Entrepreneur Vikram Pratap: Providing Web IT Solutions

E-commerce has boosted entrepreneurship in many ways. With the IT boom and advent of new web based technologies, many aspiring entrepreneurs carved a new niche for themselves, one driven by this technological revolution. A product of the growing opportunity in e-commerce, Web IT Solutions was founded by Vikram Pratap and Siddhi Sharma in 2009. The idea was to generate news at a click in the fastest and most efficient manner. A serial entrepreneur, Vikram Pratap, Founder and CEO of Web Creation and Web IT Solutions, discusses the different facets of his journey.

We interviewed with Vikram about his entrepreneurial journey.

Q1. When did you start The Web IT Solutions?

The Web IT Solutions was started in July 2009 with its first website Daily Latest News. In this time span of 15 Months, The Web IT Solutions now have 7 portals that provides News solutions in various fields like, Cricket, Entertainment, India and Other News.

Recently we Started CommonWealthDelhi.com that has emerged one of the top sites providing news updates and results of Commonwealth Games going on in Delhi.

Q2. What is your background?

I was working with Naukri.com as a Senior Web Designer and UI Developer earlier in 2005. Later I decided to start my own company and started The Web Creation in 2008. It deals in Website Development, Domain Registration and Web Hosting Solutions. It currently has more than 200 clients. Later in 2009 I decided to create a news and current affairs portal and developed Daily Latest News. I started the Web IT Solutions with 7 portals that deal in news and current affairs. I left Naukri.com in 2009 and joined The Web IT Solutions full time. I have completed my MBA from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan in IT and Marketing. I am the founder of Web Creation and the Web IT Solutions.

Q3. Who are the other co-founders?

Siddhi Sharma is the Co-founder. She is responsible for what the Web IT Solutions is at present. As I was working with Naukri earlier and could give my services to the company only part time, she was the one who was handling everything single handedly. She is a Graduate from Rajasthan University and has contributed a lot to the company.

Q4. What is the business model of your venture? Major sources of revenue?

The Web IT Solutions is based on a model, in which we run many news websites such as Daily Latest News, Ganpati News and so on, covering different themes. The model is based on providing news in the fastest manner. We try and keep a track of most searched keywords on Google and accordingly, we come to know what is being read the most on the internet. Our team of writers contributes articles as per their convenience. Then these are published almost instantaneously. Revenue generation is mostly from advertisements or per click/viewership of content.

Q5. What is the future of e-commerce and internet businesses in India?

The potential of ecommerce and internet businesses is brilliant! Just a few years back, ecommerce was a new word. But at the present moment, ecommerce is as standard in our dictionary as retail or wholesale. A lot of companies are doing trade online. Some are 100% online companies with their commerce completely on the Internet. ECommerce has transformed the twenty first century in a way that not many other technologies have. In the past 10 years, the eCommerce has developed opportunities of full-scale business. With the internet creativing avenues for entrepreneurs in the profit-making scenario of today, the potential of Ecommerce trades and the industry as a whole seem extremely hopeful.

Q6. What is your personal motivation to be an entrepreneur? What is the one success factor you would attribute your success to?

I always wanted to be an entrepreneur because it provides you more flexibility, more scope for innovation and improving the status quo. Plus, my experience in the ecommerce field provided an impetus to my entrepreneurial bug. I saw a clear opportunity in the internet content management field. Hence, there was no reason for me to not start my own business. I was also lucky enough to find the right team. I think that is critical to my success. Having prior experience in this field is also an important success factor.

Q7. What are the challenges you face as an internet entrepreneur?

The challenges faced by internet entrepreneurs are completely different from those of entrepreneurs who have offline business ventures. This calls for an internet entrepreneur to have a separate set of abilities to adjust to the challenges of online trade.

Some of the challenges that I faced as an internet entrepreneurs are that firstly, internet is such a fast developing and cutthroat environment that technology, software and chances can be at a peak in one day and be completely gone the subsequent day. So the internet entrepreneurs need to be ready to learn new trends very fast and leave the old technologies behind as quickly as possible. Secondly, it is very hard to get the press and media to cover you. As media is one of the most popular means to build a good brand, it is hard for internet entrepreneurs to become popular without press coverage. Often, offline promotion becomes useless as people who view those ads would not go online to check the website. Even if one is able to attract major online readers, he would not make a lot of money per view or per visitor. With Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) of around just a dollar, one will need numerous page impressions to build any noteworthy money.

Q8. List some factors that you think can improve the overall ecommerce eco-system in India, for entrepreneurs.

The overall business situation in India still requires changes for more effectiveness. The Indian government has a duty and must create the right business circumstances for the Indian entrepreneurs to grow based on the nation’s incredible supply of IT skills.

More awareness should be created about the use of technology, so that people who are aware of modern techniques of online purchase should also get to know the advantages and accessibility of the new techniques of business which can save their time and money.

A winning entrepreneurship ecosystem is a mixture of a lot of factors, which include a strong and lively economic atmosphere, learning and incubation, motivation, providing early-stage funds to new entrepreneurs etc.

Q9. What is your USP, as against other competitors?

Our USP is our ability to deliver news that people want to read, in the fastest and most accurate manner. You can expect our site to get updated every second, as soon as any interesting news breaks out. It is a full time venture and we have a very hardworking team, always up on their feet, developing the best news content.

Q10. What are your future plans for your venture?

In future, we want to continue to grow our ventures by targeting more and more genres within news. We also hope to attract more and more writers, with advanced skills. Readership is another area we will focus on and continue building upon.

About me:Unnati is a freelance writer, author and entrepreneur. From her blog to media initiatives like Times Ascent, HT Edge and The Better India, she is always keen on any writing opportunity that may come her way. Her writing bug extends to her venture www.serenewoods.com, a publishing portal she co-founded early 2009, for emerging authors. She is also the author of Drenched Soul (poetry) and If At All (Fiction).