Monday, September 15, 2014

Passing thoughts - A new breed !


Yesterday, while seated in the Volvo I spotted a WagonR in front of me which was custom-made a feet taller than the normal car. It caught my attention and I was really curious to know for what reason it was made so. I could see a man seated at a height with a desk and I quickly assumed,that it must have been some techie’s idea to work on his way to office/home. 

Well NO, as I grew closer I found that the WagonR was a cab and it read http://www.kickstartcabs.com/. Reaching out to my phone, I quickly browsed to understand it was a cab service specifically started for disabled people which was almost priced as much as the normal cab.I was very much impressed by this whole idea and totally appreciate this beautiful culmination of innovation and social sensitivity.On the other side, it also tells us on our face that the public transport and commutation is totally unfriendly to the disabled lot.

As I got comfortable, and tuned into the FM, I heard one of the advertisements screaming Furlenco. Now, being an ardent FM listener, I had never heard of this one, and gave some attention to it.
Wow, now this was someone renting out brand new furniture to people who wanted it for a limited period of time.It sounded great to rent a piece of furniture and return it when you are done using it. How much have we battled getting rid of some old furniture.I reached out to http://www.furlenco.com/ to understand it better.

There you go, it again had a whole chunk of packages to offer, studio, 1 BHK, 2 BHK.
All in all, the idea appealed to me and what appealed even more is the realization.
 
Of late, we have seen so many such home start-ups which have basically an IDEA to start with, and manage some self-funding/sponsorship.I do not know if all do well and some die down, but there was this whole new breed of ideas which people had and realized.

Another one which I have been seeing for long is  something bang opposite to my parent’s house at J P Nagar. http://www.sancys.com/ was a laundry service which served the customers with washing/drying and ironing on a weight basis.I do see the woes of my brother who works in Chennai and lives in a PG, lands up over alternate weekends with all the laundry to be done back home. I always told him, don’t you have this Sancy thing in Chennai which is accessible to which he said NO.

Now, how easy was that for a single man/lady living in a PG to hand over the laundry at this place and pick it up all totally hassle free.It does come at a cost, but the comfort it gave was amazing. You could invest all that time spend on laundry doing something better.

Next, I am sure you have heard of this one http://www.thehapppyfeet.com/
Now, this is the weirdest thing one could think of which you would get delivered at home. A foot massage! A small idea, offering pedicure packages at the comfort of your own house. It would have taken courage to realize this one being a wellness solution. Wait, I am wrong. I understand it is doing wonders. I have even had ideas of gifting a foot massage to a friend on her birthday.
Bizarre maybe!

The latest one to go big is what we all maybe do every day. Buying Grocery.
Many have found solace it the online grocery store as it saves a lot of time and effort for a job to be done every day.Recently I read reports in the papers, that http://bigbasket.com/ was doing extremely well and apparently I got a message stating they had delivered a million orders.It also has raised about 200 Cr from a Singapore based Venture Capital firm. Now, that's rocking.

Amazing to see these small ideas turning into huge businesses. All it takes is an Idea/Innovation, some courage to realize it. To note the common things on all of the above listed, is that all of them seeded in Bangalore and there are so many others which have found a great footing in this city.

I am sure the city of Bangalore has long back been rechristened from a pensioner’s paradise to a starter’s laboratory. Enough written about it being ‘the’ start-up capital.
If there are millions making the city their home, there are an equal lot knowing how to generate capital from the same.

What an idea Sirjee!