eChai with Sneha Thakker, Founder & CEO, Thakker Technologies
Our today's guest for eChai with an Entrepreneur is Sneha Thakker, Founder & CEO, Thakker Technologies. Sneha Thakker is 1 first generation entrepreneur who founded Thakker Technologies in 2009, which is self funded and still running smoothly without any external funding. Thakker Technologies is mainly focused on website & mobile development. Sneha has received many awards and media recognition in short span of 4 years, as an entrepreneur.
Sneha has completed her bachelors in Computer Engineering from Gujarat University. She has excelled throughout her education starting from standard 1 till her bachelors, which was a sign that she will do her best in any field she choose. And she proved it when she left handsome salaried job and took less traveled path of entrepreneurship.
Here is the insightful and candid conversation with Sneha. Join eChai.in to ask any specific questions to Sneha.
Early Years : When did it first strike you to begin this venture and why? Your Eureka Moment (the moment you decided to be an entrepreneur).
When I was 23 years old with just couple of years experience in this industry, I thought to start my own venture. It was just to give a chance to myself, which I never got during the job. I always wanted to live a relaxed life with fixed hours of doing job, but my seniors left me with no choice but to start a venture at such an early age. Thanks to them I thought to give my idea a shot, and became an entrepreneur not by choice but by fate.
Business Venture : What is your business model and what problems does it solve? What are market opportunities? How is it different from your competitors? How do you generate revenues ?
We are a service provider company, mainly we focus on website and mobile apps development with design. As our tagline says "working for your dreams" , every individual has a dream for his hobby or business. We convert this dream to real website which they can showcase to their current and potential customers. The way we shape the website, interact with the client and the support we provide is the base of our business model.
Apart from this we've launched our product called KnockDoc, few months back. Which bridges the gap between patients and doctors. KnockDoc is a mobile app solution by using which patient can find doctors, book appointment, read/write reviews etc. On the other hand we have a mobile app for the doctors called SmartDoc as well as the hosted web solution for Clinic/Hospital Management System, which will help doctors to manage patient records and appointments easily with one touch. Patient can bypass the long queue and doctor can enjoy the speedy work with less manpower and less resources spent.
KnockDoc is different as its untouched market in India, people still use the old phone call methods and waiting in queue at doctors clinic for regular checkups. So we've thought to give it a try where we can help everyone to save time.
KnockDoc - Find doctors on the go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdcifv9g_to
As we provide services to our esteemed clients, that is the great source of income for us. And its not always for revenue, I personally believe that if a work gives you satisfaction just do it, no matter you generate great revenue out of it or just few bucks.
Sales : How did you make your first sale and how much time it took you from starting up to closing the first sale ? How long is your sales cycle ?
First sale, how can one forget it! The first client who believed in you and invested on the novice. Before I go on explaining my experience on that let me give you my little background on technology, so all technical people can understand my situation :) I took my last semester training on VB 6.0 and for my first job I was hired for VB.NET and these both platforms are for desktop based applications, you techies know it. Soon the demand for desktop application was reducing and I was migrated to ASP.NET, ooh yeah the web based applications :D . And I used all these technologies in just short span of 2 years!
Coming back to your question, I got my first project in PHP! So you can imagine, being a beginner how it would have felt to work on new technology again! But for me, working on a new technology was a routine by the time. It was a small project of a week, which I completed to client satisfaction and I invested it back to my business, whatever I had earned.
Company Culture : What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
I do believe in discipline when you talk about work, and ones should enjoy rest of the time. Same applies to my company culture, we all work hard during the working hours, but at the same time there should not be over burden on any employee. We do offer them fun time off, during this period they can play indoor games. Apart from this we also do care of health of employees and the gymnasium equipments are on the way :) We want to create a company where employees love to work. My employees are as precious as my clients.
Partnerships : What are your views about finding the right Co-Founder ? How did you find your business partner? According to you who is the ideal business partner?
Wrong question for me ;) I am still finding an answer for this questions, as I represent my company as a sole director. If you find any ideal business partner then let me know, I would love to make him CTO :D
Hiring - How did you hire your first employee ? And in general what's your hiring policy ? How important have good employees been to your success?
Hiring is the key of success for any company. You should know when to hire and when to fire. My first employee is still working with us! We do have 3 round of process that a candidate has to clear, before we hire him. Your first 5 employees will decide the future of your company, so you have to chose them wisely.
Learning : How did you handle your disappointments and failures?
Failures and disappointments equally important as success and happiness. Failures are the signs, that you are trying something creative and different. Until you try, you will never understand what is the success/failure or whether it will be succeeded or not. Little of you may be knowing, I also failed twice with two of my ideas as product. Its part of a life and how to tackle it, is an art of an entrepreneur. Oh yes, I failed in my job (as per my seniors I was useless), that is why I started my venture. So instead of being disappointed if you think what you can do next, it can lead you towards success, not sooner but later for sure.
Vision: What's your vision for your venture. What do you want to accomplish in your life ? What are your future aspirations?
My vision is to make Thakker Technologies a one stop solution for each need of a website/mobile apps seeker. The dream come true company, where every individual wants to work and client wants to have their work done. Also I have a desire to try my hands in manufacturing sector in coming years.
Work-Life Balance : How do you find a balance between work family and social life?
Being a woman, that too having married life with an entrepreneurship label is not easy to deal with. You adhere to lot of responsibilities from both personal and professional life. All credit goes to my parents and to my in-laws for always supporting me to balance my work and personal life. One can not think to live without a family, I do spare more time with my work (all weekdays) than with my family (weekends) just like other professionals. But I believe in spending quality time family, rather than quantity time.
Risks : Which was the boldest decision you ever made to have this venture work?
If there is no risk, there is no business. What would be more bold than this, being a lady, to start a business at 23 years with just few bucks in hand? Well it was just the first bold decision, to make my venture work I gave up handsome salaried job. Another boldest decision is creating an app KnockDoc, without external funding and at early age of my venture, which is FREE to download and use.
You can download the KnockDoc app from play store.
Checkout some amazing photos from Sneha's entrepreneurial journey.
