Cashing in on cellphone content

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: 2001, he earned a revenue of Rs 33,000 from the project—quite a far fry from the fat cat that he was earlier. He then started monitoring at the time of the day when the maximum calls come in—it turned out to be in the evenings when people return from work. He began really focusing on the job at hand rather than worrying that he was made for better things in life. By September 2001, he began earning a monthly revenue of Rs 3,40,000. “If Airtel was charging Rs 4 pher minute, then we would get Rs 2 per minute. It was a revenue-sharing model.”

Dame Luck, finally, smiled upon him big time. When Bharti Airtel Ltd was starting its services in Punjab, its value-added services and marketing team contacted him as the company needed someone to set up the necessary technology base required for phone services involving dial-in and messaging music and cricket scores. The automated service that involves instant messaging, involves plenty of “technology inputs” such as voice-based, value-added services for which programmers are required, points out Sharma. The business plan with Airtel was based on a revenue-share model—if Sharma managed to generate business after setting up the dial in and instant messaging systems, then Airtel would share 50% of the revenue with One97. The model worked after initial hiccups—in 2001-02 fiscal year, One97 suffered a revenue loss of Rs 11 lakh. After that, however, Sharma worked hard to turn things around and soon, it was a straight road to success. In 2002-03, One97’s revenue shot up to Rs 70 lakh per annum; in 2003-04, it was Rs 3.5 crore. “We actually tried content monetisation on virgin territory and it worked,” says Sharma.

In 2004-2005, his revenue was Rs 7 crore per annum. In 2005-06, he earned Rs 11 crore and in 2006-07, he acquired Positive Consol, a data services company in NOIDA for an undisclosed amount. In 2007-08 fiscal year, Sharma expects his revenue to jump to $15 million. He currently employs 280 people and has offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Jaipur, Chennai and Lucknow among other places. Sharma, 29, says his success mantra is: “Persistence and patience.” He adds in jest, “There is a Gem in ‘I’,” referring to his zodiac sign Gemini. He was born on June 7, 1978.

Fact File

Name: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Education: BE Electronics & Communication, Delhi College of Engineering