This Valentine’s Day marked the first decade of the Magnet brand! Ritesh, Murphy and I started MagNet as India’s first electronic magazine in February 1998. We launched with a special Valentine’s issue, and even had an ecards sections on the debut website.
The name MagNet meant “Magazine on the Net” – Mag + Net. The name stuck, and the ezine too! We had a big fan following and large subscriber base. Those were the early days of Internet in India. We wrote on technology, interesting websites, interviewed tech celebrities, and even had fun sections on the ezine and the accompanying website.
MagNet ezine, and the other ezines we launched, ran till 2001. MagNet WebPublishing Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated in May 1999 to support MagNet ezine and do other commercial activities. Part of the team joined the company.
It was completion of a decade, we decided to meet up! Ritesh, Murphy, Sujeet and I met yesterday evening and caught up! Kapil couldn’t join, and Vaishali is in Australia right now. But we had fun!
Ritesh and Murphy continue to lead Indsoft, their hosting and technology company. They have diversified in a lot of other areas – recruitment to hotel and are having a good time. Sujeet is in the US, working on security. Sujeet is a tech genius and finds immense satisfaction hunting down crackers! I continue to lead Magnet, now as Chairman and Chief Mentor of the organization. Kapil is a brand manager in Mudra now, doing what he loves the most – marketing, strategy and creativity. Vaishali is in Australia now, building rich internet apps with Flash and Flex! Not to forget Bhavin, he generously gave us webspace for free, and is now minting money running Indialinks.
(L to R: Ritesh, Sujeet, Murphy, Nirav)
I took some screenshots of the MagNet website and the stuff we did. Have posted them in the Gallery.
We had a great time making the magazine and running the MagNet Interactive website. I believe those were the founding years that shaped our philosophies and principles. Gave us a solid ground in technology and customer service too!
Thanks to all the contributors to MagNet too – all authors, all readers, all tech guys and all critics!
There are numerous stories of the time! If you were a subscriber, or knew MagNet from then, I invite you to share your experiences!
Wow! I dint know that MagNet was an e-zine. This news in ecouraging esp when i am on the verge of launching one soon.
And also this blog list in the top 5 searches for ‘entrepreneur’, so Kudos to you Nirav.
Good going and Good Luck.
Congratulations and Kudos to all invovled 🙂 Can’t believe its been 10 years. Seems like just yesterday when we were all sitting on the floor with computers, planning on the Magnet website design and content 🙂 All the best for the future!
Congratulation for completing 10 years and wish you all the best!!.. eager to see you at new high in next 10 years..
How many people were there in the start of Magnet and how many people are now working? How much you have grown in terms of no. of employees?
Congratulations. 10 years! WOW – you have much to be proud of.
Here’s to many more successes!
P.S. After all these years of exchanging email I finally got to see what the team looks like 😉