Your business card should end up in a phone’s addressbook. But it ends up in a dustpan aided by a jhaadu & eventually in a dustbin. So much so for fretting over its design & content.
I am not being hyper.
“10 billion biz card printed in US alone in 2012. 88% thrown in < 1 week.” Read https://www.statisticbrain.com/business-card-statistics/
Firstly, it’s strange that so many paper based products are vanishing but business card hasn’t. Stranger because all the info *printed* of the biz card is digital & finally consumed using electrons. Phone #, emailId, company website, LinkedIn profile url, Twitter handle & the newest change-the-world social networks.
The luckier biz cards (of luckiest men/women) are sent either to company’s “scanning” dept. or *digitized* back using the likes of CamCard app. Heck, the card was digital before it got printed – a photoshop/core draw file!
Strange world where Google buys a BumpApp to bump it. But something must be wrong about Bump – can you imagine 2 CEOs bumping their phones? Or the awkwardness, where you have say someone “Oh download Bump app” in an event at Taj Vivanta.
I think something about contact info exchange solutions is wrong the same way messaging was wrong. Until a Whatsapp came.
No, we have not made a killer product in Whatsapp sense. But we read, all post with word “business card” on this forum & that & this & that. Then *unlearned* everything & wrote the following on clean slate.
a) what if you *touch* your biz card to a phone & all the stuff in it goes directly into the addressbook
b) what if you can change your phone # on your card without reprinting your card
c) what if you can connect with someone on LinkedIn while swinging in Mumbai local
d) what if you could know who took your card, when & where
& we took some bets. took help of some much-maligned technologies that Uncleji’s mock but teens love, took a bet on what Apple will do in iPhone6.
We made 1Card – the digital business card ->> www.1Card.in
Folks,
I am Raghvendra Saboo (https://linqs.in/raghu). I founded Yuvera Solutions. Yuvera makes www.linqs.in
When the world would get tired with apps (it already is), when we would get tired of being stationary & start rediscovering physical worlds, when we would want everyday things to be smarter – we’ll provide a solution for it. We already see that happening.
We are a platform for digital discovery in physical world & things. We add “clickable” hyperlinks to the everyday things.
If you like 1Card, buy it before we close the Intro offer on shop.linqs.in If you don’t, do let me know whats wrong with me 😉
Update: Short rough video of 1Card in action:
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Despite some very nice images, I cannot understand what you have made 🙁
Can you please create a youtube video?
Ps – once you introduce a product in a bog, NEVER go back to ‘hyperventilating’ about the future – “When the world would get tired with apps (it already is), when we would get tired of being stationary & start rediscovering physical worlds, when we would want everyday things to be smarter – we’ll provide a solution for it. We already see that happening. “
Cut all the non sense and SHOW the product
Rishi
So if I understand it right, if there are two people exchanging contacts (mutual) both of them need to have 1 card – right? Doesn’t the process of buying a card with a NFC/QR code before you can exchange information create more friction in terms of user experience?
Raghvendra Saboo
Thanks for the feedback Alok.
Shot short video (43 secs) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZdmNRIFRSU A professional quality video is due.
Raghvendra Saboo
It’s not mutual. As seen with Bump app that won’t happen. You would present *your* 1Card.
But not everyone will have NFC or even QR Code reader (younger generations do). So, the way I see is, it would require a bit of judgement. There has to be *keenness* to connect instantly on at least 1 end. If there is, I would say this is the best solution.
Rishi
so one needs to have the 1card before s/he could share contact info., right? if that’s the case, why can’t you simply do in-app QR codes? Isn’t that easier?
Or even simple, when a user signs up you send him/her a QR code that can be saved as an image on the phone? P.S. I’m trying to understand how exactly it works
Raghvendra Saboo
1. We don’t & won’t have an app. It’s all mobile-web.
2. There are may friction points already. Turning your phone / handing over it is another friction point. Holding a card & tapping/scanning it is easier for the receiver.
3. A card works easier in an “controlled” environment like trade conference, where NFC/QRC readers can be present at booths for visitors to pass their contact info.
4. A card & it’s design is also an “statement”. Not trying a solution that de-humanizes.
5. For mutual exchange use-case in an “controlled” environment like event, we are doing 1Card stickers. Add the sticker to your badge, scan it & sign-in using LinkedIn. We pull most of your details from LinkedIn/FB & prefill. Your 1Card profile is set within 2 mins. Once you are an user, we have hooks to upsell you 1Card. Also considering subscription for 1Card profile viz an about.me
Rishi
So essentially you replaced a (paper) business card with QR stickers or a single card (1card); and the contact details can be edited any time. The problem you’ve solved is not having to print new “business cards” every time your contact details change. Right?
