Inabin.com - “Let’s see how far I can get with these twelve bucks”

Posted on June 6, 2007
Filed Under Online Tools |

Pranaya Ghimire from Washington DC, presents Inabin.com :

“I have been single-handedly working on this site for about a month now - mostly on the evenings and weekends. The idea to create a venue to promote “citizen journalism” through mobile phone users has always been at the back of my head. “In,A,Bin”, which stands for, “It’s News, Again, Before It’s News”, allows anyone with a mobile phone to publish news instantly, wherever they are and whenever they want, at the click of a button.

The process is fairly simple. Take a picture or video with your mobile phone, write a short text message describing your news and email your picture/video together with your message to our email address (in [at] inabin.com). To prevent spam, we require everyone to make sure the text message begins with 000 and ends with 999 (otherwise it will be discarded). We also require an image or video be sent as an attachment. You need to have QuickTime installed to view the videos. That’s it.

The site is still in its very initial phase. I’d appreciate if you could encourage your readers to visit the site and send some messages from their mobile to try it out.”

Here are the answers to our questions:

Q. We already have twitter.com and truemors.com - why do we need inabin.com?
A. I have been asked a few times if this venture is similar to a few ones out there, including Truemors. No it’s not. My idea is unique and it strictly focuses on promoting real news submitted by users like you and I. There is no login requirement; and as such, anyone, who has heard of the site, can send a message to the site. Every piece of news submitted has a picture or video attached. It’s plain, simple, citizen journalism. It’s live news. It’s what’s happening right now. It’s a picture or a video submitted by a bystander when he observes a newsworthy event and breaks the news right away by publishing it at InaBin.com. It’s different!

Q. Why do you launch a business?
A. To me, launching a business is an opportunity to see your dream come true, your thoughts and ideas substantiated and its value realized.

Q. Where did your idea come from?
A. The idea to create a venue to promote “citizen journalism” through mobile phone users has always been at the back of my head. I needed a way to get this done. Wordpress made it much easier.

Q. What is your elevator pitch?
A. In-A-Bin: It’s News, Again, Before It’s News! InaBin.com core is simplicity in publishing news. I want to keep things very simple, (such as no login requirements, etc.), so that everyone is encouraged to send in the news whenever they come across anything newsworthy from anywhere in the world.

Q. Why will you succeed? What are your biggest successes so far?
A. In todays fast paced world, success depends on you ability to empower and involve your users, as much as you can, with simplicity. There are events happening everywhere in the world, and the only people who can give true account of those events are the eye-witnesses and by-standers who, with the click of a button, share the news with everyone. This is my first venture.

Q. How will you make money?
A. I am not worried as much about making money right now as I am about spreading the word out and creating a loyal user base. I know that, as long as people are using my site, and my site is breaking news every day, money will eventually follow.

Q. Have you received funding? If so, how much and from whom? If you need funding at all?
A. “Funding” is a very interesting terminology these days in the valley. Especially after Guy Kawasaki boasted how he founded Truemors for a mere $12 grand and $0 marketing costs. When you have ample valley connections, wide network, and three coverages from sites like TechCrunch, I am sure you can do without any marketing budget. As for me, InaBin.com is totally bootstrapped. No funding at all. As a matter of fact, besides the countless numbers of hours I have spent coding and tweaking, the only cost has been $12 for domain registration and hosting. It’s funny, the first few digits of the numbers match, $12 vs. $12,000. Let’s see how far I can get with these twelve bucks.

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One Response to “Inabin.com - “Let’s see how far I can get with these twelve bucks””

  1. Bootstrapper » Productivity and Entrepreneurship Roundup - Sep 12, 2007 on September 12th, 2007 5:48 pm

    [...] well worth a read. If your budget is tiny, you might also want to read Venture Itch’s interview with Pranaya Ghimire, founder of Inabin.com, who compares their $12 budget with Guy Kawasaki’s $12,000 for [...]

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