It is always good to have a discussion with an entrepreneur – knowing about his experience and the challenges that came across. I had this opportunity a few days back when I talked to Jwalant Patel from 99Presents.
It is a fairly new e-commerce startup on the map trying to solve the problems of gifting in India. Jwalant has an IT background of 7 years and says that this is how he founded his latest venture which is only a week old:
Me and my friend in the USA were talking about Facebook apps that can be made for different festivals in India. It lead me to thinking that besides an app, a website can also be created to reach the market and bring in gifts in the process. And that’s how I built 99Presents.
The team comprises of two others who have been hired after seeing there software knowledge and coding abilities. This team has been able to put up the site in a quick amount of time with a neat user interface too.
On being asked as what made him choose entrepreneurship, Jwalant Patel put it across in a very straight manner –
I liked the independence and the challenge of working for myself. It raised the bars for me so that’s why i first started kyayaar.com back in 2007 with my friend when i was in the US
The venture is bootstrapped till now, and Jwalant is in talks with some angel investors now. His vision for 99Presents is to expand it to metro cities internationally and in India this year. Right now the site has hand selected apparel, jewelry, accessories and greeting cards. The whole concept for the site is to target the consumers looking forward to gift something unique to their loved ones on special occassions. For this, 99Presents also uses your Facebook data to recommend you gift options for your friend.
Currently they are operating from his home and have tied up with international manufacturers with whom his team has developed a long-term relationship. The intention to put up a FB Connect button to enter the site is to get a feel of how the response is before the site expands into other features and to track the users’ behaviour. The company plans to have detailed logistics strategies set up in the future soon.
Being able to come up with a fully-functional website in a short span of time is really impressive. But then there are always some shortcomings to work upon. Here are some pain points which the company still needs to consider:
- The Facebook login button might be slowing down the login process and is letting away many prospective buyers. Maybe they could have “no login required” for seeing the products.
- There is always a scope to improve with the user UI with any social commerce company – be it Flipkart or a new startup. So, the tech team’s focus is to improve the product and the user experience in the coming months.
I liked Jwalant’s passion for entrepreneurship. And having said that there are quite a few pros to consider with 99Presents:
- Firstly, it is a social commerce site with a different dimension. Rather than flocking it with innumerable consumer goods and lifestyle products, they have kept their inventory low but given it a distinct touch by coming up with unique products like bracelets for couples, etc.
- Using Facebook for recommending is a first for me, and I feel it could give them an edge to understand user behaviour.
- In Mrs. Jwalant’s words: He eats, sleeps and lives entrepreneurship. That shows his passion which is very necessary in a startup as there are many hurdles to cross. The team (all with IT background) will be a strong point in it’s success.
Abhineet Kumar is the co-founder of Hungry N Foolish. A student of Business Administration, he is passionate about entrepreneurship and blogging. Abhineet urges you to do your bit in making this world a better place to live in, in your own small ways. Catch him on Twitter @abhineetsays.
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