Buyers usually search for vendors in popular business directories, which is why many small local business take the help of online directory service platformlike Justdial to be able to sell B2B products add get a free listing and grow their business online. This is helps the small businesses to sell directly to customers as these services offer mobile apps and attract huge traffic. While it is also free to list your business on Justdial.
The Mumbai based company runs an India specific local business listing platform Justdial and has expanded the scope of its B2C transaction based services by adding product e- commerce market place. Founded by V.S.S Mani in 1994, Just Dial is a local search firm that provides both B2C and B2B listings of small and medium businesses across the country.
It also provides services across multiple platforms, including the internet, phone, wireless and print. It counts Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global and SAIF Partners as its investors. Just Dial becomes first large Indian listed firm with presence in product e-commerce business. Another small public listed firm is Intrasoft Technologies, which runs 123stores.
The firm had started what it called the Search Plus or transaction services where it allowed people to order food online from local restaurants and even book a doctor’s appointment and flight tickets and much more. With product e- commerce it is now entering a much wider market which can add to its revenue stream.
The company has added a shop online feature on the homepage where it lists products across several categories like mobile appliances, electronics besides a host of others including those that are put out by big e-commerce marketplace such as tiles, sanitary ware, bicycle, paints, etc. Since it is a market place it connect consumers to third party vendors and only acts as a platform linking the buyer and the seller while simultaneously facilitating transaction.
How Justdial helps local businesses through Justdial Search Plus
In the process it comes across as another hyper local e-commerce platform which links local shops to consumers online. This makes a sense for Justdial as it extends the offering by allowing those local sellers already listed on its platform to sell products.
However the consumer would absorb the Justdial offering given there are specialized e-commerce ventures that are doing a similar job with better UI/UX is something that would get to know as Justdial shares user statistics. Justdial also offers same day delivery for some products since Just Dial primarily leverages local sellers, it can actually cut down on delivery timelines.
The site claims some products like grocery and medicine ordered through its platform will be delivered in an hour while for some others like electronics, Just Dial says it offers a ‘7-hour express delivery’ for orders placed before 2 PM and the offer comes with Just Dial’s written guarantee along with manufacturer’s warranty & original invoice. Orders post 2 PM will be delivered in the next 24 hours.
In the day age, where innovation is considered to be an important asset for online business in order to beat competition and stay ahead in the market, the most well-known online classified player in India is going back to the basics to increase the growth of your business online.
Justdial has implemented plans to reinvent its newer offerings such as inventory management platform for sellers Justdial Omni its payment wallet Justdial Cash and Monetization of its advanced meta search cum marketplace offering Search Plus. The public company is looking to put all its energies behind reviving its core which is the search business and its listings model.
Justdial Omni
Justdial Omni is a premium service which is offered by Just Dial group as a business outsourcing tool. This online directory services platform was launched by Justdial Omni in 2016 in order to help small business manage their online and offline sales. It give you the option to outsource multiple task to JD and focus what is absolutely necessary for running of your business. You can sell multiple channels from one platform with the help of Justdial.
The Services Offered by Justdial Omni
Services Offered By Justdial Omni
Website – expand your market base by selling products on your very own website.
App – reach out to your tech savvy customers through a personalized Android app.
Justdial – sell your products on Justdial, anything, anytime, anywhere
In store billing – Justdial Omni delivers the most adaptable and advanced billing systems providing end to end customer service operations.
Other Marketplaces – make shopping easier for your customers by collaborating with e-commerce giants in the near future.
The activities that Justdial Omni provides
Another Set of Activities Justdial Omni
These are Optional premium services you can choose according to the need.
Centralized Inventory management
Advanced reports and analytics
Easy and quick bailing systems
Campaign and discount offers
Customers and suppliers records
Inquiries and lead management
Calendar and appointment scheduling
Website and mobile apps.
The Justdial Omni will be plug and play as it is cloud based solution which can be accessed over cell phone via a dashboard V.S.S Mani explains in the analyst call. The product will allow small businesses to manage their inventory, billing and third party logistics. The product will also allow businesses to integrate bar code and QR code systems. As enablers, we always think for our vendors and they would probably lose their market share to online players.
Just Dial has also come up with another way of helping businesses online with the help of Justdial Cash, which is a payments platform integration for its Search Plus suite of services. Just dial has also tied up with another existing mobile wallet service provider instead of applying for a prepaid payment instruments (PPI) license itself.
Justdial needs a wallet to operate Justdial Cash because it is a marketplace and not an eCommerce player that owns the inventory or services that customers were buying on its site. It is effectively operating a closed wallet which does not need a license. This helps customers and small local businesses online as, when customers buy from merchants and service provide via Justdial, it needs a semi closed prepaid payment instrument or a semi closed wallet.
Just Dial Limited is a company that provides local search for different services in India over the phone, website and mobile apps.
What does Justdial do?
It provides local search-related services to users across India through multiple platforms such as website, mobile website, Apps (Android, iOS, Windows), over the telephone and text (SMS).
How to add your business in just dial?
How to add business in just dial:-
You can either list add business to Justdial for free, or get a paid listing.
For a free listing, just go to www.justdial.com/Free-Listing and provide all the necessary details of your business.
For a paid listing, visit www.justdial.com/advertise and fill in the details and choose from the different packages provided by them.
What is Justdial revenue model?
Justdial works on collecting data and providing information to users through Phone, SMS, and the Internet. The company’s revenue model is of Premium subscription or listing of classified ads, Analytical reports, and Data selling to buyers. Initially, it used to work as a telephone directory-based model.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on.
When it comes to the cosmetic industry, consumers are always concerned as to what goes behind the scenes while making these products and mainly the concern is about the ingredients. For the same reasons, nowadays we see a huge buzz about organic products or natural hair care and skin care products. To capitalize this buzz and to level up this segment in the beauty care industry, Upma Kapoor launched Teal & Terra in 2017.
Teal & Terra provide a range of organic skin care and hair care products made from purely natural products using the ancient power and wisdom of Ayurveda. Among its unique and popular products is hair oil which brings the benefits of onion oil without its unpleasant smell.
Teal & Terra have a wide array of natural and organic skincare & haircare products. It’s the most popular product is the onion and castor oil, which comes with a unique formulation for healthy hair. With an innovative formulation, the team has tried to harness the benefits of onion oil without its unpleasant smell. Also, its Kumkumadi face oil and Moroccan Argan oil are some of the other key products sold by Teal & Terra.
Teal & Terra Products
Teal & Terra – Target Market Size
Teal & Terra is a startup in the organic beauty and skin care industry. The organic beauty and skin care industry have tremendous scope in India coming up in the next five years. According to FICCI, the Indian organic skin care market will grow at an annual rate of 25% CAGR.
Teal & Terra – Founders and Team
The founder/Owner of Teal & Terra is Upma Kapoor.
Teal and Terra Founder
Graduated from Delhi University, Upma has founded one more startup other than her current one- Teal & Terra. Her first launch was a firm named Literati. Literati is a young and aggressive HR firm that specializes in recruiting for middle and senior-level positions in BFSI (Financial Services), IT, Retail and Pharma sectors. It has differentiated itself from others, by focusing on providing and maintaining high-quality standards in recruiting and other HR services.
Teal & Terra – How did it start?
Teal & Terra were born with this idea when, Kapoor realized that the current range of Indian beauty products was no match to the high-end imported foreign skin care products which are so popular with consumers. After undertaking some research, she came to know that by harnessing the natural benefits of the abundant flora in India, as in the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, she could offer consumers a line of completely pure, organic and natural products at a much cheaper price with greater benefits. This also fits well with the emerging trend for organic skin care in the country and after 15 years in the corporate world, she decided to take the plunge into entrepreneurship. And that’s how Teal & Terra came into existence.
Teal & Terra – Startup Launch
In the initial phases of Teal & Terra, building a client base was tough as the founder faced stiff competition from the big players. In online communities, there were a lot of backlashes but it was again through these online communities that Kapoor was able to get her first customers. “I am fortunate that these first clients appreciated my products and spread the word online, which helped me reach a sizable client base. A majority of our customers are returning ones and my strongest ambassadors.” Says Upma Kapoor. All in all, most of Teal & Terra’s sales occur because of the good-will that it has managed to accrue over the years.
