PringOO March 20, 2008
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Photos & DIY content , 3commentsOne of India’s own entry to Do-It-Yourself Content business. PringOO lets users create and sell their own designs on various mediums (T-shirts, mugs, teddy bears, coasters, bags, mousepads etc.).
The concept is tried and tested for success. The US analogs like CafePress, CustomInk, Zazzle etc. were founded in late 90’s. (CafePress is a popular one- Seth Godin, a leading business author, is a fan too. Another interesting factoid about CafePress is that it was co-founded by Maheesh Jain). The concept has since branched out into niche business models like Etsy and Threadless.
PringOO folks have designed the site well- navigation is easy and there are plenty of ‘how-to’ and FAQ help pages. Of course, I have a soft corner for startups that are astute enough to put up a ‘beta’ sign and ‘Report Bug’ link. In terms of content, they are getting traction. Not a wide selection, but significant considering they are pretty new to the game (launch date was 7th December 2008). Some good associated functionality like forum, seller blog, store list, design contest are provided but the differentiator is the with ‘free shipping‘ service. Overall, I think this would be a compelling reason for the creative Indians to showcase their design talent and actually make money in the process (PringOO shares royalty back with creator for every item sold).
Edit: Thanks to Aditya’s comment, I stand corrected. Seems like there are more entries to the DIY content space (Myntra, DilSeBol) and ‘free shipping’ is a service offered by them too. He gave more detail about ‘
free shipping’ process too- seems like the default is Indian Postal Service and you need to pay extra 
for using a courier service.
Further Edit: PringOO founder Varun defends his site with some counter-arguments in his comment below. Seems like the jury is still out.
Picsquare August 12, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Photos & DIY content , 1 comment so farPicsquare is a photo-sharing and printing site that has been around since early 2006. It was started by two ex-IITians and is based out of Bangalore.
The site design and navigation is very professional, and that alone is sufficient to let it stand out in the heap of half-baked Indian web startups. They’ve explained their products & services neatly- I’m surprised by the Rs.3 4X6 print (sounds like great value…haven’t tried them personally, though). It has Flickr like functionality (photo storage, sharing etc) but other offerings are around printing your photo on mugs, t-shirts, cards etc. If you can’t upload via web, there is an option of snail-mailing your photo CD to them.
I always feel that consumer-oriented transactional websites should foremost try to tackle ‘new user anxiety’ on the homepage- which is why I appreciate the “How it works” section, if there is one. A high-level graphic that explains how/what the site can do for the user, in three or four steps, is a must. Picsquare lacks this, but makes it up somewhat by a “FAQ” link at the bottom that takes you to a page that answers relevant questions.
Note: iTasveer is another photo sharing and printing startup by ex-IITians.
PhotoJagat January 28, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Photos & DIY content , add a commentI remember stumbling onto PhotoJagat in mid-2004. The site had a different look back then (although I dont remember what exactly was different). The upload-online-we’ll-deliver-in-india concept was new back then.
Now the second-level domain name (PhotoJagat) forwards to InternetImagingNetwork domain. I decided to check InternetImagingNetwork out, and it forwarded to PhotoChannel Networks Inc.- a canadian company that focuses on online digital photo solutions. Did PhotoJagat get bought or were they a part of PhotoChannel to begin with? I dont know. But it explains PhotoJagat’s seeming ‘extension’ beyond just Indian territory. They claim that they can deliver photos to any major international cities in 3-7 business days. If only I could get stats on their customer base..
iTasveer January 9, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Photos & DIY content , 1 comment so fariTasveer is an indian online photo sharing and printing service started by bunch of IIT-ian’s. Local flavor of an international idea, but the site design is very professional- definately one of the best-looking newbie indian sites I’ve seen.
There are a plethora of online photo-printing service sites for india now (Geez. can’t we do anything in moderation?). Merasnap, Rangeelaphotos, eYaadein, Cleversnap, PhotoMasti….I’ll be posting about all/most of them soon.