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TY  BangaloreMirror | MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011www.bangaloremirror.com/city

Ever organised an event and wished that tcaterer, florist and other vendors couldfound in one place? BookMyBanquet.coaims to address that. In conversation w

Siby Kuriakose, the founder.

ORIGINSAll the money

that I have investedin BookMyBanquetare the earnings fromtwo previous ven-tures — Wordz andSemkraft. The germof the idea forBookMyBanquet was sowed while making arranments for my sister’s wedding. Since the weddi

was to be held in a city alien to us, accommodatguests, providing facilities and mostly importanfinding reliable vendors, was not easy. I thoughI could find all the different types of vendors (cater, decorator, florist etc) in one place, vettedusers, it would make planning much easier. I founo such solution existed and decided that this wan opportunity to create a niche service.

ELEVATOR PITCHBookMyBanquet.com makes it easier for the u

to plan, schedule and organise events. Every kiof service that could possibly be required foparty/celebration is listed here. The vendors classified by the areas they serve, price range, aare also vetted by ratings and customer testimoals. Vendors can post bios, pictures and videoshelp the customer make an informed selection.the advantages are twofold: For the event planer/layman, planning an event becomes a lot e

ier and for the vendor, this is the best and mexpansive business listing he/she has available.

GAMEPLANOur primary clients are small and medium bu

nesses that cater to the events industry. Our focis on the vendors. We provide a platform for seice providers to display their wares at minimal coWe allow vendors to post videos, pictures, bios amark their location on a map. In short they havmicrosite which is well optimised for searengines. We also intend to provide accounting aCRM applications for the vendors to better manatheir business. The two immediate priorities are gting a seed investment and enhancing the servifor vendors — accounting and CRM applicatio

THE CHALLENGESGetting the word out has been a challenge. In

(our primary focus) is a market where online seices need to be advertised offline for maximuimpact, and the costs involved are a challenge bootstrapped companies like ours.

REWARD: FAME, MONEY, THRILL?Adrenaline rush, fame, money in that order

Siby Kuriakose

IDEAS@WORK 

START-UPS WITH, AND THAT MAKE A DIFFERENC

liked/hated this column? write t

bmfeedback@indiatimes.co

MANU PRASAD

Company:BookMyBanquet.co

Domain: Platform for eventvendors and customersFounders: Siby KuriakoseFounded in: June 2010Funding : Bootstrapped

START-UP-TO-DAT

Event planningmade easy

DURGESH KUM

The Vishwa Kannada Sammelana will

become a regular affair with a fixedtime-frame. The first one was held

in 1985 and the second one concluded inBelgaum on Sunday. The next will be heldin Shimoga and henceforth it will be heldonce in five years.

The plan is, to develop the infrastruc-ture of the city or district, it will be heldon the lines of Olympic games, wheresporting infrastructure is developed.

Permanent grounds, theatres, audito-riums, libraries, etc will be built with anallocation that will be made in advance.

The second Vishwa KannadaSammelana concluded in the presence of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa andmany dignitaries, including writers PatilPuttappa, Rashtrakavi G S Shivarudrappaand G Venkatasubbaiah.

HONORARIUM HIKEDKannada singers of various genres hadvoiced their discontent over the very lowhonorarium being paid to them for theirprogrammes in the Vishwa KannadaSammelana compared to outside singers.

Now, sources said the government hashiked the honorarium for local singers likeShivamogga Subbanna, RatnamalaPrakash, Y K Muddukrishna, B K Sumitra,Narashima Naik, Archana Udupa, AjayWarrier, Jogi Sunitha, Hemanth and others.

The Kannada and Culture departmenthad earlier decided to pay them Rs 15,000each. But it came to light that some of thesingers arriving from outside the statewould be paid comparatively higheramounts. Singer S P Balasubramanyamwas signed for Rs 11 lakh and Bollywood

singer Kailash Kher for Rs 9 lakh, it wasreported a few days ahead of theSammelana. This led to the local singersvoicing their protest. Now, their hono-rarium has been fixed at a minimum of Rs30,000 and a maximum of Rs one lakh,sources said.

Bangalore Mirror Bureaubmfeedback@indiatimes.com

Kannadameet oncein five years

As the suspects were of Nigeriandescent, the CCB left nothing tochance. Some 20 sleuths were postedat various exits of the Leela Palace tocope with any emergency. “Most of these Nigerians are well-built. It’stough to tackle them with four to fivepeople,” the CCB sleuth said.

Ramana Gowda had agreed tomeet the Nigerians at a coffee bar atthe hotel. The CCB officers threw aring round it and waited for the sus-pects to arrive. After the two wereseated at a table with Ramana Go-wda, the sleuths closed in for arrest.

It was only expected that the sus-pects would try to flee, but the 6 ft-plus Charles decided to play super-

man. Oni did not struggle muchand was arrested inside the coffeeshop. But Charles dashed across the

garden and headed for the mainentrance, where there were four

CCB men waiting. Seeing them,Charles increased speed. As he ram-med his head against the glass door,it splintered and broke completely.

But in breaking the door, Michaelhad done himself the damage. Withshards of glass sticking out of his headand face, and bleeding profusely fromthe wounds, he collapsed in a heap.The sleuths, who had been takenaback by his desperate manoeuvre,recovered and pounced on him.

“We took him to a hospitalwhere doctors tended to hiswounds. Now, he is behind bars,”said the CCB officer.

Asked how Leela Palace wouldrecover its damages, he said, “Eitherthey have to collect the insurance

money or wait for the convictionof these guys to file a civil caseagainst them.”

» PAGE 1

Sting stings 5-star hotel

ft) and Charles, who smashed the glass door, in police custody

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