Interview with Satish Kataria, Managing Director Catapoolt

I interviewed Mr. Satish Kataria, MD Catapooolt a crowd funding platform which aims to help people who dares to dream and want to achieve that. Catapooolt has so far raised more than 1.2 Crore Rupees for the projects listed on the portal with the help of 2000 plus backers who backed these ideas. At an event organized by Catapooolt we got a chance to interact with Mr. Satish Kataria where he spoke about his Catapooolt and his vision of startup ecosystem in India. This is the full transcript of the interaction.

       "India so far is only used to give to charity , they are not used to give for innovation, they are not used to give for something which is creative - Satish Kataria, MD Catapooolt"

Mr Satish Kataria, MD Catapooolt

First of all we would like to know ,how did it (Catapooolt) all started and as StartUp culture has started booming in our country, how can you make change about this (the whole ecosystem) ?

I think what we are trying to do is, make innovation accessible beyond investors. Yes you are right that whole StartUp culture has come and there are people who are willing in investing money with them, even in that perspective, even despite all the Hoopla I think we are about only 300 to 400 people seriously investing their money, but on the other hand India has highest constituency of HNIs (High Net worth Individuals) so what we are trying to do through crowd funding is to bring all those communities on board, (you know) let common people start engaging with ideas, let common people start supporting ideas even if it is just 500 Rupees the amount they will anyway spend in Star Bucks Coffee. I think that's the whole logic and we believe that, that is how crowd funding has garnished momentum across the world because crowd funding democratizes the whole way of fund raising for StartUps, it doesn't only gives them funds but also gives them market feedback. (You know) It also gives them a validation from the perspective audiences that's help. That's the difference we are trying to bring in, we are trying to make StartUps open up to commoners and let those common people come on and be a part of the change.

We can see this right now, as a first of its kind event for crowd funding, do you think that it it is a kind of social movement you are trying to bring in where all the levels of people can join and directly support the ideas they like?

Yes, exactly so that's the idea and also idea is that India so far is only used to give to charity , they are not used to give for innovation, they are not used to give for something which is creative. So again, with through such events  through telling the people that there are ideas beyond just charity, there are ideas which are really innovative which can really make big social impact, which can make big innovative impact so why can't you be part of that.

How long it has been with the journey for Catapoolt and how it went so far?

So Catapooolt is here for two years and so far, we have helped about 40 odd projects we have raised 1.2 Cr for that and this money has come from about 2000 contributors.

Can I ask you what was your favourite project listed on Catapooolt?

There have been multiple projects for example we had some interesting StartUp projects till date. There was one project CarIQ which would basically convert your car diagnostics on your mobile app so you could know how your engine is performing so that was a very good project. And there is one interesting StartUp right here like PeeBuddy, which can really break a big social movement out here. We also helped someone who is trying to manufacture low cost sanitary napkins for rural women , we helped them so that was also one interesting project.

Any idea/project you thought its just ridiculous but it performed very well?

No, not like that.

Do you think like similar kind of platform already there are like Kickstarter and indiegogo Indians are also pitching there, how do you see the competition there or what kind of advantage you can leverage out of these platforms?

I think the way we do is that, so while Indiegogo and Kickstarter are there if you are raising money on them you will not get any strategic help, you will not get any events like this, that's what we are trying to do because in India crowd funding itself is very new. Most the  people still don't know how it works, we need that strategy, we need that hand holding so that's what we are trying to bring.

Do you think of any investment opportunity after this (crowd funding) after which people can invest and can expect some returns?

So what happens to crowd funding, that its the first stage of any idea. Even if I can stretch a 4 lacs or 5 Lacs through crowd funding then I can go back to my investors , and say boss there are 1000 people or even 500 people who have even if given me Five Hundred Rupees, but they have trusted my idea it is it is why now only I am open up and look upto me. See this is what is happening in international markets. Today when you talk to any seed investors in international market they actually asks you to go to crowd funding first and then come to us so I think it's a win win for everyone.

Do we see any big partnership coming from any other big corporates like Google, or Intel which is supporting Digital India and Make in India programmes, so do we see any such partnership possibility?

We are in talks with some of them, we are trying to bring or figuring out how to bring those synergies through crowd funding so let us see how it works out.

Full Audio Transcript of the interview is posted below.