Of party season and the lazy startups in India
It’s party time and I am surprised to see the preparation (or the lack of it) by Indian startups to monetize/benefit from the holiday season.
Except Burrp (which has compiled the list of parties happening in the cities they operate in) and maybe a few others, none of the other startups are doing anything significant.
Nevertheless, here are a few hint to startups:
- If you are a search engine, how about highlighting the “query one is most likely to use” – e.g. “new year party discotheque” in “Bangalore”?
- If you are a deal site, show all the “wow” deals happening in the city.
- If you are a map player (say RouteGuru), highlight the pubs/bars/party places in the city, set them as destination and give the route from source.
Point that I am trying to make is that these are the times when people are searching for tons of things – they want best deals, they wanna party and will appreciate “somebody” collating all info for them. And mind you, they don’t have time to go through several sites – so grab the opportunity to convert those wanderers into loyal visitors!
It’s all about being on the ‘top of mind’ recall and creating goodwill among the user base.
Why are Indian startups not doing anything about it?
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- Notions in India on Startups – Are Few Startups Spoiling the Ecosystem?
- India Inc dares to think beyond obvious – Why are startups lagging?
- Samajwadi Party Manifesto – on Share Trading, Mall Culture, English..and more
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]
That’s a good observation. None of the “India’s No. 1 local search engines” (don’t they all claim the numero uno status) are doing anything to help their users. That itself shows the ’sarkari’ mentality of these startups.
So far I’ve been impressed by the work Burrp has done. They take the cake again in organizing the New Year Event list.
yep..call it sarkari or call it ‘non-marketing” attitude, most of the startups are too busy punching lines of code and not giving a damn to delighting the customer.
I agree – most of the startups in India are totally ignoring the festive season and hence failing to capitalize on it. I had a tough time searching for parties in Mumbai – until burrp. I wouldve loved an asklaila or a guruji do stuff as you suggested.
PP
Looks like some people are eager to party hard this New Year…
Well in case if you still haven’t decided where to hangout this year end or don’t know many places to party here is a savior.
Swami’s Bengaluru, has a special list of around 40 places in Bangalore where you can catch up with some action, dance, music, food and booze…
The list under CityEvents of Swami’s Bengaluru gives you the details of places to party, the theme, details of the venue with navigation assistance (city maps), and entry fee and also gives the details of other places to explore around the venue (thanks to cityfind.yulop.com) in case you have reached too early to the party or if you choose to pull off early…
This is where it’s all listed
http://bengaluru.yulop.com/component/option,com_jcalpro/extmode,special
I think burrp is way ahead with other local search sites for anticipating users
needs.
I don’t think the list at Burrp is a good one.. infact I called up at one of the restaurants to find out the the charges they had mentioned was completely wrong. They have just copied it from someone, atleast they could have verified. I saw the list put up by hungrybangalore.com on their website and that was much more informative. its available here: http://hungrybangalore.com/staticPages.php?action=newYearParties
I think just because burrp keeps on spamming the inbox with a msg every now and then, does not mean they are the only one doing something.. the list at yulop is also pretty exhaustive. good job done.
Satwik..stop the hating. I see more -ve comments from my brethren than statically possible. Why can’t u look beyond the fluff.
Sorry Amar if I gave an impression that I hated anyone.. I would be more than happy to use any service which adds value and has correct information. But if someone is getting unnecessary hype, I don’t think thats justified.
I am with you satwik..I hate it too, but the fact is there is too much hate about Indian startups and nobody seems to have any love for them in general. I understand that there hasn’rt been much to love about most of the output. Hope we all have a lot to root for in the future. In the end scope matters and most of the Indian companies lack it or fail to project it.
NEVER DO ANYTHING ON NEW YEAR THAT YOU WILL REGRET FOR THE REST OF THE YR EXCEPT CODING..GOOD OR BAD CODING IS ALWAYS GOOOOOD.
wht do u mean by “there is too much hate about Indian startups and nobody seems to have any love for them in general” –
I guess the ecosystem is evolving..this is just the beginning!!