Should i really Create this Startup ???

By Rohan Parmar on July 29, 2014 5 Comments / 3704 views

Hi Rodinhooders,

Let me start with a BIG BIG ‘THANK YOU’ to all you guys for the wonderful Mumbai Open House on July 19. It was my first Open House and was truly one of the best experience i’ve ever had. I had a great time presenting to the full house and getting those valuable feedback from the audience, especially Mr. Alok Kejriwal and Mr. Atul Merchant & hope to continue those conversations here.

I was a perfect match for the Create A Startup Session-Apps, not games @TRHs Open House because I had this app idea in mind but didn’t know whether it was worth pursuing (actually still confused whether to go ahead or no) and who better than Rodinhooders would help to blow up, build on and take it forward! At the OH, the Why & Why Not were answered for the idea.

Coming straight to the Big Idea, which i call HEERA BAZAAR-the App.

So as the name suggests, the app is like a directory of the diamond market-Bharat Diamond Boarse (BDB) which is at BKC. BDB has 2500 offices and more than 40000 visitors everyday (including brokers, traders, buyers from other cities and countries,etc), so it is very difficult for a person to remember all the details (including Name of the person, Company Name, Office no, Floor, Wing, Mobile/Office Phone no, QBC no,etc) of every office in BDB. So when a broker has to go to one of the party’s office, he has to ask/call someone in order to know the party’s exact office details.

The app has a SEARCHBOX wherein typing the name of the person will get you all his office details.
Also the data can be classified in different categories like Brokers, Buyers/Sellers, Wing , Office no, Names and more, which will make it easier for a person to find a persons details. The diamond merchant Id card number will be the login ID for the person, which will ensure that only people from the industry can use the app and access the data & all the data is protected from unauthorized use.

An add on which i had thought was to have a different TAB where we make buyers meet sellers (just like OLX). A buyer/seller can have his requirements posted in it and anyone who is interested in making a trade can contact the person directly.

But Mr. Atul Merchant from the audience rightly suggested that 70% of the diamond trades are not on paper, to be precise he called it 2 no. ka DHANDHA. So no trader would want to post a requirement & invite trouble for himself. Infact, he gave a brilliant suggestion to develop a jewellery app instead.

Also, Alok Sir rightly said that anyone can be a whistle blower and the data can be misused. So protecting the data is a big problem.

So basically, i want inputs from the Rodinhooders whether to go ahead with the directory app for diamond market.

Also i’ve got to know that the BDB Managing Committee is planning to add a similar directory to their existing app called BDB India. So is it a good idea to go ahead with the app? Do i really need their permission to do so?

Note- i am in search of a mentor whom i can share and discuss stuff with. I have multiple business ideas in mind but need proper direction to go ahead with. Still new to entrepreneurship. Please please help me out with this. It will be of great great help from the Rodinhoods.

You can reach me at-
rohanparmar117@yahoo.co.in
https://www.facebook.com/rohanparmar117
https://twitter.com/rohanparmar117

Comments

Rohan Parmar

5 Comments

Shital Jhaveri July 30, 2014, 8:59 am

Dear Rohan,
I suggest not to build any directory.. There already is an existing one, which will be updated soon.. I believe.. But I have a better idea – you could help individual companies build and maintain their online stock. It’s a really easy task but very helpful for the end-user – will b used not only by the employees within the company but also their customers.
Best wishes,
Shital jhaveri.
Rohan Parmar July 31, 2014, 4:31 am

hi shital.. what does building and maintaining their online stock mean??
Atul S. Merchant August 1, 2014, 9:23 am
Dear Rohan,

It is indeed a useful app. But is it practical? Let’s discuss the proposal logically with very open mind:
- It is a great idea to have the directory in your smartphone. Who doesn’t hate carrying the big fat hard copy of the directory! How convenient would it be to have it all on your smartphone and all you need to do is click search. You may even have photos of people etc and the general information. So far so good.
- The moment we go beyond the directory function of your ‘app’ (or whatever it is called in more appropriate terminology) the likely resistance will be encountered. As the app is not merely a directory but rather a beautifully planned and well conceived idea to facilitate the trade activities.
- Apparently and logically it is a splendid idea (You may not believe, but I too wanted to do that and did it in a very small scale when i was a buyer of Tara Jewels and Gitanjali, but in a primitive way. Every morning i used to send bulk emails and bulk-sms of my current demand to a big list of vendors, who in turn would visit me to offer me their merchandise). However, what you are proposing is on grand and multiple level. People in our industry are ready to download information but extremely shy and wary of uploading information. No vendor wants to reveal to the market how much stock is he holding and what is the price of his product as ‘bargaining and tediously negotiating the deal is the name of the game.
- The reason guys like me couldn’t survive in the business is that the whole business is unofficial. Harishchandra is a a swear word (really!). There is a parallel fake accounting system to satisfy the banks, customs and taxation authorities. These people can’t afford transparency even if it were to boost their sales multifold times. The actual business and what it shown on the books seldom matches.
- The only exception being the chosen few dealing in certificate stones. They too may not bother as each of them has a highly sophisticated portals of his own.
- In spite of India boasting in IT field, e-commerce in diamond is still unheard of. There is some success in Indians succeeding in e-commerce, but almost the entire sales figure consists of US-European-Japanese-Korean-Taiwan business. Indian domestic market is yet not ready to buy jewelry online. However, the jewelry portals do help. Young women and college girls do visit the websites, compare different portals and then physically come down to buy the products. Therefore, some sale though helped by portals do not give due credit to the portal.
Rohan Parmar August 4, 2014, 8:12 am

Oh yess..i got it.. Thank you sooo much for the reply.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal August 10, 2014, 12:37 pm

Awesome!