And yet, there are those nagging day-to-day queries that don’t seem to be addressed by the internet. We could read all about Italian food but could the internet tell us if there’s an Italian restaurant in Koramangala? There’s unlimited access to information on any subject —astronomy to archaeology but does it tell us where we can get a maid or where the nearest television service center is? Filling this huge gap in information is the new website ‘Asklaila.com’.
Metrolife caught up with the founders Kiran Konduri and Shriram Adukoorie to find out all about Laila! They started right at the beginning — the need for such a website. “In India, if we want the phone number of a restaurant, we would call up a friend and ask for it but we wouldn't look up the Yellow Pages, though it is informative. The net and other services provide only look-ups — if you know the name of the restaurant there are services that provide the answer. But if you wanted a chinese restaurant in general, you have to rely on your friends who recommend places to eat,” says Kiran.
“No one has tackled ‘intent’ till date. Laila looks at intent — so it cuts short the process of you calling ten people up to find out about a safe place to stay in a new city, asking for recommendations and finally looking up the number of a girl’s hostel. We help with the entire process by allowing users to just type anything from ‘girl’s hostel’ to ‘safe place to stay,” adds Shriram.
“The main problem is advertising. Our media is such that if a new electronics store in Indiranagar wanted to advertise, the only thing he can do is place an ad in the paper. His main customer base is about five kms around the store and a print or television ad makes his customer base vague. So he either hands out flyers or ties a banner to a tree. We are trying to bridge all these gaps,” says Kiran. Elaborating further on creating their website, Shriram says, “We realised that vital information for the day is subjective, therefore we try to cover a wide spectrum of information. So one can find everything from a maid agency to swimming classes to which DJ is playing at your favourite club tonight.”
The website has various aspects to it — the search engine will turn up results but we also have an editorial angle. Our team writes reviews and articles on services and places to further help the users. Our strong point however is the user interaction. Users can put up views and reviews on the website and this is how the community will develop. There was a restaurant to which we didn’t give directions and before we could act, a whole bunch of users put up directions. This is where they take over the product and it becomes a part of the community,” says Kiran who adds, “Several businesses have contacted us so that they can be included in our database.”
The enthusiastic duo’s ambitious ideas are supported by a young 14-member technical team and a five member editorial team. The website is currently Bangalore-based but will soon be launched in other cities as well. Finally, the most obvious question of all, why the name Laila? Says Kiran, “We wanted it to be a person and we wanted a name that everyone would remember. We want Laila to be part of that friends circle that you call up whenever you need to know something!”
