CoCubes.

com
students, hidden in the interiors of
startup
India, to be visible to companies,
located anywhere in the country. The
platform also allows large companies

Using The Web To Connect to easily manage their nationwide

campus recruitment process, at a

Companies With Colleges

much lower cost, resulting in cost
saving and higher conversion ratios.

Ever dreamt of a Web portal that provides visibility A solution for greater
to the rich human resources in the inaccessible reach
small towns of India, and also connects them with There are 17,000 colleges scattered
companies looking for talented youth? We take a across India and most of them are
closer look at CoCubes.com. in Tier II–III cities. The CoCubes
team believes that this is where the
manpower for India’s growth is going
to come from.
Harpreet S. Grover, founder,
CoCubes, says, “Since recruiting
companies are mostly located in the
metros, there is a need for an online
and SMS-enabled interactive platform
to connect colleges and companies.”
To this, Vibhore Goyal, also a
founder of CoCubes, adds, “I see
a lot of growth in SMS-enabled
platforms both because of the wider
reach mobile phones enjoy among
the general public, plus the way they
can replace computers in small towns,

d
epinder Deep, a
final year student of
Engineering in the
Baba Banda Singh
Bahadur College of
Engineering in a Tier III town—
Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab, had never
imagined that he would be spotted
The fortune cookie by a tech firm located in Mumbai
Many things can be done
better with the help and be hired on campus! This could
of IT—including campus never have happened if it were not
recruitment. Good, usable,
solutions that enable for the innovative digital bridge of
people to do such tasks communication created by CoCubes.
better, are unlikely to
go wrong if developed and com, a portal (www.CoCubes.com),
marketed right. which enables colleges and their
because maintenance is hard.”
He cites a scenario to explain the
key advantage of the ‘SMS’ feature
that the portal offers: “For instance,
a B.Sc student in a city 50 km from
Jaipur may not have an Internet
connection, but he can type ‘Yes’
or ‘No’ on his mobile to confirm
his interest in a job posted by some
company. And the company can also
communicate to this student, on
the go.”
Campus recruitments:
issues galore
Grover shares a few concerns that

48 | august 2008 | www.itmagz.com | i.t.­­­­­­­­

 needs to be authenticated, the

startup
The technology behind the platform CoCubes team procures data directly
• “It is an entire lifecycle to move from capturing users’ requirements to building a product from colleges and only students whose
that users find useful,” says Goyal, who has previously worked with the Microsoft Research
Centre. Thus, to ensure that the portal offers elements of both utility as well as usability, names are on the rolls, are messaged
utmost care has been taken to provide a sound technical foundation. their logins and passwords on their
• From dealing with the choice of using ASP.NET or PHP to designing the database for a highly mobile phones. They can then come
optimised, scalable and user-friendly website, the challenges have been numerous, says
Goyal. He adds, “We have taken up these challenges one by one and followed a user centric online and fill their standardised
approach to solving them. We are currently hosted on Level 3 IDC (Internet Data Centre).”
resume and can also choose to
• Other paraphernalia include a dedicated Cisco firewall, three dedicated Dell servers equipped
with quad core Intel processors to provide a faster and more enjoyable user experience, and complement their profile with video
an ASP.NET 2.0 platform with SQL Server 2005. footage, but don’t have access to
the fields containing their academic
scores, which are uploaded by the
have so far plagued the corporate humongous sum for each company college authorities.
recruitment process and by coming they bring to campus. This premium Goyal explains the convenience
on board, how CoCubes can help is because of the existing information that the portal offers to companies for
resolve those: asymmetry where companies have evaluating the credentials of students:
• A failed campus visit by a little clue about which colleges to go “Because we capture and classify
company costs upward of Rs to, whether students are available or information under various categories,
100,000. CoCubes helps prevent not, how good or bad they are, what it helps companies to search and
this by providing upfront is the salary being offered, etc. shortlist candidates through a few
information on the exact number This is where an open model like clicks. Consider a scenario six months
of candidates interested in the CoCubes fits perfectly, because it down the line: companies can now
company, thus saving a lot of brings the entire process online. The search easily for all computer science
effort and cost. information that would have taken a graduates from Punjab who have more
• Even the biggest firms in India company a couple of weeks to acquire, than 70 per cent scores in 10th and
have only a hazy idea of how the is now available in seconds. 12th classes, and in college. For a big
initial 10,000 candidates they A college also has the option of company that recruits pan India, once
started off with, got reduced to either making itself visible to every recruitment is done, it can find out
the 500 that they eventually hired, company or only to companies that how the initial 4,000 students that
and which 100 among these 500 it invites using CoCube’s login/ were shortlisted got to the final 300
are the best ones. password tool. who were recruited. Or which 50 of
• Finally, the time lag of up to these 300 are the best, and so on. Post
a year—between candidates' Making authentic data that, students can even be segregated
getting a job offer and their available into communities based on college,
finally joining the company, leads Since all data on the platform branch, region and interest, and
to declining conversion ratios.
CoCubes helps companies by “Since recruiting companies
providing tools to remain in touch
with recruited candidates, thus are mostly located in the
keeping them warm. metros, there is a need
Campus recruitment agencies
traditionally have been operating
for an online and SMS-
through an offline model. Grover enabled interactive platform
reveals that the entire industry is a to connect colleges and
closed one, where consultants have
been charging colleges/companies a
Harpreet S. Grover, companies.”
founder, CoCubes

