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The best and most profitable business ideas can come from being innovative and ahead of your time while meeting current consumer needs. Entrepreneur Vipul Amin did this as one of the founding shareholders behind uSwitch.com.
Alongside the rest of the management team, Vipul Amin went on to sell uSwitch for £210 million, just a few years after its formation.
How Vipul Amin uSwitch led the way
Such was the success of the uSwitch internet model when it launched, that it went on to inspire a number of other similar comparison websites.
Vipul Amin and George Milford Haven had already created and managed another successful business between them before they developed the uSwitch concept in 2000.
They brought in CEO Andrew Salmon to front their new joint initiative.
The inspiration for uSwitch was the deregulation of the energy industry in the UK. It had become possible for gas and electricity supply to become more competitive. However, the British public were not necessarily fully aware of their new buying power. Or, they didn’t have the information and confidence they needed to make an informed decision and change suppliers.
Also, energy prices had risen sharply in the proceeding months, due to a rise in the cost of wholesale fuel. In some cases, dual-fuel bills had gone up by as much as £850 year.
The Vipul Amin uSwitch project was the perfect solution to all of this. It also took full advantage of the growing wave of interest in using the internet for research and decision-making (now second nature, but still relatively new in 2000).
How uSwitch.com worked
Working with his co-founders to create this new business concept, the Vipul Amin uSwitch model was simple.
Users could log on, to compare the pricess offered by different energy suppliers. These days, comparison and aggregate websites are commonplace, but in 2000 uSwitch was seen as a revelation.
The site was free to use, making it even more accessible and attractive to householders and businesses in the UK. If the user decided to make a switch, then the fee element was added to the provider’s obligations under the new supply contract.
Site users could access cheaper energy and potentially save a substantial amount of money.
uSwitch.com growth and sale
As the popularity of uSwitch grew, so did the services it offered to the British public.
From being an energy comparison site and brokerage, it went on to provide a similar source of information and deals for personal finance, insurance and telecommunications.
In 2001 uSwitch bought buy.co.uk – which was offering a similar internet service. In 2003 it merged local community information website UpMyStreet.com into its business offering.
The Vipul Amin uSwitch model was clearly a hit with the British public and a scalable, adaptable system for accessing better deals on everyday services and supplies.
However, there was also a strong view that it made the energy companies – and eventually other industry groupings – more aware of their obligation to provide competitive rates. Therefore, uSwitch packed a punch in terms of influencing the marketplace in general too.
Within just six years of its launch, the uSwitch brand became the subject of interest from several global names. This included Microsoft, Experian, publishing group DMGT, and a private equity group called Advent International.
The eventual buyer of the Vipul Amin uSwitch business though was US media group EW Scripps. Since then, the company has changed hands several times. The uSwitch website is now owned by online Property portal Zoopla.
Vipul Amin uSwitch success context
Though the initial sale of uSwitch clearly represents a major milestone in businessman Vipul Amin’s stellar career, it is far from being his only success story.
He has been involved with dozens of other profitable enterprises, either on a collaborative or shareholder basis.