Open Talk @DSIM
An Interview with Dhruv Ratra, CEO and Co-founder at Khelnow.com
Khel Now is the world’s first mobile, social and crowd-sourced platform dedicated to all things related to sports at all levels.
Q1. Hi, Dhruv. Welcome to DSIM. Khel Now is a social platform for sports communities. What ignited the spark in you to start Khel Now?
Ans. Thank you! It started at a young age when we developed a passion for sports. Since then many of us have taken on various sports-related roles in our business lives from managing professional clubs in Europe to working with grassroots academies in India. Over time we realized that there was a complete lack of clarity and information for sports related matters across India and most of the world, especially at the amateur level including schools, colleges, youth leagues, etc. This is what ignited the spark to start Khel Now.
Q2.Unique concept! What was technically the most challenging part of developing Khelnow?
Ans. Understanding what the end user will need at a time when the end-user is not even aware that they need it.
Q3. Dhruv, what are the most effective ways for a company to promote itself online? What does digital marketing do for your business?
Ans. Given that, our target audience is young, mobile and social. Digital and social marketing is the most important channel for us. We have a huge online following with more than 1.1 million Facebook followers. This has helped us get a lot of traction from the day we released the Platform.
Q4. Any particular thing that clicked for you w.r.t marketing?
Ans. Social marketing in the form of content marketing to our followers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has worked well thus far.
Q5. Dhruv, Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals?
Ans.Yeah, sure! Our first target is to get 1 million fans after which we plan to monetize the fan-base to start generating revenue. We are also planning to integrate its sports technology solutions with social media platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others.
Q6. There are 3 people who commonly fund startups 3F’s Friends, Family or Fools; so who gave you the first set of investment for Khelnow?
Ans. Our seed round of investment came from friends. Khel Now has received $350K from Anglian Omega Network.
Q7. Congratulation! What keeps you going as an entrepreneur?
Ans. Thanks a lot! The excitement of doing new things that could be very useful to people around the country and the world is a wonderful motivator.
Q8. So, what are the revenue streams for Khelnow?
Ans. Direct advertising, Sponsored content, Click-through revenue including e-commerce, and Subscription models are the initial streams that a platform can expect.
Q9. Which site or app do you check first when you wake up?
Ans. Khel Now and KhelNow.com
Q10. It was really great talking to you, before end up our conversation, what are your key advice to people who want to startup?
Ans. Follow your dreams, but do not walk in your sleep.
Thank you so much for your valuable time. It was really great to share your experiences and information. Best wishes from DSIM.