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T h e L a r g e s t Y e l l o w P a g e s & D i r e c t o r y f o r t h e NRI C o m m u n i t y. B U S I N E S S P L A N. w w w . C O P P E R P A G E S . c o m. Hik there. CopperPages.com Contact Preeti Gupta 888-55-Copper (tel) 888-552-6773 (tel) 201-892-6094 (cell)
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T h e L a r g e s t Y e l l o w P a g e s & D i r e c t o r y f o r t h e NRI C o m m u n i t y B U S I N E S S P L A N w w w . C O P P E R P A G E S . c o m Hik there CopperPages.com Contact Preeti Gupta888-55-Copper (tel) 888-552-6773 (tel) 201-892-6094 (cell) PGupta@CopperPages.com Prepared for Investor Date April 2007 Proprietary and Confidential No part of this document may be circulated, quoted, or reproduced for distribution without prior written approval from CopperPages.com. Confidential & Proprietary -- CopperPages 2007
Executive Summary • CopperPages.com is the largest Yellow Pages and Directory Resource for NRI cross-border and intra-country listings. We will be the “Gateway to India” for 1) NRIs, 2) Mainstream markets accessing India, 3) Visitors to and from India, 4) B2B entities in Outsourcing, Import, and other industries. • Market size estimated at $2 billion to reach NRIs worldwide. (This does not include revenue for E-Commerce, Ticketing, and cross-border services) The global Yellow Pages industry is estimated at $30 bil, and global Local Search at $100 bil. • Opportunity to be the leader in this area with only one indirect competitor, which has many weaknesses. However due to its monopoly it is generating significant revenue, showing proof-of-concept. • We are unique from other players in that we will ONLY be a Yellow Pages and Directory with automated, scalable, user-populated tools and services in under-served and revenue-generating niches. There will be no “leisure content”. • Our team is the STRONGEST in the market. Founder has significant experience 1) as a serial Entrepreneur, 2) with the Internet/Intranet, and 3) in South Asian community and media. Exceptional technology and design team outsourced abroad with low operating costs. • Website launched in the U.S. and marketing campaign has started, with traffic and revenue. • $125k and 3 years already spent to create significant Barriers-to-Entry in operations and data, with a proprietary data sourcing method to get NRI listings in almost any country, and a database of 100k NRI listings (over 20 times the size of our nearest indirect competitor). Looking for $1-2 million to grow Brand Name to the same level. • Opportunity to earn significant cash cow revenues with our tremendous lead. The ad revenue being spent on Zee TV, India Abroad, Sulekha, and other media will FIRST FILTER through us once we capture the Yellow Pages niche. • In 1-3 years we will be the TOP acquisition target for the companies being funded in India today due to our 3 invaluable assets 1) NRI traffic, 2) NRI Ad Revenue Base (Lexus to Patel Bros), 3) NRI business listings.
Table of Contents Confidential & Proprietary – CopperPages Inc. 2007
The Mission For Consumers – We will be THE Yellow Pages and Directory Resource for cross-border and intra-country NRI listings. For Businesses – We will be the FIRST STOP for advertisers trying to reach the NRI market.
The Opportunity In the mainstream market: - 35% of Business owners advertise in a Yellow Pages - 90% of adults use a Yellow Pages Why Yellow Pages? - Searchable - Permanent - Inexpensive - Higher ROI from Customers - Customer calls the advertiser 88% of the time in YPages vs. 7% in Print - Customers spend 25% more thru the YPages than other media
The Opportunity South Asian Market – no Yellow Pages yet current South Asian advertising spend will flow through CopperPagesfirst South Asian Advertising
The Opportunity – Market We are the place for 1) NRIs looking to find an Indian Photographer, Babysitter, Tiffin Service, Hindi Teacher, Cremation Services, or other related business 2) Mainstream consumers looking to find Indian Travel Agents and Tourist Packages, Mehndi “Tattoo” Artists or inexpensive Medical care in India 3) Visitors from India looking to find Indian Restaurants, Hotels, or Grocery Stores 4) B2B entities looking to find Outsourced Services, Importers, or other cross-border, global listings. Highest Median Household Income amongst any ethnic minority: close to $ 60,000 p.a. (Asian Indians)3 • There are approximately 20 million South Asians living abroad worldwide. 2 million live in the U.S. and Canada, 1.2 million in the UK, and 0.4 million in Australia. • Immigrants and those born here still have strong ties to their homeland and continue to purchase various South Asian goods and services. In addition, India is growing as a global superpower and the mainstream markets and companies need a gateway of access. • It is estimated that $2 billion1 in advertising is spent to reach the Diaspora market. The global Yellow Pages industry is estimated at $30 billion, and global Local Search at $100 billion3. The Outsourcing and Import/Export industries are at $50-70 billion combined. Estimated Annual Buying Power over $65 billion 1 See Appendix A for details 2 Institute of Asian Studies at St. John’s University 3According to the Yellow Pages Association, see Appendix D for details
Directory Services Intra-Country NRI Directory (Yrs 1 & 2) Cross-Border Directory (Yr 3) YPages E-Commerce Classifieds B2B – Import/Export Outsourcing Events, Showtimes, Ticketing NRI Investments in India NRI Events/Conferences Career Classifieds Mainstream and NRI Travel to India NRI Charity Vehicles B2C – NRI ECommerce • We are a Directory resource with services that create efficiencies in the Diaspora market and are useful for practical every-day needs, there will be no News, Blogs, or “Leisure Content”. • Like EBay, we create the tools and processes that enable users to submit their own data and interact and transact locally, nationally, and globally. • All sections are revenue-generating, with most content being provided by the users/businesses themselves who already pay to publish this content offline. Outsourcing - IT, Legal, Accounting, Advertising, Payroll ($30 billion) B2B – Import/Export: Housewares, Fabrics, Plastics, Leather, Medical Supplies ($20 billion) Events/Conferences – Prabasi Event, TIE Bangalore event NRI Investments in India – Real Estate, Mutual Funds Mainstream and NRI Travel to India – Listings of Hotels, Airlines, Tours (does NOT include booking Tickets or Reservations) B2C NRI E-Commerce – India-Authored Books, Wedding Clothes, Dance Costumes, Musical Instruments, Ayurvedic Medicine Charity Vehicles – NRI Charity funds, Initiatives, Political Contributions Intra-Country Yellow Pages, E-Commerce, Classifieds, Events, and Career – see upcoming slides
