Lokesh Sharma is the founder and CEO of Keyword Fighter, a SEO tool designed to optimize keyword research. He belongs to one of those rare species who have the ability to "DO" whatever they believe in.

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us something about yourself?

Well, I'm a 19 year old engineering student and a "wannabe Internet Marketer". I started online when I was 16 and got my first adsense check the very same year of Rs. 16,000/-

That check convinced me that I could make it online. From then on, I've learned a lot of things online – from SEO to video marketing and social media… you name it. I met some really nice people along the way and did some joint ventures that pulled off really well. My latest product is a unique keyword research software called” Keyword Fighter”.

How would you like to project yourself? As a blogger/marketer or anything else you have on mind?

I'd like to be called an Internet Marketer. I create digital products and market them to the right audience. In the process, I may have to create "product specific blogs" or videos that tell my leads about my products. But I think "internet marketing" includes it all.

There are soo many things to do online like blogging, running an SEO service etc. But what made you choose to become a marketer?

To be honest, I've first hand experience with every one of the stuff you named. I've been a blogger, had a couple of SEO clients, an article writer, article spinner, press release submitter, web designer, an automation consultant etc. But all these things take constant hard work and patience. Not that what I do now doesn't require putting in work but I don't have to work on client's terms or worry about the next big Google update that could swipe my blog off the SERPs.

Everything online leads back to selling stuff, either digital or ecommerce. Ads on blogs are from merchants that want more eyeballs seeing their products. Content writing clients want more and more content to choke the internet with articles leading back to their product websites. So I decided to do what the pro's do. Creating and selling digital products online.

Internet Marketing is a tough job. What keeps you going and stay motivated?

There's nothing specifically that keeps me motivated. When you do something you love, there's hardly anything that can distract you. Plus, the pressure to keep your customers happy really keeps you going and stay motivated. For example, I don't let any support query from my customers unanswered for more than a few hours. The fact that what I'm doing will help me be financially free also keeps me motivated.

What is your current website/blog which you would like to show to proudidea’s audience and to the world?

http://keywordfighter.com – It's my latest project and the biggest till now. I'll be launching a blog about Keyword Fighter soon basically to funnel traffic from search engines.

Any stats and earning figures to impress our readers please?

Keyword Fighter currently gets around 500 to 600 unique visitors every month. The traffic generally converts at around 10-15% which basically means 10 out of every hundred people that land on my website actually buy the software. This means a nice $1k-1.5k income stream. I've had a couple of $2k months actually. Regardless to say, the figures indicate revenue and actual profits are somewhat less after PayPal fees etc.

I also have affiliates that promote my products and I'm very thankful to them for their support. And since I manage a customer's email list via AWeber, I can promote other's stuff as an affiliate for an addition to the bottom line.

What is your next big idea, your own Proud Idea?

Actually I've a couple of big ideas. I'm looking into launching an online t-shirt store with the help of a friend who has contacts with offline garment stores.

Besides that, I see a lot of talented people in my college, and around my house. Some of them can write really well, some of them are the best programmers, and some are great at designing. And I tell you what, most of them will end up getting a job somewhere in the next few years. I'd like to provide them a platform where they could easily showcase their skills and connect with potential clients overseas and in India. It'll not be another freelancing website I tell you.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now in the online world?

I see myself in a nicely setup home office, working real hard on the next big hit on the world wide web, but comfortable with whatever I'm doing at the same time.

What is your advice to people who want to start a career online?

Anyone interested in starting a career online should first work on their English skills unless you have a crazy viral idea of course. Conventional internet marketing requires a lot of content to be made and published across the web. When you're just starting – outsourcing is not really an option.

Also, try not to be distracted by the next big money making method. Start out by reading and implementing what you've learnt already. A lot of people online struggle when it comes to taking action. They know everything but can't seem to put into work. Start out by reading and posting in IM forums where you can find some very nice and helpful people.

Burger or Chapathi? And Why?

Chapathi. Because I'll make my mom read this.

What can you say about yourself in one line?

“A man who wants to live on his own terms.”

3 things we don’t know about you?

1. I'm generally a quite introvert person.

2. I've recently developed a passion for playing video games. I love sports games and first person shooting games. NBA 2k12 is on the top of my list.

3. I'm a vegetarian when eating eggs doesn't count.

Your facebook profile/page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001509653349

Twitter:@tweetlokesh

Deepak Jain is a blogger from Jeypore, India. He blogs at Mobile Gyaan. He blogs mostly about mobiles and internet technologies. He was once invited be a leading indian news channel to speak about mobile hacking while he was still a teenager.

