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1. 

   asha chaudhry July 8, 2014, 5:55 am

   hi vivek,

   will share this with the dilliwalas for sure.

   this is the first story i’ve read that the angel agreed in 15 mins flat – lucky you!!!

   for a tech co-founder – pls go through the jobs section (and the relavant comments) – lots of techies in the house.

   also pls check out one of the sessions at our next OH in mumbai:

   https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/therodinhoods-mumbai-open-house-july-19-2014-agenda

   Matching- Making @TRHOH: Presentations by Rodinhooders #networking

   I HAVE TECH but need business (RED)
   vs
   I’VE GOT A BUSINESS but no tech person (BLACK)

   Are you RED or BLACK?!

   

   Do you have tech but don’t know what to do with it?

   Do you have a great business idea but don’t have a techie or the knowledge to take it forward??

   Who knows, you might meet the right person – your yin or yang – right here!

   Image source – wallfoy.com

   In this session, SIX Rodinhooders – 3 Tech (RED) and 3 Biz (BLACK) will be given the opportunity to present themselves and their requirements. Each participant will get 5 mins each (you will be timed!). And in the end, all 6 participants will have an interactive session with Alok and the audience. For a chance to present your case, send your story by downloading and filling-in THE RED OR BLACK PPT FORMAT to asha@rodinhood.com LATEST BY 11TH JULY, 2014. The final 6 presenters will be shortlisted by the editorial team (comprising Alok and me). Pls stick to the PPT format! 

   Repeat – Pls fill out the RED or BLACK PPT TEMPLATES (depending on what you are!).

    

2. 

   Vivek Aggarwal July 8, 2014, 5:59 am

   Thanks for the encouragement, Asha. Can count on you always.

   Well, the angel didn’t actually “agree” 🙂 just that I got a quick response (he didn’t fund me). Maybe mine was the first mail to him in morning that day, and maybe he had a lean day that day. But yes, at least he liked the idea, which was a big shot in the arm, coming from someone who is an industry veteran.

   Cheers,
   Vivek

3. 

   Nitin Pulyani July 8, 2014, 11:17 am

   Hi Vivek,

   Congrats on your launch. This is the first step in living your dream. 🙂

   Well, I went through your website, have some feedback. Hope it’ll be useful:

   1. From your website, a user cannot make out that the bookings are limited to NCR only. Maybe somewhere in the booking form u can introduce another field of city and prefill it with Delhi/NCR non0editable. That’ll give a clear message. Otherwise, people may make unnecesarry bookings and may get pissed. Or better, the address can be asked later while confirming the booking.

   2. You mentioned a lot of media mention. But I could not find you on TechCrunch. Would like to read about you as this space is currently booming.

   3. Even before the booking, if you can give an approx fare chart, that’ll increase more visibility.

   I’ll add more once I come across more improvements. 

   Congrats again and way to go. 🙂

   Nitin

4. 

   Vivek Aggarwal July 8, 2014, 11:21 am

   Hi Nitin,

   Thanks a lot for the feedback. Pretty useful. We’ll get to work on it.

   1) Will get it mentioned on the site that we are in beta and currently operational in Gurgaon only.

   2) We are currently not featured in any online media, but hope to get covered soon. Links will get active as that happens over time.

   3) Fare chart are available as separate window under each of the booking tabs. Only outstation is under preparation, and should be up by tomorrow eod.

   Thanks once again. Please keep the feedback coming.

   Cheers,
   Vivek

5. 

   Rishi July 8, 2014, 11:47 am

   Hi Vivek! Congrats on the launch.

   Went through the website, I know it’s an MVP but I’d still recommend you remove all media images and testimonials – it’s better to not have something that doesn’t exist than put placeholders. For me, personally, it’s a question of credibility – it’s highly misleading; keep in mind these are not features you’re trying to test whether users click and you can implement later.

   Also, there are way too many broken links on the website. I’d rather not have links than having broken links or links with placeholder text. MVP/soft launch != sloppy. It just takes few minutes to clean up dead links. Please do it.

   Best wishes 🙂

6. 

   asha chaudhry July 8, 2014, 11:53 am

   vivek,

   alok has shared your post over social. you might want to respond to the comment on his fb wall – 

   Ateet Dhanda Did not find the website visually attractive…..the look and feel matters I feel.A website needs to be Handsome and Beautiful I feel……this is very basic and very bland I think.Personally I am very happy with taxi for sure and disappointed with meru.

   33 mins · Like
7. 

   Vivek Aggarwal July 8, 2014, 12:00 pm

   Hi Rishi,

   I agree with you. I’ll get the modifications done. Also, could you please guide me as to the broken links? We are still working on the “Outstation” section, which should be up & running by tomorrow EOD. Also, some links at the footer have content pending, but I did not hurry for those as they were not a showstopper for a MVP launch, and we will update the content soon on those links. Functionally, if there is a broken link, that is a red flag! Please let me know and I’ll fix it.

   Cheers,
   Vivek

8. 

   Nakul Bhatia July 8, 2014, 12:35 pm

   Hi Vivek,

   Yes, the media part should be empty till you have a legitimate covering. To make the process smoother, may be you could have an area auto fill feature for point to point and show an approximate calculation of the tariff. Ask the complete address at the time of booking.

   A bit from me. Good luck.

9. 

   Vivek Aggarwal July 8, 2014, 12:38 pm

   Sure Nakul. Point taken.