Teal & Terra – Business Model and Revenue Model
Teal & Terra works on B2C Business Model. The founder of Teal & Terra, Upma Kapoor started the firm with her savings and some funds from friends and family. From having a worth of 7.5 lakh in 2017 to 2.24 crore in under two years, she has worked night and day for Teal & Terra to emerge as a brand of reckoning in the organic skin care segment.
70% of its revenue comes from repeat buyers in this highly competitive market. Kapoor is also working extensively towards women empowerment and providing work from home opportunities to women so they can make a living.
The products at Teal & Terra are priced between Rs 500 to Rs 2,690, and the products are primarily for hair care and skin care. With product placement on leading online shopping platforms now, the company is also able to attract a much wider client base.
The initial days of Teal & Terra had their fair share of challenges. Starting with the founder launching the firm with her funding, was a huge challenge. Then came the milestone of brand acceptance and stiff competition from the established players. There was also a lot of negative propaganda in online communities. Over time, however, Teal & Terra’s products were appreciated by the customers, through word of mouth, it was able to build a client base and also increase revenue. On the personal front too, as Upma Kapoor is a single mother, she had to struggle a lot to maintain a balance between her personal and professional life.
With increasing awareness among the customers for products that are natural and environment-friendly, the challenge will lie in innovating to provide a wider spectrum of products that can cater to the demands of consumers while beating the competition of mass-produced, cheaper, and chemical-based cosmetics.
Teal & Terra face direct competition from major cosmetic brands that claim to be selling organic and natural hair care and skin care products. These brands range from Mama Earth, Kama Yoga, Soul Flower to big brands like Himalaya and Forest Essentials.
Teal & Terra – Advisors and Mentors
The change from the service industry to entrepreneurship was not sudden for Kapoor as it was something that had always been on the back of her mind for quite some time. Since it was something entirely different from her regular corporate job, she is very grateful for the support and guidance of her friends and family.
Teal & Terra – Awards and Recognition
Conceptualizing the idea of Teal & Terra and making it a brand known to people has also led to recognition and awards. In 2019, the founder, Upma Kapoor received the Priyadarshini Award for Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur 2019 and the Global Business Award for Women Entrepreneur of the Year.
Teal & Terra – Future Plans
As a startup, Teal & Terra is committed to providing quality organic products to consumers who are looking for purity.
Mrs. Kapoor said – The vision for the brand is very clear in my head. Three years from now, I wish to multiply the revenue the company is making now and have a wider range of products. At the same time, being a socially responsible company, it is my vision to employ more women as a policy and create a more conducive working environment for my employees.
The world of the startup has witnessed the rise of many brands that have revolutionized the world. With many big names like Flipkart, Apple, Amazon, and Google shining at the big stage, the startup circuit has also been characterized by the growth of innovative companies. Amongst a few innovative companies, one of the most popular names is the BigBasket. Well, the company is well known for its innovative approach for selling groceries, the team also has a unique HR. Meet Mr. T.N. Hari, the head of HR at Big Basket.
Read this article to know about the story of T.N. Hari.
T.N. Hari is the current head of HR at Big Basket. When it comes to experience, this man has spent long years at Tata Steel, initially as an engineer, and then in HR. Hari is well known as the startup HR guy. Well, we are very sure that you might have not heard about this team before! This experienced campaigner has been through two mergers and acquisitions. According to him, in a startup circuit, jargon doesn’t count in because one has to execute, perform, and make things occur in real-time.
T.N. Hari- Some insights of career
Hari has spent over 14 years at Tata Steel. Initially, he worked as an engineer and later on, was moved to the HR department. There, Hari served as the senior HR executive. Apart from being a professional in the business sector, Hari is also a successful author. When we talk about his educational qualification, Hari stands out as a highly educated person.
He has pursued his engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology and MBA at the Indian Institute of Management. For him, getting into an IIM was important to get a wider view of how organizations work. This is one of the major reasons why at Tata Steel, Hari worked in various posts starting from procurement to corporate planning to design and also at construction sites. Later on, Hari moved to the HR department.
It all happened during the time of post-liberalization in 2002. The foreign steel producers were dumping steel in India below the brand’s cost prices. Hence, at this time, Tata Steel faced an existential crisis and had to restructure. Therefore, to have control over the situation, Hari was appointed to be a part of the core team that worked with big manes like McKinsey on transforming. It was a challenging task for the team to create strategic business units, evaluate the employee, and sort out the perfect outplacement services for the employees who were sacked due to the exercise. It was very unlikely that Hari would have been a part of HR if he had continued his tenure at Tata Steel. However, the experience of 2002 gave him the required exposure to gain a new skill set.
Inspiring words by T.N. Hari
It was very unusual to see a guy coming from the engineering background to end up in the HR environment. Hari was actively involved in shaping the company’s strategy and analytics function. While working at Tata Steel, Hari found the bureaucratic set up at Tata Steel a little out of track. During his tenure, he realized that it was working very slow in terms of decision making and Hari was a rule-breaker with a blend of the entrepreneurial streak.
Hence, he decided to explore the better parts of the business circuits. Hence, in 2002, he started his love affair with startups. Post Tata Steel, Hari moved to Daksh, and hence, in the process he rediscovered himself. According to Hari, a good HR professional becomes a good leader when he/she can balance employee advocacy with business realities without hurting any sector.
At Daksh, Hari discovered the kick in working for high-growth companies. Therefore, at Daksh, Hari was very instrumental in growing the employee strength from 2000 to 25,000. Later on, Daksh was acquired by IBM and hence, Hari got the exposure of managing the workforce during a merger and acquisition. Well, these were the learnings that he implemented in his future, and as a result of which, Hari is a big name in the Indian startup circuit. The new integration at IBM was a new learning experience. But, Hari says that he would not like to get involved in a similar process again in his life. As per Hari, for successful mergers and acquisitions, mutual respect is critical for both companies. There should be transparency amongst the senior management teams as per Hari.
Bigbasket business model
According to Hari, any change in reporting relationship from one organization to another can lead to chaos! Therefore, it is important to insulate the reporting relationships except for the top management for a minimum of 12 years. Post Daksh, Hari landed himself at Virtusa. It was a global IT service provider and hence, Hari found the scope to expand his exposure. IT was at Virtusa where he learned that leadership flaws are exposed more quickly in a global context than working in the alone country.
After his tenure at Virtusa, he moved to Amba Research and then to TaxiforSure. Presently, Hari works at BigBasket. While working for BigBasket, he has said that the biggest challenge has been to create the right culture and also to stand by it. As per Hari, in a high growth startup environment, the people who are delivering terrific business outcomes begin to violate the culture in small ways. Therefore, Hari feels that dealing with blatantly deviant behavior is never difficult, rather, dealing with the subtle violators is the biggest problem faced by the startup companies.
T.N. Hari- as a good leader
As per Hari, a good HR professional transforms into a great leader when he/she can balance realities without hurting either of the spheres. As per him, the HR leaders need to stop hiding behind the jargons and they should start to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the interplay between human psychology and business performance.
Being a person who has faced multiple difficulties in the startup sector, Hari shall be considered as the leader for aspiring entrepreneurs and HR professionals in upcoming times!
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on.
We all love being protected. Nowadays we do not feel safe to carry money with us in our pockets while going outside for shopping or maybe having food in the restaurants. Rather we all prefer credit or debit cards. These cards help users feel safe.
Nubank is the largest Fintech in Latin America. It is a privately held company which deals with Financial Services. Nubank has also got an engineering office in Berlin and Mexico City and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. The company provides a credit card to the consumers which can be controlled with the help of a phone 24×7. Read the Nubank success story below.
Nubank is a platform that processes, issues, transfers and administrates payments related to post-paid credit cards. The company has launched a digital account named ‘NuConta’. It is used by more than 17 million people.
Nubank Logo
Nubank – Startup Story
In 2013, David Vélez went to a Brazilian bank branch to open an account. He had a horrifying experience there. Firstly he had to check his bag in a locker outside and then he waited and passed through a security line. There he waited for 45 minutes and finally got an opportunity to speak to someone. He felt that the man was doing him a favour by talking to him about the creation of an account. Then again David was sent to make a phone call to the bank employees.
The procedure took a long period of four months. He knew that anywhere he would go in Latin America, he would experience the same. There half of the population has got neither credit cards nor bank accounts. So, he decided to build something modern and different aptly titled Nubank.
