TekChakra.com

This is a tough one to answer, specially because I am a “multiple revenue streams” believer. On the face of it, it looks like People Group (owners of Shaadi.com, Mauj and Fropper.com and backed by Sequoia Capital) are trying to cross-sell a new service and offering to a large database of their current users with their pulse on their close approaching IPO .

Yes, they will surely get an immediate spike in traffic, users and listings - specially if they (or Sequoia) back it up with a fairly large media launch budget. Whether they emerge as a winner, or a top contender in the online real estate market will only be seen in the long run. The competition is very stiff - and their entry is probably about 18 months too late. My take - its going to be *very* hard to play the catchup game.

I cannot write about the quality of the service or the business model - but my guess is that it will be above average and well thought out - if they have hired the right experienced professionals from the other existing real estate dot coms. If they try and experiment with this baby and take their learnings from Shaadi or Fropper across over to this - then they better be careful. Its not the same ball game.

If you look at this 1 year Alexa graph of their 3 most prominent ventures (Shaadi.com , Mauj.com and Fropper.com ) you will notice that the traffic to these destinations has gradually been declining very significantly. This is probably due to emergence of new dynamic competition. While they have enjoyed an early mover advantage - and grown quickly - recent B2C traffic levels and thus probably revenues also have been on the steady decline. My reasoning tells me that - this is because the average online Indian Internet user has now suddenly so many more competing destination choices than what he did, even just about a year ago.

I am sure that the Shaadi.com model is very successful and their biggest money spinner so far (not sure how Mauj is financially doing in the mobile space) - but if People Group’s IPO happens this year - we can all then take a peak inside the company’s financials. Or, wait, maybe I can just have my guy hop over to the Registrar of Companies and get an official report of their filed returns?  Hmmm.

Going back to Makaan.com - I think its an attempt of People Group to list yet another online venture prior to going public later this year, in the hope of increasing their perceived value to the public. The timing is right, as any new venture will have that initial growth and blip in traffic - making things and growing projections look all rosy and nice for a few months - which will no doubt have a huge impact on their IPO !

But, lets put the IPO aside and see if they really have the mettle to compete with the big boys who are already in this space (99acres, IndiaProperty, MagicBricks). I’ll come back and write about them in 12 months… but my verdict for now is - good move for IPO, good move for short run growth, but very very tough race in the long run - and thus, I see it coming a distant 5th or 6th in this vertical - and thus generating very minimal revenues and profit for People Group in the long haul.

— Vishal Lamba    Filed under: Uncategorized