HERALD: What does your company do?
RISHABH KAVLEKAR: Ticlet was built on the idea that anyone who wishes to go out to a nightclub gets all the information about events across major clubs. The way we see it, we have one job – connecting the obsessed with the object of their obsession. Ticlet will partner with all major nightclubs and event organizers in India to list and sell their event tickets on our mobile platforms. Users will have various options to choose from by filtering what kind of event they would like to go to. There is no such single platform that focuses solely on clubs and it goes beyond just booking entry at the venues which is one of the services that will be provided.
HERALD: How big is the nightlife market in India?
RK: The organised event industry in India is about $900 million and growing 15% annually according to industry estimates. However there is no separate data solely for nightlife segment which is what we are targeting. The industry is estimated to be $1.1 billion for the financial year 16-17.
HERALD: Why is there a need for such a product?
RK: There is definitely a big demand for such a product and there is already a market in place. For example look at Goa, across all the top clubs and pubs in the State, there are around 5,000 people present on weekends. The numbers grow during peak season. A small chunk of this is local crowd while there is a large floating population of domestic and international tourists. A lot of this crowd spends their evening trying to figure out places they can visit and the current traditional means of evaluating and booking are cumbersome. We provide instant options where one can make informed decisions depending on what type of events /clubs they prefer and the type of live entertainment they are into. They can pre book their entry through our app.
HERALD: How is your product different?
RK: While our competitors are juggling around all segments of ticketing including movies and other activities, we are only focusing in the music segment. Our filtering process will be a key differentiator where only premium clubs and events will be listed and there will be certain criteria to meet the standards.
HERALD: Why will the clubs be interested?
RK: Compared to traditional promotional methods for their events, our database of users who majorly like to go out in the nights will help our affiliates to market their products to the right crowd, where the odds of conversions are much higher, that is getting more people to come to their event. We will be providing them with a box office application which will give them control of inventory and easily scan and validate tickets. We also provide them with detailed analytics from the admin portal.
HERALD: What other services do you provide apart from entry booking?
RK: We will be launching our festival module early in 2017 where we plan to take exclusive ticketing rights to music festivals and providing them with complete solutions right from the planning stage. Our NFC enabled infrastructure will change how events have been managed in India so far.
HERALD: Can you elaborate?
RK: We will provide guests with woven wristbands that are the ultimate multi-day, high-security event management solution that uses near field communication technology. This will take care of the problem of counterfeit bands. These bands will allow it’s users to easily access the venue, link it to our mobile app and pay for food and beverages. That’s not all, it’ll also let you post to social media sites and even buy merchandise. All this and more just by waving your hand at the scanner. Recharge your band on the cash points in the venue or using our mobile wallet from the app. Our highly customizeable solutions will allow the organisers to keep track of all users. Besides offline and online ticketing solutions, provide real time accounting to the organisers with the help of our integrated billing software and e-wallet to do away with the traditional coupon system. We also have layaway payment plans that’ll help users book their tickets without paying the full amount upfront.
HERALD: With your experience in the nightlife and having attended mobile app summits, do you think Goa is ready for this product?
RK: Goa has the best nightlife in India. I have got a lot of positive responses from the stakeholders in Goa for this product and how it will be accepted. Everyone now wants to know where they can go, what they can do and this enhances their ability for purchases in a day where you can book a flight, a hotel room or movie without moving. There is definitely huge demand for this in other cities and that is why we plan to launch in the top tier cities in India and we are expecting the company and product to scale in 18-24 months after we establish ourselves in the market.