The founders of the company are David Vélez, Edward Wible and Cristina Junqueira.
David Vélez is the founder and the CEO of Nubank. He was a board member at Despegar.com. He was also a partner at Sequoia Capital. He was the senior associate at General Atlantic. He began his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. He pursued his education from Stanford University.
Edward Wible is the founder and the CTO of Nubank. He is a graduate in Computer Science from Princeton University.
Cristina Junqueira is the co-founder of Nubank. She began her career from Boston Consulting Group. She has got a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Sao Paulo.
Cristina Junqueira, Edward Wible and David Velez (left to right), Founders, Nubank
Nubank – Business Model
The company offers the customers a low interest and a no-fee credit card which can be managed with the help of Android and iOS. Users can track and control their purchases with the help of this platform.
Nubank makes money with the help of the credit card the company provided to its users. Whenever a purchase takes place through the credit card, the organization pays a small percentage of money through the Mastercard network. In case a customer decides to pay the bills in instalments, the company receives interest.
Nubank has raised a total amount of $1.5 billion in funding over the 11 funding rounds.
In Jan 2021, Nubank announced a funding round of $400m which came at a $25bn valuation on the company
Date
Transaction Name
Money Raised
Lead Investors
Jan 28, 2021
Series G
$400M
GIC, Invesco, Whale Rock Capital Management
June 4, 2020
Venture Round
$300 million
–
July 26, 2019
Series F
$400 million
TCV
October 8, 2018
Secondary Market
$180 million
Tencent Holdings
March 1, 2018
Series E
$150 million
DST Global
August 17, 2017
Debt Financing
–
Fortress Investment Group and Goldman Sachs
December 6, 2016
Series D
$80 million
DST Global
April 27, 2016
Debt Financing
$56 million
Goldman Sachs
January 7, 2016
Series C
$52 million
Founders Fund
June 2, 2015
Series B
$30 million
Tiger Global Management
September 25, 2014
Series A
$14.3 million
Sequoia Capital
No. of investors – 15
Nubank – Growth
Nubank has already experienced growth in the first half of 2020 because during the pandemic many consumers turned to online mode. The company saw a 48% of increased revenue growth from December 2019 onwards. During that time, the number of transactions got doubled on the platform. The customer base now stands at 35 million customers in brazil in 2021, which is more than double compared to 2019. According to the reports, Nubank receives an average of 41,000 new users a day. On plans of International Expansion the company stated that it will soon start its operation in Columbia. .
Number of customers of Nubank in Brazil from 2016 to 2020
Nubank – Acquistions
In January 2020, Nubank made its first acquisition by acquiring Plataformatec, a company that specialized in software engineering and agile methodologies.
In September 2020, Nubank acquired Easyinvest, an investment broker also from Brazil for an undisclosed amount.
Nubank – Competitors
The top competitors of the company are Atom Bank, Monzo Bank, N26 and Monese.
Atom Bank is a privately held digital financial company founded in 2014. It works in the financial services sector.
Monzo Bank is a privately held digital company founded in 2015. It operates in the financial services technology field.
N26 is a privately held company founded in 2013. It competes in the financial services sector.
Monese is also a privately held company founded in 2013. It works in the financial services field.
Nubank – Future Plans
In 2019, Nubank started its international expansion. It began its operation with Mexico. Then, it had 8.5 million customers and it claimed itself to be the biggest online bank outside Asia. The Mexico office started with 20 staff members and had plans to quadruple within 2020.
The company has been studying the Mexican financial system for various years, and estimated that around 36 million Mexicans do not have a bank account. Therefore, Nubank came with the decision to extend its empire but there are no plans to widen into other markets such as Europe.
Nubank – FAQ
What is the revenue of Nubank in 2020?
The revenue generated by fintech company Nubank in Brazil during the first six months of 2020 amounted to 2,079.22 million Brazilian reals.
How does Nubank make money?
Whenever a purchase takes place through the credit card, the organization pays a small percentage of money through the Mastercard network.
Is Nubank a bank?
Nubank is one of the largest digital bank in the world, with a customer base of more than 35 million.
How many customers does Nubank have?
Nubank has a customer base of over 35 million.
Where is Nubank located?
Nubank is a Latin American neobank headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.
What is the valuation of Nubank?
The Valuation of Nubank is $25 billion as of 2020.
The Chinese Smartphone company Xiaomi is reportedly planning to enter into the Electric Vehicle platform. The company which is involved in manufacturing consumer electronics is planning to invest into the Electric Vehicle Industry. Let’s look at this article to understand the plans of Xiaomi about its EV industry.
Xiaomi is a Chinese Multinational company which is headquartered in Beijing. The company was founded in the year 2010. Xiaomi makes and invests in smartphones, laptops, mobile apps, home appliances, bags, shoes, consumer electronics, accessories, and IoT devices.
Xiaomi is the fourth company to develop a mobile system on chip (SoC) capabilities after Apple, Samsung, and Huawei. Xiaomi is the fourth largest mobile manufacturing company in the world. The company has a leading position in the largest market which is China and the second largest market which is India.
Xiaomi planning to enter Electric Vehicle market
Xiaomi has plans to be part of the Electric Vehicle market. Xiaomi has confirmed its intention to invest $10 billion in its own subsidiary firm which is completely owned by Xiaomi. They had confirmed their intentions at the Mi MIX Fold Global Launch Event.
The initial investments according to the confirmation stand at CNY 10 billion. The founder and CEO Lei Jun is expected to lead the Electric Car project of the company for the time being. Xiaomi has not revealed any information about the products they plan to introduce or work on in the Electric Vehicle segment of the company.
There are no announcements regarding their projects and no information about the company’s launch plans. Xiaomi has said that they want to work on providing quality electric vehicles which would let everyone in the world to enjoy smart living anytime and anywhere.
Top selling light duty plug-in Electric vehicle global market
Xiaomi’s EV Investments
According to the report by Chinese media LatePost Xiaomi’s entry into the EV market to manufacture Electric cars was taken after considering it for years. They have also said that the company’s plans are just in the early stages and it might change in the future as well.
The report has also said that in the year 2018 Xiaomi had launched an early project in the electric vehicle segment called Mi car to explore the electric car making industry. It is said that the CEO of Xiaomi Lei Jun had visited Elon Musk who is the CEO of Tesla in 2013 twice.
Xiaomi has also made a mark in the Chinese Electric Vehicle segment by investing in Xpeng motors which delivered around 27,041 vehicles in the year 2020. They have also invested in NIO which is also a Chinese homegrown Electric Vehicle maker.
China’s Electric Vehicle market
China’s Electric Vehicle market has seen a significant growth in the recent years. It has attracted a lot of high-profile companies ranging from traditional automobile companies to internet companies.
According to a research by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, In the year 2020, the country saw an increase in the sales of EV which accounted for 1.37 million. There is an increase in the sales of up to 11% year-on-year.
China based automaker Greely auto has said that it is planning to focus more on to the Electric Vehicle segment. The founder and Chairman of the company Li Shufu have announced that the company has plans to shift 90 percent of its production to hybrid Electric vehicles and is also planning to set up a new factory for New Energy Vehicles.
The growth of the Chinese Electric Vehicle market has come after the multiple policy campaigns which are to promote carbon reduction which includes the plans to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.
Other Players in Electric vehicle market
Earlier, Huawei had announced its plans to enter into the manufacturing of Electric Vehicles. There were several speculations through various news reports which had suggested that the company had approached China’s Changan Automobile, BluePark New Energy Technology, and other players in the industry. Huawei has plans to concentrate on developing smart bits and to let the car manufacturers provide car parts.
From the western world, there has been a lot of rumors of Apple entering into the Electric Vehicle segment. It is said that the iPhone manufacturer is working on an electric vehicle of its own. The company is focusing on building the autonomous tech, battery, and the technical parts of the car and would require another partner from the automobile sector to work on the rest of the parts of the car.
FAQ
Which is the cheapest electric car?
Smart EQ Fortwo EV is one the cheapest electric car.
What are the 3 types of electric cars?
Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) are the 3 types of electric cars.
Who is the CEO of Xiaomi?
Lei Jun is the current CEO of Xiaomi.
Conclusion
Compared to Apple and Huawei, Mi has still not announced any of its plans for its products or the launch. We will have to wait for any more news regarding the Chinese smartphone manufacturer’s entry into the Electric Vehicle Segment.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by RAMP.
