Archive for August, 2006
Should Startups fear Google / Yahoo / Microsoft/* ?
In brief, I believe the answer is a resounding NO. Otherwise, there will be no big companies like Microsoft/Google/Yahoo/*, because once they were small startups just like others and must have faced similar if not same situations.
Recently, there was lot of buzz about the demise of few small companies because some big company entered the same niche market. And there was equal buzz and frantic and quite fanatic response by the blogosphere about Google’s entry in to web based office software. Many, so called entrepreneurs are panicking that they can not simply survive. And many are suggesting that startups should look for way out, when a big guy enters the same market.
“there’s no need to panic (yet), but it may help to think now about ways to get yourself out of the headlights” – OnStartups
“the reason companies ought to be scared of the big fat guy is that since they have more resources (money, personell, exposure, media visibility), they can quickly replicate or outdo the concept of the upcoming small start-up. – Jean Biri (comment on the post at OnStartups)
It does not make any sense to me, though it looks like a reasonable and acceptable advice in the blogosphere.
In my opinion, the key reasons an entrepreneur comes up with an idea and start a business are:
- he/she got a wonderful product/service idea or an exemplary execution strategy
- he/she spots a big earning opportunity and want to make big buck
- he/she is so passionate about a product/service/strategy
You had a niche area of expertise, product or service offering and you spot a big opportunity to make money. Now some big guy is entering. Some are suggesting that get ready to ‘get yourself out of the headlights’ and find another niche spot. Few questions came to my mind when I read first read the blog.
- Is there any entrepreneur who builds a business thinking that Yahoo/Microsoft/Google/* won’t enter the market? Or assume there would be no competitors?
- If you think you spotted a great opportunity to build a product, why one think that no one else could spot the same opportunity and compete with you?
- Do we forget for some strange reason that every big fat guy starts so small just like any other?
- If you loose your nerve by looking at G/M/Y/* entering your own market/product line, and start thinking about ANOTHER NICHE area/product/strategy, why do you think the big fat guy does not enter your NICHE market? They already did once, right?
- If there is some market that is not reachable or not approachable to a big guy, is there real money there? Because, if there is good money, then why would big guy miss it? Even after you showed them how to do it?
Some how it does not make sense to me. The big fat company is once a small company just like everybody else. Ofcourse, the big guys must have garnered a greater marketing muscle, image and reach. But why is it a surprise now? Didn’t you know to consider such a threat at the beginning itself? Why would one assume that there will be no competition?
I don’t know how today’s entrepreneurs are facing this issue. And I don’t intend to suggest a solution either. But I don’t think it does any good to divert from what you are doing and start looking for another niche market. Simply because, it did not work so far. Did it? If it had, you wouldn’t be thinking about another NICHE area/segment now.
Few things that can be thought over.
- The so called Big fat guys are once small startups like any other. How did they do it when challenged with similar threats? I believe, We can learn some thing from them.
- You got a wonderful product/service idea or an exemplary execution strategy, and you are the first to bring it to the world. Use that as your leverage to promote further.
- Since the big fat guy is now competing with you, you would obviously get lots of publicity at no cost in the media. Use it to your advantage.
- There are many advantages of being small, bring them on.
- Do whatever it takes to let your user community speak for your product. The user community you got have more experience with the product than a new comer.
The user community has always demonstrated so much passion and love about the quality of a product and value it can bring to users, it would not fail any good startup, just because the same product is being offered by a big guy. If that is true, you will not see so many Web2.0 companies in particular and startups in general. If What many of the bloggers are suggesting to stay out of main stream market is true, then you would not see even those big fat guys today. (They were small once, and faced similar challenges from big guys then)
Update: Listen to a discussion by Niall Kennedy and Om Malik on this topic.
Mobile Commerce revving up in India
Mobile internet and Mobile commerce makes a lot of sense in the context of Indian market. There are more than 100 Million people equipped with a mobile phone. But there are only around 40 Million people actively using internet. Mostly because of the lack of internet access services. Most users do not have internet access at home and their primary place of internet access is either office or internet cafes. While access in office is restricted both interms of sites and work hours, accessing internet from cafes is totally insecure. So, many hesitate to buy stuff on internet.
Mobile internet and Mobile commerce offers a solution that is a blessing in a situation like that. With Mobile internet, You can access internet any where, any time right from your mobile and it is very secure. And Mobile commerce solutions like M-Wallet makes it much more safe and easy to do shopping, because you do not have to enter Credit card information every time you make a purchase.
