Doosra, a startup that wishes to battle the issue of telephone spam, presents a secondary, digital cell quantity with out the necessity of a SIM card or an extra machine. This quantity, which might be activated by means of the Doosra app, might be shared at malls, pharmacies, eating places, supply apps, networking occasions, and outlets, with out being concerned about promotional textual content and name spam later. Doosra reverses the standard telephone calling system by blocking all calls by default and sending them to voicemail except you whitelist them personally. Subscribers can then select to name again any blocked incoming calls with out revealing their Doosra quantity. 

Since its launch, Doosra says it has blocked over 1.5 million messages and 5,00,000 calls from over 45,000 telemarketers. The firm seems to achieve 3-5 million customers within the subsequent 18-24 months. It can be planning to launch a brand new ‘Passcodes’ function that can enable callers to achieve out to Doosra prospects with out getting blocked, by means of a secret passcode technique.  

Gadgets 360 spoke to Aditya Vuchi, Founder and CEO, Doosra to know a bit extra concerning the firm’s journey thus far and its future plans.  

Aditya Vuchi, Founder and CEO, Doosra

1. What have been you doing earlier than you started Doosra? 

Previously, I based MediaMint (a world advertising operations agency) with over 1200 workers throughout a number of nations and Zippr (an addressing know-how firm), which companions with municipalities to deploy new-age digital addresses for higher administration. 

2. What motivated you to start Doosra? How did you give you the concept? 

Doosra was born from a bitter private expertise just a few years in the past. I used to be purchasing at a sporting items retailer however determined to stroll away after the billing clerk mandated that I share my private cell quantity for “billing” functions. With my previous expertise in digital advertising, I absolutely understood the travesty of sharing private data with companies and the resultant behavioural profiling that’s carried out for promoting functions. 

But this incident gave me the concept of making a publicly-shareable cell quantity that may be given at locations the place an individual is uncomfortable sharing their private quantity. 

We began engaged on it in the summertime of 2019, partnering with telecom operators to convey this distinctive and modern product to market. 

3. Explain briefly what Doosra is about and the way it helps customers? 

Doosra is a secondary, digital cell quantity that may be shared wherever; malls, supermarkets, supply apps and so on. with out fear about telephone quantity abuse from telemarketers and scamsters. By blocking all calls by default, Doosra offers you full management of who can attain and who can’t. 

We are well-positioned for the next causes: 

• Simple second quantity: All-digital and prompt activation means customers can get a Doosra quantity rapidly. 
• Virtual: No SIM wanted or extra machine required to run a Doosra quantity 
• Focus on privateness: Doosra gives distinctive name administration options like trusted contacts, trusted companies, and voicemail, which aren’t obtainable with any telecom operator 

4. Can you dial somebody utilizing your Doosra quantity? How does that work? 

While Doosra doesn’t have outgoing calls, it does enable customers to name again somebody that has known as them. This ensures there is no such thing as a ambiguity concerning the name and if it might be one thing that’s vital to us. This call-back might be carried out by means of a call-bridging system that ensures the private variety of the Doosra consumer is protected. This is similar to the way in which wherein communication between a buyer and meals supply personnel occurs, the place the private quantity is masked for buyer safety. 

5. Are all calls coming in in your Doosra quantity blocked by default? 

Doosra blocks all calls by default. All textual content messages despatched to this secondary quantity are saved throughout the app. However, customers at all times have the choice so as to add a “trusted number” so you may whitelist the contact and their calls will come by means of. The different method to enable calls is to show off the decision blocker time, location or till when you could. With this setting, all calls on that secondary quantity will get forwarded to your major quantity and won’t be blocked by default. 

In a state of affairs the place you need to name somebody, however you do not wish to use your major quantity for it, Doosra presents a restrict of 100 minutes (each month), whereby it routes calls by means of an intermediate cloud telephony system. Others may name you again on this secondary quantity. 

