The portal which will `create a community that generates information,' will invite opinions of members on a plethora of issues/products/services and in return offer its members MSOPs.

``We're trying to build a community where members trust each other and rely on each others' views. The concept is of mindshare. We have further extended this concept of sharing where we are sharing the fortunes of our website with our members,'' says Varisht Badhwar, a chartered accountant and the promoter of andhernagri.com. The company has formed a andhernagari.com MSOP trust which holds five per cent shares in Mindshare Technologies on behalf of its members. At a later stage, the trust will liquidate its holdings in Mindshare and distribute the proceeds among its eligible members. According toBadhwar, the shareholding shall be liquidated either when Mindshare goes for an IPO or it's taken over or merged with another company.

The total sum of money earned by each member will depend on the points earned, prioritisation, the points earned by other members and of course, the value of shares on the date of their liquidation.

According to Badhwar, Mindshare has invested Rs 2 crore so far in the portal and will look for venture capital funding after a period of six months. Badhwar also claims andhernagri.com is the first of its kind website in India aimed at assisting consumers in making `better buying decisions'.

The portal's business model is drawn on a three-phase strategy: in the first phase, the company plans to create requisite attractions on the site and generate appropriate levels of sticky eyeballs and build loyalty with them.

In the second phase, besides registering member companies, the portal plans to launch specific services such as expert panel; chat session with dignitaries andicons. It will also go for associations or tie-ups with other content and portal sites.

The last phase will include launch of e-departmental stores and tie-up with various brands, companies and products. The portal boasts of having three distinct revenue streams: advertising, commissions from member companies and shop front commissions. It plans to customise the site depending upon where the visitor is coming from -- paving the way for region-oriented advertising and services.

Target advertising, says Badhwar, is also possible based upon the profile and location of the visitor. ``Thus companies can take advantage of more focused advertising, visitor and location-specific and get better value for their adspend.''

The company plans to tie up with various portals selling on the Net to form a shopfront. It plans to charge four-to-five per cent commission from the companies/sites for referring a potential customer. The site covers a diversity of topics ranging from politics, corruption human rights toproducts and services such as entertainment, airlines, restaurants, consumer electronics, auto, education, entertainment, home appliances and travel.

This list, says Badhwar is set to expand rapidly as more categories and products are added, thereby providing consumers a larger canvas to write and read reviews on.

The members are divided into four categories -silver, gold, platinum and elite allotted to them on the basis of the number of points earned by them. The mindshare/reviews are also rated by members to help other members make `better decision'. And, of course, the more the members, the perceived value of the site increases and therefore its valuation.