SYMBIOSIS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

(Constituent of Symbiosis International University)

ENTREPRENEUSHIP ASSIGNMENT
ABHIRAJ BHAL- URBANCLAP

Submitted To:
Dr. Amit Kumar

Submitted by:
Nupur Srivastava D-30
Pankhuri Bhatnagar D-32
Priyamvada Rawat D-39

Submitted On

January 5th, 2017

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 ENTREPRENEUR CHOSEN- ABHIRAJ BHAL
Co-founder and CEO of UrbanClap

An alumnus of IIT and IIM, Abhiraj Bhal along with

Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan set up UrbanClap in
2014. The opportunity that he saw in the market was the
highly unorganized nature of service professionals
business. He realized that the industry had huge potential.
Thus UC aims to serve the urban population of India in 16
cities in 73 different categories of unorganized service
sector with quality, convenience and ease at its core.

About the company- UrbanClap

Delhi-based UrbanClap has established itself well in the

urban market of India. It is still at a very nascent stage,
being only two year old but has had significant progress
over time. The key aspects to its success have been
adequate funding from venture capitalists and also good
branding and marketing. Ensuring sufficient liquidity to
run the business without any subscription or charges in
the initial phase of the business has helped it gain
popularity. As a result, professionals registered with UC
first tested the accuracy of the model and then once it
was monetized, accepted it since it was still beneficial to
them.

Business model:
UrbanClap is a mobile local services app which bridges the gap between customers and
service professionals, who download the applications on their smartphones to raise a request
for the required service and the professionals can view the exact requirements and
accordingly book the service.

When the application was launched in 2014, there was no additional charge to either the
customer or the service professional. But since 2016 they have started charging the service
providers a percentage of the service (typically 10-30%).
Team Size- 320

The only investment are the matching software (that matches the customer to the service
provider according to the exact needs), the mobile applications for customer and
professionals.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr. No. Topic Page no.

Trends Observed by the Entrepreneur

1
Before Venturing Into the Opportunity
4

Problems Identified by the Entrepreneur

2
Before Venturing Into the Opportunity
5

Gaps Identified by the Entrepreneur Before

3
Venturing Into the Opportunity
6

4 Potential Competitors OF Urbanclap

7
Search Engine Optimization of Urban
Clap 8
User base of Competitors 9
5 Personal Characteristics of an Entrepreneur
10
6 References 11
7 Turnitin Report 12

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TRENDS OBSERVED BY THE ENTREPRENEUR BEFORE
VENTURING INTO THE OPPORTUNITY
An entrepreneur, before venturing into any opportunity must observe at least the general
trends in the market. These trends can be on the basis of existing sales, customer base or
information from any company in the existing business.

For Abhiraj Bhal, the founder of UrbanClap, the sector he wished to enter into was the
unorganised service sector. The service industry, even today is very fragmented and
unorganised. The small service providers like plumbers, electricians, beauticians etc. were
not covered under a bigger umbrella and had to operate through middle men. These middle
men earned most of the profit that the service providers provided. So, to tackle this issue, he
created UrbanClap, a site where small service providers could sign up and provide their
services without the interference of middle men.

In 2014, the share of the unorganised sector in the national income was 30%. This means, it
amounted to 612.6 billion US dollars.

Share of Unorganised Sector

612.6

1429.4

Organised Sector Unorganised Sector

Before UrbanClap came into the picture, people relied solely on local search companies like
Justdial or Google to help them find the stores of these small service providers. The service
providers would then get in touch with the customers and charge their own fees. UrbanClap
has removed that system. This gives it an advantage as right now it is not a very crowded
market place.

The current market size for services is 4- 5 billion dollars in India. Moreover, India is the
second largest country in which smartphones are used. This makes penetration for companies
like UrbanClap easier. It is estimated that 5% of the service market can be tapped into
through smartphones, ie 200 million. Additionally, the growth rate of this market is estimated
at a 20- 30% a year. These are the general trends to be observed.
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 PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED BY THE ENTREPRENEUR
BEFORE VENTURING INTO THE OPPORTUNITY
It is a basic human tendency to reach out to people whom we trust the most in times of need.
All of us have an inner circle and an outer circle. We are the most comfortable in our inner
circle, with the people who know us in and out and have been through our thick and thin. It is
these relationships which we cherish and these enable us to grow more confidently, knowing
that these people will be our safety net.

