TekChakra.com

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately. Something tells me that the answer is NO.

We’re still mostly stuck in the Web1.0 world and even what were are doing in the Web2.0 space, is just not unique enough - but plain simple rip offs of the “main” global models.

I mean - look at the travel area. Everyone is just focusing on the standard model. Same with Matrimonial and Matchmaking. Same with Social Networking. Again with Property sites. More with Job Sites (apart from a couple of new ones like Reffster).

There is so much more one could do with clever spin-off models… that are happening overseas in each vertical niche, and they are making money.

Clever Web2.0 spin offs like Jobster, Mixx, Ning, Redfin, Metacafe, Flixster, Mahalo, etc etc. Just read Techcrunch daily and you know what I mean.

I do see a handful of these new spin off models … but most of the ones being promoted in the media and that netizens are aware of, are the standard non-innovative, by-the-book models.

The initial reasons that come to mind, are that maybe Indian Net users are not ready for these niche models… and are still just discovering the basic Web1.0 and Web2.0 models. They’re still trying to understand and grasp what User Generated Content is, what social bookmarking is, what Tags are, what Backlinking is, what a Blog is, etc etc.

Are we ready yet for these models? Is it time the tech entrepreneur community took the plunge and started spinning off, better models - rather than the same old Classifieds, Matrimonials, Property sites and Job sites ?

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Social Media, Portals | No Comments »

This is so basic - and makes me wonder. This is a web design and consultancy company. Head over to their homepage, and you will see that they make you “wait” for about 2 minutes until their homepage site content loads. How ridiculous.

To top that - they have inserted a pong game for you to play while you wait!

How ridiculous x 2.

Firstly, making anyone wait for more than 10 to 20 seconds (specially for your first page to load) - is a HUGE put off. To then make them play a game of pong while they wait, makes absolutely no sense. Why the heck would I indulge to play the (first) video game ever made ? While the rules and learning curve for the game are a no-brainer (and probably why they chose to display it) - its damn outright BORING. If you want me to play something and waste my time, at least pick a half decently good game. Solitaire, Tetris, Bejeweled … etc.

This company claims to be doing Web Design, Development and Consultancy etc etc - but, if they can’t get such a basic thing done right, I would strongly advise everyone to stay away from them.

I’m hoping my email to them, makes them remove this landing page tactic, and if you don’t see it on their site anymore - then, they did listen to me I’ve inserted a screen shot below, for those who missed it.

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

OK. So its now hitting the blogosphere, and will be on front page of the print media soon. Hasbro and Mattel are going after the Aggarwal brothers of Calcutta and Facebook for trademark and patent violations. ( If you missed it, read this and come back )

Initial thoughts? Well, firstly they’re making about $25,000 per month running adsense ads. The game is a top 10 app on Facebook. Hasbro and Mattel undoubtedly knew this scrabulous game was becoming big and waited for the right time. Now they’re doing all they can to go after Facebook and get all the free publicity. Will they approach the Aggarwal brothers and ask them to help make a legal version of Scrabble? Most probably not. Whats your take on that?

As of now the game is still live and is played by over 500,000 people - most of them addicted. So, a immediate withdrawl by Facebook - will leave a lot of people with twitching fingers. Already protesting groups have sprung up in support of Scrabulous.

Aggarwal brothers refuse to comment.

My take - they should have been a bit wiser…

1. Make a slight variation of Scrabble… don’t deviate too much in the game play - and keep it similar since you are targeting people who have played Scrabble. Keep the changed game play small enough so they can adapt and significant enough so you can argue in court.

2. Don’t link to Wikipedia entry for Scrabble in your game info area !! I thought this should’ve been obvious.

3. While I like the name variant - “Scrabulous” … i thought it could have been a bit more different.

Course of action … quickly build a twist, and launch a couple more games - fast!! Preferably a word game that is in public domain. This will allow some of your current users to satisfy their soon-to-be missing addiction - once Scrabulous is removed… which it probably will be, soon. What do readers think?

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

The news is in.

I nearly fell off my chair.