We are going to offer more customized search via a Push/Pull method that will “push” out data that can be searched and sorted by numerous parameters Or the customer can “pull” a customized search by submitting a Bid Request with their own specific questions which is then answered and displayed back to them in a customized comparison chart Yellow Pages search – More Relevant Results via Push/Pull
Yr. 1 – partial code to be developed Yellow Pages – Nth Tier Categorization (Push) 1st tier: Status Quo Search 2nd tier: Additional Search Category Location (Country, State, City, Zipcode) Keyword Years in Business Coupon Price Range (like Zagat) Ratings Ethnic Group 3rd tier: Customized Search Examples Classifieds Roommates Import/Export Fabrics Outsourcing Legal Yellow Pages Physicians • - Shipping Services • Quotas Available • Fabric Types • - Jurisdiction • Contingency • Retainer Size • US Representative? • - Insurances Accepted • Weekend / Office Hrs • Languages Spoken • Veg vs NonVeg • Male vs Female • Smoker vs Non • Pets Allowed • Region (Punjabi, Sindhi) • Maximum Rent We will build the Nth criteria levels for 250+ categories by harnessing community domain knowledge by enabling Vendors to suggest further categorizations when they post their business listings, and awarding them CPP$ for their efforts. Currently, we already have this feature with general Categories, and we get 2-3 new Category suggestions per week.
Yr. 1 – all code to be developed RFP / Bid Request – Pull Available for Date 1/11/08? Describe a Package costing $1000 Package Price Range Black/White Photos Do you include Albums and which kinds? Please describe your other packages Backdrops included? Name of Photographer Contact Details Customized Bid Request Form Customer can specify which fields should be answered in Free Text form, Dates, Prices, Yes/No, or Multiple Choice CPP will save commonly asked questions for each category so customers can choose questions from already built templates, and we will award CPP$ to customers who contribute new questions to the RFP process Vendor Fills out Customer Gets Info back, customizes Data Display This chart display will be very flexible, the customer will be able to sort/shuffle vendors and criteria, hide rows or columns, and make internal notes
There is a need for an updated, comprehensive source of NRI Yellow Pages listings for people living within a particular area: Recent Immigrants looking for attorneys, real estate agents, and driving schools that speak their native language. Brides looking for South Asian wedding planners, photographers, disk jockeys, and beauty salons. Families looking for South Asian nursing homes or funeral services, home cooks and nannies, grocery stores, or movie theatres. Yr. 1 – already launched The Consumer Opportunity - Yellow Pages LOCAL Multiple State, City, and Zip Code Search Search Page Category, Keyword, and Name Search Posting Page NATIONAL • Despite the presence of a few local directories, there is also a need for a NATIONAL, Yellow Pages: • Young professionals temporarily residing in another city for work and wanting to join cultural organizations and locate South Asian grocery stores or restaurants during their stay. • People living in small towns who don’t have a lot of local South Asian goods and services and wanting to order from out-of-town. • Brides and Grooms planning an out-of-town wedding.
The Advertiser Opportunity - Yellow Pages Yr. 1 – already launched • There is also a great need for business owners to have a permanent, wide-reaching, affordable platform to advertise their goods and services: • The cost of producing Newspapers, TV and Radio programs is capital-intensive, so most media must charge a minimum rate even to small advertisers. In addition, the advertiser must shell out large funds weekly or monthly to appear in these temporary media. • Also, there are 100s of papers and programs and even small businesses must advertise in several to reach just a fraction of the community. • Unlike printed directories which are issued once every 1-2 years, the Internet platform allows business owners to change their information anytime, advertise seasonal promotions, and be visible under several categories, subcategories, zip codes, keywords, and other search criteria. • For all these reasons, the online NRI Yellow Pages platform will be the first avenue of advertising when a new NRI business opens its doors, just like any mainstream business would first register itself with a mainstream Yellow Pages. Only AFTER joining CopperPages.com will businesses allocate their budgets to other temporary media platforms. Search Results Pages SubCategory Banner Ad Sponsored Listing Section Banner Ad Distance Expansion Report Wrong Info Coupon Area Map Expanded Listing Basic Free Listing Multiple Locations
Ecommerce Web Services Yr. 1 – all code to be developed Note: CPP will NOT carry any inventory. We will simply allow vendors to upload their products through their CPP store and call our Customer Service hotline in India with any questions. Vendors will pay a flat monthly fee as well as per transaction and also pay to showcase their products on the CPP Ecommerce home page. This is different from existing Ecommerce sites like Rediff or IndiaPlaza in that we are a platform or bridge connecting NRI Vendors to NRI Customers, just as we already bring them together via the Yellow Pages and Bid Request. We are not selling gifts to India or selling our own product. Featured Products: Featured Stores: Featured Specials: Redeem your CPP$ for free shipping!
