It hasn’t as yet but I am guessing it will, very soon. Kids will get confused when auto correct shows different spelling from the text books and then they will want to know why? I am planting content for that day. Bear with me and read on.

Circa 2007: It all started in a small 10X10 room of a little known neighborhood of Bangalore. “Little known” because a little crowd says it is Koramangala while the other little crowd says it is Indiranagar. The truth is still little known. 2 young men, who were 2 yrs apart in age but from the same town, went to same college and then joined the same company, shared the same second name were getting bored of their job. Before the Akhil Bhartiya Navin Udyog Suchana Khet (All India Startup News Content Farm) sues me, let me clarify the 2 young men are not related. Yes, they were getting bored of their job and there is very little that 2 IITians, who share the same last name, can do in 10X10 room. No, they did not think of playing Counter Strike, instead they thought of an idea that would make them do more work after their boring day work. Yes, they went to IIT so that they could work their ass off with more work at night after the boring work at day job.

The Idea: The younger one thought of listing all the info about all the books in the world on a site and put a lot of ads around it. The duo decided to name it Flipcart – The shopping cart for objects that you flip. The elder one, who was weak in spellings and that was one reason he got into IIT at the age of 20, went ahead to book the domain name FlipKart.com.

History has it that the duo never looked back from then. They were too embarrassed of the spelling mistake and did not have money to book the domain with the correct spelling, so they never looked back on whoever teased them. They did make money though. A lot of it. They even got money from a breed of bankers, called VCs. Multiple times at that.

Amidst the fanfare of Flipkart’s money raising rounds, 2 other men in Delhi, who went to the same IIT as the 2 men above, decided to make money from the same idea, of putting a lot of content on a website with lots of ads. One of these 2 men was driving on a busy street in Gurgaon, his mind occupied about the name for his site, when his car hit a pedestrian. A quarrel, with utmost usage of Punjabi love making words, followed. Part of the conversation went like this:

Pedestrian – You know who my father is?
IITian – Who?
Pedestrien – Shri Shri FYogi ji. (F silent)

The IITian quickly recalled that FYogi (F Silent) is the same numerologist who helped Ekta Kapoor name all her soaps. He was responsible for all the “K”s in all the names. He decided to friend the pedestrian and take FYogi’s advice on naming his site.

Shri Shri FYogi ji (F silent) enquired about his idea and then advised him not to put ads but to sell something on the site. The site name he suggested was HealthKart. HealthKart went on to be popular and also raised money from the same breed of bankers, VCs.

Meanwhile, two other men who lived in the same little known neighborhood of Bangalore, thought of same idea, of putting a lot of content on a website, around the same time as the Flipkart duo, and went to the same IIT and worked for the same company and got funded by the same VC were left pondering if it would have been better to name their company Khakpak instead of Chakpak. One of those 2 founders now works with Flipkart and the other is still considering meeting FYogi (F Silent) to find out the reason. What he doesn’t know is that his Chennai based competitor, Caratlane, at his new startup, Bluestone, has already considered that. FYogi (F silent, else you will get sued by you know who!) advised that this rule is only applicable to companies that sell something on their site and have “K” in the latter part of the domain name. Hence, Caratlane is still called Caratlane and not Karatlane.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Chennai itself, another duo, had the same idea of putting a lot of content on one site and earn money from ads around it. This time they went a step further and got that content from all other sites that are trying to sell anything. With only one of them having been to the same IIT as the 6 men above, they thought they would need not 1 but 2 “K”s in their name, to make up for the lack of 1 IITian. Hence they named their site as KoolKart. Only later, when they met FYogi (F silent) did they come to know about the first rule of this good omen – you must sell something on the site. From that day they started selling few stuff as well, while they continue making money from ads.

Since then a lot of duos who were bored of their work have considered consulting FYogi (F silent) before naming their money making website. A non-exhaustive list of all such “Kart” sites is published below.

1. Bagskart –  Valyoo Technologies – $4Mn from IDG
2. LensKart - Valyoo Technologies – $4Mn from IDG
3. WatchKart - Valyoo Technologies – $4Mn from IDG
4. JewelsKart - Valyoo Technologies – $4Mn from IDG
5. MagicKart – Kitchenware/Appliance – Chennai Based
6. EduKart - Online learning
7. MySecretKart –  Condoms, sanitary pads et al. – Secret products – Pune based
8. EzeeKart – Books and electronics – Chennai based
9. CandlesKart - Candles, Potpourri – Delhi based
10. IndianArtKart - Art/ Paintings – Bangalore Based
11. JobzKart - Jobs classifieds- They sell resume writing services as well.
12. OnlyKart – Ecommerce software – Hyderabad based with a US office.
13. WowKart – Baby products – Toys, books. – Noida based
14. BusKart – Bus tickets – Hyderabad Based
15. MiniMeKart  – Customized Figurines – US audience
16. BuzzKart – Digital content – Delhi Based
17. DiscountKart - Eyewear – Ahmedabad Based
18. VeggiKart – Vegetables - Ahmedabad Based
19. PlanMyKart – Comparison portal – Doesn’t follow first rule that Shri Shri FYogi ji suggested – Delhi based
20. LadyKart – Not Live – Exclusively for Ladies
21. SpiceKart – Not live
22. PropertyKart – Not live
23. VogueKart - Women Fashion – Delhi Based
24. StartupKart – Not live – Probably they will allow you to shop for startups. “Add flipkart to kart for $2Bn – Shipping Free”
25. FashionKart – Ecommerce SaaS tool for fashion retailers – Malta Based – Funded by European Regional Development Fund – FYogi is International!
26. StackKart- A little of each category – Delhi based
27. FamilyKart – Grocery – Delhi Based – Renamed to ClearDeal.in
28. CollegeKart – Not Live
29. MyGreenKart – Everything that makes earth greener – CFLs, Jutebags, Organic fiber Apparels – Belhi Based
30. DealsKart - Comparison Portal - Doesn’t follow first rule that Shri Shri FYogi ji suggested.
31. NaturalKart – Natural and Organic lifestyle products – Mumbai Based

On recommendation of FYogi (F Silent) the ever so respected Oxford dictionary, second only to MS Office spell check, has changed the official spelling from “cart” to “kart” so that everyone can benefit from it. FYogi (F Silent) was generous enough to let go his potential consultancy fees by making the good omen default for one and all. All hail to FYogi (F Silent)!

 

 

This story is only meant for fun. Though, all the un-named characters and facts about their college, city, investors etc. is true. Any resemblance to millionaire entrepreneurs is not coincidental. Koolkart, in its earlier form, kind of competes with our own startup. All the “Kart” names are our potential clients. Hope everyone takes it in the right spirit.