The automotive aftermarket is a huge industry generating crazy money. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global automotive aftermarket was valued at USD 369.2 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2019 to 2025. The Indian automotive aftermarket follows the same trend and is likely to be valued at INR 75000 crore by 2020. The stakeholders in this segment are many: exporters, importers, manufacturers, wholesalers, replacement parts distributors, suppliers, retailers, and automobile repair/maintenance franchises.
Despite being a fast-growing sector, the Indian automotive aftermarket still remains unorganized. Many automobile repair facilities are far away from using technology to handle their day to day business. Seeing this, RAMP startup was founded with the mission to bridge the gap between car maintenance facilities and data driven decision-making. It provides one of best Automotive Garage Management Software.
StartupTalky interviewed the RAMP co-founder Amit Kumar to learn more about the RAMP Business Model, Revenue, Growth, History etc.,
RAMP is an integrated service center management software that helps auto repair shop owners and managers to mediate administrative tasks with ease. RAMP has numerous features useful for day-to-day auto service management processes. On RAMP’s platform, the garages act as an interface for all the stakeholders involved.
“We are creating an integrated online community of stakeholders from the highly unorganized automotive aftermarket industry and facilitating seamless business transactions between them by digitizing their business processes and linking each other through one platform called RAMP,” says Amit while explaining the idea behind his startup.
The company aims to be a global leader in automotive post-sales life cycle management through an integrated digital ecosystem.
RAMP – Industry Details
Several studies from McKinsey, Frost and Sullivan, and the GOI indicate that the automotive aftermarket in India alone accounted for approximately USD 9 billion in 2017. The aftermarket industry is likely to expand at a CAGR of 7.6% over the forecast period i.e. 2017-2025.
Explaining the condition of the automotive aftermarket in India, Amit says, “ Our primary focus concentrates on vehicle service and maintenance outside dealer network workshops. Our team has personally visited almost 10000 multi-brand workshops across the country today. Considering it as a good sample size, there is a clear understanding that at least 15% of the market size is easily addressable. With over 7 lakhs workshops in the unorganized space in India, the sailing opportunity is huge and we believe the timing for us has just been right!”
The businesses in the automotive aftermarket segment traditionally have remained independent, unorganized, owner-driven, and devoid of proper systems and processes; this increases the scope for wastage of capital, time, manpower, and other resources. With growing competition and recent changes in automobile technologies, there is an immediate need for these owners to get organized and gain more control over their businesses to stay relevant. RAMP aims to digitize this segment and bring in more revenue-generating opportunities for their customers apart from optimizing their existing business management processes and help improve profitability.
Besides the inherent challenges, the good thing is that the market is virgin and the early signs of adoption primarily driven by the growing awareness of digitization is extremely promising!
RAMP was founded in 2016 by Amit Kumar, Praveen Yalla and Rakesh Biswal.
RAMP Founders
Prior to starting RAMP, Amitset up a couple of companies which helped him learn from successes and failures. These endeavors also gave him solid knowledge of execution, business development, finance, and strategy. He also supported several startups in the environment, infrastructure, and e-commerce domains, assisting them with fundraising, business strategies, and execution.
Praveen and Rakesh held key management positions in multiple MNCs on product development. In their stints, they formulated, designed, and developed fairly large enterprise applications that are used by Fortune 100 companies today for daily operations. The wide-ranging skillset coupled with significant experience that the founders possess has enabled them to develop RAMP as a flexible, accommodating, and robust product with high-performance delivery.
Currently, Amit takes care of tasks like execution, strategy, business development, investor relations, fundraising, etc. Praveen takes care of the most important part of the show—the product! Rakesh is the backbone behind operations, human resources, processes, and systems.
RAMP – Founders and Team
The company has a size of 50 employees. There are senior personnel in the role of directors who own the operations and sales segments while fulfilling the most important responsibility of building a team and work culture.
At the epicenter of our ideology of creating a work culture to cherish, lies our efforts to create enough growth and learning opportunities for all the people who join our journey of creating tremendous value for this industry. The objective is to build leaders from within the team and make them ready to take up bigger responsibilities during our growth and expansion. Being a startup, we have been able to create a good work-life balance apart from having great learning and great relationships among our people. The team members have their say in almost everything we do and are provided ample opportunities to add value to the system.
RAMP – How was it Started?
“In our continuous efforts of identifying an unaddressed problem statement in the market we had by then burnt our hands with a couple of failures before RAMP,” Amit recalls.
Amit, Praveen, and Rakesh wanted to create something that could add some real value to the market. But they weren’t sure of which sector to concentrate on, and kept creating software for solving the issues of different startups. It was one afternoon in January 2016 when Amit received a phone call from a friend who owned vehicle workshops. He needed assistance in designing a solution to help him manage his business. In order to understand the business and its problems, Amit visited a couple of workshops on the same day to get some real-time feedback. This led Amit to discover an unorganized sector which was in dire need of solid solutions.
Amit adds, “Surprisingly when I told them about my intentions to build a garage management software, they immediately responded stating that they too need a similar product to manage their business and there is where I had the initial few cheques in my hand on that very same day. These cheques to us were enough of validation about the need for a solution which could help organize this industry”
The co-founders picked up the idea from there and then spent a lot of time with workshops to understand their problem statements and find out solutions. The team then translated the solutions into software modules and got them consistently validated from customers by incorporating the smallest of nuances in this industry.
For example, the employees in the workshops generally have thick, worn out, and greasy fingers. Thus, RAMP is designed such that it can be easily used by the workshop workers.
RAMP stands for “Reliable Automobile Maintenance Partners”.
The intention initially was to have a name that could be easily remembered and related to the industry. RAMP was chosen because it was a tool with which the automotive aftermarket could ‘ramp up’ their businesses with.
Ramp Logo
The icon was chosen based on the most commonly used parts, and the color conventions reflect the most prominent colors used in the aftermarket industry. The color green represents positivity while grey and black proudly reflect the color of the hands of the employees in this industry. It attests the hard work these individuals put in every single day.
RAMP – Product And Services
RAMP automotiveis amongst the first to bring various stakeholders of the automotive aftermarket onto a single platform. On this platform, the garages form the nucleus and act as an interfacing point with all the stakeholders.
The product takes care and automates most of the complex manual activities which happen in the automotive business. Right from customer registration, job card preparation, and billing & invoicing, to inventory management, communication and CRM, purchase management, reporting and decision making, RAMP takes care of them all.
With a highly digitized way of working, RAMP captures data in structured formats and derives relevant information for stakeholders to help in decision making. The confluence of business intelligence and the artificial intelligence which RAMP brings supports effortless business management.
Apart from the garages, other stakeholders who are a part of the system can seamlessly transact with various entities while maintaining their business processes on RAMP.
The industry lacks skilled professionals who can use complex software solutions. The attrition level in this industry is also very high which limits the patience of business owners to train employees as training becomes a never-ending process. For example, they have new computer operators coming in every other month and it is a tedious task to train these new operators each time the old one leaves. Hence, there was a need for an easy to use and operate solution.
The idea is to be able to train anyone in a couple of minutes. And this exactly is RAMP’s USP. Apart from having features covering every business case, RAMP is one of the most appreciated products amongst its users as far as the ease of operation is concerned. The company also provides 24×7 support for the users.
The support team handholds the users for everything that’s required until they are proficient with the product. The whole focus of RAMP is towards organizing the businesses, helping them do more with less, and increase business and overall profitability.
“We are proud that our existing customers identify the contribution of RAMP as partners and not a service provider only,” says Amit.
When we started off, none of us in the team was from an automotive background. Hence, the only way we could have created a product which creates very high value for the customers was by listening to the customers, and continuously! After a successful MVP, it was our customers who started giving us inputs on how the product should function to create maximum value for them. Our strong technology team headed by two of the co-founders with a robust feedback loop process continued to enhance the product with a primary focus on must-have needs of the market while making sure that the USP of the product, i.e, ease of use, remains intact.
RAMP – Launch
RAMP began in Hyderabad with a team of 4 people including the founders. In the initial stages, it was Amit who solely was responsible for sales and the remaining team members were into product development. Eventually, the company ventured into other cities by identifying clients online.
RAMP – Revenue Model
The RAMP revenue model is that of an annual subscription charged to the users. A lot of cross-sale and up-sale opportunities have been enabled which currently forms the backbone of the revenues generated.
