Don’t be afraid whether an idea works or not, implementation is what that really matters

Chirag Rathod along with co-founder Rohan Pimparkar, launched their entrepreneurial venture booksvilla.com, a unique, first-of-its-kind online book exchange portal. The website enables its users to put up a list of books they own and also put up a wish list of books they would like to read and thus facilitates a barter system amongst its users by registering online. Apart from this, the website claims to sell new books on a wide array of subjects ranging from music to modern arts, Buddhism to Batman – in short a host of subjects all for really low prices right at the user’s doorstep.

Tell us about yourself and why a start up.
Both Rohan and I are BMM graduates. I am currently pursuing my PG diploma from MICA. I have earlier worked in a PR agency for about one year, while Rohan was into online advertising for the past two years. We were both keen to start off something of our own as both of us were bored of our corporate jobs. Hence, this venture.

A new level bookstore or library how would you describe your venture.
Booksvilla is neither a bookstore nor a library, we do sell books, but our USP is the book exchange programme. Here, we provide an online platform for users all over India, where they can register and upload their old books, they can send requests for book exchange from other users' old books and accept requests from others as well. This all happens just at a minimal cost of Rs 70 irrespective of the cost of the book, which includes the two way courier; customers need not spend a penny after paying the above mentioned amount.

How has Booksvilla taken the online bookshop business to the next level?
We are focusing more on the users, their comfort level to have a book and read it and also increase the reading habit in India. On an average, Indians spend about Rs 360 per month on books (source: Tehelka survey Jan 2010) our aim is to try and exchange books amongst readers at a minimal cost, which in turn will increase the number of book readers in the country. In certain cases, if a book lover doesn’t get a book on the exchange platform, he can buy it from the fresh books section, that too at a flat 10 percent discount on any book.

Who is your target audience? What is your sustainable model?
We want to target book lovers for our exchange programme. For fresh book selling, our target audience would be any reader who reads and shops online. The unique book exchange programme is enough for us to sustain for at least a minimum of two years.

What ideas have you implemented to keep your business ideas different from others?
As of now we are focusing on the exchange programme and are in process to make it more convenient for the user. We would try and touch-base with various customer points making the user's exchange programme more convenient.

How do you plan to expand?
In the initial stage, our focus would be to sustain rather than expand as we are still picking up. We are trying to make the authors and writers reach the book lovers community through our authorography and blog sections. 

What has been your biggest challenge so far?
Shelling out money from your own pockets and that too when the pockets have a hole, has been the major challenge for us till date. So to overcome this problem and to expand at a faster rate, we are looking out for investors.

What do you intend to achieve with Booksvilla in the next two years?
In the next two years, we want users to say that it is really a villa where book lovers can read, exchange, discuss, innovate, write everything about books in the most convenient way. We do not want to be a regular book selling website. We want to be a book lover’s portal that connects book lovers with other book lovers. One year down the line, we expect around 100-150 exchanges happening among the book lovers in a single day.

What entrepreneurial lessons do you find practical and applicable?
Do not be afraid whether an idea works or not, implementation is what that matters.
More than money, co ordination and trust lead to success.