We can't change a Nation, or may be We just might !
I am an entrepreneur, and currently me and my team are chasing an ambitious dream called Dronna (www.dronna.com), but before I tell you more about what are we upto, let me tell you a story about a kid who'd grow up to attempt something like this. Its a long writeup, so I'd suggest you grab a hot cup of coffee before you proceed :).
Born to a Missile Research Scientist dad and a Social Entrepreneur mom, I had a peculiar way of looking at things even as a child. I was at awe with what an amazing thing a human brain is and how much useful information it could hold. The problem was, somehow telepathy was only a fascinating word and all this information stays trapped inside our brain unless someone asks us about something specifically. What if there was a super brain, to which all other brains were connected to, and which had all the knowledge combined, I use to wonder. I also felt sad that what a loss death is to humanity, that erases a lifetime of knowledge, wisdom and invaluable experiences in a moment.
Well, it seems life gave this kid a purpose, an opportunity, and what else I could have named it but Dronna, symbolizing knowledge, a teacher.
Dronna's long term vision is to crowd-source all the important information, knowledge and experiences of people and use technology so that one day a child can talk to his great great great grand father via Dronna and learn how things were back then. Currently, Dronna is a search engine that works on few fundamental concepts...like, how too much of information and too many choices lead to unsatisfactory decisions and how, in real life we dont have 500+ friends but those few whom we trust and who end up helping/influencing us most of the time. Be it social groups like new parents, the expat communities, the traveler community, the gadget freaks etc., every important decision is an outcome of reliable recommendations and useful experiences driven by trust and influence. That's what Dronna is today.
 A B2C internet, crowd-sourced product that every wise man in the Indian startup ecosystem will say that India is the wrong place to start. I do agree with all the challenges such a product in India might face as part of our internet maturity and how we, as a culture, have a natural tendency to consume(information) more than provide, are risk averse and laggards in technology adoption. But I also believe that its an opportunity.
We criticize why cant a product like Google or Facebook can come out of India, but we forget that its a huge challenge and at some point all the pointers are suggesting the entrepreneurs to move to the valley. I am not against this advise. Its true and it works at times. We just want to try and see if we could be one of those few who stayed back, and attempted something ridiculously ambitious. May be we'd succeed, may be not...someone will.
Currently, we are trying to figure out ways to reach the masses. See if there are people in the system who could see the deeper intention behind Dronna and not see it as a mere review or recommendation site, or laugh at us thinking we are trying to replace Google. We are not. A post on Facebook page that talks about the various facets behind Dronna : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=404960436286464
 Dronna is at its very infancy right now, might not even look near to what I talked about but every passing day takes us closer to our vision. Here's my Team. Together we dream, together we try, together we can.
http://vikassingh.me
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vikas-singh/40/649/443
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