When advertising budgets shrink, the CPM and CPC declines.  If you have spent a lot of time and money getting traffic to your website and have high fixed costs ,  your operations will be affected.   If you have diversified  and have low overheads , you can survive.

Interesting presentation with numbers. I am very frugal and do not like to waste money, so at least the next one year should not be a problem . I only wish there was a reliable marketplace where Indian websites/online businesses on sale would be listed. Most venture capitalists will want their money back soon.

I have always been fascinated by financial systems worldwide, you can never live beyond your means forever. Seems there may be a repeat of Bretton Woods

One of the most frustrating things about having an online business in India, is that other Indian internet companies judge you by the number of staff ,  the kind of office you have or how slick your website is.  They think that just because I do not have a conventional setup, they can get away with their unethical business practices.  I have a very simple business philosophy, if you treat me fairly, I will do business with you, else I will look elsewhere.

It is very difficult to get a good deal or negotiate prices with these companies even if you are spending a lot of money or make a lot of profits.  Few spend time understanding their customers or website visitors. Most companies outside India are far more objective, it is much more easier to deal with them.

Big companies will always protect their own interests and there is little a small business can do if they are dependent on a single source of revenue / supplier.  So I always look for new vendors for purchases, if  the new vendor is good, I can get a better price and a backup.

By the end of this month, I should get payment from at least 15 different companies for very different products and services and I hope to increase it to at least 30 by the end of the year. For an online business, it is very important to know who you can trust and who you cannot. If the other party is not interested in working with you or is not reliable, it is better to look at other options or you will regret it when it is too late.

I was seriously considering working on affiliate programs, but after reading about the cookie stuffing scam, selling space at a fixed rate seems to be the best option. The worst thing you can  do is not try, there are so many money making options I regret not having experimented with earlier.

am aware of few very well known startups that are shutting shop (will share as we get a green signal from founders/investors).

In India, most internet companies think that getting funding = success, but they do not realize that you lose independence and have to consult your investors before taking major decisions.

One of the things about the internet which make it such a magical place (for me at least) , is that you do not need much money to make money online. If you are willing to spend time understanding the market, there is a lot of money which can be made.

Most Indian internet companies who get funding only have a very limited market and so the growth prospects are limited. They usually target urban  India and Indians settled abroad and rarely have a universal appeal. So unless these companies are bought out, it is difficult to get good returns on the millions of dollars invested.

If you have worked in a  professionally managed company, you learn to put aside your personal likes and dislikes, treat everyone fairly based solely on business criteria and get your work done.

Lack of global standards of professional behavior seem to be fairly widespread.

There seems to be a 50% decline in parking revenue. I had applied to Fabulous a few months , but they had rejected my application, saying that my domains were not of good quality. (most are reg fee domains) .

Since then I have experimented with almost all advertising and monetization alternatives (a large number of my websites are developed), and found some that work. So searching for other options was better for me, revenues are fairly stable and increasing.

Though dealing directly with end customers is very time consuming, in the long run, it is the most stable revenue source.

The problem is the attitude of people who start a tech business in India, most people however “educated” are not able to think independently, they just ape other products/websites.

If you are an engineer from a top college, and do not go abroad for further studies, do an MBA or join a software company and spend some years working as an engineer , there is something “wrong” with you. If  you leave a job in a big company and start your own business,  you are  doing nothing, unemployed . (though you probably put in more hours than any one else).  So you either do what every one else does or develop a thick skin and learn to ignore most people if  you want to start your own business.

Also , handling money at a young age is important. If you stay away from home at 17 with no one to help you if you have any kind of problem, you become very independent and are able to manage your finances much better than others.  People also show their true colours .

To develop any thing new , you need to have an imagination and if you have a very limited exposure, it is difficult to get new ideas. I remember when I first came to Bombay for studies, I found that almost none of my batch mates in my hostel had read any fiction or books other than what was prescribed in their college curriculum.

Later at work, many projects involved integrating mechanical, electrical systems and also writing software. Most of my colleagues would only be interested in the software part (of course it would make it easier for them to switch jobs) and this lack of understanding of other fields is the main reason why people do not come up with new ideas.

Also people in India are very status conscious (especially Mumbai), they will be very nice to you if  they think you are doing well and some will go out of their way to be nasty to you if  they think you are not doing so well.  This lack of empathy for those who are less privileged, makes it difficult for them to develop any software or website with a broader appeal.