In his words:

A 20 year old cell freak and tech enthusiast from Orissa, India who always wants to explore and share interesting stuffs from the world of mobiles, technology and web 2.0 that would interest others and help them make most out of their gadgets.

In the offline world, Deepak is a student of ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) and simultaneously pursuing his bachelors degree in Commerce.

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us something about yourself?

Hi, my name is Deepak Jain. Currently I blog at Mobile Gyaan about mobiles and also hold a position of ‘Senior Editor’ at Devils’ Workshop wherein I blog about technology (Web 2.0 & computers) that interests me. In the offline world I am student of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and have recently completed my Bachelors Degree in Commerce.

Do you like Pizzas?

Yes. But I am not a die-hard pizza lover.

How long have you been blogging? What are your favorite topics?

Its been around two and half years since I posted the first blog post. As mentioned earlier, I always love discovering and sharing tech and mobile related stuff.

Have you always wanted to be a blogger? What would you be if you weren’t a blogger?

I entered the blogging world just because of my passion to discover and share tips and loopholes that I come across and I found blogging to be the best platform to do so. Though, I was even given a chance by a leading news company to showcase one of the loopholes I discovered related to SMS technology.

Here is a small video clip of the interview.

My other career option would have been something related to Accounts and marketing had I not been into blogging.

You are so much interested in Mobile technologies. What do think about the future of mobile?

Personally, I am anxiously waiting for Mobile Number Portabiltiy to be launched in India that will definitely change the way people use mobile phones! It will bring stiff competition and make service providers to improve their services.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? Do you ever think of starting your own mobile company?

I hope I am going to be well off in the coming years with the pace I developing at. Yes, I would love to be the owner of a company in the future.

Have you ever been in a controversy? If so, what was it like?

Yes, controversies are part and parcel of life. You do anything good and you get into controversies!

What is your next big idea, your own Proud Idea?

I do have a BIG idea that I am supposed to implement in a couple of months. If it gets successful, it will automatically be uncovered to the world.

If you were asked to act in a movie as the lead star, which hollywood movie would you choose? Whom would you choose as a female lead?

I am not a movie (or acting) buff. I just watch them on the weekends just to refresh myself.

3 things we don’t know about you

I sleep much and its usually hard for me to keep myself off the bed early in the morning.
Dream BIG. Not sure if it’s good or bad!

Your facebook profile/page: http://deepakja.in/facebook
Twitter: @djain1989
Any other medium of contact?
Hand phone: 91 93384 11844

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us something about yourself?

I run InRev as its Chief Executive. Have analytics background and enjoy data. I am a number fellow.
Have done Computer Science graduate and a firm believer of Technology. People know me as Leplan for my nick in Twitter.

Do you like bananas?

Oh yeah, I love Bananas. We use to eat bananas and often skip breakfasts and dinners in college. Now I don’t eat that much but I think I can live days with this awesome fruit.

Have you always wanted to start your own company? How did it begin?

I always thought of starting my own company since my childhood. Job never fascinated me.

When I first got into my job as Business Analyst at Global Analytics, I enjoyed it. But thoughts kept on hitting me that I had to start my own. I didn’t know what company I would be starting and who will be with me; I was open to starting a restaurant to starting an Analytics Consulting firm.

I looked at Global Analytics CEO Krishna, COO Steve and Director Nikhil, and found that all 3 were ex-FICO folks. As I looked at these 3 people as my ideals, I decided to move to Fair Isaac (now FICO). I joined the company as Marketing Analytics Consultant.

After nearly 6 months in FICO, I got a exciting offer from Ex-VP of Analytics for Citibank, Anunay Gupta to start a company with him and Marketing Head of Kingfisher Beer Roy Cherian. These two were established business leaders and it was a privilege for me to be the founding member of Marketelligent.

After a year I started getting attracted towards software products, and left the consulting space to start InRev. I am lucky to find the team mates for InRev. Guys have passion, belief in performance and vision to build big company.

You have multiple popular products, namely Buzzom, GT etc. What, do you think, is the most successful product you’ve built so far?

Buzzom is by far the most successful product we have built so far. It has not only given us good client base and revenue but also given global recognition. Buzzom is covered by mainline US media like PC World, Smartcompany and Forbes, and we believe Buzzom is clearly among the Top 10 Apps in Twitter Ecosystem.

Can you share some traffic & revenue stats for GT & Buzzom?

Buzzom serves 300k+ absolute unique visitors monthly and get around 1.3 million pageviews. It is growing fast and we aim to serve 2 million people monthly by year end.

GT is our Technology Blog and it comes out of passion. The numbers are strong for it as it gets more than 100k pageviews per month and hits Digg front page often. GT is also most social of all Indian Blogs.

