NaukriSalah.com (2005 to 2008)

The most innovative failed startup that disrupted the entire job consulting industry, way back in 2005 was shut down due to lack of funds. I am sure that you will like it after reading the complete post.

NaukriSalah.com (2005 to 2008)

Here is the Internet Archive of naukrisalah.com : Naukrisalah.com:jobs & More - India & World

In year 2005, Shishir Gupta identified the following problems of jobseekers & employers:

1. Jobseekers used to create multiple copies of their CVs, specially the freshers, for example a candidate creates a software tester profile, java developer profile and networking profile using different email IDs.
2. There was no job portal for freshers.
3. There was no personalized service provided by the consultants, the candidates were not able to ask how to apply, what should they prepare, meaning of technical terms etc.
4. Employers faced a problem of selecting the right candidate as there was huge response, many with fake experience, multiple profiles and poor communication skills as nobody talked to them before.
5. At that time many people didn't had internet access or even workstations.

He created the startup by the name of naukrisalah that is a combination of job portal (naukri) + salah (consulting). The solution to above problems were address in the following manner:

1. Jobseekers were segregated in two categories: (a) Verified by payment of Rs. 100 + tax and (b) Free. No multiple copies were allowed as the Artificial Intelligence behind the site automatically searched the similarities between the candidates and filters out duplicate CVs on the basis of father's name, mother's name, college name, school name and many other factors.
2. Freshers were provided support by assigning dedicated consultants for them.
3. Personalized service was provided by the expert consultants, like for a java developer, a person with experience in java coding was hired as a consultant.
4. Background check was performed, CVs were designed in story format and bullet formats, no need to design separate CVs, the site had different template views. Candidates were checked in communication skills, confidence, technical knowledge etc. and feedback was issued.
5. Candidates and Employers has the facility to call and hire, sms or visit the office personally.

Facts & Figures:

1. The nearby area to the office of naukrisalah faced frequent traffic jams because of huge number of candidate visits (1000 to 5000) in a day
2. The website was ranked 7+ in google pagerank
3. The Alexa rank was 700 - 800 in India
4. It had 6 million registered users from India and abroad at the time of shut down.
5. It used Artificial Intelligence based upon deep learning. Neural networks were created to form the Business Intelligence. It predicted the probability of being selected for a particular interview.
6. It earned Rs. 120000 every month from Google AdSense
7. The monthly revenue was more than Rs. 200K
8. Total staff was 38, who were drawing Rs. 17.6K salary
9. NaukriSalah created two forms of sharing CVs - one was just a number/alphanumeric code that was open for all with a valid key (passwod), another was encoded with password in it for sharing with employers who can't be sent a key.
10. NaukriSalah also had a story based resume option.

Reasons for Failure:

1. There was scarcity of funds, raising funds was really tough
2. The candidates didn't believed on payment system for getting verified as there was this impression that consultants who charge money from candidates are not good (the startup was wrongly considered as a recruitment consultant)
3. Huge economic slowdown happened in 2008
4. Limited sources of marketing were available
5. No staff member was ever fired from naukri salah, so even the non-performers piled up.

If you wish to connect with it's founder, then here is his website: Startup Consultant: Shishir Gupta - Startup Consultant

credits:quora