Keeping the importance of Mobile Internet in that context, its a reason for celebration that Mobile Commerce solutions are revving up in India and recently also got a boost with Industry backing and Venture funding. The two prominent solutions in news recently are JiGrahak’s NGPay and  PayMate. In this post, we will cover NGPay and cover PayMate in an upcoming post.
What is NGPay: JiGrahak’s NGPay is a free Mobile Wallet service that enable users to make payments via their cell phones in a secured way. Users enter their credit card information only once during the setup. Then, Users can buy products like airline tickets, movie tickets, flowers, books etc from Merchants partnering with NGPay platform, without entering credit card information again. Also, each user will have a secure PIN that must be entered to proceed with the transaction. Payment is automatically made from your Wallet, through your credit card. You can top up your NGPay account with any credit card. Debit card support is on the way.
Air Deccan and Sify Mall are the first partners of this platform at the time of writing. Pretty soon, you can also pay your friends or communities using NGPay. Regarding venture funds, JiGrahak also received a $2.2 million funding from Helion Venture Partners recently.
What you need: All you need is a Java enabled Mobile Phone with service that enables you to access internet, like GPRS connection. Around 150 models support Java and are capable of GPRS connections.
How to Start: Send an SMS message with ‘NGPAY DND’ to +91 9945444000 OR logon to www.ngpay.com from your mobile phone browser to download NGPay.  Â
How to Access the service: Switch on your mobile. Go to Air Deccan or Sify Mall and shop what you want. Pay with your NGPay wallet (additionally you can pay with credit card also). Watch for a demo from the links below to get an idea.
For more information visit the following links:
- NGPay Home Page: http://www.ngpay.com/jsp/index.jspÂ
- How to buy tickets at AirDeccan: http://www.ngpay.com/faqs/Air Deccan/FAQs.html
- Watch a demo on how to buy Air Tickets from Air Deccan.
- How to shop at Sify Mall: http://www.ngpay.com/faqs/Sifymall/BuyProduct.htm
- Watch a demo on how to shop in Sify Mall.
- List of supported Mobile Handsets
We will review Paymate in an upcoming post. So stay tuned. You can subscribe to our RSS Feed or subscribe by Email (provided by Feedburner) by entering your email address at the bottom of this page. You can also send an email to inspions@gmail.com with any suggestions and topics that you want to cover.
- Thanks for visiting ‘The Cellular Life Style’. We hope you will enjoy reading it and get relevant information that you can use to your advantage, to have more fun and to enjoy your mobile life style.
Top 30 VOIP Blogs
Found a great post The Top 30 VoIP Blogs that you must read to stay in touch with VOIP World at http://www.smithonvoip.com/2006/08/28/the-top-30-v…
The listing of 30 blogs has been divided in to three sections. The top 10, that are read almost daily by almost every one in the VOIP industry and are a must reads. This list is followed by the Prominent 10 that are read atleast once in a week that cover a niche area of VOIP. And then the 10 worth reading blogs, that mostly cover news around VOIP.
Top 10:
The Prominent
Always Worth a Read
Wonderful compilation. One of the readers of the posting Dan York also left some links to Podcasts on VOIP. Please visit Smith’s blog for the complete listing of blog and podcasts.
Snapshot of Andhra Pradesh
- Population: 79.7 million (2006).
- Capital: Hyderabad (est. population, 6 million 2006).
- State GDP: US$59.1 billion (2004/05).
- State GDP growth rate: 9.8 per cent (2004/05).
- Largest producer of rice in Southern India.
- Ranked second in the number of industrial estates.
- Base for nearly one quarter of India’s software professionals.
- Second largest minerals base.
- Largest exporter of pharmaceuticals.
- Hyderabad is the number one ranked centre for IT enabled services in India.
IT is definitely getting better in Andhra Pradesh (look at bullets 7 and 10) and GDP growth (Growth: $5.79B, GDP:US$59.1 billion)is slightly better than Karnataka (Growth: $5.05B GDP: US$43.17 billion).
IndiaToday: India in Numbers
India Today’s cover story ‘India in Numbers’, published on the eve of India’s Independence day(15th August) attempted to showcase the 59 year old Independent India using numbers. Numbers are as complex as Indian psyche. They can lie flat out and hide the truth or can reveal the startling truth. But overall, an interesting compilation.
Some are clearly encouraging and some are totally disheartening. Some are quite unbelievable and some are outrageously naive. It is very important to put them in proper context to see beyond the numbers. Otherwise, is there any significance to 59 ??
IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation) has links to the PDF documents of the original article by IndiaToday here.