RAMP – Startup Challenges
Most of the products in this industry were designed as per the understanding of the developers/ designers of the respective companies and not necessarily as per the market feedback. This approach produced complex products which in turn created a a general perception amongst people that software is a very confusing entity to use and is not meant for semi-literate or illiterate users who constitute the majority of the workforce.
In addition to this, the inclination was towards generally available accounting packages in the market that essentially addressed nothing more than billing and inventory management. It was no less than a challenge for the RAMP team to create awareness that such packages did not address business process management where actual loss occurs.
On top of that, the team had to maintain speed and agility as the requirements of the market were unending and the time to market had to be quick since the customers were short on patience. Again, the company had to multiply its productivity with limited resources.
“To increase productivity, the team started working around the clock! On a lighter note, our army of people were owls at night and spartans during the day !. I feel blessed to have a team like this!” Amit says recounting the initial challenges the company faced.
Being an early mover, there is no Major Competition for RAMP.
Amit chimes in, “The market we are operating has a huge potential and the pie is very big. Assuming that there would be only one player who can capture the complete market will not be wise. Today RAMP is one of the most prominent players in the market apart from being one of the earliest movers in this space. Apart from some industry majors who are trying to work in the same space, we have seen some startups coming up in a couple of other locations with products being in very nascent stages. This space offers many opportunities along with the problems and it would be very interesting to see how all these players get along and address the problem of this industry as a whole.”
This probably is a business which cannot be executed from an air-conditioned board room! You have to be out there in the scorching sun, looking out for customers, understanding their problems and offering solutions. Getting your hands dirty is the only way to do justice to the opportunity!
RAMP – Advisors And Mentors
Mr.Viiveck Verma has been an advisor and mentor since the beginning. He brings vast experience of corporate management along with expertise of nurturing, guiding, and advising startups. Apart from serving at the executive level of many MNCs, Viiveck is a member of Hyderabad Angels and several other startup communities.
Mr. Ravi Sadh joined Shanrohi Technologies’ advisory board in 2018 and has been in this industry from the past 35 years. Starting his career as a mechanic, he today serves as the director in several companies that are into the automotive aftermarket and services. He also serves as an Executive Member of the All India Automobile Workshops of India (AIAWA) and has been an active part of making the RAMP team aware of the ground realities of this industry.
RAMP – Growth
Amit says, “The company has been doing good but there is a lot that has to be achieved!”
The company has grown 200% each year and has customers in over 100 cities globally with its team established in eight of these cities. Shanrohi Technologies is working to onboard another 3000 customers this financial year.
With each passing day, the company’s sales team is getting stronger. Shanrohi Technologies’ mission is to have RAMP partnered garages in every 3 km on an average.
He ends on a positive note, “The future is very promising as we work on some of the path-breaking ideas currently getting ready for roll out in the coming quarters. The moment these ideas comes to fruition, only for good, I am sure we shall be on our way to completely change the way this industry has been working for ages!”
RAMP is FOR the customer, BY the customer & FROM the customer. We have listened to our customers and have tried to come up with solutions that work for them. We are only a medium for them to find solutions for their problems. And I believe this approach is the thing that has always worked for us.
RAMP – FAQs
What is Garage Management Software?
Garage management software bridges the gap between car maintenance facilities and data driven decision-making. It helps to achieve auto shop goals by automating procedures, tracking customer vehicle history, and maintaining a database of other stakeholders.
What is RAMP software?
RAMP is an integrated service center management software that helps auto repair shop owners and managers to mediate administrative tasks with ease. On RAMP’s platform, the garages act as an interface for all the stakeholders involved.
What are the main features of Ramp Garage Management?
The key features of Ramp Garage Management are as follows: CRM, Vendor Management, Employee Management, Order Management, MIS Reports, Parts Management, Purchasing, Receipt Printing, Service History, Taxation Reports, Sales Management, Client Management etc.,
Who are the typical users of Ramp Garage Management?
It has the following typical customers: Startups, SMEs, Agencies, Enterprises etc.,
The way people do transactions has evolved dramatically over centuries, from a barter system to a monetary system; from plastic money to now bitcoins. Since its creation in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, an increasing number of people now see Bitcoins as a trusted way of transaction, as now major companies like Microsoft, BMW, and Etsy are also accepting Bitcoin payments. Going by numbers, the cryptocurrency market was valued at USD 1.03 billion by 2019 and is projected to reach USD 1.40 billion in 2024, growing at a CAGR of 6.18% during the forecast period. This growing popularity of bitcoins inspired Shiva Sitamraju to start Blockonomics, a startup that unlocks the power of Bitcoin by allowing entrepreneurs and enthusiasts to manage their bitcoin payments with ease. Here is a peek into the journey and operations of this Hyderabad-based startup.
Blockonomics simplifies the process of receiving /making payments through Bitcoins and tracking Bitcoin transactions. The company has introduced a number of features for this, which includes –
Bitcoin Payment Plugins for e-commerce merchants, supporting sites like WordPress, Wix, WHMCS, and many more
Bitcoin Payment Button/URL, which allows people to set up quick and simple payment options and donations
Bitcoin Invoice, so you can pay your employees easily in Bitcoin, or charge customers if you’re a freelancer.
Wallet Watcher, so you can easily keep track of all your wallets, with many sub-features such as the Export Feature allowing you to see all your transactions in a simple place.
Bitcoin Tracker, a quick way to see any transactions and wallets on the Blockchain.
“Allowing people to control their own sales and payments is an important part of Blockonomics, and is a driving force in what we do. Many e-commerce merchants have to use expensive payment solutions that go through middlemen, so it limits the control of their sales. Our products seek to ensure entrepreneurs can more directly control their cash inflow and to cut down on fees they experience. We also make the easiest to use Bitcoin payment plugin, the other options are often more complicated” says Blockonomics Shiva Sitamraju emphasizing the USPs of Blockonomics.
Blockonomic’s products facilitate ease and direct control. The company’s e-commerce plugins tie directly into e-commerce platforms, for easy installation and tracking. For scenarios where a plugin can’t be used, Blockonomics’ in-house solutions, such as the payment button/URL and invoice function are made to be easily implemented into whatever website, email, etc might be used.
Shiva Sitamraju is the CEO of Blockonomics. Shiva is an MTech from IIT Delhi. He has experience in scalable backend engineering and has held lead engineering roles in a number of startups before. Blockonomics currently has a team of 7 people spread throughout 4 continents. There are 3 members of the marketing team, and 3 on the software development and design.
Blockonomics—How It All Started?
Blockonomics started as a Wallet Watcher to track a large number of bitcoin addresses. Sitamraju himself is a bitcoin enthusiast, and was facing problems with monitoring and tracking multiple bitcoin addresses, which made him create ‘Wallet Watcher’ as a tool to help himself out. In December 2014, Sitamaraju launched Blockonomics Wallet Watcher on the bitcointalk forum. The initial response of the bitcoin community on Blockonomics’ Wallet Watcher was very good and it was very heartening for the Blockonomics team to constantly receive feedback on features to add to the product.
“We used community forums like bitcoin talk, StackExchange, and Reddit. These channels are most important to build your MVP into an actual startup. Even though the growth of user metrics may be slow using these channels, they are valuable to build user trust and help to steer you in the correct direction. In 2015, Blockonomics’ thread became hugely popular on Reddit bitcoin. Even though we had very few users and zero revenue, constant feedback from customers and a sense that this product is getting used kept us going” says Shiva Sitamraju.
Blockonomics Founder & Team Members
However, after 2 years, when Blockonomics monetized its Wallet Watcher, the team soon realized that the revenue stream for the product was very less. So the company started diversifying its offerings.
“Though some people were willing to pay for the Wallet Watcher, the amount was very less and creating pressure on our margins. After looking at some other services that were selling e-commerce payment plugins, we realized that this market was a good fit for our product which already had backend ability to serve blockchain queries” says Shivaabout the initial challenges of the startup.
Blockonomics’ work culture has always been completely remote (even before covid).
When Shiva started to recruit remote work, he had two simple rules:
Hire from anywhere in the world
Don’t look at resumes
The company never had an office and the team has never been restricted to geographical boundaries. Also, the team avoids holding unnecessary meetings and has only one meeting per week. All work is done asynchronously using tools like Slack, Trello, Github. This gives employees more flexibility and there is no assigned office time (you don’t need to be online 9-5). This also means all team members are independent / self-driven and there is a trust that no one needs monitoring/ management.
