Many man made things are having a negative impact on the natural environment. One of these many things that has become a part and parcel of our lives is paper. From the newspaper, notebooks, packaging and lot more, paper is widely used. To meet this growing need, every year around 4 billion trees are cut worldwide to make paper. Thus, reducing the use of paper has become a necessity. Viinod Haridaas, an entrepreneur and nature lover has taken an initiative to reduce unwanted use of paper through his startup, ' My Entity'. 'My Entity' offers a digital alternative for the traditional paper business card.
My Entity Highlights
| Startup Name | My Entity |
|---|---|
| Headquarter | Pune |
| Founder | Viinod Haridaas |
| Sector | IT & Services |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Parent Organization | Harit Applications Pvt Ltd |
| Website | myentity.in |
About My Entity and How it Works
My Entity - Target Market
My Entity - Founder and Team
How was My Entity Started
My Entity - Name, Tagline and Logo
My Entity - Business Model and Revenue Model
My Entity - User Acquisition
My Entity - Startup Challenges
My Entity - Awards & Recognitions
My Entity - Future Plans
About My Entity and How it Works
Founded just in 2019, My Entity is an IT Tech startup founded by Mr. Viinod Haridaas who is currently running a sports infrastructure company named Olympiados, which is a top 10 sports infrastructure company in India. Conceived with the sole purpose of becoming an environmentally responsible global tech company, My Entity is based on reducing the unwanted usage of paper and help in ease of doing business.
It is launching as a mobile application, 'MeApp', that would include different features such as MeCard, MePass, Sync Me and more. As the first course of business, the company is launching its first feature MeCard, which is an alternative to traditional Business Cards. The most interesting part is that the company's goal behind this mind-boggling initiative is to ease the process of doing business with an integrated platform in a mobile application. Ideally to use smartphones more smartly.
MeApp ideally provides free templates for creating professional business cards in no time. It identifies MeApp users in the near vicinity via GPS and lists down the name and their business category that easily allows you to decide whom to share your business card with. One can then easily share their business card with the desired person.
This App also allows the users to share their MeCard with non-users via mediums like WhatsApp, E-mail, Message and other social media networks.
Just like one would proudly handover the business card with both hands, this app is designed with a UI to provide a similar experience as a real-life scenario. You can swipe up with your thumbs to send a card and similarly you swipe down with your thumbs to respectfully receive the card. To discard a card you swipe left or right. Once the card is saved, clicking on the phone number, social media link or email address, will redirect you to the desired app.
The most unique proposition of MeApp is the Real-time feature that automatically updates your MeCard in the other user’s app without bothering them with any notifications.
My Entity - Target Market
Intending to operate in the most promising market in the world i.e., India, My Entity strongly stands on the insight that in the next 5 years roughly 100 million users will have digital visiting cards in India. These calculations are based on the number of taxpayers in India and on the fact that there are 15 million freelancers in India who will be the initial target market for this app.
My Entity - Founder and Team
Viinod Haridaas is the founder and CEO of My Entity. Viinod is a commerce graduate but has always been interested in technology and innovation. He started his entrepreneurial journey in 2012 with Olympiados, a company dealing in sports retail and sports infrastructure.
My Entity has a team of 5 members. The other core members are, Sanket Dhone (Senior Developer); Anoop Kumar (Software Developer); Jagruti (Junior Developer); Puja(Creative Designer). My Entity hires through Linkedin and Indeed.
How was My Entity Started
The idea of digital visiting cards struck Viinod when he went to Dubai for an International sports convention. It so happened that he had a bunch of business cards with him but they were soon exhausted in the first row itself. After that people started taking snaps of his visiting card which left him wondering that why should one even use a conventional business card in this digitally advanced world? Also, he very well knew that the visiting cards become useless after a point and it more or less goes to the bin.
Viinod got stuck with this question that why should one even print a card then? This led him to do a calculation on the visiting cards. The results were startling. On average, in a professional's lifetime, one cuts around 30 trees to make his business cards alone. And with this awe-striking revelation, he realized the issues one faces with the traditional business cards and decided to dedicate himself entirely towards solving it. As a result, he started planning an eco-friendly digital alternative to the old business cards. After discussing this idea with his colleagues, the basis for the MeApp was laid down.
When the idea was discussed internally, the (Olympiados)team loved the idea and were excited enough to start with it without any research or evaluation. Hence they went on building this concept without any prior research.
Viinod began the basic ideation with his Olympiados teammates Kushagra and Dhiraj as they tried to address replication of the human actions of giving and receiving cards which are broadly known as skeuomorphism.
My Entity - Name, Tagline and Logo
The first thing that came up during the brainstorming was ‘ME' as this is all about the concept of ME.
When presenting a business card to someone, your card will symbolize your pride of your position and your company. Hence we extend our cards with both hands as a gesture of respect for each other’s positions. It’s all about me and my entity - Viinod says
The logo indicates that the head is independent of the heart and body. And the idea was quite simple. It shows two people meeting and that's how the beginning of any good relationship starts.
My Entity - Business Model and Revenue Model
The first phase of the product is a B2C platform and the primary audience are all those who still print their visiting cards. Me Card has a freemium model, i.e., the free premium model, wherein the users of the app will have access to both free and paid card templates. The basic idea is to create an ecosystem and making a habit of people getting into digital cards and MeApp.
In the freemium model, premium cards have a one time cost of Rs 480 and a one-time payment for a customized option of Rs 960. The referral coupons are integrated, where when a user recommends 10 other users he will get Rs 250 credit in his account. And the person who is being introduced will get Rs 50 credit. The goal is to get 100000 customers in 6 months.
My Entity - User Acquisition
Leveraging social media and digital media and referral Coupon system is the main focus as this is a mobile application which can be crucial to the Businessmen, Sales & Marketing professionals, Freelancers and Small and Emerging Entrepreneurs. Hence social Media and Digital Marketing are our key strategies to attract the customer base.
My Entity - Startup Challenges
The most challenging part is getting the right human resources. As a non-tech founder, it becomes really difficult to recruit quality tech partners. First, the product was outsourced for development but not even 20% of the work could be completed and he lost a heavy sum of money. He then recruited a tech guy who almost single-handedly developed the MVP and later added more resources to support
As of now the company is bootstrapped so going forward the next challenge would be funding. For the above reasons, they are looking to create good brand awareness with the help of responsible media houses like StartupTalky to help us in this initiative.
My Entity - Awards & Recognitions
This stellar idea was presented to the Forest Department of Maharashtra. The ministers, principal secretary, and officers in the department loved the idea and even offered for MeApp to be used in the ministry. The offer has been on hold due to the current Vidhansabha Elections.
My Entity - Future Plans
The company has just started its journey with the MeApp. This initiative by Mr, Viinod aims at bringing a revolution in the industry and he envisions a bright future for the company, just like any other. Also, the bonus is that they have a couple of innovative ideas for B2B companies as well and they're already getting ready to drop them on the market.
Author: Chayanika Goswami
Source : https://startuptalky.com/my-entity-me-app-digital-business-card/
Date : 2020-09-09T12:10:59.000Z