ankur Warikoo

Its not just a name change, but StudyNation will soon have a host of features that will be a ‘first’ for education portals in India. Exciting times…

I am tempted to say this is good news for SecondShaadi, but honestly, if the divorce was caused due to FB, there was a case for it right from the start…! FB would only be an excuse…not the cause…!

Facebook fuelling divorce, research claims

Our latest creation…please share if you like it…!

its human tendency to consider things that are free, as fishy!

Consider yourself..in normal life. While almost all of us would jump in joy if someone offered their services free…would we also not have that edgy feeling “why would they do it for free…whats the fine print”. Cynicism is fundamental to the human nature

Yet…its fascinating how the same individual doesn’t blink an eyelid when services are offered for free on the Internet. Its the done thing…everything on the Internet is FREE. Google is…facebook is…twitter is (well almost!)…! People would much rather go for free services on the Internet than pay for stuff…! As if suddenly, FREE on the Internet is not fishy anymore.

They are not entirely wrong. There are several ‘brands’ that offer themselves free on the Internet. Brands that people would trust and have trusted. So if an NYTimes or a ToI offers its news for free…people dont consider it fishy. Its not as if ToI would give stale (or worse still, untrue) news for free members and the ‘real’ news for paid members. It cant.

But personally…I treat ‘Paid’ as a form of commitment. Think about it…SecondShaadi can also be a free service. But would it be a better one at that, if free? Leave aside the revenue problem…the bigger problem will be the nuisance that will get created because of this “free” service. Across fake profiles, spam profiles, spam forums and worse troubled genuine members.

So payments is a form of self selection. The system is selecting the genuine ones from the non-genuine ones. Not that all free members are not genuine…maybe some never really feel the need to pay because of several reasons (too expensive, no matching profiles etc). But the fact that you have paid…has to reflect genuineness.

Even that is not an easy step. Pricing the service too low can also mean the same problems as that of free services. But second guessing what’s the users threshold of “just perfectly priced that I can actually pay and yet not be genuine” is very tricky!

Only last week, we had a member pay up to upgrade her membership on SS. It became obvious in a day that she meant trouble. Spamming! So clearly even out highest priced product was worth it for her to upgrade and spam. She saw value even in that amount! Could we have guessed that..! No..!

Seth Godin has this excellent piece on the same issue. He suggests that money creates a sort of friction that is important for some services. Because it reflects commitment! Recommended read

This sums it up – Commitment slows things down in the short run, but ultimately aligns interests.

or maybe…there is someone who wants them to…get married!

Matrimonial sites comprised the highest share of online advertising between June-August 2009! Followed by Travel and Education

SecondShaadi has a big(!) role to play in this :)

it was sometime in mid-2008 that we decided to enter the education vertical. the genesis was simple…education in India is HUGE…and i mean…friggin huge…and its poorly represented in the Internet space. which is surprising, because the target audience has possibly the highest share of online users amoungst all other segments. students comprise a massive share of internet users…and there didnt seem to be anything worth appreciating, to cater to them when we sat down to prepare the plan, there were 2 main planks (actually 3…but i wont count development…because we thought it would be just like our other websites) – content and design. we wanted the site to have the best content available in the Internet space…and we wanted it to have a young, fresh, clean look.

for inspiration, we turned to wikipedia for design. white space, boxed approach, elegant…and not cluttered. we couldnt find a similar inspiration for content. the present sites in india sucked…while some international ones came close…but not quite. we decided to handle it from scratch. along the way, we figured that development was the 3rd differentiating plank…predominantly due to that one single feature which i am proud of… after 9 months of work…across these 3 pillars, we launched studytimes…and i have reasons to believe why it will fare much better than the competition (which according to me doesnt extend beyond shiksha and studyplaces…there are some really good vertical sites there…pagalguy etc…but then we are broad based and they are not competition in that sense)

since the lauch of studytimes, people have come up with mostly good things to say…! most of them have come from the personal network, which is great cause they also tend to be the most critical. for instance, ruchi’s first reaction was…its cluttered. i then asked her to name one non-cluttered site according to her…she said rediff…and i knew not to consider her opinion anymore!! :) ofcourse i am a sucker for feedback…and there have been these emails about spelling mistakes, and bad links…thanks for them…! and then there has been this segment…which always exists..just like the people you see on the road when an accident has happened…! they feel its just a replica of existing sites…there is nothing fresh about the site…etc etc…! here is why they are wrong

