From the very beginning, Rohit Agarwal was clear that he did not want to invest his resources in "yet another social networking site" that would have people asking for "friendships". He chose to go for a career networking site and launched techTribe in 2006. Having spent over a decade in the US building a network of professionals, Agarwal says he was driven by the thought: "Why can't we build a network of professional friends and people whom we would like to meet to further our professional network by leveraging the concept of social networking?"
Today, the site boasts of 50,000 registered users, and claims to add 500 new users everyday. Surprisingly, Agarwal, who is the CEO of techTribe, has not yet finalised a revenue model that will get him some money. "What's the hurry?" he says, "We will announce our revenue model by July."
Although the site's prime revenue model will be based on corporate and premium memberships, Agarwal is confident about possibilities of paid e-learning platforms wherein transfer and sharing of knowledge by interested professionals can be utilised.
The young CEO of techTribe has ruled out the idea of using this rich membership base for conventional advertising revenue modes. "We are a career portal and not looking at advertising that would include selling mobile phones or books online," he reasons.
TechTribe will be better off offering, tools like a new resource, anything that makes sense to its registered community members, states Agarwal. Talks are on to launch strategy games that will help people hone skills and online management tutorials in collaboration with leading universities and colleges.
On the question of using a ripe, enviable database of professionals for sale to HR firms or headhunters, he shrugs the idea off by saying, "TechTribe is not interested in an avenue that does not help a career networking portal like ours." He, indeed, makes a bold statement when he claims, "techTribe will break even by the end of this year."
Founded in San Francisco, the techTribe team bootstrapped the venture for the first four months, investing Rs 9 crore, and worked long hours for little gratification. Says Agarwal, "The company received strong validation from venture capitalists (VC), who agreed to fund the company after a 45 minute meeting."
A second round of VC funding is expected to be announced by June that should take care of the branding and marketing drive being planned by the techTribe founders.
The company will launch a round of print media campaigns this summer and will look to market the site aggressively in cafes, multiplexes, at e job fairs and similar places where professionals hang out.
The young serial entrepreneur has also co-authored a book titled How Innovators Connect along with journalist Patricia Brown. The book attempts to delve into the minds of some of the most innovative executives and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and showcase that to Indian tech professionals.
