Setting up the International Postman friend

Kiran Prasanna , Founder – Transfergoods.com

An Engineering graduate from SRM University, Chennai, Kiran’s interests include Technology, Sports & Programming. Kiran was very much an ordinary individual who works as a SAP Technical Consultant since 2012, untill one day he met a friend who casually told him that he was looking to dispatch some personal stuff overseas, to his cousin from his family back in India.

And Kiran Prasanna came up with an admirable solution to transfer goods easily and effectively – enquiring with friends who travel abroad to act as carriers of such goods, based on discussions and agreement of customised terms and conditions. This is all how it started.

“In today’s world of crazy travelling, you could act as or engage an international postman-friend and get goods to places, either free or for a decided fee”, says Kiran. He shares some insights with Team ABT at IdeasThatMatter.

What is transfergoods.com? What is the issue that the venture is trying to address and what makes you confident that it is a winning proposition.
TransferGoods.com is a novel concept aimed at adding another paradigm to the interactions on the internet today. There are so many times when one badly wants something from somewhere in the world and is bogged down seeing the delivery charges or has to wait till some friend or a family member is flying back from that place. No need to wait now, you can be a seeker and search for travelers, who can carry your stuff for free or for a mutually agreed fee. You can also act as a Traveler and carry stuff for people in need.

Tells us some insights on what made you take the plunge
What inspired the idea was the amount of lamenting friends and family do on high shipping costs and time delays in delivering gifts and other articles to friends and family, especially those living abroad, through normal channels of transferring goods. This gap between connecting such travelers and seekers laid the foundation of TransferGoods.com.

How did you manage the initial capital?
We are a completely bootstrapped company. We believe we have done a good job so far in our journey and believe that we can grow and expand in an exponential manner in the years to come.

What were the first 90 days like?
To be honest, it was really exciting right from the start till now. We had different people coming up with a lot of positive feedback and appreciation for the concept and that kept me going forward. We still have a long way to go though.

Have you managed to raise any funding — angel/seed etc?
No, we have not approached anyone to raise any sort of funding yet, we are completely bootstrapped.

Describe your revenue stream/model.
Revenue can be classified as below:

Premium members

Ads

Customer DB

What’s your guiding philosophy when it comes to doing business?
We basically drive the idea of the idea of helping others, while surpassing borders. We strongly believe that, with the increasing amount of overseas travelers, both for business and leisure, there is ample scope to meet new people and lend a helping hand as and when possible.

Where do you see yourself, 3 years from now?
The concept of the website has been widely accepted by people, especially youngsters and business travelers and in the near future, we see ourselves as a platform where people frequently post their travel plans, both as seekers and travelers. We see the website tying up with various players in the hospitality and online retail sector. We also see a website as bridging the gap between families and friends who love to share gifts but are limited due to geography. Our future plans include expanding the scope of the website to facilitate more & more services related to travel and help people contribute somehow to the society.