Startup Juice | Interview with Founder, IndyaRocks

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Passion.Energy and Enthusiasm – this guy has loads of it, and is all set to rock the Indian Internet world with his startup- IndyaRocks, the new new social network.

Meet Kalyan Manyam, one of the founders of IndyaRocks:

• Tell us more about Indyarocks. And the idea behind it?
  Indyarocks.com is owned by Phonelinx Communications. Phonelinx was started with a vision to be the ultimate Mobile lifestyle solution company. One of the strongest desire was to build a one stop mobile destination for Indians across the globe.To achieve our vision, we started off with Indyarocks.com through which we are hoping to build a large community of friends to whom we will introduce Internet interactivity on Mobile phone..We started with Free 2 way SMS as the first mobile feature to let our members get used to using their mobile phone for online interactivity.. We will roll out many more features which will slowly mature the mobile usage in India.
• Who are the people behind Indyarocks? Please share some info about the founders.
  Indyarocks.com has been started by 2 of us..
  
  Kalyan Manyam 28, Hyderabad
  Prior to Indyarocks, I was heading the APAC sales/alliances for a niche US based Product Company. When I was 23 years old. I also had founded a health care technology firm – Innova Health Systems Ltd. which got acquired later.. I am an active member of TiE Hyderabad chapter. I have been on the program committee for TiE-ISB connect conference for 2 years.. I am also an active member of Naandi foundation.
  
  Dr. Vishnu,31, San Jose
  A technology savvy medical doctor, Vishnu was the soul behind Innova Health Systems which aimed to provide quality health care to rural India. Innova was acquired later in 2002.
• Given the fact that there are way too many social networks in India, why do you think Indyarocks stands out?
  We strongly believe Indyarocks will stand out because of its
  • Mobile strategy
  • Free Media convergence (Photos, Forums, Classifieds, Blogs etc)
  • Entertainment features (coming up in April),
  • Customization features
  • Our social reform angle
  • And one more very important aspect, which we hope to be able to share with you by end of this month.
• Speaking about features, all of the social networks have pretty much the common set of features. How do you think Indyarocks has a differentiator?
  Orkut – Provides only a place to connect, Upload i guess 10 photos. and there it stops.. Nothing more to it… As of today, the biggest advantage Orkut has is its size. So far, Orkut users who have tried our Site are pretty happy and are willing to migrate.. But the migration is going to be slow. This is one challenge we will surely enjoy working on!Yaari.com, Fropper.com, Minglebox.com – Yaari and Fropper have positioned themselves as dating based social sites. I believe they are in a different market. Minglebox still shorts fall in terms of features and usability.
  The challenge is uniform across the platform. the challenge of building a vibrant community. Our approach to our community will decide the winner.. After all, Social sites exist only because of their community.Some of the differentiators are::
  • We are a site where friends and family can bridge the time and distance gap that has creeped in between them. A member who has joined when he/she was 15 years should not be embarrassed to be on Indyarocks even when they become 60 year old. Dating will not be our main emphasis..
  • While having their friends and family at one place, one would want to hold all his media at one single location in a way which is easier to share (media convergence). At Indyarocks, we have enabled unlimited upload of photos, blogs, classifieds, Forums etc.. (imagine, if you are trying to sell your old bike, you don?t need to call every one of your friend to inform. you can just put up a classified and your entire network will know when they visit your profile)
  • Emphasis on Privacy. In an environment where there is hardly any policing, every member tends to worry about their online privacy. ONLY at Indyarocks, a member can control completely what profile info he wants to share with whom, which pics, blogs he wants to share with whom..
  • Personal Touch – ONLY at Indyarocks again, a user can customize their profiles and give their custom touch. An external company has agreed to provide free layouts to our members (www.irockslayouts.com). More support/partner tools will come up as we move on. An ecosystem of companies is being created
  • And ONLY at Indyarocks, will you see a social reform element. For example, Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan of Loksatta Party, will be joining Indyarocks to interact with the members about new age politics, social reforms, Indian constituency etc.. More eminent personalities will be joining the site soon. This is to increase the social participation of the younger generation.
  • Use of AJAX to minimize page refreshes and increase usability and not for cool effects.
• Could you please share some information about your funding?Investors?
  We are angel funded. I apologize for not being able to share any more info on this at this point of time.
• What shall we expect in the next release? Please share your future plans, partnerships etc.
  You will see a host of tools coming up on Indyarocks which will help users to play around with the media they have uploaded into the site.. We will be very unique on that aspect…Our entertainment features will also be coming up soon in April. I am sorry for not being able to share the specifics at this time. I hope you understand the reason…We have already entered into partnerships with a couple of companies. Companies which will build and share some content with our community, companies which will give access to certain tools for our community etc.. We will mention all partnerships when Indyarocks.com is out of private beta
• Tips for entrepreneurs?
  I am probably too naïve to be able to give suggestions But let me try..
  • Keep energy levels always high.
  • Always localize.. but only to a desirable extent.
  • Use the ecosystem that is developing around us (Join TiE, Barcamps etc..)
  • Be open to constructive criticism, Be confident.. Never be arrogant
  • Don’t care about the size of your competitor. As long as you provide value, your customers will stick to you.
• Any other info that you would like to share?
  Nothing more at this point. But I will surely keep you guys updated on the happenings.. Hope to see you and your friends on Indyarocks soon..

This guys has surely done his homework!. It will be interesting to see this highly charged startup competing with biggies like Reliance [launching BigAdda] and few others.

Stay pluGGd.in for interview with Kalyan post public beta launch.
Meanwhile, do give IndyaRocks a spin and share your comments.

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