we developed a platform for easily creating video sharing websites - its called TekMedia. You can read more about it here.

Mohammad Afzal was handed a death sentence for helping execute a terrorist attack at the Indian parliament. Several people were killed in the incident which was a direct attack at the seat of country's democracy. So you would think that this heinous crime deserves no mercy. However, in typical desi manner, we have politicized the issue in the most disgusting manner. Afzal's family was well within its rights to file a mercy petition with the President. But it is beyond my comprehension that we are witnessing widespread protests in Kashmir supporting Afzal. How can any case be made for defending a terrorist? Others like Geelani (who was himself suspected in the same incident and got away on a technicality) are making veiled threats of violence should Afzal be hanged

Speaking for Afzal, Geelani (formerly an accused in the 2001 attack that rocked the nation) recalled that when Maqbool Bhat was hanged in 1984, it resulted in thousands of Kashmiris taking to violence.
"Do you want the same thing to happen again," he asked. The dire warning was accompanied by a disclaimer that Afzal was not innocent. "I am not saying he (Afzal) is innocent. But he has not got justice.
We are questioning the quantum of punishment... Death penalty is not the proper sentence," Geelani said

This of course has become a good oppurtunity for gaining political mileage as well. Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke in support of Afzal. It is shameful that chief minister of a state that has suffered so much at the hands of terrorism should speak in support of a terrorist.

Hindustan Times editorial carried an absurd argument in favor of showing mercy on Afzal:

There are two reasons why Mohammed Afzal should not be sentenced to death. First, while Afzal deserves the strictest punishment for the part he played in the attack on Parliament House in December 2001, we think he does not fit into the “rarest of rare” category. Afzal was neither the main planner of the attack nor its perpetrator. In other words, he was not, unlike Nathuram Godse, Harjinder Singh Jinda and Beant Singh, personally involved in killing anyone. His role was that of helping the main accused, who are either dead or are yet to be arrested. Second, we need to pay heed to the near-unanimous view in  Kashmir
Valley that Afzal should not be executed. That both Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Farooq Abdullah  agree on this is because they understand that, like the execution of Maqbool Butt in 1984, the action could further alienate the state from the rest of India and create yet another ‘martyr’ for the separatist movement.

If executing a proven terrorist will further alienate the state from rest of India (which is a gross exaggeration), then we need to really think again the willingness of that state to become one with India. I am sure most Kashmiris would not condone such violence and would not support showing leniency towards terrorism. Besides, this argument suggests that had the terrorist been a Gujarati or a Marathi, it was OK to execute him because those states are anyway well integrated with rest of the country. In fact, if the mercy appeal is accepted then it will be a victory for the seperatist movement.

Incidents like this just reiterate our "soft state" image across the world. They also expose how low we can stoop to politicize even issues of national security and integrity. Shame on us!

While we in Delhi took the lead in organizing the first Barcamp in India, Chennai has really taken the ball and is running with it. After their own Barcamp, they organized the much publicized BlogCamp. And now Vijay informs me that they will be conducting a unique event (definitely a first in India) similar to the DEMO conference that happens in the US. In Vijay's words:

Proto is a platform. It is a showcase of the new age india, and the spirit of technological innovation in this country. We are a team of 20-so technological enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs-turning-VCs who are creating a list of the best technological innovations by startups here in India, bringing all the best VCs in and around the country (including from the Silicon Valley) and giving the entrepreneurs a chance to share their vision and dream. If it resonates with the technological community, who in the end of the day will be their end-consumers, the VCs have a better scale to evaluate the degree of pain point they are addressing. The slogan is simple: We are going to make every minute of the VC worthwhile, and hence will be putting the best of the breed companies on stage. The basic criteria is that they have something very innovative. In simple terms patentable technology, which will put the age old question of "Name me a company in India that builds products" to rest, for good, and they need to have a working prototype or version one of their product - as it helps everyone to better understand the idea, and also alleviates the fear of the idea being stolen. We are looking for companies working on cutting edge products from and around India, to be a part of this. We have tenatively planned for this event three months down the lane, so that companies do get a chance to put together their concept into a working product, and everybody will get a chance to plan their schedules accordingly. This, we believe is going to be the beginning of a new revolution in India, when the youth rise up to define their own future, when India is showcased as more than a services destination.

I think this is a great idea. My only objection is to link innovation with "patentable" technology. Patents are such hairy beasts that if anything they often thwart innovation. Besides getting a patent is a long winded process. It is unlikely that a small little startup would have actually received any patents. But I am sure Proto will feature non-patented but innovative products as well. More information will be soon available at http://www.proto.in

And I think its about we had another event in Delhi! I am really interested in seeing something similar to Startup School Any takers?