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Ujjwal Gupta is the co-founder of Watermelon Express Inc, a technology design start-up focusing on education. Winner of the Ideapitch Competition 2009, Watermelon Express has grown to be one of the biggest educational companies for iPhone. Mr. Gupta conceptualized the idea of a convenient, smart and affordable test preparation platform in October 2008.At Watermelon Express, Mr. Gupta has pioneered the outsourcing model and maintains a lean and efficient operational structure. Mr. Gupta is also a part of another educational initiative, nanoinfoline.com, that promises to leverage social collaboration and technological innovation to improve the delivery of scientific content to the research community.In 2002, Mr. Gupta partnered with Prof. Sharon at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, to co-found Monad Nanotech Pvt. Ltd., one of the first nano-technology manufacturing and consulting firms in India. Monad Nanotech helps small to mid size chemical plants to utilize nanotech into their production and processing units. Mr. Gupta received his B.S and M.S in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and is working towards his Ph.D in Chemistry at Penn State University. He has received multiple outstanding research achievement awards and has co-authored eight scientific publications.
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always in sync!
Discover‐Adapt‐Execute
Inven5on2Venture
10/24/09UjjwalGupta
StartUpLateralThinking
DISCOVER
TEST LEARN
EXECUTE
TheStoryofWatermelonExpress
ADAPT
DISCOVER
• Read and Research
Wall Street Journal Reports: In the month since Apple opened an online software clearinghouse called the App Store, users have downloaded more than 60 million programs for the iPhone, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in an interview……Apple sold an average of $1 million a day in applications for a total of about $30 million in sales over the month, Mr. Jobs said. Gartner Research Report: Worldwide smartphone sales totaled 32.2 million units in the second quarter of 2008, a 15.7 per cent increase from the second quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc.
Mobile Applications are bound to grow as more user migrate towards smart phones and demand sophisticated services on their phones
** Simple applications like: fish tank, beer simulator and virtual pet made ~$1MM in one month
ADAPT
• Adapt to the new conditions and be ready to change • Short term strategies to evaluate long term business potential
• You WILL be proven wrong • Better to make mistakes early on
• Everything is possible But are you the right person to make it happen
LEARN
Stuckwithaquizzingappcodewithnobudget
Testedtheconceptofatestprepapp
Avg.ImeonWMXapp=6hrs/week
~30xavg.iPhoneapp
VeritasPrepreleasesafreeapp
forGMAT
Testedtheconceptofdesktopapp
Syncingisakeyconveniencefactor
forstudents
EnabledcrossplaVormsync
EmbeddedanalyIcsinthecodetotracked
usage
TEST
EXECUTION• KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid!!! • Be a customer advocate • Keep your costs low without compromising on quality • NETWORK, NETWORK and MORE NETWORK
FirstGMATappdidnotevenhaveaImer
Allowedustoreleaseitfastandtestthemarket
Nextversionhadthechartsandreportsto
breakdownperformancebyIme
CustomersaskedforImerandImeperquesIon
NewproductdesignwastooambiIousforourbudget
DidnotwanttoinvestImein
securingfunding
Leveragedonlineresourcesandoutsourced
developmentat25%cost
INNOVATIONInnovation is a overwhelming term for problem solving
• Learn the science of problem solving • Identify the problem and break it down
PROBLEM SOLUTION
• Customer Review: “iPhone app can not replace books but is a good compliment”
• iPhone App is not a sustainable business
• We can not compete against the big-wigs
• We don’t have marketing budget to support a web app
• Developed the “Scratch paper” function that allows user to use iPhone screen as a writing pad
• Developed desktop and web versions of the app to cater to wider audience
• Introduced cross platform SYNC to raise entry to barrier
• Built a plug-n-play web widget that can embed the web app in any website within 10 mins to allow tutors to sell our product
LEARNINGS
ReadandResearch
BeMertomakemistakesearlyonandevolvethroughthem
Focusonproblemsolving
Adapt
Network
Listentoyourcustomers