Then, I ROFL (rolled-over-the-floor-laughing).

Firstly, a big congratulations to the Pahwa guys for striking this deal. Secondly, HT - if you want to get into the dot com / online media space - try to be a little more wise.

1. You should never have paid $10 million for DesiMartini.com. Its probably worth one-hundredth this price. Yes, you heard that right.

2. Do some “independent” research on traffic figures you’ve been fed.

3. A member base of 250,000 is nowhere close to what you should have got for the price you have paid.

4. Study your other options more. Do more R&D. Hire outside consultants to do this R&D for you. Honest people who know what is happening. Do your homework (the right way).

5. You may have a lot of cash as a group to burn -but sincerely try not throwing away hard earned money of other people in your group.

6. This investment is probably going to be a waste - and you’re not going to be able to cash in or recover it for at least 10 years - although i predict a closure of the site, not very far away.

7. The site does not even have a revenue model in place (other than the obvious advertising model). They claim to get 2.5 million page views per month (highly debatable… as after I used my stealth techniques to check, I get a figure of around 750,000 page views at tops). So, given that they do 2.5 mill page views per month - thats about $5000 revenue at max coming in with a $2 CPM rate (taken on the higher side).

8. Finally, lets do a little bit of basic math here. $10 million for 250,000 members is $40 per member. (assuming that these are active users / members and also not bogus entries). Now, if I were to build a similar site from ground up - it would cost me around $5000 tops. (given that I would outsource it to India, and not end up purchasing a similar ready-to-go social networking script … of which there are plenty stable and advanced solutions available for under $500). So, I put in $5000 make a great site and then I start running CPC ads on Google Adwords and other Ad networks at an average CPC of around 10 cents (very reasonable). Now, I’ve done this before - so these stats are realistic… we can assume (in the absolutely worst case) for every 10 visitors to the site 1 signs up. Thats $1 per sign up. So now, to get 250,000 genuine members in a span of say one month - I will have to invest $250,000 into my online media campaign.

Also, the viral effect of a small percentage of members inviting their friends to join in - will probably constitute to another 5% to 10% more members. Lets keep that as a bonus.

So, all in all - if I did this in-house, I can build my own website, brand and community of 250,000 for around $250,000. So, why would I pay $10 million ?

What this shows is that HT Media has not done their math. This is the WORST case scenario. I don’t believe Desi Martini has any established brand in the online space. All I can remember is when they did their brief stint of TV ads a few months ago. Apparently - their TV ad can be seen on their homepage, and has probably played an important role in earning them a higher valuation, as it is a very good ad and has been done very professionally.

HT Media - I know you guys have finally woken up from your cryogenic chambers and now want to get into this space desperately - but you need to first understand and catch up with what you have missed while in hibernation.

I see that you are looking for other acquisitions in other dot com verticals… but, please try not making blunders like this.

Oh boy! Bubble 2.0 cometh.

*added later* - my friend, Amitabh points out that it makes much more sense if they had developed and marketed their required Social Networking website from ground up, in-house… I couldn’t agree more.

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

I can’t seem to get enough of the brilliant interface that eRail.in has brought as an alternative to all the frustrated online visitors to the Indian IRCTC website. The website has been developed by Vimal Kumar alone, who heads the Delhi based company, 5Map. He has done a brilliant job and has completely over-turned the frustrating experience of searching and booking a ticket online, with a pleasantly user friendly one. This example shows all entrepreneurs out there that there is still plenty of room and potential for innovation in new Indian web models. Way to go, Vimal!

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

As if people were not already irritated enough with the NautankiTV embedded videos that were popping up on various sites like AgencyFAQs… now you can get to see the wonderful streaming video ads inside a Facebook widget on your friends’ profile pages!

What a superb example of the wonders of the F8 platform! This is a ground breaking widget that will change the way we see the world!

Yah, right.

Why on earth would anyone install the Nautanki player inside their Facebook persona space to show visiting friends the highly drab video ads? I fail completely to see the motive. Maybe, some reader here can post a comment and enlighten my short vision.