I want to make things clear here that we are product specialists and GT comes out of writing passion alone.
Main agenda for company is to make Buzzom a household name for all Social Media enthusiasts.

You recently launched a premium version of Buzzom. We’re sure it is doing well. How do you compare with the other premium products available in the market?

Buzzom Premium is created with promise. It is not an app that is based on features like other products in the market. We are solving business problems of business managers and analysts, and we are working to rebrand the product as Brand Management, Marketing Campaign and Social CRM. You will come to know more on this in 4 to 6 weeks period.

Buzzom is built just for passion and enthusiasm of our team, and the encouragement of our partners, evangelists and advisors. We are looking to add good investment and are in talks with angels and VCs. Once the investment comes in we will go all out to the market and work to capture the maximum market share.

Who are your biggest competitors? How are your business/professional relations with them?

Our biggest competitors are Hootsuite, Radian6 and Objective Marketer. Unlike all of these companies, we are self funded and having lack of big marketing budget.

We enjoy good relations with all of our competitors big and small. We are here in the Social Media ecosystem to stay, and not for quick money. This positioning of the company leaves us with certain responsibilities towards Social Networks and other Ecosystem Companies.

We do healthy competition and try to beat by performance. Our competitors respect us and most of the time they copy us. We let them do it and work to beat them with hard work and dedication.

What is your next big idea, your own Proud Idea?

My biggest idea is the integration of the World Data. Now we are working to integrate the social media platforms and giving a better ecosystem for the social media enthusiasts. Next level would be to integrate the Social Media to Website Usage Data, then the Web and Non-Web data.

The final level of integration will include integrating the Telecom, Finance and Utility Usage Data. World has to be transparent while respecting the users privacy. People tend to mix privacy with transparency, there is a thin line between the two. It is like stupidity and courage. While you do courageous things people take you as a stupid is you fail, but they applaud you when you accomplish. Within the boundary the World needs integrations breaking country, religion, corporate structure and competition barriers.

If you were given a chance to acquire any company you wish, which would that be? and why?

I would buy FICO for two reasons – first, I worked for the company and I know how much it is valuable. The company has lots of patents and IPs, and the very valuable R&D Research men. They are into data works and enjoy awesome branding. FICO is also hugely undervalued in the market and I am sure it will come up again with a bang very soon.

The second reason for buying FICO is the scope of expansion. FICO has built products in Marketing, Risk and Fraud Analytics, where they are amongst the Global Top players. I want to take this expertise to Web.

Believe me, the Analytics what you have seen in Google Analytics and other Online Analytics tools is too naïve. FICO has the experience and knowledge built over last 55 years in Data and Analytics. I feel sorry for not seeing FICO in Web; the company is ignoring such a huge opportunity.

3 things we don’t know about you?

• I am passionate about Football, and Argentina is my favorite team. I am looking forward for an exciting World Cup this year and my team wins it. I am betting high on Messi, Tavez and Milito.
• Second thing you probably don’t know is my passion for computer games. I spend at least 5 to 10 hours every week playing games, mainly Age of Empires.
• You probably know that I don’t like Pudina (mint) but you might not know that I don’t like Apple too. I like most fruits but a big NO to Apple.
  

Your facebook profile/page: http://www.facebook.com/people/Bhupendra-Khanal/584942342
Twitter: @leplan
Any other medium of contact?
LinkedIn: http://in.linkedin.com/in/khanalbhupendra

Keith Dsouza is a Mumbai based tech blogger. He blogs at Techie-Buzz which, Keith claims, to be one of the top 100 technology blogs in the world. He mostly blogs about technology and computers.

In his own words:

I am Keith Dsouza from Mumbai, the business capital of India. I was born on the 8th of October in the year 1982. I finished my graduation in 2003 and have been actively using the Internet since 1997. I am a software engineer by profession and work for a software company based in US. I have also worked at different companies earlier, rediff.com was my last company. I write on my favorite topics technology, computers, software, freeware and cricket among other things. I have also written for other popular blogs like WebLog Tools Collection and Blogging Tips along with guest posting for several other popular blogs. I have more than 10 years of experience working in the Information Technology Industry.

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us something about yourself?

Well, I am Keith Dsouza a Software Engineer by profession and the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Techie Buzz, one of the top 100 Technology Blogs in the World. I have been into blogging since late 2005 and enjoy it immensely. Right now, I head a team of several writers who dish out content day in and day out on Techie Buzz.

I am also a WordPress lover and have written several plugins for it. You can always find out more about me at my personal website.

Do you like oranges?

I like eating oranges, but my favorite fruit is raw mangoes, I love it, many classify it as a vegetable too, however, I love the khata-meetha taste of it.

How long have you been blogging? What are your favorite topics?

