The story of a small start-up started by three young men from Rajkot has become a case study in many Indian Institute of Management (IIM) classrooms across the country.
In fact, the business idea, which was sparked while the men were enjoying their pakoras, is now taught as a case study at other top management institutes and has been featured in prestigious journals like the Harvard Business Review (HBR).
The idea for the business was sparked when Vivek Vyas and two of his friends from Rajkot, who had just completed their post-graduation in management and were looking for direction, were eating pakoras served on a newspaper at a roadside vendor’s cart.
“As we ate the pakoras, the oil began to leak into the newspaper and the content on it got readable. It was an obituary page of a Gujarati newspaper and many of the obituaries were listed in small fonts. Looking at that, we got into a discussion about how obituaries need to be more visible and better placed. Suddenly an idea clicked,” said Vyas.
After several days of discussions and efforts, the three men launched Shradhanjali.com, India’s first online obituary portal with features that traditional newspaper obituaries could not provide.
The portal allowed people to pay tribute to their loved ones in a more meaningful way.
Shradhanjali.com’s case study is now part of the curriculum at IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Nagpur, and is also available for students to purchase for academic study.
IIMA’s price for downloading this case study is Rs 250 today. Apart from IIMs, MDI Gurgaon; EDI, Ahmedabad; Deakin University, Australia; and Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University also use the case in their teachings.
Unlike print, the site offers an obituary service that stays visible for a long time, allowing friends and relatives to visit anytime. Users can upload pictures, videos, biographies, and family trees of their loved ones, and others can pay tribute by writing condolences. The website also sends birth and death anniversary reminders to loved ones via WhatsApp.
In addition to being featured in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), the start-up has appeared in other prestigious management journals like Emerald and SAGE. HBR charges its global readers $11.95 to access this case study.