Blockonomics Team at Prague WordPress Conference 2018
For the Address Watcher Users, Blockonomics charges a flat subscription fee. The subscription fee ranges from 0- 20 USD per month based on address limits and API features. While, for merchants, the company offers the first 10 payments free and thereafter charges a 1% fee on payments.
Blockonomics—Challenges
Building a viable business has been the major challenge for the Blockonomics team. Shiva was from a tech background and he did not have any entrepreneurial experience. It took him quite some time to become able to handle a business. Initially, Blockonomics had very few users and earned almost zero revenue. The team had to dig through business knowledge from podcasts/books and learn on the road.
Blockonomics—Growth
Despite all the struggle, Blockonomics has today established itself as a sustainable and profitable company that is making a difference. Some major growth parameter achieved by Blockonomics are-
Active WordPress installs – 3000+
Total merchant store installs – 10,000+
Blockonomics is monitoring 300,000+ addresses
140,000 payments have been processed through Blockonomics payment plugin/payment button/URL
6,500 P2P invoices have been created through the platform.
While there are many who are still confused and unsure about Bitcoins, startups like Blockonomics are doing a good job in making more and more people confident about using Bitcoins by making Bitcoin transactions easy.
Blockonomics is a decentralized Bitcoin payment solution that provides you with specialized transactional tools to enhance your BTC use. A bitcoin payment gateway that is decentralized and permission-less.
Is Blockonomics safe?
Blockonomics is built on a P2P connection, making it safe and secure as it does not save your private keys. Users also prefer Blockonomics to other payment processing platforms due to its permission-less, peer-to-peer structure.
How do I pay my bitcoin wallet?
If an online merchant has the option of Bitcoin payments, you just need to copy their Bitcoin address and paste it into a designated field on your wallet. Type in the right amount of bitcoins into the payment box and click ‘send’.
How can I check my Bitcoin balance?
You can use Blockchain.info. Just paste the address you want to check into the Search input box and the website will show you all the transactions where that address was involved, as well as the balance.
Who gets the money when you buy Bitcoin?
A buyer and seller agree on a price and a trade is executed over an exchange. So our $50k investor buys that amount of bitcoins and the seller receives the $50k in the form of a cash deposit. That seller may now keep it in the bank, buy other cryptos or withdraw it and spend it in any way they choose.
Can Bitcoin be converted to cash?
There are several ways to convert bitcoin to cash and ultimately move it to a bank account: Sell bitcoin on a cryptocurrency exchange, such as Coinbase or Kraken. This is the easiest method if you want to sell bitcoin and withdraw the resulting cash directly to a bank account.
Blockonomics—Conclusion
Blockonomics is a platform that is a decentralized Bitcoin payment solution. Blockonomics provides you with specialized transactional tools to enhance your BTC use. It is a decentralized and permission-less bitcoin payment solution. Its services enhance the wallets you already own. Their aim is to accept bitcoin directly without any mediator and present an invoice anonymously. They are huge fans of decentralization and cryptography.
Drew Houston is an American Internet Entrepreneur, who co-founded Dropbox and owns 25% of the company’s interests. He holds the largest individual shares of Dropbox. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dropbox, an online backup and storage service. He held 24.4% voting power in the company before filling for IPO in February 2018. As of May 2019, Forbes estimated his net worth of $2.2 billion. Dropbox has received a five star rating in the 2017 Electronic Frontier Foundation in “Protecting Your Data From Government Requests” report. Today, it has more than 500 million users.
Drew was born in Acton, Massachusetts in 1983. He was born to Ken and Cecily Houston. He currently resides in San Francisco, California. He learnt coding when he was just 5 years old. He worked at a industrial robotics startup at the tender age of 15. He has endorsed Hillary Clinton at the 2016 United States presidential election.
Drew Houston | Founder, Dropbox
Drew Houston- Education
Drew pursued his elementary studies from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in the 1990s. In January 2006, he completed Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he has been a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and Entrepreneurs Club.
Drew Houston- Professional Life
Drew founded Accolade, a SAT prep companywhile studying in MIT. He took a year off in his junior year, for employment and finished a term early. He also met Adam and Arash Ferdowsi at MIT, who later helped him in establishing Dropbox.
Prior to the establishment of Dropbox, he worked on a number of other startups including, Bit9 and Hubspot. He worked as a Software Engineer at Bit9, Inc. from January 2006 to May 2007. He was the technical lead for a wreath of interesting Windows internals-related projects for Bit9’s application whitelisting product.
At age 24, he founded Dropbox with Arash Ferdowsi in January, 2007. He also joined the Board of Directors of Facebook in February 2020, by replacing Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who left the position in May 2019. He is the Co-founder of technology lobbying organization FWD.us., launched in April 2013. It aimed at campaigning for immigration reforms and improvements to education.
Drew founded Accolade, a bootstrapped online SAT prep company while studying in college. He asserted it as swiftly profitable but, most importantly, it was a great introduction into the world of startups. He founded the company on 1 May, 2004 and served until August 2007.
He established the company with the help of his former MIT teacher, Andrew Crick. The firm aimed at working on the field of e-learning, education and tutoring. However, he closed the company on January 2008 to work for Bit9 and eventually to establish Dropbox.
Drew Houston- CEO of Dropbox
Dropbox Logo
Drew is the Co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. He founded the company in 2007 with his MIT batch-mate, Arash Ferdowsi, who is today the Co-founder and CTO of Dropbox. It is the fastest growing online storage company, with a valuation of $8 billion with 200 million users.
They established their startup firm with initial funding from seed accelerator Y Combinator. Dropbox is a file hosting service that provides cloud storage, personal cloud, file synchronization and client software.
The application software of Dropbox is blocked in China since 2014. There have been controversies for issues including security breaches and privacy concerns.
Drew is reminiscent of when and how his mind struck to offer cloud and back up services through Dropbox. It was when he left his thumb drive on a bus and was frustrated with the incident. He started thinking of a solution by variably writing down a code with no idea of what he was going to build.
He struggled a lot while explaining the investors the concept of Dropbox. He then thought of creating a video that would explain the work of Dropbox. Thus, a 3-minute demonstration video was released which thoroughly explained its structure and work within few minutes.
Dropbox was publicly launched in 2008 and grew very fast with 100,000 users that resulted with their great marketing tactics like viral demonstration videos and referral programs.
In 2011, Steve Jobs offered him to buy Dropbox. Though Steve was his inspiration, still he refused the offer. Steve then asserted that Apple would come after their market and push them out.
Business Week named him as one of the “most promising players aged 30 and under”
His company, Dropbox has been touted as Y Combinator’s most successful investment till date.
He was named among the top 30 under-30 entrepreneurs by inc.com
Dropbox was declared as one of the 20 best startups of Silicon Valley.
Drew Houston- FAQ’s
Is Dropbox free to use?
With Dropbox Basic, it’s easy to get to your files from multiple devices—computers, phones, and tablets—for free.
Which is better Google Drive or Dropbox?
If your primary use for Google Drive or Dropbox is free storage, Google Drive is the clear winner. Google Drive offers 15 GB of free storage, while Dropbox only gives you 2 GB. However, you can get an extra 500 MB of storage space for every friend you refer to Dropbox, for a maximum of 19 GB of free storage space.
What are the disadvantages of Dropbox?
Dropbox, unfortunately, fails to provide users with the latest technology for searches. The biggest letdown is the lack of metadata search functionality. Metadata is information about a file, such as a date it was created. A cloud storage system depends on being able to store large amounts of data and files.
Who is the CEO of Dropbox?
Drew Houston – Founder & CEO – Dropbox
How much of Dropbox does Drew Houston own?
Houston and Ferdowsi co-founded Dropbox in 2007. Houston currently is CEO and 25% owner of Dropbox.
Why was Drew Houston successful?
Drew Houston founded online file-sharing service Dropbox seven years ago. The firm is now estimated to be worth about $10bn (£5.9bn). But it was not an overnight success, and he had several failed ventures along the way.
How much is Drew Houston Worth?