I have been into blogging since late 2005. Earlier I used to blog on technology content on my personal blog. However, I decided to move to a more tech related domain in 2006. Incidentally, it will also be the 4th birthday of http://techie-buzz.com on June 6th.
I am not a niche blogger as such and I do enjoy blogging in general, however, I do have my favorite in the form of technology. I also write about WordPress on weblogtoolscollection.com and other rants and issues on my personal blog at blog.keithdsouza.com.

Have you always wanted to be a blogger? What would you be if you weren’t a blogger?

When I was born and studied, blogging was a very lesser known thing. I came across blogging when I was 22, so you can imagine that I did not always want to be a blogger. These days blogging has become a glamorous thing, everyone wants to do it, however, not everyone has their mind in the right place. I have seen several people take up blogging to make money, however that is a wrong approach, start blogging about something you love, with time money will automatically come. Several of the bloggers who have this mindset quit because they could not make money, which again is not an easy thing to do.

Like I said earlier, I am a Software Engineer by profession and work full-time as a manager in a firm. Since blogging was not my full choice I cannot really tell you what I would have done if I were not one.

Bloggers need constant motivation to write. What keeps you going?

It is not about motivation always, once you have success, it is also about maintaining several things which are not usually related to writing or blogging. Many people treat blogging as a hobby, which is right for the majority of the people. However, after a period of time blogging is just like working your regular 9-5 job. Yes, you do get the flexibility to work when you want and how you want to, however, you can compare it to any other home-based entrepreneurs who decide to work from home.

There are things called as blogger blocks, these are basically phases where we can’t think about writing anything. These are pretty ok to happen and it is always fine.

About motivation, it could be anything and everything. I usually treat every small happening across the board as a motivation to do something better. If my blog gets 10 more visitors than last month it acts as a motivation to get 10 more, if it makes $1 more than last month it acts as a motivation.

However, I also treat negative traits as a motivation factor. If I made $10 less than last month, it motivates me to ensure that I make $20 more the next month.

It is really up to you what you use as a motivation to keep moving ahead, it cannot be positive things all the time and you have to also use negative happenings as props to keep moving ahead. Life is such that for every 1 good thing there is 1 bad thing and you have to learn to keep working with both of them. You just cannot only work with positive vibes all the time.

I just have to add that you should cherish every achievement and aim to do better, it is always good to lap up the limelight, however, with that you also need to plan on what better you can do in the future.

Have you ever fallen into any controversies?

Controversies are part of life, it is better to deal with it and end it, rather than talk about it.

Who are your favorite bloggers? What kind of relations do you have with them professionally?

I don’t have any favorite bloggers to name. However, I have a huge friend base in the blogging community. I started out with blogging when it was becoming famous in India, and from then I have made a lot of friends, many of whom I have personally met or interacted since 2005.

I would like to say that it has been quite a lot of fun knowing people from across India and the world who I would have never imagined to have known if it weren’t for blogging.

On my recent trip to India, I met several people who I have known for a few years now, and it was a great experience which I will always cherish. Of course, there are few more people who I would want to meet in future, but yes, I have definitely developed a great relationship with lots of people thanks to blogging.

What is your next big idea, your own Proud Idea?

Ideas are often best when done and then talked about. I have some ideas in my head right now which I want to start working on soon, however, I am not finding enough time right now. I do have the experience to execute ideas. Several of my ideas have died easy deaths because of the lack of time, however, in future I definitely do plan to execute the ideas I have and bring it to the forefront.

Do you think your blogging skills have improved since you had started? On what grounds? How do you rate yourself among your peers?

Well blogging skills is not just about writing, it is about several things. I definitely think that I am not the same Keith who started out in 2005 and have definitely improved leaps and bounds.

For me it is not just blogging. In everything you do, you have to improve yourself every day. It could be with cooking where you try out a different recipe or where you try to experiment rather than doing the same old thing every day.

Over time, whatever you do will have a saturation point and you have to innovate yourself to be able to sustain the same thing for next few months or years. I have learnt to innovate and try out lot of different things. Innovation does not have to be something big, it could be a small change too, however, that will give a fresh breath of air to what you do.

Well, I cannot definitely rate myself, that is best left to someone else.

3 things we don’t know about you?

• Though I am a commerce graduate, I never attended regular college. I did my correspondence and worked while doing it.
• Though many people think I am always on the computer, I spend a good amount of time off it. I read at-least 2 novels every month. I am a very avid fiction reader.
• I don’t like sweets much. I am not a ice-cream and rasgulla guy. I love spicy and tangy food more than sweets. However, I do enjoy ice-creams occasionally, however, not always.

