We love Quora, because there is so much value we get out of it. But Q&A platforms like Quora, can only help us to a certain extent. Subsequently, we might want to discuss our problems with a knowledgeable person in that domain and go back and forth couple of times.
This is the gap we are trying to cover through Pracly. We are building an advisory platform for entrepreneurs where they can connect with domain experts for any business problem that they have over a phone call or a one-to-one meet.
People often say that we already have a lot of experts in our personal network, who can help us out. But inspite of having an extensive network, we love to post on Q & A forums and seek help from other experts in that domain. Pracly gives entrepreneurs the luxury to call up some of these experts and have a more extensive discussion about their problem. A personal conversation often gives the entrepreneur more knowledge and confidence to solve his problems. Definitely this advice will come at a price, but at a very small price compared to the time we might waste in figuring out the solution ourselves. Most of the advisors on Pracly are entrepreneurs themselves who are not on the platform for money. One obvious question then is, what’s in it for the experts? They are already helping entrepreneurs in whatever little time they have left post their own business. Vijay Anand, who is one of the advisers on the platform has written a blogpost, beautifully answering this question!
https://www.facebook.com/thestartupguy/posts/272727692902130
Thank you
Ritesh Singhania
asha chaudhry
hi ritesh, so what would u like from rodinhooders?
i) you want them to check out your site and give you feedback? you didn’t mention that so i guess that’s not the purpose.
ii) you want to create awareness about pracly?
iii) you want folks to try it out??
iv) i see the FIRST CALL IS FREE! and after that it’s rs 500 per session. how long does a session last?
v) you’d like some seasoned rodinhooders to be your advisors???
Ritesh
Hey Asha,
Thanks a lot for the reply. The purpose of the note is to let entrepreneurs know that such a platform exists, where they can easily talk to some of the advisors from the startup ecosystem.
One session would last for 30 mins. Rs. 500 per session post the first session is also for a limited time, as the time of these experts are valued at much more than that 🙂
We would love to have advisors from Rodinhood on Pracly!
asha chaudhry
yes ritesh!
i am aware and can appreciate that everyone’s time costs money!
rodinhooders (especially alok) DO IT ALL THE TIME for FREE!!! :))))
all the best to the pracly team! HELPING OTHERS (free or at a cost) is ALWAYS good karma!
Ritesh
Thanks Asha. Yes, and the effort led to the creation of this fantastic community on Rodinhood 🙂
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Sorry, but Quora’s ‘ask to answer’ for credits (and NOT money) far beats this “Rs 500 per session” idea..
Rs 500 per session? Thats US$ 9 per hour?
Thats lower than what you would pay a worker to mop the floor in MacDonald’s in the USA
I assume you have heard of the Gerson Lehrman Group? https://glg.it/
Study them if you wanna go via the paid model
(But please remove the Rs. 500 dhobhis from the site… their ‘rate card’ looks obnoxious!
Ritesh
Rs. 500/ session is just to give the users an idea that moving ahead the sessions will be paid. But we are no one to put a price on the time of experts. Experts decide whether they want to advice for free or charge for it. Will definitely go through the link you have provided and see how we can do it better. Thank you for your inputs Alok 🙂
Abhishek Rai
Hello Ritesh,
A few days back I read an article about the joblessness of PhDs in USA and then I researched about the status in India.
Stumbled upon couple of very informative stuff.
It takes a lot of effort to just get into an admission for a PhD program. For example if you are an engineer, you need to score good in GATE and then each institues have their own exam and personal interview, before they admit you to the program.
So you are good, even before you start your PhD.
So what after this much of effort and working on your thesis/project, what you get paid is around Rs.15000 to Rs.18000 per month.
These are the subject experts( or in the process of becoming a highly specialised expert) and still such lowly paid.
Gaining a meaningful employment after completing your PhD is another of a herculean task, a complete different moster altogether, usualyy it is academia, out of any choice. And you know, what academia pays.
On the other hand, there are numerous small enterprises who can do real good with some advice, but the traditional consulting firms are out of their reach and hence they are left in lurch, hunting out their own way, somehow…
Be it any field, manufacturing, science, production or even management…
If you connect the two ie the PhD students and the PhDs and the small industries, everyone would be happy.
India produces some 9000 odd PhDs every year. US some 40,000 odd and China about 45,000 and these are old figures.
Combine all the PhDs produced ever in all the countries, discount them by 10% and you still have a very large market to cater.
So it is like a real market-place of information and knowledge.
Take a commission of 10% on the price quoted by the PhD student/ PhD for answering the question from the company and it is a good business.
Cheers !
Ritesh
Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and research with us!