Roundup of new launches in Indian Internet space: MBAKarma, CitiPals
Introducing two new products (to be launched) in the Indian Internet space:
MBAKarma: brings mock SIMCAT tests to your computer.
As Sudhanshu, founder of MBAKarma mentions:
- Hundreds (Maybe even thousands) of people can log on at the same time and give the same test. We would then provide them with the categorized results, feedback and most importantly percentiles. This would mean that every weekend (even everyday), for a very small fee (must lesser than even the test series conducted by the institutes), you can give a full length CAT and find out your weak spots.
- Unlike most online testing websites, which resemble the GMAT interface, MBA Karma provides tests in a format very similar to CAT. Moving through the questions is as easy as doing a pen and paper test, and so are the rest of the things.
MBAKarma has also added the basic social networking features (sharing etc) to their offering. View their online tour
What I like about MBAKarma is that it is on-demand and the tests can be taken at any point in time. Having said that, my only concern with online tests are:
- They don’t give you the same adrenalin rush as the pen-paper one.
- Event if this sounds a little idealistic, I believe that paper-based exams are more “CAT like” than online exams,
What’s yet to be seen is the scalability and adoption – they need to grow the user base very rapidly to have a sample size good enough to atleast represent the CAT percentile scores.
MBAKarma will be launched on August 17th and the tests will remain free till August end (and Rs. 50/SIMCAT after august).
If you are a CAT aspirant, I’d love to hear your feedback on the quality of questions and your overall experience.
Related: Part time MBA vs. Full time MBA – Reality check.
CitiPals: is a restaurant review site which basically takes into account your network (and your network’s network)’s review to help you in making a “trusted” decision.
As Ashish Baldua, founder of CitiPals mentions:
In a certain way, we do fall in the same space as burrp.com or mouthshut.com. However, our differentiation lies in our belief that reviews and opinions from other users is helpful but the trust factor is extremely important. To that end, we are creating these categories of content and reviews/opinions on top of a social network.
We always bubble up reviews from your network (friends and friends of friends). For example, i see 50 reviews of a restaurant on yelp.com but am still not confident if i would like the restaurant; whereas if along with those 50 reviews, if i were to see a review from one of my friends or from someone whom i have marked as “trusted reviewer”, the decision-making would have been much more easier. A mock of this concept can be found at .
View CitiPals’ demo.
This is an interesting service, only if they are able to identify who my friends are. If I have to go and add strangers as friends (like any other social net), I am not too sure how is it different from Burrp/Mouthshut. Interestingly, Ziva’s mobile search is pretty much based on a similar concept of asking your trusted circle.
CitiPals is currently operating only in Mumbai and Pune.
I do see a need for services like this, but any social network which is starting from the scratch will have to first worry about getting a critical mass of the user base.
What do you think? If you were starting a new social net, how will you seed your users? What should be the right strategy?
Do give these products a spin and I look forward to your comments.
About the author - Ashish Sinha is a Startup Mentor/Product Strategy Coach, and the founder/chief editor of pluGGd.in.
He has launched/managed couple of products (consumer as well as enterprise) in US and India, and now consults with startups/small businesses on their product/media strategy. He can be reached at: ashish (at) pluGGd.in [+91 98452 06443]
How will they accept payment? I will be interested in such a service. Also, is there some kind of package service?
Thanks for the review Ashish.
I hope that we would be able to keep the adrenalin flowing.
About CitiPals, I did check them out, and I would say they definitely have some good reviews. More than that, they seem to be the first ones in Pune.
Rajan, The testing will be free for sometime, so I would suggest you give it a try first. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out about the payments later
.
Though, right now it would be restricted to credit and debit cards.
Hi Sudhanshu Raheja,
Just a suggestion, i dunno if this could be worked,
Why not allow the user to download the answering sheet, just the way its in CAT exams, the user then c the q on online and mark the circles on paper, probably then they can scan it and send it back to you,
This would give them a more realistic CAT stimulation Exams, you can also have the questions like a book, where you can flip the pages, so that the user can comeback to them as and then they want.
Pavan
Whitemoney.com
Hey pavan,
Great site
About your comment, I think once I put up the first test and the sample, you will definitely like the site. It is quite along the lines that you are talking about – Segregating the answer sheet, and getting the questions like a book.
But ofcourse, if we can download the thing, then maybe you can help us get a patent for the same
something on the same line is brewing in delhi also . at least these guys have first mover advantage .
Good luck
Shiv Sagar seems to be a popular choice as a sample search string
(see Burrp). Also, the welcome box which explains what CitiPals is highly reminiscent of Facebook
Re; search string.
yes, shiv sagar is indeed one of the least common denominator across demographics ..
Re: welcome box reminiscent of Facebook
It has a very casual yet effective way of conveying the value proposition of the web site.
Will highly appreciate feedback from everyone on this forum.
Ashish
CitiPals.com
[...] case we haven’t already told you enough about our services you can visit Pluggd.in or StartupDunia to read their reviews and perspective about [...]
Citipals is a great project, n i feel proud workin for it. My contribution is towards the Pune section…..
“Citi” is not a generic term and could run into trademark issue.
I notice Manish Baldua owns CityPals.com, wonder why they are not promoting the portal as CityPals.com
Qns for MBAKarma: How do you plan to define the cat percentile like score?
Also, I am not too sure whether tests are ‘on-demand’ purely? Can I take the test anytime?
Very Interesting take Ravi. And I agree with you that citipals is not tht obvious as citypals. Guys, give it a serious thought
Raman, once we move out of beta, (which would be soon) we would come up with a whole lot of options in which you can appear for tests.
I’m sure we would be able to give you a satisfying answer then.
Ravi and Raman,
thanks for the input. We will definitely consider calling this service CityPals. Luckily for us, we have both the domains registered under us.
thanks,
-Ashish.
God bless you, keep going good, i believe ultimately it is you who is helping your self, and i believe is good effort, i salute to sanctity of your ideas.
i read in the newspaper THE TIMES OF INDIA and was very happy to hear abt it that it is providing free of cost…and very helpful for us..
thank u rheja..
hi rheja i heard abt this in newspaper nd i was very happy to hear abt it…gud effort carry on..
I liked the MBAKarma concept – But I am wondering how “real” are the exams?
CAT is not yet online – then why take online exams?
mouthshut.com has a trusted circle feature. it is there from long time since i know. how is citipal saying that they r different?
[...] case we haven’t already told you enough about our services you can visit Pluggd.in or StartupDunia to read their reviews and perspective about [...]
[...] a CAT simulation product was launched a year back (read our coverage) and the founder, Sudhanshu Raheja has now decided to shut down the service and focus on his [...]
Best of luck to mbakarma.com.
A similar site for CAT preparations is Complore.com. They provide free daily-sectional-test to it’s user with complete feedback for every question. They are currently running MOCK CAT 3 which is designed keeping in mind the real-time computer based exam.
Recently, they have launched a complete knowledge base for the CAT aspirants. This knowledge center is supplemented by video tutorials which helps the user to quickly grasp the fundamentals.
Do check it out!!