i.t.­­­­­­­­ | www.itmagz.com | august 2008 | 49

 many students are available in a
startup
The story behind CoCubes campus and adjust the team size to
• Grover narrates the story behind the conception of CoCubes: “One of my uncles is a training take interviews. They can find out
and placement officer in a college in Punjab. I saw him spending a lot of time and money
travelling to metro cities visiting companies and persuading them to come over for campus
which of the recruited students are the
placements. He once invited me over for a guest lecture in his college. It was during this visit best and can then keep the candidates
that I felt there were a lot of competent students in Tier II–III cities.”
‘warm’ during the long joining period
• Having graduated from IIT Bombay, both Goyal and Grover got the ideal platform to take
off but they felt that if the students in smaller towns are given the right visibility, they would to ensure maximum conversion.
also be able to do well. What they needed was a platform. At the same time, it was very Grover points out that for colleges,
important to have a business model around this basic need. “We (Vibhore and I) had hours of
brainstorming sessions to figure out how we could leverage our skills and technology to solve the power of their students being
this real world problem. This is how CoCubes came into being,” reveals Grover. online and available to companies
24/7 is amazing. This also helps in
increasing the placement rate of
Benchmarks achieved so far the college. At the same time, the
• CoCubes has on board more than 12,000 authenticated users (students) across colleges and portal helps colleges streamline their
states. The list of premier clients includes IILM and Thapar University. The company has also
signed a couple of big MNC clients (Evalueserve), each of which is going to use CoCubes to internal communication as they get
recruit talent from more than 100 colleges. many tools/features, such as mailing,
• The most remarkable thing is that all this has been accomplished by a small team of seven calendar, SMS-enabled services,
people. That said, the firm has raised capital and is looking to scale up its team size.
bulletin boards, and so on. Students
also stand to benefit from the online
content, video shoots, and from
increased interaction with an India-
wide peer network.
As regards their revenue model,
Grover reveals, “We charge the firms
on a per college basis, and we have
an annual subscription model for
colleges, for taking them online.”

