Launched on March 21, 2013, Bugscore is an online social platform, which allows the users to score (rate) different products, people, and business on a range of attributes. It is a London-based start-up, spearheaded by Karan Khemani (CEO), Zissis Skouloudis (COO) and Jay Sankar (CTO) and is assisted by a team consisting of both highly experienced advisors and budding graduates, with an aim to offer real-time data on consumer opinion.

If Google is for finding things then Bugscore is for rating things

Bugscore’s scoring platform allows the user, to score content on a scale of 0 – 100 based on a range of attributes to determine an overall score of how good or bad the user thinks something is. This can simply be done on through www.bugscore.com or via the Score widget that can be embedded on any site. If one is an ardent blogger, then a Score button can be added to the blog via access to Bugscore API.

At present, Bugscore covers the following three categories:

• People: comprising of actors, politicians, athletes, players, entrepreneurs, etc.
• Products: comprises of different gadgets, movies, songs, apps, video games, food items, fashion items, etc.
• Businesses: comprises of different kinds of ventures like restaurants, hotels, shops, companies, colleges, universities, etc.

Bugscore currently hosts a rated catalogue of roughly 200,000 people, products and businesses.

As Bugscore allows the users to give scores or ratings, it works as a free survey for the marketing heads who get the required feedback regarding their products or ventures, and hence can strive to improve them. One can also know the scores of their competitors, as Bugscore allows comparison of scores.  

Even the bloggers can profit monetarily by placing a Score button on their blogs, and selling the data about the opinions of their readers regarding the various products, people and ventures to advertisers, manufacturers and other market research industries.

The users can also make money via the “Earn As You Bug” (EASYB) incentive program, which rewards them with points each time they add, score profiles, invite people to use Bugscore, and perform other actions on the site. Higher the points, the higher is their ranking, and a chance of winning monthly prizes and at the end of the year, a share in Bugscore business.

It also promotes transparency and helps the users in the process of decision making as to which products should they opt for. 

Future plans

Bugscore envisions a future where Google Glass is commonplace and the fledgling venture has become the global scoring directory. It is also eyeing the media industry and wants to roll out its own version of the Facebook “Like” button.

Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? Join Bugscore and contribute to the decision making process of this world and start making a difference!

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Sanjay Kumar Negi

Created by Sanjay Kumar Negi, a graduate of Nainital University, he has 4 years of experience in internet marketing and also ran a digital marketing agency called Digitaltra.com. After working with many companies around Delhi NCR, Sanjay realized that amongst the sites which were being designed, there was a shortage of the ones, where people could share their passion for the never ending evolution of technology. Hence he finally decided to make an online site which solely focuses on technology, and gave it the domain name as TechGreet.com. The name signifies his vision that the technology should be greeted with open arms as it has the amazing capability of changing our lives and making it better.

Since we are living in the age of technology, which is continually evolving, blogs related to technology will always be required to get the top news of the industry and to understand how it will impact anyone in their day to day life.

Techgreet.com aims at entertaining the users, and currently articles are being shared, but it comes with a promise of introducing some new features soon.

When asked about the biggest problem he faces, Sanjay replied that he always had an issue with creating strong relationships with people. But now he has started building relationships with people who love technology just the way he does by virtue of this blog. He also strives to manage his time, by not wasting even a single minute and investing it to make his mark on the online world.

(Recommended- Brogels- Social Media and Entertainment blog for the Connected Generation)

Currently TechGreet.com is competing with Engadget, CNET and TechCrunch. However, Sanjay believes that the USP of Techgreet.com lies in connecting with the users in a better and more personal manner, which will surely help it to win the race. He says that the most effective way of getting readers, is to optimize the site for search engines and at the same time, make the content informative for the users.

With Mahatma Gandhi, Steve Jobs and Swami Vivekananda as his role models, for their perseverance of doing things the right way, and in a manner, which can change the lives of millions, Sanjay too aspires to be a leader to motivate people and work along with them and achieve his mission of contributing for the greater good of the society.

When asked as to what keeps him going, Sanjay says, “I dream, think, imagine, work hard and believe in the power of Karma”.

A product created by a young visionary, Techgreet.com is a must visit site for all those who want to be inspired into doing something new, or well maybe just update themselves with the latest on-goings of the technological world. 

Do give it a look and share your opinion with us!