Your facebook profile/page: http://facebook.com/keithdsouza
Twitter: @keithdsouza

Davinder is a tech blogger, graphic designer & a web consultant based in India. He has been blogging since late 2007 and blogs at ToThePC.com. He mostly writes about technology and apps.

In his words:

Starting off with my name “Davinder”, did Bachelors of Computer Applications and later for some strange reasons did Masters in Business Administration (specialization Finance – not computers). I have been blogging right from college days but found groove few years back.

After 2 years of fun, learning and working on job, it was time to say goodbye to fixed working routine and HELLO to world of blogging. It is still difficult to make people understand “Who is a blogger?” Anyway, I am one!!!

I have been blogging actively on “Techno Life” since Nov 2007. Besides blogging I am also a graphic designer and web consultant (sounds cool!). Lastly my location – I reside in India and… keep visiting ‘Techno Life’ to ease out using technology with cool apps, tips, services and lots more…

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us something about yourself? 

I am MBA (finance) and a computer graduate (BCA). Worked for 2+ yrs as Technical Expert at DELL and then switched to full time blogging. I have been blogging from my college days as a hobby but now its a serious routine!
 

Do you like Jalebi/laddoo?

 Both
 

How long have you been blogging? What are your favorite topics? 

I have been blogging for 5+ years but went into serious mode for last 3 years. Anything related to computer and technology that interests me is part of my favorite topics. 

Have you always wanted to be a blogger? What would you be if you weren’t a blogger? 

Yes… always! If I was not a blogger, then must be doing some work related to computers for sure.  

Bloggers need constant motivation to write. What keeps you going? 

Exactly, blogging is very tough as compared to 9-5 job. To remain motivated, it is important to have strict schedule and work accordingly. Since most blogger work from home office, distraction from family members and other stuff galore. For starters, these things should be sorted at the earliest. Second part is performance as a blogger (and blog you write). Ups and downs are often – just get up, look around, research, find solutions, identify mistakes – one should keep rocking as blogger (not easy though)!
 

Which bloggers do you envy?

None, but I do keep in contact with many technology bloggers.
 

Who are your favorite bloggers?

There are many bloggers in my “Like” list. Sandip from Blogsdna.com is very good at what he does. I interact with few bloggers via email but mostly using through Twitter and IM.
 

What is your next big idea, your own Proud Idea?  

Yeah… there are bunch of ideas cooking in my head. Most of ideas take lot of time and dedication – will reveal at right time!

  

If you were nominated for a bloggers award, why do you think you should win? And who would you like to receive the award from? 

My work at ToThePC is best indicator for my worth to get an award. Well, won’t mind receiving award from anyone from tech community. From likes of Gates, Matt, Jobs… so on!
 
 

3 things we don’t know about you?

• I am also a web graphic designer (as a hobby).
• I love clicking photos, specially of cats 

• I am stubborn to change.

 
 
Your facebook profile/page: http://www.facebook.com/tothepc - http://www.facebook.com/idavinder
Twitter: @idavinder
Any other medium of contact? tothepc@yahoo.com

Here is another interesting interview by TheIndianStartup. Abhinav Sree is a co founder of SMS Gyan, a wonderful mobile/sms based service. Abhinav co founded Innoz Technologies with his 3 college friends. At Innoz, they primarily work on exciting mobile technologies. SMSGyan is the first product from Innoz Technologies.

What is your startup about?

We are a young innovative startup working on the mobile domain. Our first product SmsGyan is all about empowering mobile users providing web services via SMS. We deliver up to a max. of 500 characters results giving users full value for their money. ET POI finalists, DFJ CISCO Global BP Competition finalists, Innoz is a promising student startup and is now incubated under the iAccelerator program at IIM Ahmedabad.

What is the story behind Innoz Technologies. What led to the inception of SmsGyan?

Innoz is a story of 4 college friends getting together and doing something different rather than joining the rat race of job seekers. Being Student entrepreneurs isn’t easy but it sure wasn’t impossible. SmsGyan took birth due to the need for getting quick information from various sources to your mobile. The fact that sms has a huge market also inspired us a lot.

Which is the most popular feature of your service and which one are you most excited about?

Each new feature is pretty exciting for us. But I should say the most promising feature even by stats is PRICE. On average, a user uses this feature 14 times! This is precisely why we are looking forward to tie up with companies who can provide us with accurate results and even opportunities for our users to get a fair deal for the gadget which they request for.

We have also introduced SmsGyan in Gtalk which seems very exciting. All one has to do is add smsgyan@smsgyan.com to their Gtalk and send help for the list of keywords. So it makes a one place for all information and even promoting the websites of our partners can be done effectively.

SmsGyan was amongst the finalists of the Economic Times- Power or Ideas competition. Can you tell us about your experiences with this initiative?