why studytimes (now StudyNation) will fare better than competition

1. Superior Content

StudyTimes definitely has the best content in the country as of today. We have a database of over 25,000 colleges across India, USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia…covering over 4,00,000 unique courses! The details are important too…we dont just have pages of random shit… One thing we did quite differently, is to classify the Indian colleges. call it a little liberty from our side, but we sensed that people searching for engineering in india should not always land up with the IITs and the NITs of India…what if i am a dude who knows that these are not my cup of tea…and want to see the Tier II colleges. so we have categorized our colleges in Top Ranked (a hand-picked selection of the top 700 colleges of India…across all fields…drawn from multiple sources such as rankings, affiliations, reviews etc), medium ranked (the fat belly of our databse, which are colleges that are for the average student)…and non-ranked (colleges that exist…and do just that…exist…they dont even have a website..which made us figure that hey are serving a very local audience…so lets not rank them at all)

so someone searching for engineering on StudyTimes will see the top ranked…yes ofcourse…but will also see the medium ranked (sorted by location..so someone sitting in delhi will see delhi colleges first etc) and the non-ranked…! And we have some terrific content on the top-ranked colleges, which will ofcourse spread all through the database in sometime…! check out ISB on StudyTimes…or say…Hindu College…this is what you call a friggin content-rich page. this is stuff that students will love…

2. Search

This was the 3rd plank that we realized down the road. Search on existing sites are crappy to say the least. Shiksha search is horrible and StudyPlaces doesnt even have a concept of search on the site…! we decided…(and it was largely the phenomenal work of Bharani and his team) that search will be one of the most important features on StudyTimes. and it is… its intuitive…it tries and understands the intent of the user. we built a logic of synonyms, exclusions and abbreviations on the site and have tried to come as close to the intent as possible. so if you search for Top Engineering Colleges, you WILL get the top engineering colleges, unlike the other sites. search for management and you get MBA colleges, not hotel management or sports management …so on and so forth.

The search is through all searchable sections of the site…namely the StudyTimes Forum, Events and Test Preparation

3. Study Abroad

Number of students going out to study is increasing and will continue to increase. we realized that early into the development of StudyTimes and decided to dedicate an entire microsite to it. So the Study Abroad section of StudyTimes is an independent site, for all technical purposes. It has its own forum, its own events section, its own colleges and courses list…etc…and yet…remains seamlessly integrated into the entire StudyTimes structure. its an exclusive space for students looking for International Education, but at any time if they wish to come back to good old India…its just a click away.

4. User Interface

i like the feel of the site. its easy on the eyes…and yet content rich at all times (i love the sheer amount of content on our student living section…and the way its presented…sample this). to me studyplaces is cluttered in the sense that content is all over…its not structured. Shiksha gives me a classifieds feel…though i like the fact that they have a lot of white space and it doesnt really look all that cluttered. we adopted the boxed approach. segregation of content so that the user can easily identify it and make use of it. he has to just scroll his eyes through the headlines and he knows where to go…

5. User Generated Content

am a sucker for UGC…and its possibly the hardest thing to figure out in the Internet space…and the most powerful. look at what wikipedia and youtube have accomplished…no single entity could have come even closer. we decided to have our own share of UGC on the site, to help generation of content, beyond facts and figures.

College Reviews – allows users to review colleges on key parameters. this is great (well..not right now cause we dont have a lot of them…but down the line)…cause a student researching will for the first time ever have reviews on the college. stuff that they usually reach out to, from alums, friends etc.

Forum – this is standard…no rocket science. but key to any site that aims to build UGC…! i dont claim we have done anything different…but this will definitely be another big source of information and content

Events – we have a section dedicated to capturing events. but we also users to suggest events, because we know that we cant do it all by ourselves. so finally…users can now promote and publish their events for free. IITD can submit the Rendezvous festival free on StudyTimes…and so can BITS for Oasis

6. Counselling

now now..we all know how confused we were when we were students. except for me..everyone had no shit clue of what they wanted to do in life. its another thing that i am no where close to what i wanted to do back then..! StudyTimes has a counselling section…wherein we capture a profession every week and speak about it. So one can figure out what is it really to be an Architect, be our guest. Our a Fashion Designer? no issues… But the best part is yet to come. we have tied with up one of India’s best career counselor (whose name shall be disclosed very soon) and she has very gracefully decided to move her amazing Career Choice Test online. so very shortly, users of StudyTimes will be able to take a simple 30 minute test online and get their aptitude mapped onto some 4,500 odd professions…so it will not just tell you that you are fit to be an engineer, it will tell you you are fit to be a mechanical engineer. its thats precise (and needless to say accurate) the first time this is being offered in India…