Content Websites: Many small businesses in the community want a web presence but are web-illiterate. We have created the largest template collection available to the NRI community, as well as a Self-Help tool allowing business owners to edit and maintain their own web content. This has been our most popular service to-date. We have created an online “Tutorial” visible at http://www.CopperPages.com/demos/webedit/webedit.htmlto automate the training process. Yr. 1 – already launched Static Web Services All Website pages listed in “File Manager” with ability to Edit, Add Pages, Copy, and Delete • E-Commerce Websites: In addition, we will be building the same engine for businesses who want a “Shopping Cart” functionality, as most of them cannot research and manage a web team to do this on their own. They will be able to maintain their own products in the Shopping Cart, and have their own Credit Card merchant account. We will create one master “Shopping” page like Amazon which will list all the stores by Category, and promote products for a fee (esp. during festivals like Diwali). • This will serve a pressing need for customers who have called us in the past looking for specific items like “Cricket sets” or “Tablas” but can’t figure out which stores to contact. Microsoft Word-type tool for easy editing, including Hyperlinks, Font, Colors, etc.
The Classifieds section is a revenue-generating extension of the Yellow Pages. Listings for temporary services and sales of goods that are not appropriate for the Yellow Pages directory will be displayed here. Although there are current local classifieds listings in newspapers and portals, there is also a need for a NATIONAL platform that has a comprehensive listing of Classifieds: Businessmen looking to move cross-country, wanting to buy a Dunkin-Donuts or South Asian grocery store. Immigrants or young adults/students looking for roommates in another city. Families looking for a travel companion for their young child or older grandparent going to India alone and in need of someone to watch over them during the flight. Opportunity to further distinguish ourselves among other Classifieds by maximizing the advantages of the Internet platform and search capabilities as in the following example: Roommates and Rental – searching by advanced criteria such as: 1) Start date of lease, 2) Square Footage, 3) Furnished vs. Non-Furnished, 4) Vegetarian vs. Non-Vegetarian roommate, etc. Yr. 1 – already launched Classifieds Search Page Search Results Page, Condensed View
The Events section is a needed resource in the community. There are Event listings available through competitor websites, national and local, but most of them are simple in their search, posting, and display functionality. We have added unique, proprietary features such as allowing organizers to post Multiple Locations for an Event (I.e. Asha Bhonsle concert in several cities can go under the same listing). In addition, based on customer feedback, we will be adding an “Ongoing Calendar” feature which will allow Dance and Music schools, Religious classes, Radio and TV programs, and other ongoing community organizations to post their schedules for ongoing events, a service which is not offered anywhere currently. Yr. 1 – already launched Community Events Search Page for Community Events Posting Page for Community Events allowing self-content population and automation
The Career Network is not yet launched but is in development. It will be divided into 2 sections: 1) Job Network, 2) Entrepreneur’s Network. It will offer traditional functionality such as Resume and Job Posting and Search. However it will also incorporate issues specific to our community such as H-1, H-4, and Greencard sponsorship. In addition, the Entrepreneur’s Network will encourage the posting of startup and investment opportunities and cater to the growing number of South Asians looking to start their own business. There is no such service available in the South Asian community, except for Job subcategories under the Classifieds heading in Newspapers and Web Portals. Currently, we also offer the same functionality, but will be expanding it close to the size of a Monster.com or Naukri.com to allow a more detailed search and posting capability, as well as Employer and Employee matching, and other advanced features. We already have several businesses awaiting its launch and willing to be paid customers, including Prudential Insurance. Yr. 2 – partial code to be developed Career Classifieds
There is no brand name website that offers a listing of Movie Showtimes– currently the community must call each theater separately or rely on word-of-mouth. In keeping with our mission as a Directory resource only, we do NOT offer Movie Reviews, only Showtimes and Theater information. Also in line with our goal of automation and scalability, we have created a self-posting form that allows Theater Owners to post their own Showtimes and a back-end functionality that alerts them via email if they have not posted Showtimes for a particular week. Yr. 2 – completely developed but not launched Movie Showtimes Showtimes on Front-End for Theater in New Jersey Posting form on Back-End for Movie Distributors / Theater Owners to post their own Showtimes
Ticketing services will increase the CPP brand name as organizations will advertise the link to our website where their attendees can purchase tickets. This will serve as low-cost publicity for us, in addition to generating revenues on each ticket purchase. Yr. 2 – completely developed but not launched Ticketing • This service is also automated, in that all purchases, reports, and changes are made online. No paper tickets will be printed or mailed. The organizer can access all reports and buyer information on the backend, through their Account.Currently, there are a few other websites offering this service, however we offer the most backend functionality and flexibility. Front-End Ticket Link Back-End Ticket Sellers Report • In addition, we are working on a “Reserved Seating Chart” capability which is not currently available in the market. This will allow us to sell tickets for all kinds of events.
1 to 3 yr plan - Services, Target Market, Regions Note: The focus in Yr 1 is on those services which bring the Customer to the Vendor. The Vendor will be willing to upgrade their free ad to a paying ad if they get customer calls and sales from CopperPages. The Bid Request process brings value to the Customer not obtainable elsewhere by allowing them to reach multiple vendors through our system and easily compare vendor responses. It also brings value to the Vendor because it is sending them live customer leads. Ecommerce will also increase Customer calls to Vendors because it will showcase specific products which they cannot learn about elsewhere as TV, Print, and other advertising platforms don’t offer such detail.