For us personally it was a big learning point. Moving from just the technology to actually looking into financial points too. There were some good advices and we are working in too.

What is your revenue model? Do you charge for any of your services? Is advertising used to subsidize or completely cover your costs?

Each request costs the user Rs. 3. So the costs are covered if we mange to answer a considerable amount of queries per month.

Can you disclose a few statistics? What is your user base? How many of these are regular users?

In our beta stage we had around 25000 unique users and have successfully answered more than 3 lakh queries.

What are the future plans for SmsGyan and Innoz Technologies?

SmsGyan is already undergoing a lot of expansion plans. We are looking forward to building SmsGyan as a platform for a user to get any information whenever and wherever they want.

Innoz is also working on an exciting mobile application for file sharing and lots more. Right now its in a testing phase and looks very promising.

Full interview at TheIndianStartup »

TheIndianStartup interviewed Mr Prabhat Kiran about his venture Clayology.com. He is the Founder & CEO of this firm which has been helping companies to adopt ‘fresh’ techniques for their marketing campaigns.

What is your startup about?

Clayology Interactive Agency is a Social Media Marketing & Production company with a twist.

We understand that the success of every viral campaign, be it a viral video, game or an application is in its uniqueness. Claymation or Stop Motion Animation is something quite different and unique because it does not involve computer generated avatars. They are hand-made and completely organic.

So, when we came up with this unique combination ( Claymation and Viral seeding) we were greeted with open hands by Media Agencies.

What is the story behind Clayology? What led to the inception of Clayology?

I have been in the internet marketing industry for quite sometime. I have been an Online Marketing & Brand Management Consultant for various companies and so always had to come up with tailor-made strategies for each of them.

Industries like Travel, Gambling etc had high competition. The media buying slabs sometimes don’t even justify a decent break even for them.
I was consulting for a poker company in China , they wanted to tap the local market with local games. We decided to go with a viral game campaign with a ‘fresh’ approach.

The so called ‘fresh’ approach clicked and that inspired me to come up with an Agency with a twist..something that grabs attention & something that cannot be replicated easily.

Which is the most popular feature of your service and which one are you most excited about? Who is your target audience?

The most popular feature of our service is of-course claymation. Since we are a B2B company we target Media Agencies in major.

Who are your competitors? How do you try to differentiate yourself?

Our competitors are mainly companies like Webchutney & – involved in viral creation and campaigning but since we are exclusively into claymation, we have an edge over them.

How did you fund the venture? Do you have external funding? When did external partners step in?

All the funding had been raised internally. We are negotiating with some Venture Capitalists at this moment.

Full interview at TheIndianStartup»

Harsh Agarwal is a Pune, India based young blogger who usually writes about blogging and technology. He is popular for his multi-author blog ShoutMeLoud which had revenue sharing as it’s USP. He recently started a venture called rtCamp which is doing pretty well.

In his own words:

Talking about my life, I’m 23 year old, by education I’m an Engineer and at one point of time I was destined to Join Accenture as a software engineer for 9A.M. -6P.M Job, but at the time of joining, I took one of the most risky and important decision of my life by continuing blogging and to become another professional blogger from India.

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us something about yourself?

Hi I’m is Harsh Agrawal, Co-founder of rtCamp which is a WordPress development company based in Pune, India. I started my career as a blogger via Shoutmeloud.com. When I started blogging, one of my fav topic used to be technology and now I enjoy writing and reading more about Blogging, WordPress, SEO and Affiliate marketing.
Talking about my l life, I’m 23 year old, by education I’m an Engineer and at one point of time I was destined to Join Accenture as a software engineer for 9A.M. -6P.M Job, but at the time of joining, I took one of the most risky and important decision of my life by continuing blogging and to become another professional blogger from India.

Do you like chocolates?

Ha Ha, I love them. If you planning to send me you can send it to :
Harsh Agrawal
rtCamp Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
G-II/2, Liberty phase –II, North Main Road
Koregaon Park
Pune-411001
I believe now you have an idea how much I love chocolates

How long have you been blogging? What are your favorite topics?

I started blogging in Sep 2008. I started with technology and later on I started writing more about Blogging, WordPress, make money online tips which I have learned from my own experience. That was something which changed my blogging career. As such articles were personalized and Shoutmeloud readers started connecting themselves with those articles.

Recently I started a blog on WordPress hosting discount and few niche blogs like callingallgeeks.org. I have plans to open niche blogs on automobiles, medical, design and coding. This is something which is in pipeline but I’m sure I will be launching them before the end of this year.

Have you always wanted to be a blogger? What would you be if you weren’t a blogger?

