“Indians by birth, and blogger by choice” as quoted on their website, no pun intended…
Who would have thought that an inception of an idea to just simply make a database for blogs in India, 7 years later would turn into a the largest blogging community of Indian bloggers with a yearly turnover running in crores! Founders of Indiblogger, Renie Ravin, Karthik DR, Vineet Rajan, and Anoop Johnson always had a larger vision when they penned down the idea of creating a free blogging platform. All of them previously "Indians by birth, and blogger by choice" as quoted on their website, wanted to make a community of blog writers that could give the much deserved attention and recognition to Indian blogosphere.
When Ravin decided to launch Indiblogger back in 2007, there wasn't much hoo-ha in the digital space for bloggers. With the idea to organize and propel the Indian blogging atmosphere, founders of Indiblogger faced with lots of challenges. But fortunately they found an early angel investor to fund their idea, and the result of that is the formation largest community of Indian bloggers, and an ever growing money multiplying venture. Apart from Rajan, all the founders were in their early 20s when they conceptualized the idea. Ravin was working full-time as a web architect for Broadspire, a software company, and Ravin's friend Johnson and Karthik were working for Ostold Software, a security solutions software firm. But, as they say, when you start believing in your idea, more than you believe in yourself, it just takes one leap of faith to make that idea into a concrete reality. And unanimously convinced with the potential of the idea, the trio left their jobs, pour their blood, sweat and tears in the start-up.
Rajan the fourth and the final partner who was working as an account manager in Hewlett Packard, joined later in 2008 after he met the trio in one of their bloggers meet in Pune. Renie is based in Chennai, who is managing director of the firm, whilst the company's director of marketing, Anoop lives in Bangalore. To top that the head of the finance, Karthik lives in Delhi, and Rajan who heads pre-sales and consulting lives in Mumbai. Take a leaf out of makers of Indibloggers book when we talk about 'Bringing people together'. After surviving the excruciating early years, the founders were trying to establish their foothold in the digital space and were trying to attract as many as brands as possible. "The challenging part was to convince them of the value we provided," says Ravin.
After catching their big break in February 2008, when Microsoft sponsored their first Indiblogger meet in Bangalore and bloggers turn up was 100% as expected, then there was no looking back for them! Today, ranked as one of the top 400 websites in India according to the Alexa ranking and their clients includes big brands like Lakme, Castrol, Vodafone, Mahindra and Mahindra, Dove, Samsung, Fiat and many more. The revenue model of connecting bloggers to big brands via uniquely designed blogging contests and meets is only becoming more sturdy and reliable each and every year. After mobilising India's blogosphere, the 'indibuggers' are now ready to make an international presence. Well, we just wish them more and more success in the coming years!
If you too have entrepreneurial dreams or wish to have a venture like the ones listed above, you need to have faith in your Chatur Idea. You will always wonder who will fund this idea and from where will you find investors. In that case, you can participate in the #BeAChatur Contest and not only be mentored but also stand a chance to win a whopping Rs.10 Lac funding for your dream startup idea.