Competition – Very Little (see Appendix A-C for more detail) • Sulekha • - Community and blogs are the focus • - Temporary Classifieds are being treated as a Yellow Pages • - Only 5klistings in Yellow Pages (CPP has 100k) • Search Engine (Google) • - Missing data: They only pick up websites, not retail locations, comparative search on CPP vs Google shows we are better • - Less Relevant data: The presentation of results is not as efficient for the user due to lack of attributes such as Geocoding and Nth-tier Categorization • - Lack of Bid Requests: More difficult to directly bring the Customer to the Vendor unless contact info is uniformly captured like in the Yellow Pages • Mainstream online Yellow Pages (Yahoo) • - No Indian Categories: Only one is “Indian Restaurants”
Sulekha.com + Strong monopoly in the U.S. and some Brand Name abroad, $6 million Gross Revenues for 2004, just received $10 million in funding from Norwest Venture Partners (see Appendix ) - Only has ~5000 Yellow Pages listings for U.S. (mostly in West and East Coast), which are not well categorized and little functionality - Has abundant Classifieds and Events data, but poor search functionality and organization…also offers some Ticketing and Movie Showtimes…there is no Career Network - Trying to do too much as a portal, has a lot of content driven areas that do not add to the bottom line, old data, inconsistent navigation and poor user-interface, and frequent website crashes. Problems are also related to trying to capture the India and NRI market with limited resources. PlanetGuru.com + / - Used to be the largest online and printed Yellow Pages for 17 cities (NYNJGuru.com, ChicagoGuru.com, etc.)…but has been dormant recently and Brand Name has faded - Yellow Pages used to be very poorly organized, not much functionality, has only 7,000 listings Also trying to be a portal, too many sections with shallow coverage Rediff.com + Big brand name nationally and internationally, could copy us if they wanted to + Has resources, large team, and national contacts - No Yellow Pages or other services for U.S.A., mostly based in India Local Portals (IndoLink.com – CA, AapKaManoranjan.com – MA, MiIndia.com - MI) + / - Some brand name in local areas, but out-of-towners will not know about sites - Most offer only partial data and functionality of CopperPages Printed Directories (Rose Pages (Chicago), Fast Yellow Pages (CA), etc) - These are printed sporadically, with few listings, few copies, minimal geographic coverage,and with limitations inherent in print vs. online Competition – Companies (see Appendix A-C for more detail)
Competition - Summary • Most websites are trying to be portals, with news, movies, music, sports, recipes, columns, e-cards, books, and other content-driven sections that require resources to create but do not add directly to the bottom line or appeal to the average busy consumer. • Many websites are trying to cover several geographic regions at once without properly covering any one area. • Most websites are poorly designed and very difficult to use. Also most of them do not advertise and have inconsistent branding. • Some websites or companies have a Yellow Pages and Directory services, but they are incomplete or infrequently updated, with no zip code, multiple-state, city, keyword, last name, or expanded search functionality, limited categories, and few automated posting and editing features. No portal currently has separate Career Network or Web Services. (see Appendix B for details) • As a result, these portals are like department stores – good for visitors who want to get a little of everything, but not for those who desire quality, detailed information in a niche area (like hard-core Bollywood fans who visit Raaga.com or Indiafm.com or singles who visit Shaadi.com for matrimonials) • Despite its many weaknesses listed above, our one indirect competitor, Sulekha.com, is generating annual gross revenues of $6 million due to its monopoly. It is evidence of the strong untapped market. There is a rare opportunity to enter a lucrative and proven market with no strong competition and quickly become the leader.