When I was in college I was a rebel and a hacker by heart. I was closely connected to technology and linux. I used to read many tech blogs like devils’ workshop, lifehacker, nirmal.tv, labnol and few more. But I never thought of blogging as a career. I started with a BlogSpot blog in 2008 out of my interest (tech blog) and somehow after lots of user comments and positive feedback I thought of giving this a shot. More over blogging is still not very common in India, so being called as blogger used to make me proud.
If not blogger, I could be a Businessman, Engineer or event management

Would you mind sharing some stats of SML? (Registered users, traffic, no of posts, revenue, partners)

Well I would like to share an interesting note about Shoutmeloud. We are close to 20% bounce rate and that is something which I believe is incredible response for me.
SML (Shoutmeloud) current stats are as follows.
RSS subscriber: 9594
Monthly Traffic: 100,000 (Approx)
Monthly page-views: 333,000 (Approx)
Registered users: 668
Facebook Fan: 1349
You can get more detail on my April monthly traffic report.
Regarding Partner, Now I should better stop calling Shoutmeloud as my property. Since it’s now a part of rtBlogs and which is own by me and Rahul Bansal.

Which bloggers do you envy? Have you ever contacted them or tried to collaborate?

Seriously I don’t envy any one. Every blogger have their signature style. I believe every blogger have something to share about. Regarding Collaboration, I have something interesting to share. This year (2010) I collaborated with Rahul Bansal of Devils’ workshop and we have become partner now. We have now a network of blogs running under rtBlogs network and our main WordPress dev. Company is named as rtCamp.
Well this is something I will suggest to everyone, whenever you find someone with same vision, you should try to collaborate with him and you never know what future will be offering you.

Who are your favorite bloggers on SML? How much do they earn only from SML?

At Shoutmeloud we only have Ruchi who is writing full time and she is co-editor of rtBlog network. It will not be wise enough from my side that I will pick any one as fav. For me, Shoutmeloud is a community blog. Any blogger can step forward and write any thing original related to blogging, WordPress and SEO. Why don’t you help me and pick your fav. Author from all by looking into guest posts at Shoutmeloud.

What is your next big idea, your own Proud Idea?

My first and foremost idea is to take blogging to next level in India. As Indian public and readers are getting tech savvy, I’m sure in few years blogging will be one big industry in India and I want to be first one to live in India and set a foot print.

If you were asked to evaluate your own site, what number will you give? On a sidenote, have you ever been offered a price for SML? If so, who did and how much?

I will give 7/10. I’m working hard on my Grammar. As English is not my first language I often make some silly mistakes. I was offered twice to sell Shoutmeloud and I declined it with a smile on my face. You might like to read this post Shoutmeloud sold for $8000.

3 things we don’t know about you!

I don’t live by rules but value every imp thing around me.
I wake up in noon. (12-2PM)
I love travelling and Photography.

Your facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/harsh.agrawal
Twitter: @denharsh
Youtube: http://youtube.com/denharsh

Mohamed Ali Chehimi is a Kuwait-born Architectural Engineer, who works as a professional photographer in Egypt. He is young, highly talented and very down to earth when it comes to socializing. He works for very popular firms like Origami Media & Pharos University.

In his own words:

I am Mohamed Ali Chehimi, Born in Lebanon, Raised in Kuwait, Live in Egypt. I am studying Architectural Engineering; photography was my hobby and now is my profession. Today I work for firms like Origami Media, Pharos University, Professional Modeling photo shoots, and many others.

Here’s the interview:

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us something about yourself?

I am Mohamed Ali Chehimi, Born in Lebanon, Raised in Kuwait, Live in Egypt. I am studying Architectural Engineering; photography was my hobby and now is my profession. Today I work for firms like Origami Media, Pharos University, Professional Modeling photo shoots, and many others.

Would you please tell us about your start and how did you decide to become a photographer? And what does photography mean to you?

My uncle gave me my 1st 35mm camera on my 13th birthday… ohh yeah and he had a photography studio ,I liked the idea of freezing the moment so I improved my skills and here I am ten years after that , still in love with freezing the moment . Photography is a really important thing to me, sometimes I feel hungry, yet too lazy to cook to myself…So I don’t!
But If I had an idea of a photo, I can’t delay it.

Are you a self taught photographer or did you have a mentor that showed you the ropes?

Well as I said in the beginnings my uncle is the one who showed me the path and gave me some basics, also my brother gave me his 35mm SLR when he bought his D-SLR so that helped me big time.

Can you recall the first photo that made you go WOW?

Sure… It was a photo of an old castle in Lebanon.

Tell us about your techniques, and Do you rely on lighting (natural, or artificial), or on dark-room/computer manipulation?

