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Yes- the original company NextDrop has been around since 2011, but we shut that down about a year ago and started this new version of NextDrop recently. At a high level, you're correct. For the past 6 years we were essentially selling water data to consumers, governments, and global brands. It was actually a profitable business but we decided to shut it down, not because we didn't have enough demand for water data, but because we were crowdsourcing water data and that was not very scalable or reliable. Back in 2011 IoT devices were way too expensive. When my co-founder and I noticed that devices were pretty cheap, we decided to start a company around water data again. YC was great about us spending time in India- we split our time between India and the US because all our users were in India and they knew that. Honestly, to go after a big opportunity, sometimes it helps to be on the ground, and then step away and get advice/feedback from people who will listen to what you're saying and help you see the best way forward. That was how we used the time in the Bay Area, and found it very valuable. It was also useful for us because we were still in the launching stages. Had we been further along in the business, it may have been much harder to do what we did. The water mafia question is definitely a super important. The only way we can see taking on the mafia is to add more water supply on to the market. The only way we can do that is to enable micro entrepreneurs to sell water. As you probably know, about 50% of urban Indians have their own borewell, but less than 1% sell water. Phase I is to aggregate water demand using our IoT devices, and Phase II is to enable hyperlocal selling of water. |
>>The water mafia question is definitely a super important. The only way we can see taking on the mafia is to add more water supply on to the market. The only way we can do that is to enable micro entrepreneurs to sell water. As you probably know, about 50% of urban Indians have their own borewell, but less than 1% sell water. Phase I is to aggregate water demand using our IoT devices, and Phase II is to enable hyperlocal selling of water.
Thats an innovative idea with potentially many social ramifications(positive and negative). I will be watching it closely!