The Food Tech Bubble.

Working in the Tech Industry and specially in Bangalore, it is no surprise to hear companies getting multi million funding. Few years back ,only people with good amount of money could only start and successfully run a company (of course there are a few exceptions). The middle class employees rarely thought of opening a start up. But those days are gone. A concept named funding has changed it all. Now if  you have  a good idea, a very strong team and some seed funding, you are ready to chase your dreams.

The tech extravaganza all started with E-Commerce.  Last year we saw the rise of food industry. But unlike E-Commerce which is currently dominated by big players like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Myntra. there are no dominant players in the food industry as of now. Few months back in Bangalore, there were JustEat and FoodPanda. But in the past few months a number of other food  startups like Swiggy, Tinyowl have started their operations in Bangalore. With Zomato also entering with Zomato-Order there is definitely a competition among the food tech startups. A close friend of mine which is also working on something similar to this has told me that at present there are 36 food startups which he knows about. 

Most of these food ordering applications try to build their customer by giving them discounts. Most of the applications give discounts for first time users and some continue giving them on weekends and some  give  it to  users who order only through their application.  I remember JUSTEAT giving 50% discount for appusers for almost a month. I also ordered food through their app maybe twice or thrice in that period. But after that I don't remember ordering again from JUSTEAT because they were giving no discount. Recently foodpanda also give a heavy discount of Rs 300 on Rs 450. Again we quicky ordered our lunch from foodpanda and if the offer continues, we will order a few more times maybe. But the problems with these startups is that as soon as they stop giving discounts and offers, most of the users stop using their application. 

So the thing which really confuses me is that where is all this going? A few years down the lane, what will happen. Will most of these startups shut down? Or will the smaller ones be acquired by the biggers ones and get divided into two-three groups like Flipkart Snapdeal Jabong.?

P.S: I am no technical expert on this. I am a simple user who have used all the above food ordering applications and given a thought on all this. Please feel free to comment or share your ideas.

Meaning of Life

I often wonder what is the true sense of life. Is going through a well defined path(the one defined by our society)  like getting good grades in school, admission in a good college, having a well paying job and finally getting married and having children. Is this all about life. Are we really doing any thing to make our  lives meaningful.

I would like to like an incident, which really shakes my basic belief in life.

It was 19th of March (Thursday). I was going  to my hometown. In the morning, I was told in the office by my manager that I was going to be given hike in my salary. Whole day I was thinking of my salary . I was calculating the money which I was going to get at the end of the month, the things I was going to purchase with them. Suddenly my cab stopped at one of the traffic lights and a boy aged nearly 4-5 years came to me with a bunch of pens in his hand. He had around 50 pens. I took 5 pens from him for Rs 50 and then my cab moved on. After some time a thought came in my mind, I thought that the kid won't be able to get to his home until he had sold all of his pens. And all the journey I was blaming myself that why I did not buy all the pens from that kid. At least, that night he could have gone to his house a little early. For me that money would hardly have cost any difference but to that kid, it may be.

After seeing all these things around me, I really wonder what is the real meaning of life when there is so much suffering and sorrow around. But the thought that rather than losing hope, I should continue to do my part (very little it may be), helps me to move on.