Manoj Nagaraj
CEO
K2 InfoEdge (P) Ltd.
Manoj Nagaraj is a member of:
- Expert
Manoj Nagaraj's Advice
have sufficient financial bandwidth
1.Don’t start the Internet business in the classifieds space unless you have sufficient financial bandwidth.2.Build a team right from the day one to gain traction in a reasonable amount of time.3.To build a sustainable cash-flow, pure internet play won’t work and need to have off-line strategy to support the online business model.4.If the internet business is a consumer oriented play, invest in Brand and traffic before scaling up.5.Think global, act local.
Couple of years from now
As we know, Indian’s are No.2 behind US in using Internet for research and connecting with right Education provider. Leveraging this trend, we want to be a leading Education marketing service provider using the power of Internet and BI technology to serve customers in all Education segment such as Higher Education, non-formal Education, K1-12, and Pre-school.
Challenges
1.Customer Acquisition and retention.2.Raising capital to fund
Business3.As a start-up, asking feedback from the customer about our
product and continuously enhance to meet the customer
requirement4.Create a sustainable Business model that can scale5.Due
constraints on resources, we need to wear multiple hats and be good at
it to deliver quality results within a short-time.6.Adapting to change
in Business environment, investor and customer expectations, and
Technology trends.
Trend that I am watching
In BI/DW space, we are following the recent trends:1.India is the largest market for BI in the Asia pacific region with healthy growth rate of 35.6% when compared to 16% in other markets.2.Microsoft strategy to commoditize the BI Product to address the SMB space3Software as a service for BI In Bigdata domain, we are focused on the following:1.Transformation of online marketing from leads to Marketing and sales recommendations.The above trends offer tremendous opportunities for growth in Training & consulting not only in India but in bigger markets like US & Europe.
Advice that I like to give
1.Don’t start the Internet business in the classifieds space unless you have sufficient financial bandwidth.2.Build a team right from the day one to gain traction in a reasonable amount of time.
3.To build a sustainable cash-flow, pure internet play won’t work and need to have off-line strategy to support the online business model.4.If the internet business is a consumer oriented play, invest in Brand and traffic before scaling up.5.Think global, act local.
Lesson learned
1Indian echo system is built around the service Industry specific to IT & ITES unlike in the Western or developed economies. Trying to create product success story in this environment is definitely a challenge unless backed by deep financial bandwidth. 2Understand the customer needs precisely and study the gaps carefully. Unless the gaps translate to substantial business problem that can scale across the geography, think before getting into the business.3Don’t try a business that you don’t have experience and background.4Don’t try any business unless you have appetite for risk and passion to succeed.
Strongly recommend
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