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Biswajit Paul founder and CEO Quickobook wants to expand his platform all across east and northeast
My son will become an Engineer, my daughter will become a doctor… my child will become an entrepreneur? Nah! In Barak Valley parents are quite adamant that their children are born to only become either a doctor or an engineer. Anything else apart from the two above mentioned professions is considered as a failure. The stigma exists but where there is a will, there is a way to rise above it. Biswajit Paul rose above all the social challenges. He quit his job in Tata to follow his dream to start something of his own.
One day he was asked to get a particular doctors appointment. He went to the doctor’s chamber early morning only to find out that people were standing since 2 AM. Many including him left the chamber empty handed. The early morning rejection is the seed of this innovation called ‘quickobook’. Through the website or simply by sending SMS, one can book their appointment sitting at home.
Biswajit Paul, founder and CEO of QuickObook, hails from Silchar. He went to Silchar Collegiate School and has an MBA from Assam University. He along with his co-founder Jewel Sen aspires to now expand to whole of Northeast and East and is in search of capital…
Edited Excerpts:
You said the late night story motivated you: how was the initial response?
I always had a desire to start something that can really add value to people lives. That night the pain that I saw to get appointment was horrible and it was drowning me from inside and that instigated me to launch www.quickobook.com , where people can seek appointment online. At first, I went for a pilot survey and got a mixed response. Being an optimistic person, I took it in a positive way and decided to go ahead. We launched in 2016 and first 6 months, we ended with 3 appointments. By the end of the first year we brought 25 doctors on board and facilitated close to 110 appointments. Today two years after launching our platform, we have 500 plus doctors on our portal and we have served more than one lakh patients across Barak Valley and nearby states.
How many doctors are registered on quickobook, what is the procedure for a doctor to register?
As of now, 500 Plus Doctors are registered with us. We have successfully brought smiles to more than one lakh patients across Barak Valley and nearby States
How many appointments do you facilitate daily. How many of them are online and what percentage are through calls?
On an average, we manage 400 appointments approx on daily basis out of which, 45% comes through Offline Booking ( SMS Based Model)
What is your revenue model, are you commissioned by doctors you are booking appointment for or do you get a part from the consultation fee?
No, we are not commissioned by doctors neither do we charge any fee from doctors to get them registered on our portal. We need their details like chamber address, consultation timings, and an active mobile number to receive SMS notifications. We make our revenue from patients. They need to bear a minimal cost which we mark it as convenience fee or service charge.
You are looking for capital as you want to expand quick book, can you shed some light on your expansion plan?
As of now, we are already tied up with 99% of the doctors fraternity and our next target is to penetrate the same to whole of North-East and to eastern part of India like Kolkata by next five years. And for this, we need almost 3 Cr to make it to more than 100 Cr Valuation Company. Few angel investors have shown interest on it and on negotiating terms presently. It is expected to bring VC Funds very soon.
What is your biggest challenge at this stage and how do you plan to overcome?
The biggest challenge is to make the old privilege doctors use our QOB Connect Software for their use. We are planning to make more awareness camps in towns as well as in interior parts of the city.
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