Sulekha is known for its unique business model and for being what the promoters and stakeholders call a Web 2.0 version in the web 1.0 age. Launched in 1998 from an email list, named Dakghar (post office in Hindi) that connected the alumni of IIM-Calcutta, it carried articles written by them. One alumnus, Satya Prabhkar, was inspired by the idea and created a website, Sulekha, to publish articles written by Indians from around the world. Today, the site gets 20 mn page views every month. Param Parameshwaran, chairman of Sulekha.com and Indigo Monsoon Group speaks to Bhaswati Chakravorty of Dataquest about the unique business model

What is the uniqueness of the Sulekha business model that helped it survive the dotcom bust?
Sulekha, as you know, is the largest and most popular member-generated community for social/professional networking hub integrating social media and local commerce services. Put simply, most of the content that you find on our site is member generated which is the single-largest strength of sulekha.com. In 2001, Sulekha received an investment of $5 mn from Indigo Monsoon Group, our first investment in India, which incidentally brought on Sulekha's board as the chairman.

In my opinion, most web companies in the dotcom wave had to fight multiple battles. Content being member generated took care of the unpredictable challenge. I think what we did right, unlike dotcom companies concentrated on strengthening systems and processes instead of only investing on promoting the brand.

How has the business model changed in the last five years?
Our initial business model where people are encouraged to write remains unchanged. The site earns revenue through the sale and syndication of content. Also, earns money through transaction services, such as online ticketing for organizations and companies, and classifieds. We have also gone into vertical-based content like movies and travel search. We also offer business leads to smaller businesses post member permission. Initially, we were completely focused on the NRI population. However, we have an India focus today. There are 26 city portals worldwide. We generate some revenue from online advertising as well.

Sulekha has recently received investment from Norwest Venture Partners. How large is the investment and how does the partnership work for both Sulekha and NVP?
Promod Haque's NVP has invested $10 mn in Sulekha. NVP is one of the most reputed venture capital firms in the world with more than 45 years of experience in building successful companies. This, coupled with NVP's strong interest, many investments and relationships across various industries in India, made NVP a great choice for Sulekha as we pursue aggressive growth plans in the coming year. Sulekha.com plans to use the new capital to extend business development and marketing, primarily through alliances, and expand its service offerings into new vertical markets.

What kind of growth strategy have you put in place?
Sulekha's target market is the 50 mn online and 80 mn mobile users today which are expected to grow to 100 mn and 200 mn users, respectively, in the next few years. We have invested heavily in our sales force. We would also like to develop our business through new alliances with mobile operators and the media. For example, Sulekha Yellow Pages is available on WAP-enabled mobile phones. We are also looking to reach out to smaller Tier II cities like Gwalior, Coimbatore, Pune, among others. We are also investing on brand building activities. We have been achieving 100% growth y-o-y over the last couple of years and hope to keep it up.

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