And while you’re at it - do let me know the value-add the Nautanki video player is giving visitors on websites that are part of the growing Nautanki Ad Network.

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

I believe that the first wave of BiggAdda spamming has commenced. The first phase of media budget is probably all spent, and now Reliance may be focusing on other (almost) free blackhat methods - including spamming user mail boxes. As you can see on Alexa, the growth and traffic on BigAdda has about flattened and has no real ongoing explosive potential despite the onslaught of their media campaign. Had their model been virally successful it would have skyrocketed much higher on a continual basis with saturation point still way off. The real success and viral potential in this model comes from members inviting other members to join in - because they are very excited with the concept and the experience. This has obviously not happened with BigAdda - and I predicted this downfall and failure in my blog, shortly after when BigAdda launched. BigAdda is just a shameful “wannabe” product, and big waste of money. They are not going to move the earth nor migrate users from the well established Orkut.

This morning I got a spam in my mailbox from supposedly a member on BigAdda called deepika singh <noreply@bigadda.com>. The email was sent to an email address which had absolutely no name attached to it and was published on one of my websites as a email to get in touch with incase of site violations (violations@mysite.com). How ironic. The spider they are running probably picked up this address from my sites about page.As you can read the message below - this is definitely a spamming tactic being executed by Reliance / BigAdda under a pretense of a site member. Reliance - dont feel to ashamed - as this is being done by plenty of “virally” growing sites. Its a black hat technqiue and acceptable by many businesses.

Now, here’s the spam message…

to violations@mysite…..com
date Oct 5, 2007 8:26 AM
subject deepika invites you to BigAdda

Hey Buddy!

deepika is a member at BigAdda & can’t wait for you to get your fix of fun right here.

deepika says:

You’ve just gotta check out BigAdda.com! It’s got loads of cool stuff - a huge stack of videos, hajaar photos and some rockin blogs! Imagine all of these things in just one spot… BigAdda.com!

I’ve already signed up as a member on BigAdda and the gang keeps growing. You’d better join right now before you feel left out!

Click here to join:

http://bigadda.com/?L=registration.invite-register&id=1730750&node=dmlvbGF0aW9uc0B2aWRlb2R1YmJhLmNvbQ==

—————————————————————————————————————————————
If clicking the above link doesn’t work, just copy and paste it onto your browser’s address bar.
—————————————————————————————————————————————

We can’t wait for you to plug into India’s hottest Hangout Zone!

The fun has begun.
Boss
@ BigAdda

—————————————————————————————————————————————
P.S.: This is a system generated email. Please do not reply to this message.

Disclaimer:
If you believe you received this notification in error, please ignore this email, and write to customercare@bigadda.com.
If you have something to share about BigAdda, do mail us at customercare@bigadda.com

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I often ask myself if Social Networking sites are going to be a threat to th existing top matrimonial websites. There has been a fair amount of discussion also in this area, and obviously the executives of popular matrimonial websites, like in this interview with CEO of Bharatmatrimony, are going to defend their baby, and say that there is little threat.

I tend to think otherwise.

Matrimonial websites are going to be threatened and will lose a large chunk of possible business arising due to current members and new people migrating to Social Networks in look for a life partner. This effect and decline will not be felt for the next 2 to 3 years, because there is still a large population that has yet to go online and the traditional way to find a match in conservative families will still be the local family matchmaker or the online matrimonial website - which offers specific features for this very specific need. The whole experience is very different from that found in Social Networks - and thus very niche and probably existing as its own vertical.

However, this will change in the coming years, as conservative families open up and allow siblings to mingle with friends and new acquaintances that they find online through their “trusted” network of friends. I cant seem to figure out why people will not flock to these free and exciting services in the long run as conservative views gradually open up - and accept casual online communication through the online Social Networks as a norm.

Today, the Matrimonial sites are justified in charging users monthly subscription fees because of the value they bring to the table - that Social Networks do not. However, I see people migrating to Social Networks in the long run - just as they have done overseas with Match.com and other dating sites that charge pretty steep subscription fees. This will happen in India - sooner or later, not only because people will accept and enjoy the new fun alternative discovery process, but also because it is completely free and more engaging - allowing one to get to know acquaintances better - before taking the next crucial step of proposing.

