Chetan Agarwal / Karan Saharan / Sonal Saraogi / Rohit
Pansari
DoneThing
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Dear Friends :
Just read in Business Line ( 02 Sept ) , a news report about
your novel venture " DoneThing
" , the last para of which reads :
Reminiscing about the initial days, he ( Karan ) adds :
A lady called us up and said she needed someone to go
shopping with her . Though the request stumped us at first, co-founder Sonal accompanied the lady . After all , we
had to get the task done "
After going thru your web site , it became clear that , this
( type of service ), is only a small part of your , now , vast offering of
errands that you undertake for your customers
Despite that , you may like my following blog ( do let me
know , if you do ! )
with regards,
(
click to view my profile )
Marol
, Mumbai , India
( M
) +91 - 98,67,55,08,08
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Sunday,
24 July 2016
Share
- Your - Soul / Outsourcing Unlimited
Business Line ( 23 July
, 2016 ) carried an interesting report re mushrooming of " Rent-a-Friend " services in Japan, where
you can " rent " ( on hourly basis ) , a fake friend , a family member or a companion for various
occasions
One Nashimoto even " rents
" himself out for " conversation
" to 30 / 40 clients a month ( 70 % women ), for $ 10 per hour . He has an
online service .
All kinds of people ( young
and old / rich and not-so-rich ), engage him for reasons ranging from,
* lack
of family support / keeping company ( physically or online )
* social isolation /
detachment from society
* desire to speak out
freely without inhibitions
* advice on dealing
with bosses..........etc
Now , online space is
overflowing with some genuine ( and some , otherwise ) , " Escort Services " in many countries (
including , in India ) , which are very expensive
And for every rich person in
need of such an escort service , there are a hundred , not-so-rich and needy
persons , who just need someone online ,
from time to time , to pour out their hearts !
I believe , thousands of
educated / unemployed Indians are well placed to render such " Listening
" services to needy persons all around the World , remotely , using Skype
/ FaceTime
Here is an outline of my
suggestion , re how young / educated / unemployed Indians can offer such
service :
# VEHICLE
This
strictly " Online " service will have a platform called , www...COUCH...com ( supported by a
Mobile App )
# USERS
There will
be two kinds of users who will register on this site , viz:
*
" Talkers " ,
who want to engage someone who will listen to them / sympathize with them
*
" Listeners " ,
who will listen patiently / ask occasional question / offer advice -
sympathy - empathy
# REGISTRATION
FORM
For both type of users , the
Registration Form will require to submit following details :
* Personal Details ( Name / DOB / Gender / Nationality /
Bank Account No / Photo / Short Video etc )
* Family Details
( Who are members of immediate family ? )
* Contact Details ( Address / Mobile No / Email ID / Skype
- FaceTime ID / WatsApp..etc )
* Social Media Footprint ( Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter :
No of Friends - Contacts - Connections - Followers )
* Cultural Exposure ( Countries visited / lived-in , with
stay-periods / Foreign friends )
* Educational Details ( Degrees / Colleges ) . Listeners having
degree in Psychology will get ranked higher !
* Language Details ( Languages spoken / fluently -
reasonably well )
* Experience Details ( Where worked / for how long ) . Retired
/ Worldly Wise , Listeners get ranked higher !
* Availability Details ( Available from - to / GMT- Local time )
Based on the completeness of the
Registration Form Details , a software will rate
and rank the Listeners , which will
be visible to the Talkers
There will be facility to
update / edit the data submitted
Upon registration , users
will be assigned USER ID and PASSWORD
In addition , Listener will be assigned a unique COUCH / INTERVIEW-CABIN number
# SEARCHING
DATABASE OF LISTENERS
Talkers will be able to search the database of the registered Listeners , except for their " Contact
Details "
Talkers can , then select / shortlist , a few
listeners of their preference
# SERVICE
CHARGE
Talkers will pay $ 2 per hour to the portal , which will credit this
amount to the Bank Account of the concerned
Listener , after deducting 10 % as its own
commission
# PAYMENT
MECHANISM
Using
online payment gateway , Talkers will
deposit a minimum of $ 20 , on the portal as PRE-PAID amount
As Talker continues using the service , credit balance will get displayed ( in $ and
in " Hours " terms )
There will
be facility for online ( or through Mobile ) re-charging
of the account
# PROCESS
A Listener can login anytime and occupy his own
virtual COUCH / CABIN ( " I am now available for
listening "
)
As soon as
he does , a GREEN light will shine on the CABIN , showing the online availability of the
concerned
Listener .