Only room for 2 or 3 Players Unlike content websites where visitors judge the site subjectively, Yellow Pages and Directory websites will be judged mainly by quantity and accuracy of data. The first 2 or 3 entities to become a brand name will enjoy a significant competitive advantage. The risk is having a larger brand name like Sulekha or Rediff copy our layout, strategy, and data and capturing the market before we do. Mitigating Factors Currently there is no direct competition in the Yellow Pages NRI market. CopperPages.com has built up a strong Barrier-to-Entry by creating a database of 100,000 listings, 75% of which has not been released yet and will be launched once we have increased our Brand Name and Traffic. In addition, we have a proprietary method of extracting South Asian businesses from almost any country in the NRI market – UK, Canada, Africa, New Zealand, etc. - which took us a year to build. The lead in data is in addition to the superiority we already have in terms of features (see Appendix B). Because we are focusing our resources on this revenue-generating niche, we will continue to widen the gap between our position as the Yellow Pages leader and other multi-purpose media. Risks / Barriers to Entry
Strategy – Why We’re Different(Focus, Customization, Automation, and Quality) • We are going to focus on revenue-generating, automated, scalable, and practical-use niches in the Yellow Pages, Directory, Career, and E-Commerce areas. • There are already many providers of news, Bollywood reviews, travel, blogs, and other resource-intensive content. We are going to be the leaders in a few strategic revenue-generating areas which are untapped or under-served, most needed by the NRI market, and complimentary to each other under the Directory umbrella. We will capture a few verticals at a time and cement our position as leaders before expanding to the next. • Customized Search Results to the Nth Degree and Advanced Technology • We plan to use our revolutionary Search customization technique (slides 7-9) and advanced technology such as AJAX to deliver the user highly relevant data in their search results. • Quality Control of Data and Automation - Once we achieve significant market penetration, the User’s job is to populate CPP with data, our job will be to maintain the quality of the data and to continue creating great marketplace tools. • For example, CPP does not allow user-submitted listings to be displayed until after CPP has unflagged them – preventing foul language, racial/political biases. There is a automatic filter process in place to guard against duplicate data. • As a further example, all data is ranked according to its source and likely accuracy and stamped with a date when entered or updated. Upon expiration, 3 automated emails followed with 3 automated phone calls are made to ask the User to re-confirm the listing. If a response is not obtained, only then is a live call made to manually verify the data. • Another way we save labour costs is the creation of self-help online tutorials which train the User to use services on CPP (see Web Services, slide 14). CPP$ earned for contributions, and ability for us to Approve or Delete a Listing Duplication Warning
Strategy – Why We’re Different(User Contributions and Incentives) • Harnessing the User community and Domain Knowledge Masters • To encourage the User to input and control his own data, our goal is to create incentives to contribute, although business owners naturally take advantage of the free advertising opportunity. • CPP has a posting form for EVERY vertical awarding CPP$ to be redeemed for discounts on purchases or upgrades. • The Account Control features allows them to track CPP$ and manage their contributions. • For example, we may seed initial variables for the customized Search Criteria in each Category, but reward Users for alerting us when something is incorrect or missing. It is worth “paying” them in CPP$ and benefiting from Domain Expertise rather than paying our own team members to fill in the customized search criteria for 1000s of categories. Edit Listings (Yellow Pages, Events, Classifieds) Edit Ticketing Events Edit Website Edit Movie Show Times
Strategy – Why We’re Different(Branding & CoBranding) • Portals such as Sulekha.com are viewed as general websites. The CopperPages brand name (formerly known as IndoPakPages) is associated with Yellow Pages and Directory services. For example, we will be profiling other companies in our Print media. Businesses and Consumers have begun to recognize the unique CopperPages marketing campaign and further associate our company with Yellow Pages and Directory services. • In addition this strategy has allowed us to be in over 30 papers at little or not cost, coverage that normally would have cost thousands of dollars per week. Former Logo taking 15% to 25% of ad space BEFORE: AFTER CPP AD DESIGN:
ThinkIndia.com: Worked as one of 4 founding team members with ThinkIndia.com, an Indian portal based in Silicon Valley, CA that sold to Rediff (Nasdaq: Redf). Helped raise $3 million in VC funding, worked on website, including portal and screen shots, content sourcing, technology design, logos and marketing materials, and other areas. Participate.com: Consultants and developers of website community software such as message boards, chat rooms, and polls. Acted as consultant to several high-profile clients such as Staples and Kodak on increasing their web communities. IndoPakPages Inc: Internet / Intranet consulting and project management for large multinationals such as Schering-Plough. RajaRani, Inc. Importing / Exporting: First company founded. Sold 10,000 products in one year of operation at the age of 23 while working a full-time job. Nationally branded clients included Macys, Nordstrom, Fashion Bug, and Hot Topic. Worked in all aspects of the business, including sourcing raw materials, customs clearance and bulk purchasing from India, manufacturing and package design in the U.S., and marketing to buyers of national retail chains. Arthur Andersen: Auditor and Consultant for 4 years. Earned Certified Public Accountant (CPA) after graduating from college in 2.5 years. 2Crusade.com: Founder of community/petition software product. Raised $50k in Angel funding and had clients such as ESPN, Readers Digest, and Chicago Tribune. Euro RSCG Tatham: Advertising Manager for Vidal Sassoon and Bayer, working on print, TV, and radio campaigns. South Asian Community and Media: Active leader for over 25 years, having organized cultural programs, youth conferences, part-time Dance School with 60+ students, served as MC for shows and TV Host for local TV programs, column Writer in various South Asian newspapers, and other leadership roles. Intimately connected to the South Asian community, with a deep comprehension of its needs and business conduct, as well as being able to speak the language and form good relationships with all kinds of South Asian business owners and consumers. Management Team – Preeti Gupta (Operations & Marketing) Serial Entrepreneur 13 years South Asian Community Leader 18 years Internet Experience 10 years Media Experience 1-10 years
Other Team Members CopperPages has the STRONGEST team in the market. Many have commented on our superior design, layout, and user-interface, and our technology and services are unique and high-quality thanks to our extraordinary team. TECHNOLOGY: Marcos Francos Christiano (Buenos Aires, Argentina) – TECHNOLOGY and PROGRAMMING: Handles all programming, database design, and technology support for CPP. Supervising a team of coders in Argentina who are also programming for CPP. Has worked as a manager at several large companies in Argentina, including government and newspaper entities with similar website and database design requirements. Roshan Gupta (San Francisco, CA) – TECHNOLOGY: Previously with Oracle, currently with Yahoo, part-time collaboration with Marcos to design website and tables for CPP, and other miscellaneous network setup tasks, demo installations, and tech help for everyone on the team. DESIGN AND GRAPHICS: UraLabs (Ilichevsk, Ukraine) – CPP WEB GRAPHICS and PRINT DESIGN: In charge of web design and user interface for CPP, as well as creation of all marketing materials and CPP logos. Efex Media (Delhi, India) – DEMOS and TUTORIALS: Creation of client materials such as websites, banner ads, and cobranded newspaper ads. Prizmik Solutions (Delhi, India) – WEB TEMPLATES: Creation of client materials such as websites, banner ads, and cobranded newspaper ads. DATA ENTRY: ADI Systems (Madurai, TN, India) – DATA ENTRY: Doing all manual data entry for Yellow Pages, Classifieds, Community Events, and Movies. Nishant Bambay (Pune, India) - DATA ENTRY: Doing all automated data entry for Yellow Pages.
