Chaupaati’s First Known Phone Pe Deal

Often when someone tells you about a coincidence, you feel people forcefully draw correlations to prove a conjunction. The entire coincidence thing is nonsense and you quietly show a (fake) surprise in other person’s excitement. But what do you do when it happens to you?

On 15 Jun 2008, Kashyap and I were taking a tour in our test market region. Some people had suggested that Sakinaka should be a good market for second hand goods and we wasted no time in getting there.

As soon as we crossed Sakinaka signal we stopped at a mobile store. Unfortunately, the person said he did not deal in second hand items. We moved a few meters ahead and saw a board “Best Computer Solutions - Exchange Old with New Computers”. It was a no brainer. We knew this was our target customer. Best Computer Solutions is owned by a young guy in his early 30’s - Sayed Asad. Asad was on a leave that day and hence we met his assistant Babu Bhai with whom we discussed Chaupaati at length. On 24 Jun 2008, a day before our launch, I made it a point to visit this shop and take some listings. I met Sayed Asad then, who was quite excited about the idea and promised support to us. He quickly gave 9 listings - 4 computers, 2 laptops, and 3 upgrades.

Later, I had a telephonic discussion with Asad and he reported some bugs in our system. His feedback was immediately incorporated. I spoke to him yesterday again. I was checking why has wasn’t accepting buyer leads for laptop sent to him by Chaupaati. He told me his laptop was sold a few days back. After a pause, he added it was sold to a buyer referred through Chaupaati!

This immediately reminded me of Zishaan’s email, which was sent earlier during the day. Zishaan had informed the team that he came across a buyer, a software engineer named Sunil Pachal, who had bought a laptop from a seller connected through Chaupaati. I did not think then that the laptop might have been sold by Asad.

Coincidences did occur. The seller of the laptop deal Zishaan had mentioned was Asad. Asad was a great supporter of our service and he turned out to be our first known seller. But more than the coincidence, the thought that Chaupaati was able to connect Sayed Asad and Sunil Pachal, who otherwise would have not known each other, is quite energizing for the entire team. And this was really simple for them. They called 922 222 1947 and Chaupaati connected them. Both spoke to each other over the phone without moving an inch, discussed the price and other terms and conditions and then physically made the deal.

Traditionally, word of mouth marketing is the only channel available for millions of people who form a major portion of India’s working class - the unorganized sector. Chaupaati aims to empower these people with freedom to market their products and services. We hope that we empower many more people like Asad with this freedom.