Pay only for content you want to read, not for the entire magazine - Patterbuzz

When we buy magazines it is not necessary we read the entire contents featured there. Recently I bought Open source for you only to read an article about kernel development and wondered why I should pay for the entire magazine.

Amit Goel, an avid reader himself, decided to do something about this and launched Patterbuzz last week after working on it for a year. Patterbuzz is a platform that enables you to pay only for the articles you want to read in a magazine. The app is available on iPad.

Before starting Patterbuzz, Amit was an innovation manager working with NDS, a pay TV solutions company, which was acquired by CISCO. His role involved creating new products ideas and prototype them which can be beneficial for the company a few years down the line. He dropped out of MCA and worked for two startups in Kolkata before joining NDS. Amit quit his job in Dec 2012 to work on Patterbuzz fulltime.

Unlike Flipboard and other similar apps, Patterbuzz mainly partners with Indian magazines and content providers along with independent content publishers as well. Since their release last week they have eight magazines on board in all sectors, including Hard News, Power Politics, Management Next, The Textile Magazine and Bangalured.

Patterbuzz has a wallet feature which lets you buy credits which can be used to read articles and subscribe to magazines. You can purchase credits for as low as $1. It currently supports all major currencies which are supported by iOS. In terms of Indian currency one can read premium content for as low as Rs. 2.50 for an article and upwards.

Regarding paying for reading content and the conservative mindset, Amit says, "If people in India have purchasing power to buy high-end smart phones and tablets they can definitely spend a few dollars or a couple of hundred rupees to read their favorite content. Someone just needs to make the whole content publishing and consumption process simple so that the user does not struggle with it and read it on any device, any time with a simple click."

Talking about the lessons he learnt while working on Patterbuzz, Amit says, “Identify and solve problems by talking to your partners. Do not sell directly but help people who are connected directly or indirectly to your business. In our case, we do not tell publishers to join our platform. We listen to their needs and suggest appropriate solutions. For example: in one particular case, we actually suggested a publisher to go to one of our competitors as we thought it will be a better bet for them. But later, they came back to us anyway. We help publishers in building their digital strategies and help in achieving their goals.”

Amit advises to believe in your instinct. “Research your idea well, collect all the facts and figures but in the end believe in your gut feel. I strongly believe that whenever you are on a crossroads go with your instinct. It works.”

Visit Patterbuzz here.