nizam @nizam_sp Twitter profile | Pikagi

Pikagi

nizam

@nizam_sp

2,075

Followers

202

Following

27

Media

251

Statuses

Founder of Where is my train app - 300M+ downloads - acquired by Google | Currently building @regain_app , download now 👇

Bangalore

https://t.co/O2UuAWDC8w

Joined April 2010

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

Pinned Tweet

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

"Where is my train" app first version screenshot. Could anyone have imagined this app would eventually get 300M+ downloads and the first production acquisition from @Google in India? Sharing this to encourage people to ship quicker and iterate with real users!

Tweet media one

194

676

7K

Last Seen Profiles

@rihgood_

@1312_kiko

@BediaTnrvrdler

@_Skorpione_

@EmWalz

@JamesMcgairyart

@bradperezracing

@exceptionallust

@frenchrojinegro

@TryingCasual

@KjTorbert5

@landstread18326

@amonter00

@stw46

@Fried_Rice1

@Rana_says25

@ewhor6

@KristenOrthman

@WestburyTimes

@MadOneGames

@maraudershcss

@_Iucywilde

@FrostiiTV

@odeio_crentes

@abodjalop

@SnizzyKnowsBest

@odeio_crentes

@Maux

@BastiFelici

@BoTosabu22222

@mscatmermaid

@puppy_stomp

@Paulo_Saraiva_

@StrideSocials

@kriptokurdu_en

@stw_pdg

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@Google This was the highlights in the pitch deck we prepared for @Accel_India in 2017.

Tweet media one

1

4

264

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Our YC application video. I couldn't hear my voice again but this is just to show it won't look fancy in the beginning.

3

7

220

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@Google @Accel_India My first startup's co-founder introduced me to @Accel_India and while reviewing the deck he asked me "Is there any precedence for Google to buy an Indian company". I said "not so far". He said let's remove this line for now :) Eventually this happened to be true ;)

Tweet media one

1

3

156

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Our first home office. Invested exorbitant amount on @HermanMiller chair thinking that's the place we are going to spend at least 16 hours.

Tweet media one

2

2

157

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@Google @Accel_India This was 2017. I was so naive during the investor pitch meeting. One funny reply to a basic question GP (Investor): Who takes of product role here Me: We all take care of the product. We discuss together on the next steps and code them. Eventually realised by hit and learn

5

4

129

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

"You can do wonders with a lean team. It helps you focussed on the most important problem. Be generous with equity. Be obsessed with customer feedbacks every single day. Only marginal improvements make a product successful." I'll wrap this thread with investment journey. Thanks

22

8

129

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Aug 2016, I got my co-founder @narun2001 who was fearless to take the risk of joining early on. We both saved a run way for 2 years and quit the job to do WIMT full time. Bought our first PC from SP road BLR.

Tweet media one

4

4

123

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

"How did you come up with this app idea for Where is my Train?" - This is one of the frequent questions I have been asked. Unwrapping it in this thread 🧵 below 👇

8

22

119

@nizam_sp

nizam

6 months

This is what happened with my first side project "Where is my train" too

@BUILD_OR_DIE

BUILD OR DIE

6 months

Mark Zuckerberg: Pick something you care about and work on it, but don’t commit to turning it into a company until it’s working. A tremendous percentage of the very best companies didn't come from people who decided upfront that they wanted to start a company.

19

347

3K

3

4

106

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Output of our first VC meeting with @Accel_India : Rejected Real reason: We sucked at pitching our idea and was just talking mostly about cell tower offline technology. Our idea at that stage was not VC fundable since VCs looks for huge exits. How we cursed between us: These

1

4

103

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

This is what happens if the founder sticks to the same company for 30 years. 25 years of patience and then see magic.

Tweet media one

1

2

99

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Within 8 months of quitting our job, we convinced 3 more old colleagues/friends to join us. We didn't raise any investment but gave generous equity to make them as co-founders and zero salary. @sashikumarv @bala_ceg and @tmsundaram1988 joined us. Our new home office.

Tweet media one

3

1

94

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Would you believe that we got rejected by @GoogleLaunchpad twice but got acquired by @Google eventually? When my co-founder @sashikumarv told about approaching @Google for investment/acquisition, I told they didn't even let us in launchpad itself. But no harm in trying.