Operations Short Term Long Term Maintain Data Quality - Duplication Filter - Listing Expiration & Update process - Incentive Contribution system via CPP$ Automated, User-Contributed Site - Account System - Auto Data Verification Process Source Data - Indian Newspapers - Screen Scraping - Mainstream YPages Marketing - next slides
15 Marketing Techniques Tested in 2006 1) Direct Sales by sending Media Kits to Citibank, Air India, etc., now we will send Online Demo http://www.copperpages.com/info/salesdemo.htm http://www.copperpages.com/info/salesdemo.swf 2) Flyers distribution (100,000) at high-traffic South Asian Grocery and Video stores, Restaurants, etc. 3) Newspaper Ads in local and national Indian papers 4) Press Releases in Indian papers 5) TV ads local and national (Zee TV is the most effective) 6) Yahoo eGroups (60 South Asian) joined 7) Banner Ad Exchanges done with other South Asian websites 8) Email campaign (10 cents per email, have done 10,000 so far) 9) Phone campaign (6 cents per call, have done 10,000 so far) 10) Google and Yahoo Adwords/OverturePay-Per-Click in 350 keywords 11) Sponsor local Indian events with booths 12) Asian/South Asian Ad Agencies contacted to present CPP as another media vehicle for their clients 13) Viral Marketing - Video Blog at YouTube, Vote Taj Mahal campaign, etc. 14) CoBranding deals (not fully tried yet, just G1G insurance, can try more) 15) Stickiness/Other Channels cultivated on CPP (Ticketing, Movie Showtimes, Photo Albums) to see if we could attract more traffic, but had to take code down due to limited maintenance resources Highest ROI, Lowest Cost: 10 cents/email for InfoUsa 20-30 cents/visitor for Google
2007 Marketing Strategy for West Coast Printed Yellow Pages – distribute to 50k households on West Coast, cost of $1.00 each, self funded through advertising sales Online – Google Adwords and InfoUSA Emails CoBranding Print – Share cost of advertising in Indian papers Voice Broadcasting – Automated telemarketing, 6 cents per household Other – ZEE & Local TV, Flyers, Event Sponsorship Logo taking 15% of ad space
Revenue Projections (Yrs 1 -3) – assume $300-600k funding in Yr. 1
Why Invest? • It all comes down to ROI, and here are some POWERFUL reasons that make this extremely Low Risk and almost guarantee an array of lucrative Exit Options: • The Business Model is not in question. The question is not WHETHER an NRI Yellow Pages and Directory will make money, but WHO will make this money? Compare the advanced progress CopperPages has made with its limited resources and time to slow progress made by larger media players here for many more years with much more money. We will be the undisputed leaders in this market. • The current focus is on India. We are ahead of the curve by capturing the NRI market. In 1-3 years, we will be the TOP acquisition target for all the companies currently being funded in India when they decide to expand their presence to global Indians (NRIs). • - Naukri.com, Yatra.com, IndiaGames.com, Seventymm.com, Mauj.com • They will compete to acquire us for our 3 solid assets which will help them speed their growth: • Our NRI traffic • Our Cash-Cow Ad Revenue base (Lexus, New York Life, Patel Brothers) which we will generate with our tremendous lead since there is no major competition and we will be the FIRST STOP for advertisers targeting this market • 3) Our South Asian Businesses Database (100k already, prob. 200k+ in the future) • Or we will be acquired by a media company wanting to extend their media channels • - Zee or Sony TV, IndiaTimes • IPO may also be a distant option • - Rediff (Nasdaq: Redf Share price: $17.92)
Appendix A – Calculation for Market Size • The total market size for media and advertising spending related to the South Asian diaspora is not available. • Estimates based on rough calculations come to $500 million for the US market to $2 billion for the global NRI market. • Note: This does NOT include potential revenue for E-Commerce transactions, Ticketing, Bid Requests, and other services.
Appendix B – Competition: Comparison of CPP vs Google For local search on Indian goods or services, Google delivers far less results than CopperPages in most keyword searches, especially those for less common categories (i.e. Tailor) or less popular cities (i.e. Hinsdale, IL).
Appendix B - Competitor and Features Comparison 1Sulekha.com consists of Yellow Pages, Classifieds, Ticketing, Cricket, News, Blogs, Chat Rooms, etc. and does not have a printed directory 2PlanetGuru.com is similar to Sulekha, but not as popular, and also prints local directories of its Yellow Pages which are free but not easily available 3Other printed directories include Little India, Fast Yellow Pages, Muslim Pages, Rose Pages, etc.
Appendix B – Competitors - Rediff Financials for 3rd Quarter 2006-2007 for the Fiscal Year ended March 31, 2007. Note that total estimated 2007 Revenue is $30 million, US Revenues are $8 million, of which $3.2 million is online. Rediff does not specifically target the US anymore or the global NRI market, so the fact they are still earning significant revenues in the NRI market is further support of market potential.
