At the Connecting Ideas With Money, Lounge47 session held on the 4th of May 2022, founder Sajal Khanter pitched Bangalore-based Internet and information services startup The Boring News Company (TBNC).
“We are building The Boring News Co. to serve as a one-stop daily information ecosystem that caters to an individual’s specific needs. Whether it’s generic news or something hyper-specific like updates on the finances of your favorite sports team, we aim to provide every daily information vertical you care about under
one roof. Within these information verticals of your interest, you’ll be able to have meaningful discussions with like-minded “fans” who share your interests. We cater to the Gen-Z/Gen-Y consumer who desires a highly customizable daily information consumption experience and struggles with the discovery of valuable content
in the noisy, entertainment-first world of social media,” says Sajal.
The founders identified the lack of personally relevant daily information that is trust worthy, noise-free and can be consumed regularly without the distractions of entertainment as a problem they would like to solve.
“For a wholesome and repeatable daily information experience, an individual needs 4 things – generic news, daily information on specific niches, analytical content on areas of interest, and meaningful conversations with people who share their passion,” adds Sajal.
The TBNC team have set out to provide this.
website: https://boringnews.co (to access newsletter)
MVP test App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.boring (Referral Code: BETAMARCH22)
In the TBNC ecosystem, generic news serves as the entry product as this is the content vertical where Gen-Z and Gen-Y have limited loyalty and will switch easily provided they get additional value. It takes a first-party content generation approach here, to control the complete entry product experience. Niche information and analysis serve as their upsell product and here they aggregate multi-format content from independent subject matter experts to address a myriad of micro verticals. Their conversation layer then serves as their retention product where people can engage with “fans” who are similarly passionate about the same topics via live debate and discussion rooms.
Sajal explains, “We started TBNC because people have resigned to accepting the mediocrity of daily information and news. Currently, daily information is a low value commodity, but if it is curated and customized to cater to individual needs, it can add tremendous value to one’s life. There is an immense opportunity to create a large, build-to-last company in a sector that has barely evolved with the times.”
The team realizes that it is a difficult problem to solve and there is precedent of players faring poorly in the space, they have even been called ‘idiots’ for choosing this problem, however they are hell bent of proving people wrong.
“This serves as motivation for us everyday and we are certain we’ll change everyone’s mind in a few years,” says Sajal.
Team:
Sajal, on returning back to India, looked for the right people amongst his circle of friends, to build the foundation for TBNC. The founding team consists of Kaushik (engineering lead) and Mr. Thomas (content head). TBNC is a unique blend of youthfulness and age-old experience.
Founder:
Sajal Khanter
Ex-investment banker, BofA Merrill Lynch TMT group (Palo Alto, London)
Focused on M&A and IPOs of media and consumer internet businesses
Undergrad, Computer Engineering, minor in accounting. University of California, Los Angeles, 2016
