Intinno Blog

Mar 28

Diesel has an interesting website. Their philosophy is “BE STUPID”. Watch out the video for more:

Its great to see a company like Diesel embracing the policy of following your heart so boldly. This is the way it should be. These are the videos that should be shown to the students passing out. They should realize that its not just about getting a “Job”, its about going out there and doing what you love. What’s your opinion?

Mar 14

Meru Cabs: Fostering Entrepreneurship ?

Here at Intinno we are always excited about entrepreneurship. Every way of making a business excites us. Umang Jain, our very developer by the day and poet by the night had an interesting conversation with a Meru Cab driver which reveled their awesome business model. The Meru works is:

All the cars are owned by meru.
The cab drivers are not employees but “subscribers”
Each driver is required to pay Rs 800 per day to Meru.
The car is in drivers possession and he decides when to drive the car.
Each car has a GPS device. When the driver is ready to take a passenger, he has to switch on a button to mark his availability.
Meru has a call center which algorithmically assigns one of the free cabs to prospective customers.
The algorithm takes into consideration the closeness of cab to passenger and ALSO the amount that a driver has earned in that day, to ensure a fair distribution.
Meru also ensures drivers of atleast 4 to 5 trips a day.
The maintenance of cars, cost of the petrol is borne by the driver.
To become a driver in Meru, you have to apply. They will run you through medical test and and background checks. Once satisfied they will assign you the car.
The driver has the freedom to drive the car 12 hours a day or even 18 hours a day.
This is good from the drivers’ point of view because hey decides when to go to work. He can spend time with his family in the time of dire needs like medical emergency.
Drivers mark their availability and they have to take the passenger assigned to them no matter how short the distance is.
Meru has money collection centres all over the city, where drivers can deposit money at any time of the day.
The only loop hole in this model is that the car belongs to the driver but that is easily covered by the insurance.
Meru purchases cars in bulk and are known to have had striked great discounts.
There are around 7K meru cabs in India, which amounts to a whooping collection of 56L per day.
The cab drivers are their own employers and they have the freedom on the time of work. The cab driver has been transformed from an petty employee whose work is to drive a car to any part of India to a self employer who can earn by innovating and can lead a better life with his family.