200 crores USD (2021)
Drew Houston- Conclusion
Dropbox is a tech company founded by Drew Houston, that offers a cloud-based collaboration platform. He is the CEO of Dropbox which he developed alongside co-founder Arash Ferdowsi. Before founding Dropbox, Drew founded web-based SAT prep company Accolade and prior to that he worked as a software engineer for Bit9. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Drew is also the co-founder of the technology lobbying organization FWD.us.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Fyseko.
Caring for our skin is one of the easiest ways to ensure long-term skin health and radiance, and adding a pinch of natural skincare in our daily routine acts as a catalyst. Natural and organic skincare products combine essential vitamins, botanicals, and minerals that heal and restore our skin—without harming our earth. FYSEKO is one such natural skincare brand that is dedicated to redefining the beauty industry standards for products that are not only good for us but also good for our planet.
The name FYSEKO is inspired by the Greek word FYSEKO which means Natural. The team is a bunch of natural skincare enthusiasts inspired to create a holistic skincare solution. Their formulators are professionally trained from international institutes to develop effective skincare products. The brand pays utmost care in ensuring that their formulation has maximum possible natural raw material ingredients and are sourced from genuine suppliers across the supply chain.
Fyseko is committed to providing its customers with Holistic, Affordable, and Genuine products. Their objective is to develop natural skincare products using ancient old Ayurveda with modern science and technology. Fyseko as a company is focused on limited but most important products required in the daily skincare routine. All of their products are AYUSH certified and manufactured in a GMP certified manufacturing facility. None of Fyseko’s products contain SLS and Paraben.
FYSEKO love and respect animals and never test any of their products on them. Also, they never use artificial colors and fragrances in any of their products hence; all that beautiful look and smell is 100% natural.
Fyseko – Founder
Hema Panjavani is the Founder of Fyseko.
Fyseko Founder | Hema Panjavani
Hema was a banker earlier and a full-time homemaker before founding FYSEKO. She is an avid advocate of going natural in lifestyle. The company is bootstrapped and is funded by herself and her family. She is a commerce graduate from Saurashtra University.
How was Fyseko Founded
The beauty industry in the country has a plethora of skincare products claiming to be natural, organic and most of them are priced on a relatively higher side. Although those products must have their benefits, they aren’t necessarily accessible to all individuals due to their luxury pricing, appeal to affluent customers, and recurring expenses in nature. The need to provide authentic natural skin care that performs well, at affordable rates was Hema’s main focus, which she executed first at a personal level and took it up a notch by laying the foundation for Fyseko.
A face wash typically leaves the skin feeling dry and dull after use, which makes the skin produce extra oils to combat dryness. To tackle that, Hema first created her own homemade face wash in 2017 by using a combination of natural herbs like sweet basil, peppermint, calendula flower and a few more functional ingredients. Once that worked, then she created a variety of products such as toners, moisturizers, lip balm and scrubs, all made with natural ingredients and with the focus on being gentle on skin.
With an accommodating home lab full of natural ingredients to experiment and formulate products for her personal use, Hema began giving these products to friends and family for use too. With their rave reviews and encouragement, Hema was inspired to scale up the business and launch their own personal care brand Fyseko.
Fyseko (pronounced as FISIKO) derived from Greek word Fysikos meaning natural. Hema set up the brand in January of 2019 to cater to the masses, but the products have been around since 2017.
Fyseko Logo
Fyseko – Vision and Mission
The challenging lifestyle, increasing pollution, and high level of stress impacts not only mentally but also has a tremendous impact on our skin, body, and hair. The impact becomes visible with growing age. While there are a plethora of personal care products available in the market, it is imperative to pick the product which provides natural care, easy to use, and doesn’t impact the environment.
Their vision is to inspire and promote natural skincare. Fyseko’s principles and objectives are to bring Holistic, Affordable, and Genuine skincare with all-natural ingredients.
Along with her partners, Hema has been studying and researching natural skincare to develop holistic and innovative products to add to their brand. Not just natural skincare, Fyseko is also focusing on social benefit and sustainability. The brand ensures the utmost use of solely natural ingredients, sustainable packaging, and manufacturing focused on people’s employment. The paper used for packaging is made entirely from waste; the printing of the packing box is handmade with a screen printing method that generates more employment as compared to digital printing and the manufacturing and packing of the products are done in an SME set-up with the least usage of machines.
FYSEKO Products
Fyseko is also working with its selling partners to ensure the selling and distribution is done through a subscription model which enables them to ship the products in a more sustainable manner with the least carbon emissions. All of their marketing material is distributed in a digital format only to ensure zero paper use.
The products are manufactured in a GMP certified facility and are all Ayush certified. The brand also doesn’t use SLS, Paraben, artificial color, and fragrances in addition to them condemning testing on animals. The future of Fyseko holds the launch of many exciting products after the brand is absolutely certain that these additions to the line comply with their brand principles of holistic, affordable, and genuine skincare.
Fyseko has recently been selected in the Amazon Launchpad program, which will help in accelerating brand building and visibility with the help of a structured approach and insights from Amazon.
Fyseko – Business and Revenue Model
The Fyseko business model has a lean business and operating model to avoid incurring unrequired expenses. Currently, they sell their products through Amazon and Flipkart only. The entire logistics and distribution are managed by the selling platforms. Fyseko’s sourcing, quality assurance, manufacturing, and marketing are managed by their strategic business partners who know their job well and can perform at the operations in the shared service model. This helps in keeping the costs in check and ensure their all-natural products available at affordable rates.
Fyseko’s products prices range from INR 200 to 500, and Hema assures that there is no other brand offering their level of quality natural products at such competitive prices.
Fyseko – Startup Launch
It took a good 3 years to research, experiment, prepare, and launch the products and brand in the market. Ms. Panjavani believes that planning is very critical but it is even more important to vary of the fact that not everything can be planned. Their strategy is to start modest, learn, adopt, and then go big.
The biggest challenge was to find suppliers and partners who would listen and believe in the vision. Minimum order quantities (MOQ) for most of the companies are extremely high and that would typically require a large customer base. The team’s persistence and focus combined with luck got them to meet their suppliers and partners who agreed to work with them. They have committed themselves to stick with them as Fyseko grows.
From the user’s perspective, Fyseko’s first users were friends and family followed by beauty experts and bloggers. This group helped them experiment and modify their products before they were all set to launch their brand in 2019. They managed to get a good 20-25 orders in the first month and then the team was hit with COVID-19 in April, and that brought the sale down to almost zero due to lockdown. As the market opened up in June, Fyseko witnessed good traction and a jump in their sale. The real proof of customer satisfaction is through repeat purchase and they have seen almost 10-15% of Fyseko’s sale coming from the existing customer base. Fyseko is still taking baby steps but has an ambitious target to reach INR 10 crores of turnover by the end of 2021.
Fyseko – Challenges
Typically, the natural ingredients are expensive compared to synthetic chemicals and the cost further goes up due to the smaller scale of operation. Fyseko works very closely with its suppliers and manufacturing partner to get the best price of the raw material without compromising the freshness and quality. Fyseko sells them their vision and attempts to provide the right products at the right price and buy their support. The other challenge is that the company get their products and packing material manufactured in a labor-intensive set-up where there is minimal automation. This contributes to the social cause of generating employment however the cost of manual operation is almost 30-40% more expensive than automated set-up. The paper used for the packing material is made from textile and crop waste which cost higher compared to regular paper.
While these costs are high, Fyseko still attempts every day to provide better quality products and keep their prices low. This obviously means that they run on almost negative margins at the moment and hope to go profitable once they achieve the scale and large consumer base.
Fyseko – Advisors and Mentors
Any company cannot be expert in all the areas and so, having a mentor for Fyseko was very important.
Dr. V. Suguna – She has extensive knowledge in Botany, Microbiology, Biotechnology, Genetics. Dr. Suguna holds a doctorate in Genetics and held different level scientist position over the last 15 years.
Vishal Singh – Vishal is the founder of the digital marketing firm – Bits & Pixels
Fyseko’s moisturizer has consistently ranked in Top 10 natural moisturizers in India by bestreviewsguide.
Fyseko’s face wash is ranked in Top 15 best Men’s face wash for dry skin in India by FtaFit
Fyseko – Future Plans
Keeping their products affordable with genuine natural ingredients is Fyseko’s brand principle, and they abide by that in every decision they make. All elements of their business have a higher cost base as compared to typical personal care products available in the market. Fresh and natural ingredients, the recycled paper used in their packing, manual manufacturing, and box printing process cost much more than regular products.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
What is Fyseko?
