After three months of providing text message updates to residents in Hubli using information sourced from utility employees who operate local valves, we believe we have created a service that people want are willing to pay for. Never was this clearer to us than after what happened last week.
It was around 11am in the morning, a hot day in Hubli. Four members of our six-person team were working in our office in Lingrajnagar. Our office is on a dirt road in a residential neighborhood, about half a mile back from the main two-lane highway that runs between the twin cities of Hubli and Dharwad. From the dirt road, it’s difficult to see our office. The only thing to distinguish it from the other residences is a NextDrop sticker on the door.
“Namascara,” a man said, appearing at our open door. “Is this NextDrop company?”
His name is B V Nadgir, and he is a branch manager at a local bank. He came by our office because he wanted to sign up for our service. Why did he take the trouble to come looking for us? we wondered. Why now?
Mr. Nadgir (front) and NextDrop associate Avinash Anigol
The day before water had been provided to his area. Because of a scheduled pipe repair, the utility had provided water to his area one day early in the late afternoon. It would normally have reached him the following morning. Because of that change, his family had missed most of the water, only collecting water for half an hour. For many of our customers, it seems that knowing about a single disruption in the schedule is worth the 10 Rupees cost of a monthly subscription.
hiii…i am karthik from chennai….basically a serial enterpreneur…..been on my own for abt 1.5 yrs now and i trade forex and have a small software company….just came across ur site and i wanted to appreciate you for the service that you are doing…i know that u do collect money but that is required to keep any service running….i can imagine how useful it would be for people that you are trying to serve (something not understood by upper middle class who get water everyday anyway) and how grateful they would be….i just hope that u get enough subscribers to keep your service running….if you leave, it would be a big blow to the thousands of people that you would be serving….on the last day of 2011, i felt like wishing you the best of luck for a great 2012 (i am usually lucky for others than myself !!) and if you need anything, let me know…would be glad to help….
Thanks.
Thanks so much Karthik! Happy New year to you as well! We are getting lots of support from people, such as yourself, and from residents in our pilot area so we are incredibly thankful and happy about that! And thank you so much for reaching out!
Thanks for the reply Anu…i also lead a group of investors (basically NRIs who are my college/school mates) and I, individually, love to give something back to the community,where i have grown, so that the community develops….So, i really love your concept and very happy to see someone helping to develop the community…I feel that we need to be in touch to see how we can develop this concept and maybe grow it to other areas as well, if you are interested. Let me know your thoughts…..