We always look for this trust factor in different areas of life, personal and professional. And
this is what the service sector aims to deliver- reliability, consistency, safety and security.
Since this is not a product whose quality and value can be delivered tangibly and exactly the
same each time, the human touch in service sector makes it a daunting task to satisfy every
customer. But if carried out properly, the same human touch in the service can make the
overall experience a great one.

Back home we all have our favourite people who have been serving us probably since
generations. But when we move to a new city or a new country getting the same sense of
quality and reliability is close to impossible. Thus with UrbanClap, Abhiraj Bhal aims to
provide the customer a seamless experience with engaging us with the best service
professionals in the odd jobs category.

UrbanClap helps address the following problems associated with traditional means of finding
service professionals:

UnReliability in quality: The algorithms in the system help identify service providers
according to the budget and need of the customer. The algorithms help identify the
people best suited for the job, according to the area etc. Only those service providers
whose services have been highly rated remain in the system, thus providing a solid
pool of people.
InConsistency in delivery: The service professionals charge a consistent fees on a per
hour or a per job basis and ensure that only good service providers remain in the pool
of their professionals. In case of non-suitability or less satisfaction the complaint can
be made to the portal which will then fine tune the professionals who can contact the
customer.
Also, the professionals are paid according to the fixed charges and cannot demand
extra, leaving no room for any kind of negotiations or haggling. Standardization of
service quality and delivery brings peace of mind and the customer knows exactly
what to expect from the service provider.

Lack of Safety and security: All professionals backgrounds are checked and verified
by UrbanClap. This ensures that when a customer lets a service person inside their
home or other place of delivery, they do not pose a threat to the safety and security of
the people, unlike the service professionals we hire without proof. We have no option
but to trust them blindly and merely hope that they have the best intentions at heart.

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GAPS IDENTIFIED BY THE ENTREPRENEUR BEFORE
VENTURING INTO THE OPPORTUNITY

Gaps in the industry-

The service sector that UrbanClap caters to is largely unorganized and fragmented.
The service providers thrive on word of mouth marketing, but expansion of such
services based only on a trusted source is extremely slow and that is why these
services are exist largely in that area or locality only- making it difficult for the
professional to serve any other area. They have no other means of contact with any
other customers unless the customers come to them on their own.
This is where the entrepreneurs found an opportunity to build a pool of such service
providers who have provided high quality services and can be of relevance to
potential customers.

Gaps in service delivery

Abhiraj Bhal says that the key concerns and pain points associated with service
delivery are addressed here and its more than satisfaction that the customers get-
customer delight is the entire aim of the business. From providing a user friendly
mobile app to the physical safety of the customer, everything is catered for, because it
is the emotional connect and experience that ultimately helps make a difference in
service delivery.
Inconvenience- The time of delivery and duration is also mentioned and the customer
can book a slot for the exact time of delivery, leaving no room for inconvenience.
Time taken- Since only trained and reliable service professionals are hired, they
ensure speedy delivery.

How it is different from merely a search engine for services -

Search engines like Just Dial or a random search on the internet provides names and
phone numbers of the professionals for the particular area and there is no information
regarding the charges, service quality etc. also, there is no way to schedule an
appointment, the customer has to individually make enquiries and then the concerned
professional gets in touch.
This was identified as a potentially solvable issue by Abhiraj Bhal and decided to
connect customers and service professionals on common grounds such as quality and
need, rather than just the area as the most sought after parameter. With customers
focussing more on quality, geographical boundaries are no longer a hindrance.

Thus unlike traditional search engines and yellow pages directory, UrbanClap can
connect the customer to the service professional (meet the demand and supply) in 3
steps:

Information Rates Setting up appointment

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 POTENTIAL COMPETITORS OF URBANCLAP

Threat of New
Entrants
- 100% FDI in
eCommerce makes it
easy for liquidity
intensive co.s

Bargaining Power of Bargaining Power of

Suppliers- High Buyers- High
- UC now charges Rivalry - Customer retention is
professional on every Among difficult due to other
transaction that upcoming sites and
happens: makes this
Existing offline options available
model unfavourable & Players to users
can now switch to
others

Threat Of Substitutes
- Difficult for zero
revenue business model
to sustain
- Building Algorithm for
matching customer and
professional is difficult

Competitive Rivalry-
The company was founded in the year 2014 and at that time there were more than 300
plus companies in the Local Service Business. Most of the young, new age companies
lacked liquidity but the more matured and established yellowpages companies had the
required liquidity to operate. Thus there was a herd mentality seen but most of these
have vanished due to lack of funding.
There is a definite rivalry which could be clearly seen between the three major
competitors which is UrbanClap, Housejoy and QuikrServices.
UrbanClap has raised $36.6 million; Housejoy was able to raise around $25 million
whereas Quikr would be investing Rs. 250 crores in its services sector. This sector has
attracted investments from Amazon, Qualcomm Ventures, Matrix Partners, Accel
Partners and SAIF Partners, etc.
Buyer Power-
In the beginning of 2016, UrbanClap was getting close to 5000 orders a day and their
aim was to reach a target of over 100000 orders per day by the year end.

