Advertisment

The Flip Side of E-biz

author-image
PCQ Bureau
New Update

It’s been two months since I started my online store, and I’m writing this to tell you what we’ve 



been doing all this while. 

Advertisment

It’s never easy to tell the truth. To begin with, I just had around Rs 5,000. Debts were piling on like nobody’s business, and now it’s reached a stage where I’ve to avoid phone calls to get away from lenders. 

My girlfriend told me that Dubai or the US were the best places for me to go and work. She said it was easy enough to get a job if you knew ASP, VB, and SQL well, plus I’d also managed two Websites for a while. 

She told me to think about our future, and anyway, what was the point in continuing if there was no return on the time spent?

Advertisment

But you know what–the last thing I wanted to do was work in an MNC and live like a worm all my life. I’d rather be getting stoned or something. I figured if I got enough people to know about homedel (that’s what the online store’s called), things might just go well later. 

But it’s been real tough. Banks refused to lend money saying I didn’t have collateral. You might ask why I didn’t go to a venture fund and try to find some angel investors. I did actually, plenty of them. However, none of them were willing to invest until we had a substantial number of customers. But how on earth were we supposed to get customers if there was no working capital? 

Debts are really high now–close to Rs 200,000. My telephone’s going to get disconnected any day, and my server rental runs out this month. So, I’ve decided to close shop and run away while I can. 



Homedel was a brilliant idea, and deep down, I know it can become the biggest online supermarket in the whole country, but without money…well. 

My girlfriend didn’t wait. She works for Aditi in the US now. You win some, you lose some. I have a new Dutch girlfriend now.

What am I going to do? I’ll go someplace and put together some money. Like Arnold keeps saying, 



“I’ll be back”. I’ll be 28 in two years. So, if two years from now, you see a slightly overweight guy with a penchant for colorful shirts step off a Gulf Airways or KLM flight, walk up to him and say–“Welcome back… it was a good idea you had last time. Try to do better this time.” 

Advertisment