7. Test Preparation

test preparation is huge in India…i mean…friggin HUGE…! and we ofcourse wanted to be a part of it. we (atleast as of now) dont intend to step into online testing, so the best way for us was to engage the users through relationships with coaching institutes. So StudyTimes intends to tie up with coaching institutes and service our users, through the site. its not yet up…but will be soon… till then…content rocks…! we have detailed information about the top examinations of India…right from the format to the exam dates such as form submission, test date, exam results etc. basically the works…

i am not suggesting that StudyTimes is a product that is a google in the internet space. it isnt offering anything new…but it is definitely offering a newer way of doing the same thing…! people can compare us to our comeptition and say we are simply replicating…but i dont care about such crap..! eventually the user knows what he wants…and will go back to what he knows will deliver… Final test: Search for Fashion Design Delhi on the 3 sites…and here is what you get…

StudyTimes result shows NIFT as the first one, followed by Apeejay and the JD Institute…! All known for being the top fashion design institutes in Delhi.

Shiksha for the same query shows Senorita College of Fashion and Design followed by Delhi University International Institute of Fashion Design (which btw is not in Delhi, but Nagpur), followed by IMS-Design and Innovation Academy. Quick question – where are the hell are these colleges…!!!

StudyPlaces takes the cake. It shows some random DiA at the top…but then thats featured…so even though I dont like search results being corrupted…its ok…its business at the end of it…! But then the real search shows me IIFT, which I dont even know if it exists in delhi…(but definitely claims of being the biggest fashion institutes of Asia) followed by NIDD (NIDD what???) which amoungst other courses of fashion design also offers vaastu shastra courses…! And then Sikkim Manipal…which I am guessing is not in Delhi…but claims to be in Delhi by StudyPlaces!

what would you much rather see…???

THAT is the power of execution….! Which is why StudyTimes will fare better than its competition…

PS: we are in beta version right now…which basically helps us improve our offering to the last mile. but all of it cant happen without the feedback of the users. so please send in your feedback…improvements…suggestions…whatever…to feedback [at] studynation [dot] com

Its finally done….after 9 months of content building, development efforts and designing iterations…Accentium is out with its education portal

StudyTimes

we really have high hopes from the product…and have invested a lot of energy, time and soul to it during these 9 months…lets see where it takes us…! my personal aim is India’s No 1 education website within a year of launch…

go through the site…give us feedback…we are suckers for it…help us improve…we have a long way to go and we need your support…

…after dilly dallying for some 6 months…i finally got myself to move to my new base. alienwan.blogspot.com is no longer being updated…(well this is news from Jan…!) and ankurwarikoo.com will hereby act as the personal webpage of Sharad Pawar…!

LOTS has happened since i last wrote…the biggest being my move into full-time entrepreneurship…! note the use of “full-time” which indicates that at some point of time in my life i was a part-time entrepreneur…which is equalivalent to being Amitabh Bachchan without the voice and the height! basically its just the name…!

the last 3 years at Kearney were awesome…but i think there couldnt be a better time to move. i had learnt a lot…worked with some fantastic people…(most with an IQ 200% times more than mine)…met with the biggest names in Indian corporate world…had a brilliant time moving around the world…which constitutes 2 main countries in my globe…UAE and US…

but things were moving real fast at Accentium…and new products are being launched…! i think i am justifying my full-time existence in the firm…but there is so much more to look forward to…! exciting times

we are launching the education portal this week. StudyTimes.com! we all are looking keenly towards it…and have big expectations…the next few months will show us how these expectations stand against reality

About ankurwarikoo.com

there will be my usual rants…people who have been to alienwan know how much gargabe i am capable of…! but am also excited about sharing my snaps through the site…and getting feedback. in addition to sharing my experiences as an extrepreneur…

hope you enjoy your time here…

~a

PS: I have imported all my past blog entries below…some of which I am scared to say I have written…! :)

and with a purpose…

…is on

SecondShaadi.com TV Campaign (Woman)
SecondShaadi.com TV Campaign (Man)

~a

Mornings with Sundays continues…we went to the Lotus Temple on Jan 27. Have been there multiple times before…and though it doesnt really offer a whole lot of photography opportunities…it was still a pretty good spend of time…
Also, clicked some really impromtu snaps of Pihu and Sarthak – Ruchi’s Neice and Nephew…they have come out decently well…do let me know how you find them…!
Check out www.picasaweb.google.com/warikoo

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life hasnt been life of late…the project is killing…late hours…lack of sleep…i think my hair is graying faster than before…am not putting on weight as easily…have started to dislike paneer tikka…even pineapple has lost its charm…

anyways…the module is coming to an end…so lets see what shapes up after that…

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Planning on the TV Campaign for SecondShaadi from Feb 15th..so really looking forward to that…its quite exciting to see your product come live on TV…! We are also working towards our new product scheduled for a beta launch in April. Quite a challenging exercise…keeping our minds decently busy all along…!

