WATShow.com

We caught up with Amitabh Pandey the President of the Ebiz at Thomascook prior to their launch of an eticketing portal under the thomascook.in domain name and quizzed him on the following:

1) The competitive pricing model for Online Travel

2)  The Use of Brand name Thomascook

3) The Competition in the Online Travel Space

4) Will travel go completely online?

Hope you enjoyed this weeks WATShow.. Watch out for us next week!

Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a subsidiary of the Indian Railways is known for bringing a change in Indian Railway Ticketing model; from pioneering online train ticket booking to mobile phone and SMS platforms.

Recently, at Proto.in Delhi Chapter, we caught up with Sanjay Aggarwal, GM, IRCTC who shared some insights of IRCTC as largest and the fastest growing eCommerce website in Asia Pacific.

Here are a few questions that we fired at Mr. Sanjay:-

Q1. IRCTC e-ticketing is a huge success, what are the key factors behind it?
Q2. IRCTC is developing its own API and is also looking for a few tie-ups.
Q3. IRCTC has 6 million registered users, but that’s a small number compared to the total population, how do you plan to penetrate further?

Watch the video below to get your answers:-

Do post your comments/feedback on above and let us know what we can do better!

We caught up with Zaki Ansari - Head Rediff Platforms at Proto.in where Rediff.com announced its developer platform. We asked him the following probing questions right after the announcement:

1) What is this platform that rediff has launched for developers?

2)  What mark up languages can developers use for developing for rediff?

3) Is Rediff building apps of its own to start with?

4) How does the developer benefit?

5) How will rediff make money?

6) Will there be a separate page for apps on Rediff.com?

7) Will rediff allow its competitors to create apps for its platform?

How do you plan to help an Indian App Developer?

Check out the exclusive WATShow below:

 Hope you enjoyed this WATShow.. Stay tuned for more such exclusives in the future as well. Do post your queries on the rediff platform in the comments as well.

We caught up with GlobalScholar.com CEO Kal Raman who prior to joining GlobalScholar.com, he was the SVP of WW hardlines at amazon.com since Aug 2004. At amazon.com, Kal was in charge of the world wide hardlines business and also in charge of retail technology and online marketing for the entire company.

Kal held variety of jobs at drugstore.com from 1998-2004. He was the CEO of drugstore.com from 2001-04 and also served as COO and CIO.

We asked him the following questions:

• Please give us a brief description of GlobalScholar.com?

• What promted you to start GlobalScholar.com?

• Was it difficult to raise funds for Globalscholar.com?

• Your advise to others who are trying to raise funds?

• You recently acquired a software company, How does that help globalscholar?

• Which company do you look at as competition?

• Who or What would you credit with your phenomenal individual success?

Here is one of the best WATShow’s

Hope you enjoyed this WATShow.. Stay tuned for part 2 of the same next week!

Founded in 2000, MouthShut.com is an User Generated Content Company. It has evolved into an online community where consumers come together to write and read reviews and compare hundreds of products and services. It is also a repository  which offers consumers the option of recording and posting video reviews.

WATShow recently met up with Faisal Farooqui, CEO, Moutshut.com, for a little tête-à-tête and asked him a few questions like

•  Why should brands care about Mouthshut.com?
• How is Mouthshut.com different from others in the market?
• How did the Rickshaw branding happen?
• Are you looking to raise funds? If yes, then how much?
• A word of advice for brands to combat negative feedback.
• 3 pointers for internet start ups in the country.

And finally, here comes the interview with the man himself….

AskLaila, an Indian local search engine, has come a long way since its inception back in August, 2007. After being able to woo venture capitalists for pumping in 10 million dollars, it spruced up its services, allowing users to wade through their list of restaurants, shopping and hangout joints.

We caught up with Shriram Adukoorie, the co-founder of AskLaila.com, at the IAMAI, asking about their recent entry into the mobile search market & also on -

• the company’s vision and nomenclature.
• whether AskLaila wishs to be a UGC focussed search engine.
• what is most important to AskLail, regional languages, local listings or a map based interface.
• AskLaila’s monetization strategy.
• how they plan to build on traction.

And finally, here’s the actual interview -

We had recently met up IM Swaminathan, Director, Communications & Community Products, Yahoo India, at the 3rd Yahoo Groups Moderators’ Union in Mumbai. In this interview, we asked him questions on a few key topics -

1.  What is the Yahoo Groups Moderators’ Union?
2. What has Yahoo learnt from moderators’ union?
3. Apart from the moderator’s union, what kind of research does yahoo groups engage itself in?

And finally, here’s the video you have been waiting for…

WATShow happened to catch up with Rohan Verma, Director of MapMyIndia, some time ago. We had quizzed him on -

• the various mediums through which MapMyIndia plans to offer navigation services.
• their highest priotiy market.
• the company’s monetization strategy.
• their vision with the “API” aspect of the business.
• and, the company’s future plans.

 For exclusive dekko on our upcoming WATShows, check out our channel on YouTube.

After a relatively long Siesta, WATShow decided to WAKE UP! This week, we bring to you Mr. Sanjay Trehan, the head of NDTV Convergence.

We asked Mr. Tehan a Couple of Questions Related To:
-    NDTV’s Online Video Strategy
-    User Generated Content Strategy
-    The Next Step for NDTVJobs.com
-    How can Users Contribute to the NDTV News Portal?

We also did an interview with Sanjay Trehan recently, which was text based – you can check that out HERE.

Until Next Week – keep WATching.

WATShow is Back! This week we catch up with Prashant Mehta - VP and Head of the Advertiser and Partner Group for Emerging Markets at Yahoo!

Prashant was in India to launch Yahoo! Search Marketing recently and we caught up with him to ask him about a couple of things:

Yahoo! recently acquired a stake in Tyroo. How does the New Search Marketing Platform, and the Tyroo Network synergize?

How has the deal with Microsoft Affected Yahoo!?

What is the update on Yahoo!’s Mobile Strategy? Monetization Avenues?

Would love your Feedback! - Also, it would be great to know who you want us to quiz. Send us your requests for Guests on WATShow and also tell us what we should ask them!