Bollywood celebrities have a huge fan following across the world, people from across the world admire, praise, and love them. From standing for hours just to get a glimpse of the actor to creating fan pages of our Bollywood fans, no doubt fans can go to any limit. And when in India, this unique love for our stars knows no bounds, stars also love it when fans show their love and affection towards them.
To help fans engage with their favourite stars, TrueFan, a celebrity-fan startup recently announced its first round of exclusive partnerships with superstars Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. The platform brings fans one step closer to winning a chance to engage with superstars at the price of a cup of coffee. TrueFan encourages users to play simple quizzes around the lives of celebrities and the winner scores a personalized message from those stars.
Nimish Goel, CEO & Co-Founder, TrueFan spoke exclusively to Medianews4u about TrueFan and their plans ahead.
Read on.
What are the aspects that highlight TrueFan?
We’re partnering with top celebrities and connecting them to millions of Indian fans out there. Since the price to play quizzes on the platform is very nominal, people from all walks of life can participate and win a chance to interact with their dream idols. Lastly, through gamification, the platform also brings in a unique take on celebrity fan engagement.
Is TrueFan a bootstrap venture or it has multiple investors?
TrueFan is backed up by marquee investors like Ronnie Screwvala, Mayfield India, Saama Capital and other top prominent angels as well.
On social platforms almost a lot of celebrities get comments from users asking them to send them a DM or reply to their comments or share their contacts or chat with them, how is TrueFan going to cater that?
Problem with that is most times, a fan’s comments or DMs will go unnoticed among thousands of other such messages. But now there is actually a way for these fans to get assured interactions with their favorite stars and this is where TrueFan comes in.
What is your business model like?
We ask the users to pay a nominal fee of Rs.40 and play quizzes on the app while keeping a certain part of that fee to run the business.
How do you go about your research process? And how accessible was it to get leading celebrities like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh, and Tiger Shroff on board?
We did a lot of research while giving shape to our product and then pitched it to leading talent and their management teams. We were happy to have received a great response from them and to partner with superstars like Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Tiger Shroff.
How does the TrueFan app stand out from other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and other celebrity engagement platforms?
While there are other celebrity engagement platforms in the market, we believe that the bond between a fan and a celebrity is very personal. We want them to win a personalised interaction with their favorite celebrities rather than asking them to purchase it.
With social media, the interaction fans have with celebrities is usually a one-way street and passive where a fan is probably dropping hundreds of comments but all of these mostly going unnoticed. What we want is for them to connect with these celebrities on a one-to-one basis through our platform.
Who are some of the celebrities you would like fans to engage with, and from what fields/genres?
We’re looking to partner with many more household names from all walks of life like sports, music and regional entertainment to name a few.
Do you feel the TrueFan app will help with celebrity endorsements and how do plan to make this an efficient way for a leading celebrity?
It isn’t our focus at present.
What is your data policy like, and how do you go about ensuring both the celebrity and fans’ safety?
We are a safe and secure app, completely made in India and all data is carefully handled.
Besides launching the app, what are some exciting developments you plan in the future?
We’re looking to onboard more celebrities from different genres, offer exclusive content to our users through them and enhance one-on-one interactions.
Will TrueFan be collaborating or partnering with other companies in the future?
As and when the time comes, yes.