A screenshot of CoCubes.com, an online and SMS-enabled interactive platform, which enables colleges and their
students, hidden in the interiors of India, to be visible to companies, located anywhere in the country
companies can then get in touch with
them through newsletters, birthday
cards, SMSs and other interesting
ways.”
Another advantage of having the
complete process online is that, in
the future, if the same company feels
the need to hire more students from
the previously visited colleges, it can
simply interview the students who
reached the final interview rounds
during the first visit.
Rich connections
through Web visibility
For hiring, small and mid-
sized companies that register with
CoCubes can make a choice from
approximately 35 colleges that the
portal has on board. For big firms,
CoCubes offers to get on board any
college nationwide that it intends to
go to, within a mere three days!
Companies also can know how
A pioneering movement...
and the way to go!
Goyal proudly affirms, “We are
the first in India to bring all three key
stakeholders—the company, students
and the college—onto a single
platform, resulting in amazing benefits
for everybody involved due to a flow
of information resulting in operational
efficiency.”
Although there are other offline
players, Grover declares that in the
online domain, he does not know of
anyone working along similar lines.
So far the portal caters only to
engineering and MBA colleges, and
plans are underway to diversify and
bring on board other interest groups

50 | august 2008 | www.itmagz.com | i.t.­­­­­­­­

as well. As Grover affirms, “This is
just the starting point. We plan to
move across to graduate colleges and
training institutes (that also have to
place students), and also to tie up with
organisations like Career Launcher,
Vault, etc, to provide students with
useful content and tests.”
There are plans to keep the users/
students engaged even when they have
moved out of their respective colleges.
The team is currently working on
whether to evolve into a generic
recruitment portal or an online
referral model.
Grover adds, “One of the things
we are very excited about is the ability
to train students online during the
time frame (of about 8 to 12 months)
between their getting recruited on
campus and joining the company. So
we are looking for partners here
as well.”
Creative ways to foster
innovation
For Team-CoCubes, ‘innovation’
is the toolbox that it uses to provide
a simple, effective, and if required, an
out-of-the-box solution to problems.
But how does it foster innovation
in the firm? Goyal reveals, “Well,
we have kept Saturdays for team
discussions. A ‘Dream Project’ is
given to all team members, and they
are stimulated to spend time on
something they find interesting and
to cultivate ideas that help CoCubes
achieve its vision!
“The ability to take the simplest
route to solve a real time problem is
a metric that we use to measure and
reward our team members for the
innovations that they come up with.”
‘One plus one can be greater
than 11’ is what the team believes
“We are the first in India
startup
to bring all three key
stakeholders—the company,
students and the college
—onto a single platform,
resulting in amazing benefits
Vibhore Goyal, founder,
CoCubes
for everybody involved.”
in. And also that it is not possible the internal steady belief in the idea
for a single organisation or person and our vision. This has helped us
to know and offer a solution to all cross our lows to getting our round of
problems. As Grover says, “To win, capital closed.
you must play to your strengths and “To our great delight, the
domain knowledge, and be willing to director/dean at AIT liked our
collaborate with an equally concept and showed faith in our idea.
reliable partner.” Within the first two meetings itself,
Besides innovations, the focus is the team offered us an incubation
also on continual research. “Rather space. I believe tech-incubators are
than technology, our research is playing a very important role in
mostly in terms of content and to be sustaining the entrepreneurship wave
the most knowledgeable about the we see in India.”
campus recruitment and training The firm has formed a sound base,
industry. Our people know the inside but Grover affirms that the biggest
outside of what is happening where, challenge for the team to date is to
in different states and colleges. This stimulate a much-required change in
entails a lot of research,” mindset among colleges—to accept
quips Grover. that going online is a better way of
increasing their placement rates.
Looking back with pride For fellow entrepreneurs-to-be
CoCubes has set up a good base and enthusiasts, Grover and Goyal
in just a year from its inception have a simple message: “Try looking
in 2007, and is currently a part of for solutions to problems that you
an incubator at Ansal Institute of would encounter in day-to-day life,
Technology (AIT), Gurgaon. Goyal start with a reliable partner and
recapitulates the journey so far: “We somebody you would love to work
have seen both sides of the coin, from with, and always follow your passion.
asking friends and family for capital, After all, you have only ‘one life
to being funded by a reputed set of to live’.”
investors. It is always difficult to start
a venture.” He adds: “The support
from our respective families was a big
push. But what has kept us going is
Vandana Sharma
'i.t.' Bureau
i.t.­­­­­­­­ | www.itmagz.com | august 2008 | 51