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For them, tea is not just a beverage but more of a process, of consuming the goodness of various herbs, fruits, flowers, and spices by soaking it in water. The duo believes that tea should be more of a necessity given the increasing pollution and commotion in cities. Therefore, they wish to bridge this gap and bring the experience of healthier types of tea and habits to the masses.

Saurabh & Prerna Gupta

The path that led them to TeaAmo

Saurabh’s biggest inspiration for tea came from a fictional character, named “Uncle Iroh” from an animated series called “Avatar: The last Airbender” which he saw in 2007. For the next few years, he started tasting different types of tea, and in the process, developed a knack for identifying better ones from the good ones (professionally known as tea-tasting). In 2011, when Saurabh got married to Prerna, she discovered her love for tea through him.

Hence when they thought of opening a creative outlet of their own, and decided to turn one of their common passions into profession, tea was their answer. They gathered all the knowledge they could by reading books, searching online, personally visiting tea gardens, and relishing a plethora of tea categories: Green, Black, White, Oolong, Herbal et al. The initial idea was to set up a cafe, but they couldn’t due to the high amount of finances involved. Therefore they finally landed on the idea of an online tea store, and launched TeaAmo in July 2012.

The growth has been steady, and the feedback has been over-whelming so far. Most of their customers are regulars, and give the duo, invaluable suggestions even related to the content on the website and how to make it better.

So, what’s in store for tea lovers?

To keep things simple, TeaAmo chooses and offers only one tea under each type, which meets all the criteria in terms of taste and pricing.

Their teas are divided into following categories:

Pure Tea – It includes the most basic forms of tea, i.e. white tea, green tea, Oolong tea, and orthodox black tea from the Kangra Valley (a leafy version of the black tea). These differ from each other in terms of taste, appearance, and anti-oxidant content, white tea containing the highest, going down till black tea. All these forms can essentially be derived from the same tea-plant by putting them through various stages of processing called oxidation. Simply put – more the oxidation, lesser the anti-oxidants, darker the colour, and stronger the taste.

Premium Tea – This includes an orthodox black tea from Darjeeling that has an aftertaste of a Muscat Wine.  This category also houses a beautiful Chinese tea called Jasmine pearls. True to its name, this tea is naturally scented with real Jasmine flowers. It is also a visual treat to watch these pearls open up in a cup of hot water.

Herbal Tea – This type is made after adding some dried herbs and flowers to the basic tea to enhance its taste and health  properties. TeAmo currently offers two types of tea under this category: Rosehip & Mint, which doesn’t have tea in it at all, but only herbs and Himalayan Amrit Herbal Tea, which is a colourful and healthy melange of 20 herbs and green tea.

Desi Blends – And last but not the least, the Indian specialities – Masala Chai, and Kashmiri Kahwah.

They wish to include wish more varieties of tea, tea-ware, tea-books, and probably even some herbs & spices in the near future.

On reaching out to their customers!

They use various channels of promotion, offline and online to get in touch with innumerable tea lovers across the world. The team posts content on Facebook to spread awareness and maintain interaction with their customers. They are whole-sole distributors of Himalayan Amrit in Delhi/NCR, which serves as a great cross-marketing channel. They also participate in various exhibitions to increase their exposure and explore new lucrative opportunities.

If you are an ardent tea lover, and enjoy experiencing new, rich flavours of this exotic beverage then do check out TeaAmo, with all its varieties and flavours, which never get boring!

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Story behind the startup

Believe it or not, this startup started out of love for pets. It was founded by Rana Atheya and Vizal. Both had grown with pets around them, and hence were aware of the gaps that existed in the pet industry and wanted to fill them. Their aspiration to bring pet owners under one umbrella where they could help each other led to the foundation stone of DogSpot as a community site in 2007.

Two years ago, a realization sunk in that people wanted a common platform, where they could buy everything for their pets and get to know about general pet keeping. This was the beginning of their pet e-commerce website. Rana  decided to take the plunge, quit the rat race and become a full time business entrepreneur. Later, Shalesh and Ankur joined him and Vizal as the CTO and COO. After that there has been no looking back for this team.

On Competition

As the pet industry in India is still largely disorganized,  there is no direct competitor yet in this space, except may be the next door pet stores at the moment. The entire team works hard enough to ensure that they can beat that successfully by offering their clients a wider selection of products with better services, all in the comfort of their homes. At the moment, Dogspot is the largest pet product site in the country in terms of products.