I invite readers to pitch in their own personal views here. Does my thinking above have any truth in it? Do you see the matchmaking process panning out in a similar manner?

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Yes, yes and yes! I do firmly believe so.

Anyone who has had their license confiscated is well aware of the difficult process the RTO has in place in order to recover confiscated licenses. One firstly, has to get the day to retrieve the license right… if you go too early to the RTO office - you are told that your license has not arrived as yet… and if you go on time - your license is filed deep inside somewhere and takes many hours to be returned - as you get bounced from one table and government official to the next. This, in my opinion, is somewhat deliberate and results in a high bribe rate when one is held up for traffic driving violation. Currently there is no strong smooth system in place that facilitates recovering your confiscated license. You are issued a “temporary slip” - called a “pauti” in Hindi and you have to visit the RTO office to get your license back and pay the fine. Although sometimes, you can pay the fine on the spot to the officer on duty - your license will always get confiscated as a rule. This is unlike overseas western nations - where you are to pay the fine and the electronic database automatically notch up your traffic violation points - which if cross a particular number - result in your license confiscation and a loss of driving privileges for x amount of time as a penalty.

In India, the system chooses not to go electronic. Reason? Officials are probably happy with the current system, as it leads to more corruption. Frustrated citizens choose to “bribe” officers who hold them up for traffic violations - as they do not want to undergo the utter time-wasting and frustrating procedure to recover a confiscated license. This frustration, I believe has been deliberately put in place, or is consciously being chosen not to be improved or modified - as a lot of officials are enjoying bribes - from frustrated citizens. Most of us who are caught for a small mistake - DO want to pay the official fine - but DO NOT want to undergo the process of retrieving confiscated licenses.

So, how do opt to avoid this frustration (that can take away almost an entire day of work) ? Well, majority of us choose to bribe the official… even though we can afford the fine and would prefer to be ethical and legal - we choose the easy way out… avoiding the frustration and headache of visiting the mostly inefficient offices to recover our license.

This blog is a message out to the government to take the process of enforcing fines to traffic violators and the following license recovery procedure - online.

Yes, I firmly believe that if this is taken online and the license recovery procedure is made more smooth and user friendly - then majority of the citizens will pay the fine - and not mind visiting the office to recover their confiscated license at a specified appointed time. Knowing well in advance, when to go, will help the government schedule their load and citizens will be pleased to know that physical license recovery will not frustrate them and should happen within an hour (or x amount of time) at the RTO offices.

I just read this morning that the Ministry of Home Affairs, has taken the information of Police and Prisons online in a single website at www.bprd.gov.in . The Times of India advertisement said that “Information on Policing is Just a Click Away! Police Stations and Police Offices of 10 States, including Delhi are now on our website, for their telephone and contact information”. Great job!

Now, please take the RTO and license recovery online too! I firmly believe it will help reduce corruption in the form of bribes by over 50% … what do you think?

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Popular Star News program called “Red Alert”, recently directly targeted the most popular heavily used Social Networking website in India - Orkut, with a 20 minute long dramatic report. They had some very alarming and disturbing facts about how criminals, drug users and people were using Orkut.com for sex, drugs, criminal acts and to rope in the innocent. This may harm / affect Orkut’s growth rate of signing in new users, because Indian parents (who know very little of the Internet) may clamp on strict parental control prohibiting the use of Orkut - after seeing this program. See the dramatic video that aired on Sunday 26th August 2007 .

PART 1 of Video

PART 2 of Video

My concern… will this hurt all other Social Networking sites too like BigAdda, BharatStudent and Minglebox? Orkut was the only one targeted - probably because it has a very huge and buzzing online community of all sorts of people In India (and globally) - unlike its competitors who are still very small and almost insignificant. However, these are lessons for them - and they will definitely need to pay heed to these alarming issues in the long run as their diverse communities grow.

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »