We are publishing the interview of Mr. Anuraag Bhaskarbhatta & Mr. Sharad Sharma, Founders, Cabby Cabs
Mission:
The primary motto of Cabby is to create a culture of trust between people who can share rides with each other and decongest the roads. Ridesharing is something that has been long ignored and carpooling doesn’t really work in this country due to many factors.
Peer to peer ridesharing means when a personal car owner shares his ride with another person. This is the need of the hour as cabs are costly and customers are in need of a cheaper ride. We also believe in empowering the vehicle owners to be able to offer rides and save fuel cost. So, we hope that we succeed in this pursuit of connecting the ride givers with the ride seekers. No player in the market is currently doing what we are doing. We offer both 2 and 4 wheeler vehicles and are open to all unlike other players who are restricting to only those with corporate email id.
Embarkation
The journey is still as challenging as it can get. The irresistible urge to see your startup grow and also the restlessness faced due to unlimited hurdles is a harrowing experience. Everything just keeps falling apart and you are left wondering if it is a good idea to pursue your dream. It is very important to keep a cashflow so that you are not completely dependent on your startup until it is funded. This extra effort has to be put so that you don’t ruin your personal life as well as your professional one. I just think that keeping at it will ultimately be rewarded in some way or the other. Till then however, we have to be persistent in our efforts and have faith in the universe that it will work out in the end. Everyone has to experience that struggle at some point in life.
First obstacle
We had earlier started out as a cab aggregator similar to Ola and Uber but with much different revenue model. We had a great response from the fleet owners and had registered more than 70 vehicles with us. However, we could not retain them due to the incentives paid to them by Ola and Uber. This made it difficult for us to survive. This was a point we had to make a decision. We could shut down as we had invested our own money and the sheer zeal to make it work got us thinking about an alternative. And we came up with peer to peer ridesharing model. We had again change our business plan and most importantly our app. It was really difficult to start from scratch. We just kept going having faith and conviction that this new model was unique.
Breakthrough
It happens sometimes that a failure makes way for something better and it happened with us. The failure of our cab aggregation model taught us a great deal of things. Though people were sceptic about what we were doing with our career, we were sure if we executed this well, we could be looking at a revolution here. Anyone can give ride to anyone, this would not only make the rides cheaper for customers but also make the personal vehicle owners (both 2 &4 wheeler) to offer rides to save fuel cost. The best thing is that we don’t have to pay any incentives to ride givers as it not their primary source of income. We are the only player in the market with such features.
This market is yet to mature and we wish to be the first mover in this. We want to lead this market toward growth revolutionising the way people travel.
Results
The feedback from the users is the biggest elation. We have started our operations in Pune and have so far managed to get 30-35 rides a day which is surely not much as of now but we have achieved this with no resources and are growing at a good pace. The right funding will help us catapult to more rides and help us grow and expand to other cities.
People are loving this concept, even friends who used to tag along with their friends on their vehicles are now choosing to book through our app as they no more guilty of riding free. They are happy to pay and the ride giver saves fuel cost which is really satisfying for them.
This is what we wanted to achieve, a culture of sharing. We want to empower people with vehicles to offer rides and save fuel cost and in turn customers get cheapest rides in the market. It is a win-win situation.
The perks are far from being reaped yet. This is just the beginning and have a long way to go. However, the journey has been really great, challenging though, but definitely worth it. We are working toward making our vision come true and that is what drives us every day to give our 100%. The next plan is to expand to establish our hold in Pune and get as many users and rides as possible and then scale up to new places like Goa, Hyderabad etc.
Corporate vision and where are we heading
The corporate vision is to create a company that is leader in the personal vehicle space. We have lots of ideas as to how we wish to do it which for obvious reasons can’t reveal here. We will surely get there as we have strong conviction in our idea and our ability to make it happen.
Our idea’s growth
As our idea grows into reality we will be focusing on expanding it to as many cities as possible. We have a clear path in front of us as to how to achieve it and also with our growth at a good pace we can surely say we are on the right path. Our primary focus is on getting as many ride givers on the platform as possible. This will ensure availability of givers for seekers.
Retention of ride givers is of prime importance though it is challenging but yet attainable. Once we grow we will be a lot more confident to be getting thousands of daily rides and our revenues will also start.
Distinction
The prime differentiation is that we offer both 2 & 4 wheeler vehicles on our platform. Another difference is that we are completely real time ridesharing unlike others who encourage to schedule rides. We are open to all and not just corporate. Looking at the safety of the users, we have a verification process and also call them randomly in between the rides to ensure they are safe. This has never been done before and will be completely game-changing in terms of establishing a personal relationship with the users so as to make them feel comfortable.
SWOT:
Our Strengths are our distinctions as above. Our Weakness is that we have limited resources and that hinders in moving forward fast enough in terms of both the app and the marketing. Opportunities are great especially in tier2 cities where people don’t want to spend much money on taxi and vehicle owners would love the idea of earning extra by offering rides. The threat however is the entry of Ola or Uber in this market which would pose an incredible amount of challenge as they are heavily funded. We till then are sure to capture as much market as possible and lead the market.
Names of the founders:
1) Anuraag Bhaskarbhatta
2) Sharad Sharma
Website: www.cabbycabs.com