This green light will tell
the Talkers :
" Welcome
! I am ready to listen "
The light
will turn RED , as soon as a Talker walks into Listener's CABIN ( " I am engaged right now " )
Any time a Talker logs in , he will find if any Listeners ( that he had previously shortlisted )
are available online
If he finds
one , he simply CLICKS on the CABIN icon and enters that VIRTUAL cabin !
Simultaneously , both the Talker and
the Listener , turn
on their Skype ( on Mobile or Tablet ) to start the talk
Remember
, Skype ID of neither the Talker , nor the Listener , is ever visible to each
other !
All
conversation / transaction , can ONLY take place through www...COUCH...com ( no
bypassing ! )
The entire conversation
will get recorded ( Video + Audio ) and can be downloaded by the Talker ( but not by
the Listener ) , if he so desires
Portal will be
obliged to make this recording available to a Court of Law , in case of any
litigation
Portal
will carry a WARNING that it reserves
the right to remove any Talker or
a Listener , if it finds that its
service is being
misused / abused ( will need defining , in detail )
# REPUTATION
SYSTEM
At the
end of each " talk / conversation " , Talker will be obliged to " Rate " the concerned Listener
on a 5
point scale ( Excellent > Horrible ) .
Cumulative / Average "
Rating " will be prominently
displayed for
guidance of all Talkers .
Of course , a Listener can see his own rating as soon as he logs in
At some future
date , it should be possible ( through appropriate software ) , to introduce
following variations in
pricing of the
service ( ie ; Hourly Rates )
:
* Surge
Pricing ( depending
upon the DEMAND of any given Listener ) ie: No of Talkers waiting for a
given
Listener at a given point of time
* Reputation
Pricing ,
based on points accumulated by a given Listener from all past ratings
# USAGE
HISTORY
For
each user ( Listener or Talker ) , there will be a Usage History page of all the past
transactions / talks ; as
also
Credit Balance ( for the Talker )
and the Earnings ( for the Listener )
# PRIVACY
The portal
will NOT reveal any info / data ( including
Audio-Video recording ) of any user to anyone else.
However
, portal will reserve the rights to subject those Audio recordings ( but not
Video recordings ) to
an Artificial
Intelligence ( AI ) software
, which can , over a course of time , come up with a SOFTWARE
ROBOT
that can
take over the role of the HUMAN listeners ! If you have any doubts , ask Ray Kurzweil !
When that
happens , this portal may morph into a PPO ( Psychology Process Outsourcing ) !
The
portal will also reserve the rights to use the Audio recordings for offering
Voice-to-Voice language
translation mobile app for the benefit of world-travelers
# PROMOTING
THE SERVICE
To
an extent , the portal may affect the jobs of local Psychologists /
Psycho-Analysts who offer low level
consulting in any country. They will be in danger of being " Bangalored
" ! So , it is bound to face resistance
from
those vested / threatened interests !
But
foreign Hospitals / Educational Institutions / NGOs / Medical Colleges , etc
could be targeted for promoting
# BUSINESS
MODEL
Business
Model will be in the nature of " Sharing
Economy "
, where those owning / possessing " Idle / Spare /
Under-utilized " assets / resources , will offer the same to those in need
/ when in need , for a price
Eg:
Millions
of private car-owners use their cars for ( may be ) two hours per day . Uber
aggregates this spare
capacity and
makes it available to travelers who do not own ( or wish to own ) their own
cars
Both
parties benefit . Economy also benefits by fuller utilization of the
spare/surplus capacities of millions of
assets
All in all , I think this is
a great opportunity for some Indian Start Up to seize
For an depth idea ( Page
Write-ups for web site / User Interfaces ) , look up :
# www.hemenparekh.in > Reports > OnlineJobsFair
Carpe Diem !
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25 July 2016
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