Overcoming the Hurdles

Hurdles are a part and parcel of every start-up and the team was mentally prepared for them. When asked to name one, Rana says that it has to be the task of delivering the products in time to the customers. “The team works really hard to get the courier companies to associate with Dogspot. Today, COD plays an integral part for the e-commerce, and the team owes a share of their success to it.  Now the team boasts of about five to six logistics partners catering to a base of over 10,000 users.” adds Rana.

Feedback and Growth

The team is pumped up at the phenomenal feedback and response they have achieved since their launch, which can be gauged by their sale numbers and the happy customers that come back to the site. Even their new venture FishSpot, which is still in its infancy has been receiving some rave reviews.

On Taking Dogspot to the Next level

The team aims to simplify the product selection process and make Dogspot, a one stop destination for all pet products, for both the present and the prospective owners. At the moment, Dogspot has a pet expert; who helps to provide answers for all their customers’ queries , but the team is developing a new “breed-engine” that will help the users in getting to know about their desired breeds, and give them a 360 degree view on a particular dog .

This is still in its development stage but soon will be presented in the larger picture. Furthermore, they plan to expand their very own private label, and increase the number of products under this section. This will include manufacturing and selling products under the brand name DogSpot.

On New Ventures

Rana expressed his excitement about FishSpot; which is one of its kind initiative in the country at the moment. The team is bringing its customers, the products which were difficult to procure earlier. In fact, Dogspot has an exclusive deal with Fluval, which is the market leader across the world when it comes to aquatic products.

Do give Dogspot a try and share your experience with us!

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It is the brain child of Aniekan Okono, who is from Nigeria and served as a freelance real estate agent for a while in Nigeria before moving to Finland to study business development. After graduation he decided to become an entrepreneur and started LokalHouse with his colleagues in Finland.

Some things require time

Aniekan Okono

But that turned out to be a mistake, as it resulted in wastage of time and money. Aniekan wanted to try to be reasonable with the plans. Having learned that it is better not to try to please others but rather stick to his guts and wait it out with patience, he pulled up his socks and did not let this initial setback deter his dream. Every hurdle that the team has faced be it in getting human resources, or as of now the financial resources, are taken up as a challenge.

When asked about the one thing that keeps him motivated, Aniekan replied, “When I look back, I discover that this has been my dream for ages. I recall spending time in my father’s library and going through all his business files out of curiosity sake. I keep motivating myself to pursue the dream that I had which started long ago”.

The result as we see, is the metamorphosis of Lokalhouse from a dream into a reality.

Build to search

As a metasearch engine, Lokalhouse is different by structure and form from other real estate sites. If one takes a closer look, when a search is made, results with links to other sites come up. This implies that Lokalhouse does not provide any means for people to contact agents through it. It does not serve as an intermediary, and does not take percentages from anyone. It’s a search engine that is build to search deeper.

LokalHouse Predictive analysis

LokalHouse is also working behind the scenes on an algorithm which can be used to calculate the housing price index, property value forecast and land rate estimates. There will be a healthy dose of human input to make sure the results correspond with the local real estate market. It will be in public beta by October 2013.

Overcoming the milestones

When questioned about the hardest part of his job Aniekan replied as follows, “The hardest part about my job is to set goals for the month and realize that at the end of the month due to certain unforeseen circumstances, those goals aren’t met or cannot be met. I cringe in pain. Startups aren’t easy but I love it still”.

On Competition

There are many other real estate websites out there but since Lokalhouse is different in form and structure, the team doesn’t really consider them as competitors. Instead the team views the possibility of these competitors to place their adverts on their site through a CPC partnership or featured listings etc.

For the predictive analysis part, their biggest competitior is a company called Prop Equity.

Funding, Marketing and Team building strategy

Lokalhouse had a pilot grant from Aalto Centre of Entrepreneurship which it is using.  The team is on their traction so that they can raise seed capital.  At this moment their marketing plan is to keep it simple, but later on they might start doing other complicated things. Most of these things need money.

For the team building strategy, Lokalhouse already has an efficient team of 8 people and they are Santosh Tirunagari, Aniekan Okono, Babatunde Oyekunle Asifat, Henry Joe, Ankur Jain, Venkat Reddy and two others.

Preferred Method of reaching out to users

The team believes that advertising is the most effective way of getting users. Google AdWords or Facebook ads can work magic on increasing the user rate.