I actually like to try everything , so I shoot a lot outside yet I like the studio lightning , I like to use different lenses to make use of the D.O.F effect and the wide angle … I don’t really like the digital editing unless it’s necessary .

Do you think a photographer should have talent? Or you think today’s techniques and photo shopping is helping and no more need to be talented?

Sure you should be talented more over you should love photography to take it as a hobby because it is an expensive hobby and it takes a lot of time.

How does your personality change when you look through the camera? And how do you feel about missed shots that cannot be recreated?

Photography gives a power to decide, to create and to design the scene. And when I miss a shot I try to learn from it, by knowing what went wrong and try to prevent it next time.
What are your favorite subjects to photograph? And who and what would you love to shoot that you haven’t already?
I love Portraits and Modeling, but I would love to shoot for Famous fashion designers D&G, LV, Gucci … etc.

Tell us about your funniest, scariest, most touching story from your photo shoots.

Funniest… it was a shot for a friend of mine jumping in the pool and I caught him just before touching the water, he looked like he is walking on the water.

Most touching story… well I think it was touching , I was in saida; its a village in my country Lebanon and I was going on a trip when we stopped by a café and I took a walk , I found this old man who looked a lot like a homeless man I took a photo of him, when the guy at the café saw it , he told me that the guy in the photo used to be one of Lebanon’s Richest people… he lost his family and all his fortune in the civil war in the seventies ..

Scariest… I was shooting while I’m hiking and my camera slipped from my hand when I was on a cliff, thank god I put the camera built around my neck or else it won’t be with me anymore..

What has been the most surprising or the most predictable reaction to your photographs?

WOW DID YOU EDIT THAT ON PHOTO SHOP :S

What would you tell people that are looking to become photographers?

Buying an expensive camera isn’t considered the 1st step. Knowing what you are going to shoot is the 1st step because at that moment you will know what to buy…

What other thoughts would you like to share?

It’s really nice if one knew how to freeze the best moments of his life in a high resolution and perfectly composed pictures… so that when he is old he looks at this moment as if its scenes from a movie… a movie where he is the star , the director and the cast…

Sri Ganesh M. is a blogger (and animator) from India. He runs the blog AnimHut.com and mostly writes about freebies and design. In his own words:

I am interested in Computer Designing. I have quest for creating animation pictures. Currently I am doing Animation Course. About to complete the course in few months. I do have creative quest. I think in different dimensions on human relations, welfare on international humanity. Nature lover.

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us something about yourself?

First of all Thanks for offering an interview. I am interested in Computer Designing. I have quest for creating animation pictures. Currently I am doing Animation Course. About to complete the course in few months. I do have creative quest. I think in different dimensions on human relations, welfare on international humanity. Nature lover.

Do you like apples?

Yes. I’m longing for eating as well as operating apples lol . The apples made by God and by Human Brain.

How long have you been blogging?

I have been doing blogging since August, 2009… My learning is not by a tailor made course but learnt by self from the dust to……

Have you always wanted to be a blogger? What would you be if you weren’t a blogger?

Yeah. Of course; If I weren’t come across the blogging, then I would have concentrated on animation.

Who do you consider your idol? have you ever met them?

Especially, Mr Sean Hodge from Psdtuts+ & Vectortuts+.
No. I would like to meet in near future….
…..yet to experience a lot.

Do you have other bloggers/friends who are helping you in running AnimHuT?

yes ! I do have lots of bloggers who were helping me now, the list is so long, but like to mention few bloggers who helped me from the beginning of my blog “ HellBound Bloggers – sam “, sherl and my “hall of fame “ list in my blog footer.
Recently my two friends sipi sagar and karthick engaged as authors !

What are the revenue and traffic statistics of AnimHuT?

Yeah… from January 2010, from BSA ads I get revenue.. and Google ads are yet to be listed in my blog…
traffic status 30K-50k page impression.

What is your next big idea, your own Proud Idea?

I am going to develop new sites –expand my site , to establish Digital Market to expose new dimensional ideas, creativity, and to weave a strong global net of bloggers and friends and clients….readers.

How much time do you spend online every day, on an average? What would you do if there is no internet for a year?

As a Design student maximum 16hrs ill be online. Apart from blogging and social networking love to know more interesting things on net like from stumble.
If no Internet ill be practice on my design skills or I open my note books and study !!

3 things we don’t know about you?

• I am a self developed amateur Photographer and dreaming for a SLR Cameras.
• Wild Traveler loving nature & birds.
• Medium level chess player.

Your facebook profile/page: http://www.facebook.com/sriganesh.m / page: http://bit.ly/animhutfb
Twitter: @animhut
Any other medium of contact?
gtalk : sriganesh7
skype : sriganesh-animhut.com