Fyseko is a natural skincare brand that is dedicated to redefining the beauty industry standards for products that are not only good for us but also good for our planet.
Is Fyseko Indian brand?
Yes, Fyseko is an Indian brand headquartered in Mumbai.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on.
Success on social media can often feel like a secret science. Something that only the few can achieve. But creating a successful social media strategy is a skill that can be learned. Mastered, even. And you don’t need a flashy brand or a big budget. What you need is a deep understanding of what your audience cares about, and how to get your content in front of them in the right places at the right times.
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Buffer is an intuitive, streamlined social media management platform trusted by brands, businesses, agencies, and individuals to help drive meaningful engagement and results on social media. The application was designed by a group of European expats in San Francisco, most notably Joel Gascoigne and Leo Widrich. Gascoigne is currently the CEO of Buffer. Get to know more about the company profile of buffer by reading this article.
Buffer is a developer of social media tools designed to visually plan and schedule social media campaigns. The company’s tools coordinate creative campaigns to drive engagement on social media, enabling brands to tell their stories and grow their audience.
Buffer helps users of social media share more consistently by allowing them to choose set times to post each day. Buffer is a company offering a social media management platform by enabling users to schedule their posts for later, post to their social networks, engage with multimedia, and create their own content.
Buffer’s logo is in simple font in black colour.
Buffer Logo
Buffer—Recent News
As of November 2020, Buffer introduced LinkedIn Analytics. The team designed their analytics to be simple so that we can easily get what we need and create reports in a few clicks. For this feature, the team managed to work with the LinkedIn team as they built it.
“I’m excited about this new feature by Buffer because we have seen many small businesses leverage their LinkedIn Page to build thought leadership and recruit new teammates. This new feature will help them understand what’s working so that they can get better results on LinkedIn,” said Ting Ba, the Group Product Marketing Manager of LinkedIn Pages.
Buffer began its development in October 2010 in Birmingham, United Kingdom by co-founder Joel Gascoigne, who established the idea of the social media application while he was in the United Kingdom. Once he developed the idea he created a landing page to see if enough people were interested in the product to make it a profitable venture. After reaching a critical mass of registrations, Gascoigne built and designed the first version of the application software over a span of 7 weeks.
On November 30, 2010, the initial version of Buffer was launched. It contained limited features which only allowed access to Twitter. Four days after the software’s launch Buffer gained its first paying user. A few weeks after this, the number of users reached 100, and then that number multiplied to 100,000 users within the next 9 months.
In July 2011, the cofounders decided to move the startup venture from the United Kingdom to San Francisco in the United States, and Buffer was converted into an incorporation. Whilst in San Francisco, the cofounders dealt with the San Franciscan startup incubators AngelPad.
Joel Gascoigne & Leo Leo Widrich | Co-Founder Buffer
This was due to the increase in cost after moving from Birmingham. Throughout December 2011, cofounders Joel and Leo were able to secure 18 investors to their company, after being refused by 88% of the people they met with to offer an investment to their company. The investors include Maneesh Arora, the founder of MightyText, Thomas Korte, the founder of AngelPad, and Andy McLoughlin, the co-founder of the software company Huddle.
Buffer’s mission statement says, “Our passion for support, happiness and quality flow through everything that we do.”
Buffer—Business Model
Buffer’s customer base consists of 2 million users, of which 98% are individuals using a freemium model. The Company makes its money by offering Business plans utilized in more of a corporate setting. The Company generally sees ~2% conversion from free to paid plans. Within paid plans there is ~5% customer churn annually, a metric very much in line with the industry.
In a world where new start-ups pop up every other day proclaiming a revolutionary solution for businesses, Buffer has been able to carve out a niche by focusing on its transformational operations. By offering a unique employment model, the Company retains top notch talent from across the globe which ultimately means a better solution for customers. Its transparency tactics have also built a culture of openness and trust not only across employees but also across its customer base. By embodying such a culture, Buffer can better serve its customers and ultimately focus on what’s best for their customer base.
Buffer—Revenue & Growth
Buffer’s revenue was reported to be $17.50 m in FY, 2018 which is a 18.2% increase from the previous period. In 2019, 32,349 new customers joined Buffer. Their total number of customers in 2019 was 74,825.
Buffer has raised a total of $4M in funding over 3 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Oct 27, 2014 from a Series A round. Buffer is funded by 29 investors. Collaborative Fund and Stage One Capital are the most recent investors.
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Oct 27, 2014
Series A
$3.5M
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Dec 20, 2011
Seed Round
$450K
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Oct 1, 2011
Seed Round
–
–
Buffer—Acquisitions
Buffer has acquired 2 organizations. Their most recent acquisition was Respondly on Dec 17, 2015.
Acquiree Name
Date
Amount
About Acquiree
Respondly
Dec 17, 2015
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Team Inbox for email and Twitter
ShareFeed
May 17, 2012
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ShareFeed is a company that was acquired by Buffer in 2012.
Buffer—Partnerships
Buffer is partnered with various other software applications and companies. Most notably, Buffer is an official Facebook Marketing Partner under Community Management. Additionally, Buffer has partnerships with WordPress, Twitter, Zapier, IFTTT, Feedly, Pocket, Reeder, and Quuu.
“Its been ten years since I launched the first version of Buffer. What started as a landing page to gauge interest, and then a very basic product that I worked on alone, has become so much more. Buffer is now a leading social media management platform and a team of nearly 90 people working remotely worldwide, with our own approach and culture,” said Joel Gascoigne.
One of the biggest challenges for him was to transition to working full-time on buffer. Its a big risk for any individual. Before starting Buffer, Joel was doing what is called “working in waves,” a method to have enough funds to work full-time on a project for a certain period of time. The idea is that you work a full-time job or contract work for a set amount of time and then work full-time on your startup idea once you have enough funds to support yourself for a set amount of time.
In 2014, they received their largest acquisition offer to date. According to Joel, it was a nine-figure offer from a public company, and it stopped them in their tracks and made them truly step back and reflect.
For myself, my co-founder, and for most of our team with early-stage stock options grants, it would have been a life-changing outcome. An offer like that drives existential questioning, making you really think about the purpose and fulfillment of what you’re doing. Ultimately, we believed there was significantly more growth from where we were, and we have since increased revenue 6x. Beyond the growth potential, however, it was the culture and the movements we had become part of (transparency and remote work, in particular), which led us to turn the offer down and continue on our path.
Building a brand is one of the most important and one of the hardest things for growing an early company. Buffer believes there’s a unique combination of circumstances and new technology that will bring about significant change in the creation of the best new brands of the next 10 years.
The shift over the past few years has turned Buffer into a company with multiple products and as a result, multiple revenue streams. Having several revenue streams is setting them up to be a more sustainable, profitable, and long-term company. It means they can continue to be here for our customers and have the ability to make bets on what will be the most valuable to them.
Buffer is a developer of social media tools designed to visually plan and schedule social media campaigns.
Who founded Buffer?
The application was designed by a group of European ex-pats in San Francisco, most notably Joel Gascoigne and Leo Widrich.
How does Buffer make money?
The Company makes its money by offering Business plans utilized in more of a corporate setting. The Company generally sees ~2% conversion from free to paid plans. Within paid plans there is ~5% customer churn annually, a metric very much in line with the industry.
What companies do Buffer compete with?
The top 10 competitors in Buffer’s competitive set are Sprout Social, Sprinklr, Clickable, Inc., SocialFlow, Echobox, Spredfast, BuzzSumo, MavSocial, Parallel 6.
Buffer—Conclusion
The Buffer company is a fully distributed team of 85 people living and working in 15 countries around the world. And they’re working to build the best products to help their customers build their brands and grow their customer’s businesses on social media. They’ve always aimed to do things a little differently at Buffer. Since the early days, they’ve had a focus on building one of the most unique and fulfilling workplaces by rethinking a lot of traditional practices.
A commitment to support their team and their customers have helped Buffer grow from humble beginnings to now serving more than 73,000 customers. The companies passion for making meaningful connections flows through everything we do. They care about building a quality product, trusted relationships with their customers, and a sense of community that connects their customers and team with one another.
To learn more about their approach to business and work, feel free to hop on over to their Open Blog on their own website.
Rishabh Rathi
Rishabh Rathi
