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$200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

wifidabba.com

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Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#61

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

Congratulations WiFi Dabba.

It seems there has been an overhaul of the company since I last checked them out in January.

Key changes I could immediately see from their current website-

• Inexpensive WiFi Mesh service targeted at mobile users, small shops (1GB/1 INR) -> Broadband service aimed at homes and offices (Although the backend still seems to be their FSOC).

• WiFi Dabba India Pvt. Ltd. -> Delaware C Corp.

• Raising funds by selling PoP.

I (we?) would love to hear what led to these overhaul? @mildlyclassic.

I've been an advocate for Non-Cellular mobile Internet[1] in India and was eager to see WiFi Dabba venturing into this space, now that broadband seems to be their focus I'm bit sad although I understand if fighting the oligopoly's cheap cellular Internet(coupled with free voice calls) is an unwinnable battle for small startup building the ecosystem(innovative computer networking) from scratch.

Then again I'm excited to see the sale of PoPs, as I've been advocating for monetary incentives in sharing Internet[2] as well. Although WiFi Dabba's PoP isn't directly related to that, distributing the ownership of network is very exciting. I hope it ends profitable to both the company and its investors.

Recent reports said Internet penetration in India is limited to ~40% in Cities and ~15% in rural areas; So obviously there's a huge need gap in the country and attempts improve that through existing Internet players has repeatedly yielded disappointing results.

My previous startup was involved in VSAT services for in-flight entertainment system through a major U.S. Telecom, I've worked with several talented Network Engineers in the country, I hope some of them get motivated by WiFi Dabba to start their own network startups and bridge the need gap.

[1]https://needgap.com/problems/51-non-cellular-network-mobile-...

[2]https://needgap.com/problems/52-sharing-wifi-network-with-st...

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#62

Post by [deleted] »

dilippkumar wrote: post #55

> The $20,000 price point of our product + the high friction of the contact process + users that are OK with ads = A high signal to noise ratio from DF visitors. I’m curious about the “users that are OK with ads” part of the equation. (From the article - these are DF readers who don’t have ad blockers and are willing to click on ads). I can’t wrap my head around how this is a signal. Are seasoned tech investors (the…

[deleted]

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#63

Post by mildlyclassic »

eyvindn wrote: post #58

This is an interesting idea and innovative approach - exciting stuff and congratulations on securing the 200k investment. Some questions regarding the underlying technology: You mention a "self-healing" grid. If one of these laser lines gets disrupted, say by a bird, or someone knocks over the laser receiver - how quickly does the PoP reroute traffic over a different path in the grid? Does it wait for a timeout, or i…

OP here. Thank you for the questions. Yep, metadata and quick reconnection is the key for birds and such - we are able to do it almost instantaneously. Regarding 4G, our networks are choked and as many towers that can be placed, have. The spectrum is packed and noisy and dense commercial areas get horrible signal and speeds, the situation in rural areas is worse. And to make matters worse, less than 30% of the mobile towers themselves have fiber backhaul - so we hope to make a contribution there too. And finally, the core of the network can't be overhead fiber simply because it's not reliable enough to be the backbone because you're stringing it across trees, poles and over buildings. It's fine for the last mile to the customer's premises, but overhead fiber is not good enough for the core.

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#64

Post by iptrans »

corytheboyd wrote: post #59
lxe wrote: post #56

I haven't been more excited for a company and their model like this before. Everything they do just seems to... make sense. I really wish them best and hope the bureaucrats won't catch up. I'm imagining in the US they will be met with a bunch of hurdles and legal stuff due to "lasers bad"

Pretty sure one of the local ISPs here in San Francisco (Money Brains) already uses lasers for their consumer network (as opposed to their business network, which is something else iirc) The reason it will be hard in the US overall is that Comcast lobbied their monopoly into local law across the entire country, and the fight to revert it is fought one city at a time it seems. I don’t think Comcast will reign like thi…

AFAIK Monkey Brains uses plain old radio frequencies for their wireless backhaul.

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#67

Post by jonathanzufi »

I enjoyed similar success with a DF sponsorship back in October 2015 (I’m guessing his audience has grown significantly since): I purchased a sponsorship my book ICONIC (shameless plug at http://www.iconicbook.com) for $9,250. Looking back on my stats I approximately tripled that in direct sales, but I’m sure the actual return was higher as I’m certain some folks went to Amazon instead of my site where I was selling direct at the time. I recently sold out and decided to close down my Shopify store so I can’t provide traffic details but IIRC there was a massive spike in visits when the ad went live. Gruber’s audience was obviously a no-brainer for this product. And dealing with John, which was brief, was a pleasure.

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#68

Post by treis »

mildlyclassic wrote: post #11
dtwest wrote: post #9

Is it really $200k in sales if the people that are buying are guaranteed a rate of return? When I looked at the site a month ago it looked like these PoPs were being marketed as an investment. Given the capped upside, it looked as if the buyers were not buying equity, instead providing more of a loan with an expectation of getting their money back and more. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a very cool project. I j…

That's a great question. You're right, It's a commercial agreement, not equity. We think it counts as a sale, but I'm totally open to a more appropriate term.

Ponzi Scheme? Half joking because this looks like an interesting concept. But reading your spreadsheet you have a "minimum guarantee" of 10% annualized return. Which is not possible.

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#69

Post by mattashii »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #29
garganzol wrote: post #23

3% is good but fairly common conversion rate for an ad. Not really groundbreaking nor newsworthy. But why it's on HN then? The answer - you are the product and HN is a marketplace. This makes HN kind of spoiled place to be at, as it amplifies the illusion of "good things" you "must have" or "participate in". I really miss the golden era of BYTE magazine in the 80s. That was a classy act. But what we have now is a noi…

How does HN make money?

Technically, HN doesn't make money.

Specifically, HN is owned and funded by YCombinator.

See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html, in section "What's the relationship between YC and HN?"

Re: $200k in sales from a $6k advertisement

#70

Post by baxtr »

derefr wrote: post #39

I have to commend this article for actually doing the thing HN constantly demands. The article introduces the company and the problem it's solving to contextualize the story, rather than assuming you're a faithful reader of their newsletter. The article structure here assumes a successful viral spread out of its little bubble into the wider world, where people have no idea what this company is. Copywriters working fo…

Yes, that’s a great structure! The only minor thing that I missed was a final section summarizing their lessons learned.
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