Feedback and Growth

When LokalHouse first put up a demo in India, it saw a reduction in bounce rate compared to the Finnish version which they had. In Finland, the product had a bounce rate of 80% even while there were more than 4000 visitors. In India, it had the bounce rate of 36%.

The search engine has also got tons of feedback which the team used and is still making upgrades based on the earlier feedbacks

New features… New levels

Lokalhouse is planning to allow real estate agents to take their listings from other sites and feature them on its search results to get the leads to follow them to the existing sites that they are using. Also the team is planning to offer people the ability to post listings and introduce a provision where the agents get notified instantly.

The team also plans to roll out this product in Africa.

Golden words from the Founder

The one advice that Aniekan would like to give is, “Try to have a good plan and then put in the hard work”

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After watching event planners lose money at events, a group of technocrats resolved to find a better way. As planners, they knew that an unsuccessful event meant their time and reputation on the line.  As technologists they knew that this problem, like any, could be solved with technology. Hence they designed Picatic as the solution.  

Working:

Anyone putting on an event can login, create, promote, sell and manage all aspects of their event online. Event promoters can put tickets online for everyone to buy.  They can also use Picatic to crowd-fund their events, in such a manner that one can create a limited number of discounted tickets to be sold by a predetermined day.  If the ticket sales meet the predetermined benchmark, then more tickets become available at a higher price. 

The best feature of Picatic is Fair-Pay. While other ticketing companies gouge event planners or ticket buyers with fees, Picatic’ s mission is to help planners host successful events with no hidden fees.  The price you pay to use Picatic is completely up to you.  

About the Founding Team

Jayesh Parmar is the CEO of Picatic. Apart from Picatic, he is also the founder of Elgen Petroleum, Boom Music and Centro Office Space. He has been listed as one of the world’s top 10 Tech Entrepreneurs Disrupting The Event Industry. As the founder, Jayesh’s primary job is to get stuffs done! His experiences have taught him to fail fast or succeed faster and he strives for the latter.

Depesh Parmar is the Chief Revenue Officer at Picatic. An MBA graduate, he’s responsible to ensure that Picatic is not breaking laws, team members are getting things done, and that his pseudo accounting skills ensure Picatic’s financial state isn’t in complete chaos.

The CTO James Sapara is a software developer and an agile project manager. He has worked in many technology industries over the past 12 years, including Backend engineer, Kiosks, video games, enterprise systems development, desktop applications and mobile apps. In the last few years, he focused on mobile and the technologies that drive So Mo Lo (Social Mobile Location).  

Brett Ede is the CMO at Picatic and an entrepreneur at heart. He comes from a development background, completing his studies in Computer Science in 2007. His previous work entails over four years with Zu as Lead Designer and he has helped many large brands such as FedEx, Intel, Tim Hortons, Cold Stone Creamery, and Blue Cross in finding their way through the digital space.  

Target audience:

The target audience, which they fondly refer to as the “eventrepreneur” is anyone and everyone who is hosting an event and looking to make money at it, or more importantly – does not want to lose any money at their events.

Features of Picatic.com:

– Crowd-funding

– Fair Pay

– Calendar integration

For a more comprehensive list check out – https://www.picatic.com/p/features

On Monetization :

Picatic makes money when users pay after their event is done. It claims to provide exceptional services to ensure their event’s success and they charge what they think is a fair service fee.

It’s Different!

Everyone in the world charges a commission on their services and forces organizers to pay. But it’s different with Picatic. It partners and offers support and tools to make sure that the event makes money.  

It also offers crowd-funding.  There are only one or two other platforms that are attempting to tackle crowd-funding strictly for events.

Feedback and growth:  

The team is very excited by the uptake of users, and their number which expands on a daily basis. The success of Picatic can be attributed to the feedback loops. According to Jayesh, the team iterates a lot, based on user feedback so that their product continues to get stronger everyday and in turn becomes more valuable for the users.

The next level:

They have many new features that are coming out, including their API, Partnership with Stripe and expansion to Europe.  The team is also looking for Asian partners who may be interested in partnering for new market opportunities.  

With a tool like Picatic , which has created ripples in the field of event management, where the users are THE BOSS, and one can create, promote, manage and crowd-fund their own event, we hope this interesting and handy start-up makes up for a true success story.

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