If you’re a startup, I guess you won’t mind getting noticed and coached by tech giant Google (to put it mildly). Mumbai-based home services start-up $4 got through recently, along with 5 others from across the country including Programming Hub, RedCarpet, MagicPin, ShareChat and PlaySimpleGames.
These six start-ups will join 18 new companies from Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico at $4 for a two-week all-expenses paid boot camp starting June 13, 2016. Each will we allotted mentors, and will try and find solutions to their unique problems. The six-month-long mentorship programme will also include a fat cheque of $50,000 in funding.
Business Insider sat down with $4, the CEO of
How did the idea come about?
Usually we don’t participate in competitions, but this was $4. We invested our time in this because we really wanted to learn from the experience.
What was the questionnaire like?
It was a pretty long. There were questions around what problem we’re solving, how big it is, whether we’re tech-driven or not, what our strengths and weaknesses are and past and possible future challenges.
They ($4 execs) evaluated our answers, and we made it. There were no face-to-face interviews.
What are you looking to get out of these 2 weeks?
We want to know how great tech companies are built and how they think. We also want to learn how to make world-class products, and develop a company culture that ensures innovation happens even at scale. These are core to creating a successful business.
Do you see any future consolation in India’s services space?
A lot of consolation will happen in India over the next 2-3 years. However, companies that are create a superior experience for customers and offer a quality value proposition for service providers will survive.
Your plans to differentiate against segment-leader $4.
Customers want a uniform experience at scale. That’s only possible if you’re solving a big problem and have a really strong tech backing that’ll allow you to scale easily.
Over 80% of our customers are repeat users, and over 95% customers give us over 4 stars. We believe that’s a strong differentiator.
What are your plans for the $50,000 you’ll get?
There are no special plans. We’ll invest that in the regular scheme of things - spending on suppliers and marketing.
Your advice to young startups
There are multiple factors on which startups get selected to Google’s program. Firstly, you must solve a big and real problem. Secondly, you need to be able to solve the problem at scale via technology. The third is your team. You need a strong team to address these issues. What, how and who’s solving the problem matters.