Raghvendra Saboo
The problem is pains with paper biz cards.
The pitch is – your contact details in receiver’s addressbook instantly.
Rishi
Personally I’m not a big fan of QR codes and NFC (but that’s me). let’s say I get 1card and I share my contact details with you at some event; my contact details get synced with your address book. Now I go back and change my contact details few days later. How does that get reflected in your address book?
Raghvendra Saboo
You are not alone 🙂
A phone’s addressbook can be auto-updated only by the phones OS. Only WindowsPhone has got it right afaik.
When you change you 1Card profile, we’d email your vCard link to those who saved your 1Card profile. But they need to be Linqs users.
So, we also maintain a virtual rolodex online. On https://my.linqs.in you can see profiles of folks you met along with when & where. There is another need of virtual rolodex. Addressbook is sacrosanct. We don’t add everyone to it. But as we refer back their biz card, you can search virtual rolodex & fetch 1Card profile when you need it.
Raghvendra Saboo
Profile-Changed email feature isn’t there today. It’s not urgent as well me thinks.
Raghvendra Saboo
Alok, did the video help?
I am eager for your feedback on the product & what should be the GTM strategy. I believe we have got a better about.me & are delivering it through a card.
Is that the right way? Certainly not as scaleable as pure digital play..
-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZdmNRIFRSU
asha chaudhry
raghuvendra,
can you pls embed the video you’ve added in your update? in my experience, it will get noticed better if it’s embedded.
thanks!
Raghvendra Saboo
Thx. Done.
asha chaudhry
i went to your site – clicked on the twitter button to get your handle but it kept taking me back to the top of your homepage.
can you pls add your twitter handle at the end of your post? helps me while sharing over social.
Rupin
I like this concept a lot.
A lot.
I had a few questions+thoughts
1) I don’t have a phone which has NFC. How do I update the content on the card?
2) I still have to print paper cards. Its not a 100% replacement, because not everyone I expect to meet has an NFC enabled phone.I still have to ask if the phone has NFC, and make a choice myself on what card to use based on the answer.Its not a shortcoming of the product, but Its the ubiquity of phones having NFC that’s in question.
3)Losing my wallet means I have to order a 1k gizmo again.A few lost cards hardly matter.
4)How much dependence does it have on the online portal/service? On a data service?
Edit: There have been reasonably priced NFC rings available. See here https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-New-Smart-NFC-Ring-For-NFC-Mobile-Phone-Support-APP-Lock-Operate-The-Mobile-Script/1876902087.html
Raghvendra Saboo
1. Scan the QR Code on 1 side of the card or go to my.linqs.in. Both would lead to a mobile-web page where you can edit the card’s content.
2. Yes, but any smartphone with any qr code reader app would do what NFC does, perhaps with a bit more effort. Yes, there is still judgement required when you want to give paper card & when 1Card.
3. Don’t disagree. The point is “value provided”. We do order a 20K phone again after losing it.
4. 100%. All the data is in the cloud.
Raghavendra Kopalle
Nice product, congrats! And neatly planned website, explains your product/service well. I like the analytics part best!
Few questions/thoughts-
1) During any networking event, I pick up a card and add it to the pile of cards which I will scan/digitize end of the day. My focus is on how quickly I can connect/build a relation for the future in few minutes. Scanning a card IMHO in that span diverts my attention/energy. Linqs surely helps as I will never run out of cards. But don’t you think it’s a bit of a distraction in an interaction whereas printed cards are taken for granted to be dumped along with the rest for future attention?
2) I’m not sure what % of devices in India have NFC, so assuming QR is the most probable option. What if I do not have internet connectivity during the event/conference. Some venues still charge a bomb for WiFi and I’ve attended (smaller) events where organizer doesn’t provide Wifi for this reason. What do I do then?
3) My QR code reader scans and saves directly to my phonebook(assuming a person gives me a card with a QR code which is made that way). Why do I need to bring a web service in between? Yes there are additional benefits but that makes life difficult when I’m not connected. My point is, previously there were 2 steps, physical card -> my phonebook. Now, physical card -> web service -> download vcard -> phonebook. If the phonebook was automatically updated it would have made things a bit easier(assuming I’m on Android logging in with my google id).
4) How well does this concept go with Gen X? People still ask for hardcopy brochures/flyers etc and I’ve seensome people take offence when I don’t hand them one(physical media for digital goods!) Any thoughts on that?