3

2

86

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

The way we convinced @sashikumarv was the most funny one. He was my boss's boss in my first startup (IIT JEE 3rd & 5th rank twice) and I become very close with him during my first job. We always hunt people coming from US to get some cheap electronics and this time, Sashi was

Tweet media one

2

1

77

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

There was an event called Uber Pitch by @Uber_BLR where you can book a cab where you can meet an investor. We met @alokg and thought we will get some investment right away. He asked us to listen to our users and iterate on the product which was the right one at that stage of

2

2

65

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Just before the initial launch of the app, applied for @UberDevelopers hackathon showcasing how users can book a cab during a train journey. Thinking winning the competition will make the downloads rain. Nada! We couldn't make it even in the top 3 despite working on for 3 months.

4

1

60

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

After failing to raise investment in 2017 Jan, we decided not to waste time and just focussed on creating user love. I got obsessed about only one "Number of 1 stars in that day". I wanted it to be 0 on one day. It never happened but it helped to build user love.

1

0

61

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

One of the best example "luck" is this event. Googlers from Sydney has come to India to meet us and evaluate the acquistion decision. At around 11 AM, I presented the app live and they were impressed about the whole tech. Post lunch 2PM, we started doing white board talk about

4

2

58

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

We had done zero networking and never known how to make noise in the press. We liked to remain underdogs and kept focussing on tech and user love. @alokebajpai from @ixigo figured us out and approached us to talk further. It was so tempting to know our valuation but we wanted to

1

1

47

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

After a year of no-investor meetings, we started pitching again. @binnybansal was the first one who was ready to make an investment. It was a landmark moment for us to meet the @Flipkart founders who instigated the fire in the Indian startup ecosystem. We had to turn down the

2

0

45

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Around mid of 2018, I got a linkedIn message from a smartphone manufacturer's investment division. Message goes something like this from her "Where have you been? I have searching for you everywhere. You guys like the whatsapp of India who is doing so many downloads with a lean

5

1

36

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

We saw @rao_seema 's name in an news article about Halli Labs acquisition and reached out to them for investment/acquistion. It took around 9 months and around 20+ meetings to get us acquired by @Google . We were doubling our user base every 3 months and @Rolie and @ShayneMathews

5

1

34

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Ideally, @Microsoft should have made "Microsoft word" online first since there were so many pirated copies of them used offline. Strangely, @Google docs took that market by becoming cloud first. Any thoughts?

3

2

28

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Real world problems are startup ideas. The biggest advantage of growing up in a middle class family is that you get to "experience" problems that's faced by a larger population. Problems are more felt than explained.

1

1

24

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

Eventually many offers came during the talks with @Google but we preferred to join Google since we were engineers by heart and we loved the interactions with the acquiring team.

1

0

28

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Steve Jobs rightly said, “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.”

0

1

23

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

There are two ways a problems can be identified. One is sitting and searching for a problem. The other is being a passive curious observer and let the problems come and hit you. I was cursed (or gifted) with seeing problems everywhere and thinking "why not an app for this?"

2

0

10

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Experience 4: Nokia 1100 was the first mobile phone I had and it has this awesome feature called "Cell Info" which used to show the current cell tower name. This feature was missing in Android phones.

Tweet media one

1

1

14

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Experience 7: This was pre-jio time and everyone has this habit of switching off the internet to save battery and data. Google Maps API were super expensive. This lead me to create a cheap solution using everything offline using cell towers

2

0

13

@nizam_sp

nizam

6 months

It was Saturday and i couldn't find the car in my home. Realised that i forgot the car in the office itself. That's because of a strong habit building @nammayatri app. Same OTP on every trip is so thoughtful! Kudos to the team :)

2

0

13

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

As you see above, an "idea" is a mix of different experiences over time. It's easier to summarise this in hindsight but when these events are happening I had no idea that these simple experiences could have a meaning later. Connect your dots when it's the right time.

1

1

15

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Experience 6: Google Maps traffic actually works by crowdsourcing moving android phones. We did the exact same thing for trains using the cell towers.

1

0

11

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

Everyone has their dopamine addiction. For me it's the kick i get from solving the real world problems like "where is my train" app and @regain_app . For some it's from scrolling social media. When you develop addiction to something that's useful to others you become valuable to

0

0

12

@nizam_sp

nizam

6 months

💯 agree. We were working almost every *waking hour* on "Where is my train" till it got acquired. No Netflix account, No Social media. My next project @regain_app is built to save people from distractions and help them focus

@IAmMarkManson

Mark Manson

6 months

Here's a short video where I discuss the point:

4

24

207

0

0

8

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Being curious and a passive observer also made my mind like a monkey that jumps to different ideas. I tried at least 20 ideas before sticking to "Where is my Train" idea. At some point, sticking to an idea becomes more important than generating ideas.

