Yes, this particular startup was set up in what many would call the worst time for such a venture. “Setting up a dotcom company when the bubble burst was the initial challenge. In 2000, I laid the foundation of MouthShut.com. Those days, there was no name, no logo, no office infrastructure, nothing, just an idea of a platform for user feedback. There was no ‘startup ecosystem’,”Faisal, the foudner of mouthshut.com says.
Well to give you a gist about what this is all about. Let me just put it this way:Zomato and Burrp were not the first ones with food reviews? Mouthshut was there even before, with their ‘I Ate Here’ Awards that recognised the best restaurants in India based on user feedback and reviews.
In 2011, they launched Dealface.com, a deal-based project within MouthShut.com. “We changed paper-based coupons to SMS-based ones – and became the first website to offer SMS coupons,” Faisal says.
They also overcame a labyrinth of regulations and laws in their bid to reach where they are today. “When the draconian Section 66A posed a threat to consumers’ freedom of expression, we filed a petition in the Supreme Court, April 19, 2013. Finally after much argument, and lengthy hearings, on March 23, 2015, Supreme Court struck down the contentious clause.”
Let me just give some statistics which will surely convince you. MouthShut.com is the largest consumer review portal with a catalogue of almost a million products/services. Two reviews are posted every minute, claims Faisal.
About 300,000 users log into the website every day and 5,0000 are active on the app. “We witness 200,000 new visitors monthly,” Faisal says.