PS: All this maybe just the old me! Wishing you all the best! Do keep us posted about your progress!
Rajs
The concept is not really new from what I know of.
I have seen NFC business card (+ cloud) providers at
https://flextown.com/
https://vizibility.com/
https://www.tapmy.biz/
https://uk.moo.com/nfc/
Almost all of them offer the same thing.
(I am not related to any of the sites in anyway – I did some research sometime back on NFC Cards and hence was quickly able to pull these links now)
Sarang Lakare
Raghvendra, please take a look at InTouchApp – the future of Contacts app (https://intouchapp.com) . We would love to integrate with 1Card. Your speciality seems to be in the card, then why bother solving all other problems that other startups are trying to solve? Let us handle it. We can work together to provide our users with 1Card NFC card.
Rahul Verma
Hey Raghvendra – i just got tired of sheer number of clicks & taps to save the v-card… But it definitely solve one big problem of initiating call to action in the world of mobile Internet (something zip dial did with missed calls for dumbphones)…
If you can make it more affordable and look at b2b side of things for scale, a lot of companies will be willing to take it..
Banks will be willing to include it in their welcome kit, this will initiate a quick demo of online banking on their browser, initiate netbanking app download…
Olx & Quikr might distribute it in malls, to initiate App downloads…
A lot of smartphone users, still don’t know whr thr browser is; whr to enter web address is is google.com or google.com.in… whr the app store is? Tech is still tough & this can surely simplify…
Raghvendra Saboo
Hi Raghavendra,
This is a very good & detailed feedback. Thanks. I have been wanting it.
1. 1Card is your card that the person you are talking to will tap/scan. The intent is that *your* contact/social/location details are seen by him & are saved in his addressbook instantly or stored by him in his linqs virtual rolodex.
1Card won’t reduce your effort in digitizing paper cards you receive. The distraction though might be that keeping your paper card in pocket doesn’t distract the other person from conversation. But would you mind that distraction if you can get connected to him/her on LinkedIn or get into his addressbook. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
2. NFC -> All major OEMs have them except Apple. #s & cost are not too exciting today. But I have bet on future. Internet connectivity: again a bet on a trend already visible. I will agree with you that one would still need paper cards.
But I remember, not long back, people were trying lot of SMS based solutions. Today, SMS doesn’t matter.
My worry though is, how long will it take for 2G/3G to be really ubiquitous.
3. I had quizzed Printo counter guys at 4 centers – do your regular customers change card content often. Their answer was Yes- very often. Would my LinkedIn profileid change – no. But there is a new social network I & many hop on every few months. But I agree there would be many who would not change any content. But among them some would care about a bit of analytics. Some would care about hiding/showing personal email Id.
The QR Code for a vCard is very dense..difficult to scan on low end phone / low lights. Our’s a very sparse & tested on 4K phone.
With cloud based solution (i.e. online) there is lot that can be done. But yes, there is 1 additional step of going online. I don’t know if that’s ok. Will know now.
4. Absolutely agree. We are indeed betting on charging for the tangible & giving service free. http://www.linqs.in/products The other model is, usually VC backed, the razorblade one. Give cards free/cheap. Meter the service.
I don’t know which is right. I’ll A/B test.
Raghvendra Saboo
Absolutely. I said THE BEST not the first.
Flextown came after we started. Others I had studied & got inspired with their best / eliminated their worst.
Want to test drive? Scan this code on your mobile & create your 1Card profile. Not just you – anyone can scan. It produces a NEW profile everytime !!
(Your profile would expire after 24 hrs. For forever profile BUY 1Card !!)
Raghvendra Saboo
Hi Sagar, I know about intouchapp, from the days you used intouch-id. I am in awe of the # of downloads it has achieved & the complexity you are solving with a lean team. I tell about it to my team mates to inspire them.
I, though, am skeptical about native apps & solution that requires same app on either end. It’s very very hard to make today’s generation download one.
We are app-less & if you see http://www.linqs.in in some ways anti-app. But I’ll forget my philosophies if it helps to make more money – the philosophy would be wrong, if it doesn’t !
Lets get Linqed !!: https://linqs.in/raghu
Sarang Lakare
You are going in the wrong direction against the flow. Everything on a smart phone today is app. Even the browser is an app. I challenge a couple of your statements: 1. “It’s very very hard to make today’s generation download one.”. In fact it is the opposite, and 2. “NFC -> All major OEMs have them…”. Fact is that a tiny % of models have them and unless Apple supports it, it is not going to be ubiquitous.