1

0

11

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

The problem for Where is my Train app and the cell tower based solution came by connecting different experiences I had in my life. I am listing the experiences that lead to Where is my Train app idea ⬇️

1

0

9

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

Ruthless conviction on the idea is the fuel that an early stage startup needs. If your conviction is growing each month on your startup, you are in the right direction. Keep marching!

@StartupArchive_

Startup Archive

@StartupArchive_

5 months

Paul Graham explains why you shouldn’t try to be a visionary “Empirically, the way to do really big things seems to be to start with small things and grow them bigger. Want to dominate microcomputer software for decades? Start by writing a basic interpreter for a machine with a

16

177

831

0

1

10

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@abhinj99 @Google Sorry to hear that! Can you please DM the details of this issue. I will ask the team to check it asap.

0

0

10

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Experience 3: During my college days train journey, finding such a milestone in a train is super hard and it's present only once per train station with a big yellow stone.

Tweet media one

1

0

7

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

This page helped us to onboard our first few superstars for the team @regain_app

Tweet media one

0

0

9

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@ganeshrvel @Google We haven't shown any Ads in the app ever. We are only on Android. You must have downloaded some copycat apps i think. Sorry for the trouble.

1

0

9

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@geeksd_ @Google @sashikumarv This is a good idea. Please do it :)

1

0

9

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Experience 1: During my middle school, I used to travel in govt bus to a near by town 20kms daily and that bus had a simple line view of the stops painted (something like the map you see inside metro rail) . This was the inspiration for the timeline view of Where is my train.

Tweet media one

2

0

7

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Experience 2: I am usually late to school and I was curios to know whether I will reach on time. I kept looking for the milestone on the road from a window to know my ETA.

Tweet media one

1

0

7

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@SinchanSaha20 @Google I'm planning to share how 6 engineers handled 150 servers with in total of 10 TB of RAM. I'll post it soon. Stay tuned!

1

0

7

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

Experience 5: Using Uber app first time was an amazing experience. I loved the way a real car moved inside the app to pick me up. When I was waiting for my train, I was wondering "When a single person train can be tracked so well? why not a train with 1000 people?"

1

0

6

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

@SagarBedmutha This is worth a detailed thread. I'll post it soon. Stay tuned!

1

0

5

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

@paraschopra I have captured the origin of the idea for the "Where is My Train" app, which has been the #1 travel app on the Indian Play Store for 6 years in a row.

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

"How did you come up with this app idea for Where is my Train?" - This is one of the frequent questions I have been asked. Unwrapping it in this thread 🧵 below 👇

8

22

119

1

0

4

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@AyanJeloka @Google Hi Ayan, It was such a pleasure to work with you!

0

0

4

@nizam_sp

nizam

9 months

@gregisenberg 💯 agree. We built this app which reduces Instagram/YouTube usage by 35%

Regain: Screen time + Focus - Apps on Google Play

Reduce screen time, avoid distractions & stay focused in a fun way.

play.google.com

0

2

5

@nizam_sp

nizam

9 years

Tu Kya hai? -The restless guy awaiting #UberPITCH cab to take @wimtindia to next level. Thanks to @TheViralFever

0

0

3

@nizam_sp

nizam

2 years

Humbled by the user's love!

Tweet media one

0

1

4

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@veereshdesai03 @Google That's a good one to write in detail. I will definitely share about this soon. Stay tuned!

0

0

4

@nizam_sp

nizam

1 year

A co-founder is someone whom you won't take along in the same flight

1

0

3

@nizam_sp

nizam

1 year

Question to chatgpt: How tough is it to score 10 runs from last two balls to win the match in T20 cricket GPT 3.5 response (pretty bad): GPT 4 response (decent but fails if we ask it to re check)

1

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

3 years

Imagine the regret of the guy who didn't vote in Coimbatore south. Whoever wins Coimbatore south has won this election #KamalHaasan #CoimbatoreSouth

0

0

3

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@Trupan11 @Google We currently don't have an iOS app and we are available only in Android. @wimtindia & @sashikumarv please make an iOS version :)

1

0

3

@nizam_sp

nizam

9 years

Thanks to @alokg in guiding @wimtindia to next level. #UberPITCH @TheViralFever http://t.co/2cY9S56mtx

Tweet media one

0

2

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

@vpsjdon After working for 4 years in Google, I am working on my new startup @regain_app now. The development of where is my train app is being done by Google team with other co-founders

0

0

3

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@jyotipravat @Google That's lovely! we never knew the ripples our product created till I started posting it today. Everything was a team work :) we always took decisions as 5 co-founders. It made the decisions a bit slower but mostly correct.