Appendix B – Competitors - Sulekha Sulekha planning more city portals February 15, 2005 Sulekha.com, a popular global interactive online platform for the Indian community around the world with 60 city portals at present, plans to spread its footprint across India by setting up 20 more portals in Tier-II cities. The company, which has revenues in excess of $6 million, is also looking at forging alliances in the online and mobile spaces to supply value-added city content to the growing mobile and online customer base. "Sulekha will provide a comprehensive combination of city specific information and services including yellow pages, classifieds, events, city-based groups and discussions," said Satya Prabhakar, president and Chief Executive Officer, Sulekha.com Over 90 percent of the commerce and interactions in the new portals will be city-specific, he said. "Our target is to extend this concept of city portals to all cities and major towns in India," added Prabhakar. Presently, the company has 10 city portals in India with the balance in other countries like Canada, US and UK. The portal currently has around on million hits per month. "Millions of Indians worldwide learn, interact and network through Sulekha," said Param Parameswaran, Chairman Sulekha.com. The online company is said to be largest online ticketer for Indian events and movies in the US, with a 90 percent marketshare. Sulekha also operates a popular online classifieds for Indians in all its 60 city portals. It also has a tie up with MSN India. From Sulekha.com Press Releases: Sulekha Travel is one of largest niche web properties focusing on travelogues and encourages community interaction between people who are interested in travel. Sulekha.com enjoys 30 million page views and 1.2 million unique visitors a month and almost all the content in Sulekha Travel is member contributed.“ (July 2006) Sulekha.com, the biggest and most popular online community portal has launched its Yellow Pages service on the WAP platform. This will enable users to access over 400,000 business listings through mobile phones anywhere in the world. This service is the first of its kind in India and is available to users having WAP enabled mobile instruments. (June 2006) Sulekha Classifieds, the print classified edition of Sulekha.com is now available at a host of conveniently located outlets in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. A whole gamut of information on rentals, real estate, business opportunities, houseshold & business services, automobiles and NRI matrimonials are available in Sulekha Classifieds each week. (March 2005)
Appendix B – Competitors - Sulekha I suppose Sulekha was bound to get funded. I never found Sulekha very usable, but they do have a dedicated userbase. Traction, as they call it, is critical to funding, as was repeated often at TIE Delhi 2006. (from Content Sutra, posted by Nikhil Pahwa on 11/1/2006) Responses: From rm — Thu 02 Nov 2006 12:02 AM there are much better sites to sulekha...web 2.0 is all about users, but sulekha took them users for granted and pumps out tons of ads on the face of user...crappiest site i ever visited From postal portal — Thu 02 Nov 2006 04:36 AM I am surprised with this development. Sulekha has no value offering, and is a very poor quality site. I guess the VC are also getting pressurised now.... From Anil — Thu 02 Nov 2006 05:22 AM I agree with everyone that Sulekha isnt a user friendly site and not at all on the Web 2.0 platform. But at the same time they have their fingers in many pies and have recently made an ad network too which will server CPC ads across Sulekha’s online properties (and maybe have a publisher network too). From postal portal — Thu 02 Nov 2006 05:57 AM Yes Anil, it has its fingers in many pies but is that a good thing or a bad thing? I have followed this site for some time, they take initiatives and then dont execute properly to the extent that some of the initiatives die prematurely. They started a matrimonial service that lasted less than 6 months, very recently. Since there was some traction in real estate, they started a real estate website but I dont see anything happening there. Anyway, maybe they needed money to pull all these stunts and maybe we see something worthwhile. All in all, its fuelling the online space. November 2, 2006 — Sulekha.com, the first and largest online social media and local commerce destination for Indians, today announced Promod Haque’s global technology venture capital firm, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP)’s Series A investment of $10 million in the company. Sulekha, founded and run by Satya Prabhakar, received $4.5 million in prior funding from the Indigo Monsoon Group (IMG) over a 6 year period from 2000, led by Param Parameswaran and Harish. IMG is a private investment firm focused on early stage equity investments in Indian Internet and Mobile domains. IMG has made investments in Sulekha.com (leading online community for Indians integrating social media with local commerce), Fabmall.com (the leading pure-play ecommerce company in India), Indiaplaza.com (the most popular ecommerce destination for NRIs in US) and eShakti.com (leading online India-inspired and customized apparel retailer aimed at a global audience).
Appendix B – Competitors – India Plaza Fabmall.com acquires US-based online shopping firm Our Bureau Bangalore , Jan. 18, 2007 The Hindu Business Online E-tailing firm Fabmall.com has acquired the US-based e-commerce company Indiaplaza.com for an undisclosed sum. With this acquisition, Fabmall.com has also re-branded itself and will henceforth be known as Indiaplaza.in in India and Indiaplaza.com in the US. Announcing this at a press conference here, Mr K. Vaitheeswaran, Chief Operating Officer, Indiaplaza, said that the company would aggressively invest and scale up the operations to create a global online shopping brand for Indians and Indian products in India and the US. The company would soon look at tapping the UK, Australia and South Africa markets. "In the next two years, we'll spend about Rs 25 crore on our marketing activities," said Mr Param Parameswaran, Chairman, Indiaplaza. Fabmall.com launched in 1999 is one of the first e-commerce companies set up in the country. By the end of FY'07, Indiaplaza is expecting sales revenues of $12 million-15 million and by 2009, about $60 million-70 million. "We are looking at a valuation of about $100 million by 2010," Mr Vaitheeswaran said. Indiaplaza.in has been posting 30 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth, he said. Indiaplaza.com was set up with funding from The Indigo Monsoon Group (IMG), a private investment firm investing in Indian Internet and mobile domains. IMG has also invested in Sulekha.com and eshakti.com. Indiaplaza's shopping catalogue now has over 3.5 million items across categories including books, music, durables, Bollywood products, apparel, jewellery and appliances.
