an icmr-iipm think tank publication - Cycbth.org

KICK OFFS
YOGESH BANSAL
“WE HAVE TO GO A LONG WAY”
YOGESH BANSAL, FOUNDER OF APNACIRCLE, EXPLAINS TO CYCBTH THE VARIOUS WAYS HE ADOPTED
IN ORDER TO FIND A FOOTHOLD IN INDIA IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AMIR HOSSAIN
Yogesh
Bansal,
Founder
of Apna
Circle
From USA to India, nothing was easy and all seemed sulking.
Yet, with determination, hard work and vision,
growth is meant to be achieved. Yogesh Bansal completed
his Masters from University of North Carolina and
before stepping into the world of entrepreneurship, he had worked
with McKesson Inc, USA. In March, 2006, he founded ApnaCircle.
com. The company's core competency lies in fulfilling professional
as well as social networking needs of the vast Indian population
and has succeeded in nurturing a lot many careers. And
with new ventures in fold, it certainly will bring a boom into the
professional networking world.
How did the concept of ApnaCircle come into being?
Coming from USA, the concept of social networking was
not new to me and I was always very fascinated and at the
same time motivated enough to venture into the same.
After moving to India, I witnessed that the Indian population
is still deprived of this opportunity of getting to know
the professional world through a social networking platform.
I carried out a research with the help of questionnaire
survey and found that the youth preferred using tools
like social media as a better way to interact. They rated
their career as the highest priority followed by friends and
then family came at third position. It was then that I decided
to create a professional website ApnaCircle with social
elements in it to cater to the need of the society.
What researches have you conducted before
launching ApnaCircle?
At first, I was quite circumspect about whether it will work
in India or is India ready for my product? But I decided to
follow my instinct and we are a brand today. I think it was
an intelligent decision that I took long back because today
social networking is a rage. Entire world is on Facebook,
even the government has portal on it, so if I would have
launched my product now, it would have been a failure.
Currently, we have a customer base of 3 million.
Despite pre-launch market research generating
positive response from the target consumer, in many
cases the product failed miserably. So how did you
convince yourself?
No research can give you all the answers, all you get is an
overview from the research and you need to keep on innovating
your product in order to survive in the market.
Initially all the emails of users were routed to my mail box
and I used to revert on all of them. It helped me understand
the consumer, their needs and what exactly they want from
my product. I still think that we have only managed to
cater to 5-10 % of social media requirement and there is
90% left to be done. We have to go a long way.
How did you convince the investors?
I was fully convinced and put all my money into the venture.
I would have become completely bankrupt if anything
went wrong. So that’s the confidence I had and if somebody
see that you have put all your money in this venture – he
will automatically get convinced. We don’t need money for
survival now but we need money for expansion.
You have started ApnaCircle in India and also some
other ventures in USA, which country is better in your
opinion to start a business?
India and China are big markets with respect to their demographic
dividend and it gives you a great opportunity
as far as a start up is concerned. Whereas in USA, the market
is saturated and tough. So, either you have to come up
with a totally new and innovative product or the chances
of survival becomes bleak. There was a time in USA, when
people use to get loans merely by showing the business
plan but now the procedures have been made more stringent.
In India, we have smart coders which are available at
a much lesser price as compared to USA. India is growing
now and you will see many new innovative products coming
from India in the next few years.
Have you ever come across a situation when you
thought of giving up?
If you have faith in your product, you will never give up.
Life is only one and giving up is always considered the
easiest thing to do. At the worst, you might become bankrupt
but still you will have that peace in the mind that you
tried your level best. I have been through all these phases
but am proud that I never for once thought of it and I want
all the young entrepreneurs to simply follow their instincts
and success will come their way.
count your chickens before they hatch 8 april 2012