   Area auto fill is getting slightly tricky for me… ,my developer somehow is not able to crack it, even though I’m after his life to get it done.. hopefully will get it done soon.

   Tariff calculation estimation can be done only in case of outstation, where we know the estimated distance and time (no. of days). The algo for the same should be implemented by tomorrow EOD.

   I got a booking from you 🙂 looks like a test mail. Looking forward to getting an actual booking soon 🙂

   Cheers,
   Vivek

10. 

    Nikhil Kalra July 8, 2014, 2:51 pm

    Hi Vivek,

    Congrats on your start up.

    Being an IT guy, I have some suggestion for you regarding your website, you might like to discuss these with your developer.

    1. The booking form on the main page do not have Required Validation. As i input wrong email id and the form still got submitted. It should  shoe error message. 

    2. ‘Check Fair’ doesn’t look like a clickable button. Design CSS should be changed.

    3. When you click on Check Fair, it is opening in new tab. It doesnt look professional. A lightbox pop-up should appear.

    4. I entered the time which is already passed. It sill validated the the form. 🙁

    5. As mentioned by few others, Media coverage section will look good if it is clickable.

    If you have any questions, you may call me at 09982443318 or write me at me@nikhilkalra.com

    Congrats again,

    Nikhil Kalra

     

11. 

    Vivek Aggarwal July 9, 2014, 2:41 am

    Hi Nikhil,

    Thanks for the feedback.

    1) Yes the validations will be put by today EOD
    2 & 3) Check fares will be more professional. While I’m not sure we’ll be able to do a lightbox pop up, but will surely make the new tab more appealing.
    4) We are trying to figure out a way to do this… but my developer is at a loss. Maybe if you can help!
    5) Yup.. will remove the media section today.

    Cheers,
    Vivek 

12. 

    Mohnish Sharma July 9, 2014, 4:33 am

    Hi Vivek,

    Congratulations on taking the entrepreneurial plunge.  And kudos on asking for feedback on a public forum. 

    Here are my impressions…

    1. The screen change between tabs (Point-to-Point and Airport/Railway Transfer) was almost imperceptible for me.  For the first few clicks I thought the website was not working.
    2. Can you use Indian photos on the slide show?  Photos of Gurgaon, some of your cab drivers would work wonder in creating a connection with your users.
    3. The “check fare” link should be above the fold.  The user should not have to scroll/look for it.  Especially Indian users. That is the first page we look for.  Always 🙂
    4. Taking off from point 2, how are your prices compared to your competition? Are you cheaper?  Better service?  Why should someone use Indyacabs?  Show/tell it on the home page.
    5. This is important – don’t put anything on your website that cannot be substantiated, especially if people can check it online. 

    Overall, I think you should invest money/time working on content, website design and technology.

    I am visiting Delhi next month, and will definitely use Indiyacabs 🙂

    Good luck.

    Mohnish

13. 

    Vivek Aggarwal July 9, 2014, 5:11 am

    Hi Mohnish,

    Thanks for the feedback. We are working on all points raised, and you should see improvement latest by tomorrow.

    Cheers,
    Vivek

14. 

    Abhik Prasad July 15, 2014, 10:10 am

    Hi Vivek,

    Congratulations on taking the plunge. That’s where the easy part ends and the hard part now begins 🙂

    I did a quick google search and here is a list of your competition in Gurgaon when someone searches for ‘cabs in gurgaon’. Am sure you have done it too and probably know how competitive the market is.

    Almost all of them have better technology / design than your current site (yeah, i think most folks who have provided their feedback here have sugar coated it to quite an extent because If I was to come across your site in its current avatar on Google, I would probably not use it)

    Your website copy also needs to be reworked. For ex, you have a page called ‘Our Story’ – where you talk about how you finally bit the bullet and quit your job – Not sure how many people give a shit about it or how it adds to the site.

    You also have two students who are both ‘Tech Leads’ on your Team page. No offence to students or their capabilities but you can’t start a tech business with just interns !

    So yeah, you need quite a bit of an overhaul in design, content and technology.

    Secondly, you need to think of what is the problem that you are solving in the market and for whom.

    E.g. My inlaws stay in Sushant Lok and have the number of a local taxi guy. They have been using his services for donkey’s years and so much so that even I occasionally call him instead of Meru – His USP is Dependability and Safety (we know who we are getting our cab drivers from instead of a random guy )

    Recently, I was looking for a cab guy in DLF Phase 2 (where my office is) but since I didn’t know anyone nearby, I ended up calling the Sushant Lok taxi service.

    Similarly, a lot of folks have a local cabbie on speed dial.

    So how will you convince me to use Indyacabs ?

    Do you own any cabs of your won ? If you don’t have cabs of your own and are following an aggregator model, It can get to be a bit of a chicken and egg situation where you will have a double edged problem of attracting quality service providers along with end customers.

    You mentioned that you are looking for a tech co founder. I run a digital agency based in Gurgaon called Experia Media and we could help you with some of the design, tech and marketing stuff. Drop me a line at abhik@experiamedia.com if you would like to discuss more.

    Cheers and all the best.

    https://www.cabgurgaon.com
    https://www.savaari.com
    https://www.easycabs.com
    https://www.taxiforsure.com/gurgaon-cabs/
    https://www.cabs24.in
    https://www.merucabs.com
    https://quickcabs.in
    https://www.supercabz.com
    https://www.taxiindia.net
    https://www.getmecab.com
    https://www.taxiclub.in
    https://sanjaytaxigurgaon.com

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