Sabeer Bhatia lifts veil off Arzoo.com

Sabeer Bhatia lifts veil off Arzoo.com
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

MUMBAI, SEPT 7: Founder of internet blockbuster Hotmail.com, Sabeer Bhatia, plans to create yet another web legend with his latest venture Arzoo.com, a business to business (B2B) website providing live advice, reviews and guidance for a variety of internet products and services. With the sale of Hotmail.com to Microsoft making Bhatia richer by $ 400 million, expectations are high whether Bhatia can pull it off for the second time.

Addressing a well-attended news conference here today, Bhatia, 31, was confident that Arzoo.com (Arzoo means desire in Hindi) will generate the same success as Hotmail.com which had re-written rules of the way we write mails. ``Arzoo would be a large technology corporate on the net which provides companies with web-based access to a global network of technology experts who offer real-time problem-solving assistance for engineering, information technology (IT) and technical support applications,'' Bhatia, an alumni of BITS Pilani, said while unveiling his new venture.

Arzoo.com, in which Bhatia has invested ``tens of millions'' of his Hotmail windfall, will provide real-time technology consultancy services to corporates, government agencies and emerging technology start-up firms. Arzoo is powered by the proprietary Arzoo surfboard, a free browser plug-in that provides clients and IT professionals worldwide with the ability to chat live anytime from anywhere on the web. A simple 200K download installed in less than a minute provides a virtual high-tech safety net or lifeline, if necessary, Bhatia said.

Arzoo allows smart companies to leverage a world wide network of tech professionals and expert consultants for fast resolution of pressing technical issues. In turn, technology professionals worldwide can monetise their expertise by bidding for questions and answering them online.

Founded in early 1999, Arzoo.com was created to become a dashboard site for e-commerce consumers. Later, Bhatia and his team, sensing the voracious appetite for skilled computer professionals, redirected their live chat technology to create a global network for real-time technology solutions and support, connecting the best engineering professionals worldwide with organisations in need of problem-solving assistance at a flat monthly retainership ranging from USD 5,000 to 100,000.

Asked about the investment and revenue projections, Bhatia said once the Arzoo network is established worldwide, it would reach the break even level even with less than 100 corporate clients in the next couple of years. ``Arzoo is the first global network for real-time technology, solutions and support and being the first, we would have the grass-root level advantage in earning revenues globally,'' he added.

But why did he leave business to consumer (B2C) sites to start a BTB site? ``In the last few months, we have witnessed profit margins falling to new lows and many of them have gone out of business or are on the verge of doing so. When your partners are going out of business you'd better get the hint,'' Bhatia said. Though he declined to disclose the equity base of Arzoo.com, Bhatia said he held around 70 per cent stake in it while Softbank of Japan and an investment bank held the rest.

When asked about the possibility of Arzoo going public, Bhatia said it could happen in two years' time, by when Arzoo would have started generating enough revenues and profits. Explaining the working of the portal, he said experts with appropriate skills and experience were invited to respond and the answers were delivered by it or sometimes by way of a live chat with the selected expert.

Before putting engineering professionals on consultancy work, Arzoo would independently verify their credentials and also put them through a customised testing module to confirm their expertise, he said. But why the name Arzoo? ``We wanted to have a brand name which was distinct, easy to remember and pronounce. Look at Yahoo. It means nothing... yet it's the internet world's biggest brand name. Moreover, most of the English words were already taken,'' Bhatia clarified.