Baaki sab mast hain…life is good…

~a

I submit….this is the best consulting firm ever…

www.huhcorp.com

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Livemint.com covered SecondShaadi.com yesterday. Nicely done.

http://www.livemint.com/2007/07/04154115/Paradise-Regained-Tying-the-k.html

___________________

~a

so…its official…your eyes, as of this moment, are witnessing an above 17 blog..! if i hadnt used shit 21 times…or ass 8 times…or my fav word gay 5 times…or omg the friggin adult word slap 4 times…things would hv been very different…

this basically means that if my kids were to be gay…they would ofcourse use the word ass a lot…and will hv to be born 17 directly..!

CRAP..!!

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SecondShaadi.com has generated a lot of press interest..! I had PK calling me frantically informing me of the Indian Express frontpage..! and a google search on SecondShaadi generates quite a few results..!

We are very close to 1,000 profiles now…23% of these are females..and only 15% of these are never married. Which basically proves that the site is automatically attracting the right audience…

BTW…did you know that India apparently has the lowest divorce rate in the world..at 1.1%

but we still believe that the idea will work…! it will…

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am in manali this weekend…nowhere compared to mussoorie…! will post some snaps…


~a

8.30am
Friday
Mumbai Airport

tringgg tringgg…

hello

haanji sir…u hv reached

yes yes…where r u…?

at the exit itself…should i go and fetch the car…?

yah yah..plz do…where should i wait…

i will come where the laal peeli start

(figuring out where that is)…alright…i will wait…

After 10 mins

where are you boss…?

sir…right there…can you see the 2 media vans…right behind that…

boss…there are no media vans that i can see…where are you…?

sir…just where the passengers get out…am on the road…directly opposite…

i dont see you dude…ok…am standing right infront of the premium parking

ok..i have gone ahead of that…will come back after taking a round…

another 10 mins…

boss…its been 20 mins…where the f r u…?

sir…right there…premium parking…

yaar…either i am blind…or you dont know the airport well…are you at the jet arrival terminal

sir..i have been coming to the airport for the past 15 yrs…

you are at the domestic airport…rite…?

haan sir…are you at the right airport…

boss…mumbai mein ek hi airport hain…

MUMBAI…???? sir…i am in delhi…!!!!

WTF…!!!!

so…this friday morning…i spent 30 mins of my life trying to convince someone in delhi…that he is in mumbai…!

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but i give it to mumbai..! cant repeat it enough..but this was my first rendezvous with prime traffic in mumbai. it took me a mind numbing 2.25 hrs to reach the airport frm nariman point. a whole 2 hrs…! in the cab..! hands numb…mind zonked…life paralyzed..! i shudder to think the potential loss in national income that happens in the city cause of simply being on the road driving…when you could easily be working and far more productive than listening to radio mirchi and “pal pal pal frm munnabhai” for the godforsaken 586976th time..!

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VP and I finally launched our site. We have been working on the plan for the past 2 odd months…! its completely VP’s baby and I am simply an external advisor devoting time towards the strategy of the product over and above my fulltime ATK committments. Its been a fantastic ride so far…and atleast for me last thursday, when the product was launched, was a special moment.

for VP though…having handled the complexity of www.desimartini.com already, this was jst another site..!

our business plan…a matrimonial site specifically targetted at remarriage.

www.secondshaadi.com

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my routine browsing this afternoon took me to this show called ‘Britain’s got talent’…and a certain Paul Potts. at the end of his performance…i was sobbing like a 5 yr old…jst couldnt contain myself. i hv figured that singing has a spiritual connectiong with me. ever since i went to the US…music has become my meditation. unfortunately…my voice can allow me to appreciate it vocally…but i remember when i spent simple hrs…jst listening to music with tears in my eyes…!

this was yet another instance…and totally deserved…(in my limited capacity)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDB9zwlXrB8


Life’s really good right now…

~a