6. Is Doosra free to make use of? 

Doosra, at its core, is all about privateness. That means giving customers full possession of their knowledge. As a end result, we don’t run advertisements or interact in any sort of knowledge monetisation. 

Doosra’s income is predicated on subscription plans at present obtainable to our customers.

The six-month plan is Rs. 749 and the 12-month plan is Rs. 999.

7. How many customers have signed up for Doosra until now? 

While we do not focus on particular consumer numbers, Doosra has seen a variety of use circumstances for the service.  

• Avid customers that do not like to present their private quantity to shops,  
• Solopreneurs who use Doosra as a publicly-listed numbers on platforms like JustDial and Google Places 
• Celebrities/ public personalities who use their quantity for ultra-private communication
• Business individuals that search to separate their skilled  and private communication streams 

8. The 12 months you started Doosra was the 12 months of the pandemic? How was it like tackling all of the challenges of being within the first 12 months of enterprise and adjusting across the unprecedented COVID-19 disaster? 

Doosra launched its cell app in September 2020 and this week marks the one-year anniversary of the product.  While we deliberate to launch round May, we needed to postpone the product launch till September as client sentiment recovered and other people resumed their purchasing actions. From a advertising perspective, we needed to tweak our strategy to focus closely on digital promoting to get the phrase on the market. 

On the product entrance, we now have been beneficiant beneficiaries of the pandemic. As individuals shopped extra on-line and paid utilizing digital channels, the concern of id theft was heightened and Doosra’s privacy-focused cell quantity was very effectively obtained. 

9. Could you assist give a way of how far Doosra in its one 12 months of existence? From when it started to the place it’s now 

Since our launch, we have blocked over 1.5 million messages and 5,00,000 calls from over 45,000 telemarketers since our launch. We additionally see vital curiosity from companies that want to use our telecom stack to higher serve their prospects. Just within the final two months, we have added marquee names to our checklist of Doosra customers. Our purpose is to achieve 3-5 million customers within the subsequent 18-24 months 

10. What does the latest IPO of Zomato imply for tech startups in India? 

The Zomato IPO has heralded a brand new period of public firms the place the Amazon-model of aggressively investing in buyer and enterprise progress is discovering favour. India is a land of alternatives; and this requires pioneers like Zomato to induce the behaviour change wanted (on this case, to order from close by eating places) to make a long-lasting impression. This growth bodes very effectively for startups and early-stage buyers the place an IPO turns into an actual path to understand returns. This additionally ensures that Indian startups do not simply hand over firms constructed with arduous work and over time to worldwide funds to benefit from the returns and possession. 

11. What are the opposite plans sooner or later?

One of the recurring use circumstances we now have recognized is utilization of a Doosra quantity at marketplaces like FB Groups, OLX and others, the place the deficit of belief is a key concern. To additional defend our customers and provides them the comfort, we’re launching “passcodes”, a approach for callers to achieve out to the Doosra prospects (with out getting blocked) if they’ve the key passcode which may be shared on particular platforms. These passcodes might be turned on/off within the Doosra app, giving our customers full management over who can attain them. 

12. Do you may have any administration mantra/ recommendation that you simply’d wish to share with future entrepreneurs? 

Expectation – Reality = Frustration 

Entrepreneurship entails working with a number of inside and exterior stakeholders. Having an working framework ensures your decision-making is constant for everybody round you. In my case, setting expectations to be as near actuality minimises frustration.  

13. What is the worker energy? Is Doosra hiring at present? 

Doosra is a small, agile workforce of 25+ product, engineering, advertising and buyer operations professionals working from numerous components of the nation. We consider that early-stage groups must be nimble, decisive and quick in execution and that has been the important thing to our success. As a pacesetter, I spend vital time listening to our prospects and evolving the product for long-term progress and growth. Doosra is seeking to develop the workforce; product managers, full-stack builders, gross sales executives and help representatives.