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 Keeping in mind the buyers requirement they offer a wide range of choices, trusted
professionals with thorough background check, direct interaction between the
professionals and customers. Also, the services can be customized as per the
customers requirements.

Threat of Substitution-
As there are other big players in this sphere as well all the companies are putting more
and more efforts into marketing campaigns and extensive strategies to retain customer
base.
Supplier Power-
Since this is a platform that runs directly because of the service professionals, it is
imperative for the company to maintain good relations with them. The company
should also take steps to make sure they are able to keep up with the seasonal
demand.
Threat of new Entry-
There is 100% FDI in ecommerce and hence it is very eminent that a company needs
a good business model and technology to sustain in this sphere.
Also it is very difficult to convince the investors for a no revenue business for first
few years to bring in bring in new customers while making sure the company has an
effective marketing strategy in mind.

Search Engine Optimization of Urban Clap:

Working on the model of addressing the concerns of the newer generation, search engine
optimization is a very critical element of getting more customers to use the platform,
since they go with the one listed in the top results.

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Analysis of search results:

The first result is an advertisement by Justdial, which does not hamper the sales of UC
as they are not in direct competition.
The next few results are of independent plumbers of the area represented in the map.
The first result is then of justdial, then UrbanClap, which indicates extremely good
search engine optimization by the company, especially because it is only two years
old.
This is because of the entrepreneurs strategy of investing more in SEO and is one of
the 3 strategies to get more customers on board in 2017.
The next few listings are of the competitors like Zimmber, Sulekha, Housejoy and
QuikrServices.

User base of Competitors:

Even though UrbanClap is the clear
QuikrServices- 10,000 leader in terms of the user base, the
Housejoy- 5,00,000 other companies are also expanding
UrbanClap- 10,00,000 very aggressively.

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 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
The personal characteristics of an entrepreneur are-

1) Innovative ideas
The entrepreneur should be able to recognise the gaps in the system and be able to
exploit it. For Abhiraj Bhal, this can be seen through how he recognised the gap in the
unorganised service sector. He came up with a platform where all the small service
providers could put up their details to get in touch with the customers, thus
eliminating the need for middle men, who charge exorbitantly.

2) Risk Taking
Taking risks is what defines an entrepreneur. For example, Abhiraj Bhal, left his job
at the Boston Consulting Group to start his own company. The company was finally
launched in 2014 and till then there was no certainty in his life. But he still went
ahead and formed the company which is now one of the three biggest companies in
this industry.

3) Opportunist
An entrepreneur should be an opportunist to make the best possible use of the
opportunist presented to him. Abhiraj Bhal entered the market when there were not
many entrants. He also noticed how people wanted service providers at a pre-
determined rate and who they could trust. Noticing this need of the people, he decided
to conduct background checks of all the service providers who list with UrbanClap.
He managed to cash in on the opportunity at the right time so as to build trust in their
customers.

4) Focussed
An entrepreneur should be focussed on what he wants and how he plans to achieve it.
Abhiraj Bhal identified the gap in the existing system and came up with an innovative
solution to this problem. For this, he was very focussed on creating a sustainable
business model for his solution. His dedication paid off as he managed to raise $36
million.

5) Leadership Qualities
An entrepreneur should display leadership qualities to succeed. Abhiraj Bhal
displayed immense leadership qualities as he managed to grow his company to one of
the biggest in this sector. He also inspired others to share in his vision and guided
them in making the company the success that it is today.

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 References

https://blog.urbanclap.com/news/2016-the-year-gone-by/
http://www.livemint.com/Companies/9C1TizkqzWSZiSGSX4MasM/UrbanClap-
Housejoy-QuikrServices-prepare-for-battle-over-d.html
http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/urbanclap-clap-to-get-help-
115081000034_1.html
https://blog.urbanclap.com/news/building-indias-largest-marketplace-for-services-
what-it-takes/

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TURNITIN REPORT

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