‘The Co-Founder’, a print magazine in India, aims to be different by taking an unconventional route in covering Indian startups
A Facebook post
Do you face health issues twice a month? After joining us, does somebody at your home fall sick every month and you have to travel every 15 days? Or do you suddenly realise that you are married and you need to spend time with you wife? … Or you believe that God has given you the strength and the analytical brains to judge the idea and the team, and after two-three months you feel that there is no point carrying on … Or are you one of those who judge a startup by its bank balance, not by its team and strength?
If, by chance, any of these comes to be true, we wish all the very best for your future and the discussion ends here. We don’t need you!
But, my friend, if you can committed to Hirestreet Media Pvt Ltd, treat it as your own baby, and grow with us and help us grow as well, then a whole lot of exciting and challenging commitments are waiting for you. At this point in time what we can offer is a really hard and tough work environment, where your life will be hell, because we want you to be the second head parent of our startup.”
The unusual journey
Adhish Verma was on the lookout for a co-founder for his online startup magazine, Hirestreet Media, after his previous co-founder, unable to get along with him, parted ways. Verma decided to take an unconventional route to find a suitable business partner. For a change, he shared a funny and bizarre post on Facebook, with an aim to strike the right chord with the right partner.
The post paid off, and Arunraj Rajendran, Founder of Startup Cafe, joined Hirestreet as a co-founder.
“The most interesting part is that Arunraj and I met for the first time during the signing ceremony of the terms sheet with our investor Sanjay Choudhary, a UK-based business man and founder of CrowdInvest and SharpEdge,” Adhish tells e27.
The duo collaborated and started writing for HireStreet. As the blog got some good traction, they started to take a leap toward the next big step.
Also Read: Rants and Raves: How to woo a startup journalist
“So, we decided to take a bold step of converting the online magazine to print magazine, which would write exclusively on early-stage startups in India. When we pitched our idea to Choudhary, he liked it and believed in our vision,” Adhish adds. “Thus, India’s first print startup magazine — The Co-Founder — has come out.”
The Co-Founder
Arunraj and Adhish started looking for a new name for their magazine. They wanted a simple name that is easy-to-recall.
One night, Verma was punching in some random names into Google to check their availability. He decided to test his luck with the word ‘The Co-founder’. To his astonishment, the word remained available.
I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I searched again and again for almost five times to ascertain the availability of The Co-Founder. Finally, I figured the brand name was available. Without wasting time, I dialled my Chartered Accountant at 3:00 in the morning and asked him to immediately apply for the trademark. As he was still asleep, he informed me he would do so tomorrow. I responded, ‘do it now, or you are fired’,” he laughs.
Breaking the convention
All traditional startup portals have a very similar approach when it comes to covering startups. Most of them gulp what startups feed to them and don’t bother to verify their claims on funding, revenue, user base, etc.
The Co-Founder writes about startups that have the potential to disrupt the market, but are unable to do so because of certain reasons such as funding crunch, non-reachability and budget constraints.
“Unlike traditional blogs, we don’t just throw up some stupid funding story of startups. Instead, we dig deeper into the company’s history, verify their credentials and check their balance sheet to present a true and in-depth story to our readers,” he adds. “So, if you have an interesting story to tell the world, an impactful business model, and hunger to succeed, you are welcome to be featured in our magazine.”
The Co-Founder team
A monthly magazine, The Co-Founder’s first issue hit the news stands on October 10. The magazine is prices at INR 100 (US$1.50)
Apart from successful stories, the magazine also covers failures, investor reviews, funding, and even startup-related cartoons. Adhish claims that over 21,000 copies have already been sold. Its reader base is comprised of startup geeks, college students and working professionals.
At present, it caters to the startup enthusiasts in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Bangalore. Over the next eight to 12 months, The Co-Founder is looking to hit the 50,000-mark, with presence in every metro city, as well as incubators and colleges.
As per a Nasscom report, with 4,750 startups, India is the third largest market marginally behind the UK, and this number is expected to reach 10,500 by 2020. Every year, almost 600 to 800 startups crop up. As of last year, there are about 70-plus VC funds and 600-plus angel investors.
With its niche and bold approach, The Co-Founder is definitely going to hit the right chord with the fast-growing startup ecosystem of India.
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