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October - 2005 - issue > Cover Feature
Companies, Ideas, People
Sanjeev Jain
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Miten Mehta went to meet Naveen Jain of InfoSpace on a November morning in 1999, after a siliconindia annual event where he was introduced to Jain. After a presentation in the morning, Jain offered to buy Mehta’s first start up eComLive, a provider of Web-based collaboration and interaction software designed for electronic commerce and other vertical applications. That was the beginning of a journey for Mehta. A journey that made Mehta an entrepreneur, investor and advisor.

Soon after selling his company Mehta joined InfoSpace to continue steering his company, and the very same journey also led him to come out of InfoSpace and look for better opportunities in the wireless space. “I came out of InfoSpace after my vesting was over. I knew I wanted to do something better as my inflection point was over. I was frustrated with the adoption of next generation telecom services in the U.S.,” he says.

And this vesting took him across the seas; he traveled to Japan, South Korea and most countries in Europe. He observed the application and adoption of 3G technologies in Europe and how the U.S. was behind these countries in adapting the latest technology in telecom. Thus prompting him to start MoConDi in 2002, a company specializing in 3G content for mobile phones based in London.

With MoConDi from the word go Mehta was clearly focused on being a 3G content provider. Operate in a niche market that will benefit the customers and end users he says. Mehta predicted wireless would become the preferred medium of engaging the end user. He saw future in the market as none of the operators had adopted the 3G technologies as the entire focus of operators those days was on 2G.

Mehta says “You cannot engage customers or clients through TV or any other medium and the best way to reach out to them was through their preferred device that is mobile phone.”

In two years, the company acquired a customer base of over 2 million subscribers by being consumer centric, allowing users to personalize, greet, talk, chat, review and recommend. The company is also the largest provider of 3D games and made for mobile videos and was recently acquired by the Oslo, Norway based MobileMedia.

For Mehta who started two companies located at the two ends of the Atlantic- eComLive in Fremont, CA and MoConDi in London, comparing the two places is easy. While the Silicon Valley has ready to use features like manpower, advisors, bankers and investors, in Europe it is difficult all in one place. However what differentiates Europe from the Valley is its ability to adopt technology while Valley is completely software driven.

Doning the hat of an entrepreneur, investor and advisor and juggling multiple roles, life has come full circle for Mehta and he gets better with each deal. He says his three roles have helped him learn two important lessons. First understanding customer acquisition cost, channel and marketing cost and second understanding operational cost. These lessons have helped him make appropriate decision when it comes to evaluating companies as an investor or advisor or an entrepreneur.
Today as an advisor for four companies-Arceaon based in Seattle, BuddyStream of Michigan, Copenhagen, Denmark based SuperModel and Linare of Seattle, Mehta says if he had to acquire customers, he would do it inexpensively and quickly.

So much for a person who says that it is the best time to engage with customers and acquire them.

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