The receiver need not have the app – that I agree with. But sending not having app is silly. How do you expect people to update their info and send cards?
At InTouchApp we have soft-launched our digital biz cards last week. Check it out. The receiver need not have InTouchApp installed. Email is enough to send your digital card to anyone.
If you feel passionate about solving this problem, we should work together. If you are on intouch, add me as a contact (*sarang) and give me a buzz so we can speak. Thanks.
Raghvendra Saboo
I am interested in a world-view discussion & being a bit *silly*. Don’t feel threatened. I am using physical channel versus digital. My sales can’t increase while I sleep, like in a pure play digital.
Yes I am going against the flow. I don’t think you need everything as an app. In fact, I see a lot of resistance in folks to download yet-another-app. I’d bet that most people don’t use more than 15 ‘top’ apps. I see app-mania similar to the download.com .exe days of PC. People will just get tired of installing new ones. Related thoughts on my blog: https://j.mp/memory-tax https://j.mp/low-fat-web https://j.mp/appache
You probably didn’t read my comments or http://www.1Card.in The sender/card owner can update his info WITHOUT an app.
NFC: Repeat: All OEM except Apple have it. But the #s & cost is not exciting today.
But did you see any exciting use-case of NFC today? Not many. So, I feel this is what would excite the OEMs -> applications of a cool technology : http://www.linqs.in/products
We have built a PLATFORM. We are going on API/SDK route to allow anyone build mobile-web apps & expose them in real-world (not digital) through LINQS tags. 1Card, Cloudbook AmILost are manifestation of the platform & physical forms tags can take.
I would take a call for collaboration, if it comes in friendlier tone. I have not been USA/Valley but read & trying to be charitable to competition, the way they are.
Thanks, for the app invite. I have my phone’s memory full & I don’t think I have time to delete any apps I am not using https://j.mp/no-one-deletes-digital-garbage 🙂
Rupin
One of the setups I have at my residence is as follows
I purchased cheap NFC tags from aliexpress.com. These are transparent, and are almost invisible.
One is stuck at the door.I swipe my phone against this to shut down data and enable wifi.
Second is stuck to the dresser next to the bed. Swipe to put phone in silent mode. These are for me, the most unobtrusive use cases that use NFC.
To be honest, I am not “sold” on the idea that it needs some connectivity to the web to fetch details. But since these NFC thingies just store about 144bytes of data, there is no other way to fetch contact, address and other details.
If there is definite and reasonably regular (once a week, that’s my threshold, may vary) use, people will download an app.
How good are these cards, so that I can hack them and have a re-direct to my website rather than 1card?
If I have this card in my pocket, how easy it is for someone to hack it, so the next time i hand it over to my customer, it shows something malicious, and worse still downloads it?
Sarang Lakare
Don’t misunderstand me. You or I cannot decide what consumers will do. Only they will decide and we have to look at the trends. Apps are the trend for their ease of use compared to websites on mobile.
Irrespective of what we think, you are expert in NFC & physical cards, whereas we provide contact management solution for mobiles. I see a good fit. If you can provide NFC enabled cards to our users, we can be your channel partner. InTouchApp users keep their contact profile updated on InTouch – we can use this to channel information seen by those who scan their NFC card.
Raghvendra Saboo
In each of our product, NFC tags are locked i.e. not writeable.
So no hacking possible (although I can’t claim if an accomplished hacker can’t break it, I have never heard).
The aam junta doesn’t know & should’t be troubled to know what NTAG203 is, what encoding is, what R/RW is. We have simplified it for them.
For our other product, LinqUp tags, that are the dynamic URL stuff for retail stores, we validate each URL being sumbitted with WebOfTrust api. So NO malware.
Yashwant Joshi
Hi Ragvendra, Concept/idea is all good…but way to use is all complex…NFC/QR codes are good security/unique tool but this where ‘Cardcloud.com’ and others who tried didn’t succeed as expected. Simplicity WINs!! and complexity Bins…that is the reality…ppl need simple utility…
not sure about your research in this area…but check out cardflick – mobile app (video on tube) and cardtaab.com site…simple useful solution to make business cards paperless, portable, anywhere use, no worry to retrieve/re-establish contacts, printing & paper cost etc etc…whatever benefits you can think of make business cards digital …
yes, there are some development areas for cardtaab.com and cardflick but very user friendly solutions to business cards.
Raghvendra Saboo
Cardtaab.com is yours right? https://who.is/whois/cardtaab.com Can you expain what it does? I can’t find it on your site.