Ticnpic aims to create a social platform which shall have a worldwide connectivity among users, based on products varying from Lifestyle product to electronics, fashion and many more. Founded in October 2013 by Saurabh Gupta, the team bring Ticnpic in order to inculcate some healthy buying habits as well as empowering user to create their own space of products, which interest them motivates them, also those products which users always intent to buy, sell, talk about it and create a buzz.
Saurabh Gupta, Founder, Ticnpic talked in detail about his entrepreneurial journey and his offering in an interaction with BWdisruptHow did the entrepreneurial bug bite you? I was 19 when I got chance to work for a concept vehicle. I was the only one selected during my first year across the university among 1-3rd yr student. The complete knowledge gain and learning was an awesome experience during the development of complete vehicle. I always wish to share all those niche and cutting edge technology I learnt during that 8 month time frame. While I was 20 I have started following my passion of educating people on the same subject, this acted as an first step to my entrepreneurship journey for Edutech startup Metawing Technologies (P) Ltd, seeking the same desire to learn more and spread more awareness we started a National Technology Awareness Campaign for Automobile which by year 2013 turn out to be the Asia's Largest campaign for Automobile with CIS India and Wikipedia. Serving OEMS clients with niche technology of 3D Scanning, Reverse Engg and in house developed ERP (MBIZZ for SME) taught me lot of Operational Procedure, Strategic Developments and more. We followed the same innovation with our Second startup getmeashop.com as co-founder which has been recently sold at Times Internet after the exit. Pursued my passion and hunger for building an innovative product based on Visual Discovery Engine.
When was Ticnpic Started?We started working at Ticnpic by October 2013. I was the solo founder for the same. Me and my team always believed in addressing the problem for masses related to eComm buying with a simple yet powerful technology solution. The vision and aim of the product was well defined, we had a lot of struggling days with technology front, financial and more, but the one thing which kept us united and work for each other is the vision and the problem for which we are developing a very noble solution.
Our product has simple offering of making people search easier for fashion, other lifestyle product very easy. We want to break the brick and mortars boundary between eCommerce and local commerce and help them find the best thus adding value to their life while saving time and money for them. We as an Visual Discovery platform uses a strong cutting edge technology related to image processing/analysis, deep learning and Augmented Reality to make their search object available to them just on a click and addressing or building a community around eCommerce and local commerce to help people each other to buy better.
How does it work?The startup works in 4 simple steps:
1. Create your own closetJust pick any product from any online shopping website and post it on your account and enjoy your own shopping space to compare, share and buy.
2. Follow people to select bestTo get connected with the new trending products, Follow people to select the best choice for you.
3. Buy best product by compare and shareNow don't get confused among thousands of products. Compare it and share on social platforms and get genuine reviews to get the best product at minimum price.
4. Help others, to help yourselfHelp your followings and followers to buy the best and get rewarded by lucrative deals and discounts.
Challenges Faced by TicnpicWe are still bootstrapped for more than past 2nd half year while we were extensively working on the development of the technology and making it work more precise. Somehow we had the money from our last venture which help us sustain the team. The challenges initially was majorly on technical front as building up a team who can give it all to make things work no matter with the time and relentless effort we put in, we failed multiple times on making the technology work precisely, but finally its all paid off with every appreciation we receive when people see this technology work awesome. Along with it once we burnt our financial reserve, we start discovering the use of the technology at different grounds. during the journey we have learnt one simple thing. Necessity is the mother of invention or discovery.
CompetitorsWe do not have any direct competitors as the technology developed is of its own kind. But yes we have similar product in market trying to build fashion community strong are Roposo and Wooplr and Voonik can also be included in the list.
Differentiation FactorsBusiness model is different as we are going to segregate our technology across all major apps, local store and more. So that we can add value directly to people's life of making their Visual discovery for fashion, lifestyle or any other product very much easier or just on a click. Since the present fashion curation apps majorly are influencer or fashionistas which share their personal style tips. Where we believe fashion is more personified and local in orientation. Fashion is something which you notice around you, friends, celebrities or more via different sources. Our technology help you find all the similar fashion across eComm and local comm just in few seconds.
ClientsOur clients are all B2B companies, Brands, Local showrooms, Chat apps or anyone else buying online. As technology will change of how people can easily make a search just with an image.
Traction DetailsWe have 47 thousand registered user on board and have closed 8 B2B clients in a span of past 4 months. We are active on android and web platform and also planning to launch on iOS platform very soon. We are getting 68000 local collection or looks built monthly by user.
Funding & MonetizationWe are in good talking terms with 3 major investment firms with a very good valuation as our business has already started making good money when we have not opened up our all revenue channels. We are going to close a pre A series round in next 3 months. We monetize via B2B technology integration, Community buying, Affiliate commission, and advertising on PPC model is in pipeline.
The best and worst memories while setting up …Worst memories of failing during the procedure and when the team blame each other for not turning the things in success. That always made us realize the importance of success and not to give excuse to others and ourself, Bootstrapping for that long 2.5 yr has always created a hassle of making things work smoothly. But we as a team has courage to face the challenges. Best part is when we meet with the people or interact with our client. their feedback with a smile and words like Awesome, really? give us lot of psychological fuel to take things to next level.
Marketing PlansWe are going to cover all different verticals to market the product and its technology. So that common girl, man shall take the best use of it. We are going to integrate it with different platforms where people are already present. We will implement at local retail outlets showrooms and more. Alongside we are focusing initially more with our youth who are most technology adaptable social me people to take the word across while sharing its use case. Actively spreading words on different social media platforms. Creating a web series of the use cases to make people relate and use the app for making their search easier with our visual discovery platform.
Market Size & OpportunityThe market size at present for fashion commerce is $8 billion online and $97 billion offline retail. It's expected to grow $28 billion by 2020. Our segregation of eComm and local commerce using the developed technology will help us get the revenue from both the sources.
