Nirav Sanghavi, Founder, BlogAdda

“BlogAdda is the largest and most active community of Indian bloggers and is a fun way to discover amazing blogs and wonderful content. I used to read quite a few blogs and was amazed with every new worthy find. Unfortunately, all the good blogs that I discovered didn't have enough visitors/comments. The motive to start BlogAdda was to showcase these blogs in front of a large audience and make it easier for readers to discover new blogs. BlogAdda was not the first choice as the name, it became since there was no .com available for the other name we had thought of. 

”BlogAdda is and will further become one stop source to discover great content. It is an awesome resource for all those who would want to read, connect and network with Indian bloggers. Millions of people who want to discover and read wonderful content benefits from BlogAdda. Someone who wants to read detailed reviews/analysis, local happenings and participate in a conversation with other bloggers on topic of their interest use our services.At many times, the mainstream media takes support/refer to bloggers.”

Blog Adda occupies a position that is at once unique and attractive. Its format and content set it apart from all other Blog communities. Nirav says “The service showcases blogs and bloggers. It also digs and aggregates content from Indian blogosphere almost in real time and picks up the latest entries for everyone to read. The categorization is done according to interests (tag clouds) and geographical locations (cities). Personal page for each blog and blogger with their own shoutboxes and features to form a community of bloggers.”

”There is virtually no service existing like this. With the nature of services we offer coupled with social networking features, we have a big advantage.” 

Nirav believes that the present contains clues to the future. He details their current positioning saying “Currently, We are the media partners for all the important events happening in the country, have the best bloggers interviewed, serve our readers with the best blog posts every week from the Indian blogosphere. With newer initiatives being taken every week, we have a huge lead already and are scaling up big time. Our recent association with Radio One for Perky Tweets is the first and classic example of Internet-Radio association, the first in the country.” 

His excursion as an entrepreneur was inspired by his family. He explains his entrepreneurial turn saying “It runs in the family. I would have never thought otherwise :) - I always had lot of thoughts running in my mind waiting to be explored and I had to execute them. Being an entrepreneur offered me that freedom to try, take risks and experiment. It also gives you a fulfilling experience of creating something that you want to. It's not easy, but it's fun. Lot of fun. :)”

It is not Nirav’s modus operandi to overlook details. He believes that sometimes details are the route to solving problems.

”Scaling up is the biggest challenge we faced. We had lot of thoughts, lot of ideas but we realized we couldn't execute them faster and at times that gave a guilty sad feeling. We realized that we need to take smaller steps, to execute in bits and pieces. And it worked. It worked nicely and we overcame the challenge we had.”

He has faith in entrepreneurial actions and will testify to the righteousness of fighting the good fight. He says “The biggest mistake one can make is 'not executing things'. Ideas are only worth it if they are executed.”

Nirav has a lot of potential on his plate, which makes outlining Blog Adda’s future a difficult mission. He says “We are in the online service business and there are no boundaries. The business can be operated from anywhere with a laptop and an internet connection. Currently, we are comfortable managing from a central location.”

Their reach and coverage has gotten them recognition from unexpected quarters. 

“Our elections coverage leading to American government inviting me to write an article as a guest blogger on their official blog, Our first bloggers meet for a political party, the first ever in India, Our association with Radio One, Interview with Om Malik and many such popular and influential bloggers and the innumerous testimonies, smilies and appreciation we received from the community.” 

“BlogAdda has been featured in many online design galleries across the world. International media companies like BBC, Library of Congress, Global Voices, Intute, MIS Asia and more have covered us apart from a lot of local media. On a personal front, as I mentioned earlier, I've been invited by the American government to write a post as a guest blogger after the social media coverage of Indian elections by us.”

Nirav is also rather famous and in his own right has been making a name for himself.

 “I was felicitated by the Bombay Industries Association at the start of my career and was invited by them to speak to a very large audience explaining them the benefits of Internet in their business. This was very special. Also, I've the distinction of a national record in Limca book of records as the author of the longest blog. And my company holds another national record as well. It's fun to appear twice in the national record books!” reveals Nirav

Despite the brutal drubbing that the world economy has taken, Nirav firmly believes in the tenacity and strength that Entrepreneurship requires and looks more at the silver lining. He explains his fortitude saying “The gratification I get when I see appreciation of what we do. We are here to make a difference in the lives of people by making things simpler that they already do, by helping them to do the same things faster and in a more efficient manner - And I guess the happiness when this happens is an experience not to be missed. :)”

He proclaimed his vision for 2010 to our readers saying “BlogAdda will reach out to more bloggers, readers and make a difference in how they consume information. You can look forward to more associations, activities and interactions.”

To those who are only contemplating and not acting on their ideas, Nirav offers words of encouragement saying “Go for it! Be prepared to work hard, extremely hard. Focus is very critical. You might find many interesting things that you think or want to do, but if you don't focus, you'll lose your way. Once you've realized what you want to do, research - talk to people in the industry, take feedback, be open to change, adapt and start working. Remember, passion will help you start and your action will help you grow. Stop thinking much and start acting!”

Nirav and BlogAdda have done much for Indian writing and Blogs, Yourstory commends them on their great work and applauds their entrepreneurial vision.