Neeraj Singh, Founder, EventsInIndia.com

Of the umpteen sites offering various online services only a few tend to register in the viewer’s mind but EventsInIndia.com is the kind one cannot so easily blank out on. This event solution site was orchestrated by Neeraj Singh who strongly felt the need to cater the masses with information about the plethora of events happening in their cities. Singh, an engineering student, graduated from REC Trichy, Tamilnadu, worked with Infosys for about 4 years and then went on to get his masters degree from Carnegie Mellon University, USA. His objective, to make available to the average people a service replete with information about the various non-celebrity events happening in the country, had far greater implications than he had conceived.

Not only does the site provides a listing of events, but also sends notifications, alerts and reminders to the users for keeping them updated about what’s coming next. Besides, the organisations arranging for the events can also use the web calendar and similar other features to keep people informed about the upcoming events.

“All you have to do is sign up for event notification on our site and you will receive an email everyday about the upcoming events. It really makes life a lot more convenient for people tied up with their mundane jobs but who are looking forward to make it to an interesting event. A lot of people have signed up for availing our services,” informed Singh.

Singh started working on EventsInIndia.com when he saw the other Indian websites flooded with advertisements of no real consequence. Not a single one of them covered small events and the ones they hyped were too garish for the common people to take interest in. And the common folk is precisely what Singh zeroed in on, not the affluent. “The general public has benefited a lot from the services we provide. I have received numerous mails appreciating us for the endeavour. Businessmen, who earlier found it difficult to reach out to their clients, have also capitalised on our services for inviting friends for a particular event by sending an email invitation.”

In addition to this, the site also has a section called ‘Marketplace’, which is an attempt to conjoin both event service providers and consumers. The forum has helped a number of service providers step-up their business by promoting them on the site and linking them with the potential consumers.

Surprisingly, a venture so mammoth as this is run by a team of two, one of which is Singh himself. “We believe that being small is an asset and not a liability. Our micro-level operation facilitates easy change in the company’s course of direction. It helps us adapt to the changing demands of the market.

Not that Singh did not face any challenges. He had no idea about the ‘event business’ and was just as vague about how to initiate the work. In fact, when EventsInIndia was launched, very few people visited the site. Singh’s kin and kith dissuaded him to give up telling him that with other more popular site monopolising the online market, he barely stood a chance to succeed. It was very disappointing but Singh did not succumb to these pressures. With every passing day he saw his enterprise grow, slowly but surely. He received new members and events every month. So, the thought of giving up the venture never really occurred to him. In fact, some six months back, he even received an offer from a person who wished to buy the website, but Singh politely refused.

And what is the vision for the year 2010? “Our only goal is to provide our users with excellent services. Unlike the other websites, our aim is not to increase page hits or procure revenue by placing a lot of advertisements. If we can earn the trust of the people and provide them with useful services, it’s a reward in itself. We do not have anything specific laid out for 2010. Strategies are modified on a weekly basis depending on what works best. But we do plan to strengthen our presence in more cities in a year’s time.”

Singh has a few tips to dish out for those aspiring to take up a similar venture. “Look for something unique, something not introduced yet, and work hard to make it a success. A lot of people will discourage you and you even want to hook on to something less demanding, but true success has no short cuts. It’s difficult for people to believe that EventsInIndia.com was developed by just two people, but that is the fact. We have come this far without spending much on advertisement. All we did was to focus on our job and providing fantabulous services.