Appendix B – Competitors – India Plaza Sify sells Indiaplaza.com, to exit non-core areasJULY 05, 2003 TIMES NEWS NETWORK HYDERABAD: Sify has sold its online shopping mall, Indiaplaza.com, to an American investor for an undisclosed amount. The move is in line with the company’s restructuring plan, under which, it will exit all non-remunerative, inactive and non-core businesses. According to sources, next in line are Sify Baron Net Devices and Satyam Institute of E-Business. While the former has transacted no business since the last 18 months, the latter has been dormant since inception. Sify’s board of directors, scheduled to meet on July 15, is expected to ratify the recommendation for the closure of these two companies and the hiving off of Indiaplaza.com. Sify managing director R Ramaraj confirmed the Indiaplaza.com sale. The company has on Friday also made a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the same. However, Mr Ramaraj refused to divulge either the name of Indiaplaza.com’s buyer or the value of the deal, citing a non-disclosure agreement. “It is an American company that usually invests in such ventures,” he said. Incorporated in the US, Indiaplaza.com owns and operates online shopping malls in the US, UK and India. During fiscal ’02, the company recorded sales of $3m and suffered a net loss of $1m. Sify had acquired Indiaplaza.com in July ’00 through a stock-swap, under which, it issued an aggregate of 113,798 ADS to the former equity holders of the portal, according to the filing to the SEC on Friday. However, Sify’s experience from the acquisition of online properties has not been encouraging. According to the filing, while it had to write off all of the goodwill related to some such acquisitions, including IndiaWorld Communications and Indiaplaza.com, in fiscal ’02, during fiscal ’03, it recorded an impairment charge of $5.2m. On moves to cut its exposure in various verticals, Mr Ramaraj said infrastructure and retail net services, which contribute about 50% of revenues, will be Sify’s major areas of focus. A similar fate is in store for Sify’s other subsidiaries like Sify Plasticcommerce, which operated the satyamplastics.com portal. At one point of time Sify had up to 14 subsidiaries, many of which had been floundering. Sify e-learning and SafeScrypt, which has a tie-up with VeriSign, are the only profitable subsidiaries.
Appendix C – Advertisers Report and Press Room • Advertisers Report – Automated and available online, the Advertisers report show current and past months of advertising statistics for paid, upgraded Advertisers. • Statistics available are Listing Views, Banner Ad Views, Website Clicks, Banner Ad Clicks, and Coupon Clicks Press Room published on CopperPages.com Front-End
Appendix C - Data Sourcing and Cleaning - Gather sites for Screen Scraping, audit data for accuracy - Order copies of Newspapers 2 weeks 2 weeks Data is Input Manually or Automatically 2-4 weeks Send info to India Run through De-Dupe software using 1st Parameter (95% Address, 95% Name match) Download copies of existing data from CPP and join with new data, rank all data from 1-3 in terms of quality based on source Fill in missing Zipcodes, Cities, States, and required fields, delete those with no phone or address 1 day 1 day 0.5 day Most time-consuming Re-Run through De-Dupe software using combos of other Parameters (80% Address, 80% Name, 99% Phone, etc.) Automatically delete duplicates 250/hr Manually review duplicates and flag for updating or deletion 0.5 day 0.5 day From 1-4 months Optional: Run through De-Dupe based on matching Biz Names, review results for Multiple Locations, assign same Directory ID to franchises or branches Categorize all data according to CPP system, some via Find-Replace, many one-by-one and manually 500/hr 250/hr Repeat cycle until no more dupes can be found NOTE: 20,000 listings can take 1-3 months Optional: Have call center verify data and categorization, perhaps only those with low ranking in terms of source 15/hour Publish data to CPP, overwriting existing CPP data with copies that have “U” and adding new listings. 1-2 days
Appendix D – Yellow Pages Facts & Statistics • The following are statistics presented by the Yellow Pages Association of North America (www.yppa.com) in a summary of 2004-2005 research and findings: • The YellowPagesindustry is valued at more than $26 billion worldwide and $14 billion in the U.S. There are over 7,000 yellow page directories in North America, used by 9 out of 10 adults, of which 86% follow-up with a phone call or visit. • Research shows a 14-to-1 return on investment in Yellow Pages advertisement. • Yellow Pages users spend an average of 25 percent more than the average consumer. • According to Knowledge Networks / Statistical Research Inc. (KN/SRI), an independent research firm, 76% of all U.S. adults refer to the Yellow Pages monthly, and 88% of those who use the Yellow Pages ultimately make or are likely to make a purchase. (Compare to 7% ROI in Print and TV, Yellow Pages traffic is worth 12 times more!) • Research also shows the average Yellow Pages user looks at more than five ads when scanning the directory, with a higher advertisement review rate than any other media. • According to an AdAge report in July 2004, online Yellow Pages beat Search Engines locally in use. • New research from The Kelsey Group and ConStat, Inc. indicates that Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) is gaining ground among small and medium-sized business (SMB) advertisers. According to the Local Commerce Monitor, an ongoing study of SMB advertisers co-sponsored by the two firms, 24 percent of SMBs are using IYP as part of their advertising and promotion mix - a 60 percent increase over last year.