1

0

3

@nizam_sp

nizam

1 year

0

0

0

@nizam_sp

nizam

1 year

Sometimes, code/configuration files can be harder to read and might need Googling if it's something like a haproxy configuration file. Use ChatGPT to add comments quickly using the prompt below

Tweet media one

1

1

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@rizwanio @Google @wimtindia @sashikumarv Let's do iOS please :)

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

6 months

@PTTVOnlineNews We made @regain_app to be the force against the smartphone addiction created by Instagram & YouTube. You can save at least 1 hour every day by this app.

Regain: Screen time + Focus - Apps on Google Play

Reduce screen time, avoid distractions & stay focused in a fun way.

play.google.com

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@Akshay001 @Google You made our day @wimtindia

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

"caffeniate" - mac terminal command to avoid your macbook going to sleep mode. perfect naming!

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

1 year

@0xSumukha

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

@rajeshraghavan_ This happens only when someone is open minded. At every point in time, we need to act upon what we are *thinking* more than what we *thought* in the past.

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@Sujay84725552 @Google We have never shown a single Ad on the wimt app so far. You must have downloaded an iOS copy cat app. Sorry for the trouble. We are available only in Android

Tweet card media

Where is my Train - Apps on Google Play

Train app - Timetable & live running status without internet No Ads Metro Local

play.google.com

1

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

@sandeep_jain Time is money. I would continue to build @regain_app to make something impactful to the users

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

1 year

@vinod_shankar In case anything happens to the flight, you have full faith that your co-founder will be able to fill your space and lead the company

1

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

@vinod_shankar I can still read your OTP ;)

1

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

10 months

How chatgpt is A/B testing :)

Tweet media one

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

💯 Agree. One of our team member @regain_app during the hike requested to reduce the cash component and increase their equity. This is a pure validation of the company, culture and the idea.

@StartupArchive_

Startup Archive

@StartupArchive_

5 months

Peter Thiel: The salary of a startup CEO is “incredibly predictive” In this 2012 interview Thiel explains that one of the best questions an investor can ask is “What is the salary of the CEO?” In his view, the right answer is less than $150k, even post Series A. “If you like

12

98

509

0

0

3

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@knowrohit07 @Google @rahulnyu Glad it was helpful ☺️

0

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

6 months

@dharmeshba @inshorts Vera level 👍

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

2 years

@rajeshraghavan_ I think that's me ;)

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@UPRailUpdates @Google 👌 because of people like you, this app reached so many people. Thanks 🙏

1

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

@vinod_shankar My 👀. Humans are intelligent too 😉

1

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@YagneshMBhadiy1 @Google In the initial days, @narun2001 co-founder/engineer who knew some Photoshop to do the design. But he was very good at keeping things simpler.

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

1 year

I thought chatgpt is stealing my idea as their idea, but it agreed on further prompting

Tweet media one

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

@abhidotin Thanks for the feedback. I have sent this feature request to the team. Fyi, I have moved out of Google and am working on my next venture @regain_app

1

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

@rajeshraghavan_ @paraschopra This is a super hard decision. I like the framework in this video below.

Tweet card media

Sam Altman : How to Build the Future

Access podcast and transcript versions of this interview here: https://www.ycombinator.com/future/samChapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) - 00:0...

www.youtube.com

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@GajaBuja @Microsoft @Google This is very insightful dude @GajaBuja

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

1 year

@dasritav Everything you learnt compounds over time! Kudos for making it with dedication and passion

1

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

@vinod_shankar was that a high leverage task?

1

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@returnoftheboss @Google 👌 because of people like you, this app reached so many people. Thanks 🙏

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

9 years

@EtchForMe I want to be the first to try Etch on my #smartwatch #androidwear #applewatch #EtchPrivateBeta

1

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@vpsjdon @sashikumarv @wimtindia Hi @vpsjdon , I have reported this to Google team via email and awaiting an update. Sorry for the inconvenience.

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

@shouravkr @nammayatri That's nice! The mind who came up with this idea is a pure problem solver

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

7 months

@sama @jaltma

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

@abhidotin I checked with the team and they are working on dark mode already. You should get a new app update soon. I will follow up on the coach layout issue now.

0

0

1

@nizam_sp

nizam

5 months

@pavan99912 @Google The team is evaluating this and making some decisions. I have conveyed the overwhelming requests from Twitter to the leads.

2

0

2

@nizam_sp

nizam

8 months

@piyushkohli40 Love it. Thanks 🙏

0

0

1