The times are changing. The days of “Study hard, get a good job” are becoming a thing of past. The parent’s of golden rule of a better life is losing its sheen in this new, brave and bold world. The youngest generation is coming forward with radical ways to earn money. I cannot help notice a many new advertisements on television of a string of internet based companies like jabong.com, flipkart.com, yebhi.com, godaddy.com, shiksha.com, bharatmatrimony.com, yatra.com, makemytrip.com, snapdeal.com and many more. Seems like dot com boom (a passé thing for the west) has finally hit India. People have started realizing the potential of internet and its lure to earn easy money. Not much requirement of capital, one of the best ways to sell your product, almost no technicality required, easy to advertise and the best way to have a close relation with your customers, how can this not be an attraction for a start-up.
Recently Flipkart became India’s first billion dollar internet based company and too in a space of 5 years, pretty huge deal for a startup. Becoming a millionaire before turning thirty, a dream come true for many. Zomato.com was started by ex-Bain employees. They forsake their cushy jobs of 11L to start their own endeavours. One of my seniors has started a successful website making company, another one is starting an online shopping, someone has an e-magazine and a friend of mine has started a company which provides online servers. Many new ideas submitted in Business Plan competitions are internet based companies. Letsinter.com, wittyshit.com, newsthatmattersnot.com are all winners of many of the major ‘Business Plan competitions’ and have won accolades from the business community. Even many established businesses are not behind. One must have heard of paan.com and its success story. A taxi hiring company, which my dad uses to hire taxis, has started an online website for its customers to avail the services provided. Even in my college many people have started companies to supplement their weekly income. Everyone is hoping on the bandwagon to do something special. I can go on and on. I am sure as the reader you will also have some friend, family member or acquaintance who is trying his or her luck through the internet medium.
An internet revolution has started in the country, thanks to better connectivity, 3G internet and better broadband speed, people can now access to the internet wherever they are, whatever they are doing. This is phenomenal. But no one knows where it will all lead to. All I can hope is that this revolution doesn’t take that the road taken by the western dot com companies and lead to a bust.
