Two killer startup ideas for Bangalore
Forget trying to be the Facebook for India. Quit gunning for the YouTube of India.
Here’re two killer startup ideas for the city of Bangalore that I see having more potential for success. These ideas are based on observations made during my recent trip to Bangalore. I welcome all your suggestions, criticisms and constructive input.
Idea 1:
Traffic is the #1 nightmare for Bangloreans. Depending on which part of the city you are visiting, it can very well end up taking a good 1 - 2 hours to cover a distance of ~15 kms even on a Saturday. Its no wonder then, that the life of Bangaloreans revolves around traffic. From what time to leave for work to where to go out for dinner.
How about providing reliable traffic updates to the commuters ?
From my research, I found only one such service currently existing - Bangalore Transport Information System or BTIS, developed by MapUnity. I havent used the service personally and so cant comment on how accurately it projects traffic. Here’s the method they use to estimate the traffic:
This system uses traffic densities recorded in real-time from a variety of sources, as well as locations of public transport vehicles tracked continuously.
Hmm…If you’ve used this service, can you leave a comment letting us know on how well they report the traffic updates ?
In addition to the above approach, an alternative approach would be to tap into the pervasiveness of mobiles and SMS - a crowdsourcing approach.
(a) Start an Inactiv or SMSGupShup group. Users can then send SMS traffic updates, which can be received by the entire group. This approach is open to some form of abuse - however, this would be the easiest and quickest way to get started.
(b) Provide a number where users can SMS traffic updates. The updates are accumulated, edited (to remove duplicates, prevent abuse as mentioned above etc.) and periodically (say every 15 minutes or such) broadcast to the users. Anyone abusing the system can be barred from the group.
Yes, I know - both these approaches would rely heavily on user participation to succeed. But hey, isnt that what Web 2.0 is all about ? User generated Content and user participation ?
This would be an example of crowdsourcing at its best. As an aside, users can be provided incentives to participate - like for every 20 updates you provide, get a coupon to a local vendor or such (just thinking out loud here). Revenue can be made by inserting ads as part of the SMS traffic updates - a model that Twitter has been looking into.
Let me know what you think.
(Idea # 2 will follow tomorrow or day after)
February 15th, 2008 at 2:55 am
I don’t think Idea #1 will go anywhere. Traffic update seem useful when a city has more than one roadway to reach to a place. I don’t live in Blore. I live in Pune and its going the Blore way and hence I can relate.
The population living in these towns is so huge that the roadways available are inadequate. At any point when practically every road is choked what sense will it make to give SMS traffic updates !!
February 15th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Harshal,
not necessarily. Say I’m working till 4:30 pm and need to make a decision whether I should leave for home or not. of course, the decision is guided by whether there is traffic congestion or not. If the traffic is choked, I can very well decide to stay longer @ work.
so, traffic updates can be helpful in this scenario as well.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
In that case, most people would not leave their offices until 9 PM:) Anyway, on the serious side, this is a good idea. RadioMirchi does this on a smaller scale but depends on calls from listeners to do this. If people were to be paid for sending accurate SMSes then this might work.
This can even be a radio channel.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:01 am
nishi,
yes - great point…it can be a radio channel as well..they can of course very easily tap into their existing audience.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:20 am
I don;t think using smsgupshup you can have community broadcasting traffic update, it’s oneway traffic :).
what we need is a live updates from authentic resource, user generated content on traffic is not guranteed anyway
February 20th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
@yellosaffire
if smsgupshup doesnt offer it, then a service that offers group SMS (i think activmobs does). you get the idea.