VoiceTap is a Noida based startup that hopes to connect knowledge seekers with knowledge experts. As the fast-food content on the Internet grows, its becoming more and more difficult to search for relevant, precise, authoritative answers to your questions on Google. VoiceTap hopes to make it easier for those seeking answers to questions to connect with domain experts. They have two main channels for connecting users and experts – via mobile phone (dial a short code) and via Internet (google talk or using VOIP software).
Consider the following scenario which illustrates a use case for VoiceTap:
Let’s consider the situation of a student wants to give his GMAT and go for higher studies to an ivy league B-School in the US. His typical decision making process would be: Family, friends, extended friends of family, the internet and experts (who know all about what has to be done). While the first four are relatively easy to access – it’s usually very hard to get the final and probably the most crucial of the decision making blocks. That’s where we step in. The knowledge seeker uses Getafixx to reach out to authoritative experts related to his area of interest. Getafixx evaluates his requirements – and connects him to firstly to an expert who can help with the GMAT preparations (or guide him related to that). While preparing – he faces problems related to Maths. Again, Getafixx steps in – and allows him to interact with an expert who can solve that query.
Currently, they focus on five domains that they think are most important in the Indian context – education, career, money and health. Anyone can ask a question and anyone can become an expert. They have a rating system in place to rate the experts, which will help surface the top experts on a given subject.
They were shortlisted in the top 100 Asia startups by Red Herring.
I think their idea has definite potential and on quite a few levels coincides with the concept behind Aardvark – although of course, Aardvark focuses only on your extended social graph.
I would suggest them to focus on a single niche as of now – education & career. Considering that they have several IIT graduates on the team, they can really carve out a loyal user base in this area. And the demand for education / career related counseling in the Indian market is always high. Once they evangelize this sector, they can start opening up other domains as well.
What exactly is their business model? Or do they have one? How much one has to pay to get expert guidance? If its free, experts will be of much lower quality, because a expert who doesnt understand cost of his own expertise is going to be a no expert at all!
I fully agree with Ajit’s comments if it is free advice then its available all over the internet and that also for FREE !! But if one gets experts to give advice then it cannot be free or they could have a model to generate revenue through adverts for expert compensations.
Remember experts are not available for free!! May be retired experts or professors who just want to be in touch of society can be available but how much they are current with their knowledge can be different question.
There is some another startup that had the same or similar business model. I can’t recollect at this moment, but I think I read about it on this blog, or some other startup-themed blog.
Pranav, thanks for featuring us. Actually just one of the founders is from IIT-Bombay. The rest of us are the normal kind.
Ajit, in addition to individual experts, there are a number experts from different corporates registered on the platform. Both the categories of experts provide the knowledge seekers with unbiased advice. Consumers don’t have to pay anything to use this system. Our business model is centred around corporates. As far as the quality is concerned, I can just say this: add getafixx@voicetap.in to your Gtalk buddy list, say ‘Hi’, search for a particular topic and connect with an expert. Let us know how your experience was. We’re always on the lookout for feedback that can help us improve.
VLSI Training Institute, fair point. And that is precisely the issue we’re trying to address. Search on the internet leads to a plethora of information – for one specific question, there’s hardly ever one link that will answer the question. You have to sift through tens of hundreds of links to find an answer to your question. What if you could just connect with an expert in real-time through voice or online chat who can give you a precise answer to a particular question? That’s the problem we’re trying to address.
Hi Arpit,
I just saw your website today.Just a suggestion why don’t you put pictures of some of the experts on the front page of your website, its good to attract visitors.
Regards
Rajat
Hi Rajat, thanks for the suggestion. Will look into it.
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It looks very similar to Aardvark, why copy? I think they have to pay experts to answer questions, I am not sure if any expert will work for free.
I think it all depends on the question one has. If it is a very general one, I’ll probably prefer the internet.
However, for every question that demands in-depth knowledge of a special topic (legal advices and so on..) I would use a premium service and pay for it.
@ Arpit, maybe a “how it works” button would add a certain value for new visitors.
One more question: whats your pricing strategy? What do you offer experts for their service?
Regards,
Jonas
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