(!)Yureekah is the world’s first search engine for the online media industry.
At 3:00 am EST, 12:30 pm IST March 5, 2007 my cell phone rings. “Hello” I squeak into the receiver. Immediately I recognize the excited voice of my business partner Vishal over 3000 miles away. “Devaraj, are you sleeping?” “Uh, I was,” I replied. “Listen, we have to figure out a way to streamline the manual processes involved with online competitive research,” Vishal said. “This minute?” I questioned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “Yes, we may lose a $1 mm media pitch if we don’t provide a global competitor analysis to our client by next week and I think I have an idea to solve this problem,” Vishal exclaimed. This was clearly a business problem, but also an opportunity that deserved attention. There was no way we could provide real time competitor analysis globally within one week. If we, as a boutique agency, were facing these issues then certainly larger agencies, direct advertisers, and small businesses owners were feeling the same pains. That’s how it all started, a simple conversation between two guys at 3 am which fundamentally altered our frame of reference, how we approached our existing businesses, and our lives.
Privately held, (!)Yureekah is an India based search engine with corporate offices in New York and Pune.
Leadership
Vishal Sharma, Founder and CEO
The serial entrepreneur and product innovator; the idea guy; always thinking about the next big thing. Vishal was instrumental in evangelizing the idea behind (!)Yureekah. As CEO of (!) Yureekah, Vishal is responsible for Product Innovation, Business Modeling, Strategic Planning, and Finance. Vishal has a decade of management experience in advertising, branding, marketing, and publishing in both interactive and traditional media. He has been a senior member of several leadership teams including 30Seven Design and iThink Labs, where he has experience in virtually all facets of building and managing an interactive media business, including the development of strategic alliances with global agencies. In his most recent role as CEO of iThink Labs Vishal led the business, managed multiple development teams and the delivery of over 4,000 interactive and online media programs. Vishal was also responsible for creating and driving product and service marketing and branding. Prior to iThink Labs Vishal built several web design and interactive media companies from the ground up, which were acquired. In addition he has a decade of experience consulting to medium and large scale manufacturing companies, hospitals & management institutes in the areas of scaling and cross border business practices, networking, and systems integration. Vishal holds a degree in BSC in Electronics from the University of Pune.
Devaraj Southworth, Founder and COO
The corporate executive turned entrepreneur; relationship minded, operationally focused, meticulous and detail oriented. Prior to his entrepreneurial business successes as CEO of 30Seven Design and Chairman of iThink Labs Devaraj spent his career in management consulting, strategic planning, marketing and operations. As COO of (!)Yureekah, Devaraj is responsible for Operations, Investor, Vendor and Customer Relations, Board Development, and all Professional Services relationships. In his most recent role as CEO of 30Seven Design, Devaraj led the business, was responsible for defining the strategic roadmap and steering the company to its position as a leading provider of interactive, digital, and online media services globally. He has held leadership positions with Accenture and Deloitte, and in these capacities has been an advisor to such companies as Avaya, AXA, Bristol Myers Squibb, GE, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, PepsiCo, Pfizer, and Philip Morris. Devaraj holds degrees in Organizational Psychology and Communications from Ohio Wesleyan University, and studied Business Management and Japanese at Kansai International University in Osaka, Japan. He currently serves as an advisor to several companies in various industry segments including entertainment, human resources, banking and finance, technology and not for profit. Devaraj has also been a panelist and shared his views on entrepreneurship and digital media at several national conferences, including the International Radio & Television Society.
Anup Badhe, Vice President, Technology
The computer scientist and engineer; the master of bits and bytes and the base-two numbering system, in constant search of the perfect algorithm. Anup has over a decade of experience in software and product development. He has worked as a team leader in a variety of environments, where he has had exposure to leading Product Development Centers and extensive experience in process-based software methodologies and development. Apart from his technical skills, Anup has had considerable experience in creating innovative solutions to tailor products to clients' specific requirements. In his role as VP of Technology and Product Development, Anup is responsible for the architecture and the implementation of the (!)Yureekah product. Before joining (!)Yureekah, Anup worked for Synechron Technologies as a Senior Delivery Manager and COE Lead, delivering products to a number of prestigious clients including Wachovia Bank. Previous to that he was a Technical Manager at Avaya India, where he led large scale projects and provided technical leadership and guidance to several teams. He also was employed as a Systems Analyst with IBM, working on product architecture and design for a number of IBM clients. Anup holds a degree in Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Pune.
Contact
We are continuously developing new features and modules and want to hear from you. If you have any suggestions or comments that would help us make our product even better please send your comments via email to suggestions@yureekah.com
If you are interested in learning about investment opportunities in (!)Yureekah please send your inquiries via email to investors@yureekah.com |