eChai with Ruchir Brahmbhatt, Co-Founder, Ecosmob Technologies
Here is the insightful and candid conversation with Ruchir. Join the conversation to ask any specific questions to Ruchir.
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).
Initially we 3 friends thought of starting a forum to help the developers. Back in 2005, we decided that we will start such forum in future. We got very good exposure in Voice Over IP and Communication domain on the job and thought it could be the next big thing. Very few companies were working on it that time. There were already many forums for help so instead of continuing that idea, we thought of starting a software development company to develop various solutions in eCommerce, Telecom and Mobile. That is how the name "Ecosmob" came up which is made from eCommerce, Cosmos(to indicate totality) and Mobile. In 2007, there was this opportunity where I had to leave the job due to some issues, so we thought it was the right time to start the venture. That's how the journey of Ecosmob began.
Business Venture : What is your business model and what problems does it solve?
Our business model is client centric which consists products and services. We offer custom development services in VoIP/Telecom, web and mobile apps. We also offer internet marketing services. Specifically we have very good expertise in VoIP/Telecom sector and we offer various innovative solutions to our customers. It is not easy to find companies which can provide telecom solutions for small to medium businesses so we solve that pain point of the clients.
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 see big market opportunities in telecom as well as all other sectors as everyone needs communication and that's where our products and solutions can fit very well. There can be a major market for integration of telecom software and services along with smart phone applications which we see as a big market opportunity.
We distinguish ourselves by offering very flexible working models and and exceptional support. Majority of our revenue comes from repeat business. Our satisfied clients say that they don't find same level of flexibility, support and innovation in other vendors.
Most of our revenue comes from development services. We work in different open source technologies like Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, OpenSIPs, Kamailio, WebRTC, etc. in VoIP/Telecom domain along with web development and mobile application development. Second source of revenue is products. We have products for conferencing, call/sms broadcasting, IP PBX, Contact center, etc.
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?
We started some sales efforts and work some time before actually starting the venture. First sale came from an online bidding portal. It didn't take too long to generate first sale due to high demand of the VoIP technology and very few vendors available. IIRC it didn't take more than a week for a first sale. Nowadays sales cycle varies based on project but on an average we can say it takes around 2 weeks to close the deals.
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?
When we started the company, we decided that we should setup the free and open culture in our company which provides good growth opportunities to everyone. We do various events and programs related to personal development, team building and knowledge sharing. Our policies are employee friendly. Regardless of their designation anyone can approach top level management any time directly. We take regular feedbacks from employees for improvements in organization. We also provide "intra-preneurship" opportunities so people can get chance to work as entrepreneurs within the company. Like last year we had "Innovation Program" initiative where employees can suggest various products and finalists can plan and work on the product independently in the company. Our recent android application ContactPro is the result of that program. We wanted to make sure that our employees don't face the difficulties we faced during the job and we create much healthier and live environment which can foster the growth of all employees.
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?
You should be very careful while selecting co-founder or partner. A partner having exact same skills and personality like you may not be very helpful. Everyone has different skills and expertise. You partner should be able to complement you by filling the gaps of skills and adding different perspective. If you are very good technically but lack marketing skills, find a partner who is good in marketing. It is very important that the frequency matches very well with the partners. Co-founders should be able to complement and support each other very well. All should add value to the venture by all means possible and should have same vision for the company.
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?
When we started, our main focus was VoIP development. Back then it was very difficult to find any experienced person in VoIP/Telecom domain. So we decided to get trainees from engineering college for their last semester project. This way they get the industrial training, we can train them for our technology and then offer them job. So we contacted different colleges and spread the word about job opening. We hired a batch of 4 trainees to begin with.
Nowadays we recruit experienced as well as fresher employees. Hiring has become mostly ongoing activity in our company as we continuously look for good talent. We look for candidates with good attitude and ability to work in challenging technologies. We also have employee referral program with good rewards. Employee referral works very good in recruitment. We do job posting to various job sites and also take help from various recruitment consulting companies for hiring resources.
Good employees are very important for success of any company. No matter how good processes you have or how good culture you want to make but you need to have a team of very good employees who work with you for success of the company and who see company's success as their own success. As we all know that attrition rate is generally high in IT companies but we are very fortunate to have some employees who are with us since inception and few are there who are with us since over 5 years.
Learning : How did you handle your disappointments and failures?
In these years we had various disappointments and failures. Initially it was very difficult to deal with such cases but we learned over time that they are the part of the journey and it is more important to learn from failures. All failures come with opportunity to improve and grow. Support from your partners, employees, friends and family is important during failures. They help you in dealing with failures and gives you the boost.
Vision : What's your vision for your venture. What do you want to accomplish in your life ? What are your future aspirations?
Our vision is to come up with more and more innovative products and solutions which can be helpful to people. For example, soon we are coming up with a free platform for education domain which can offer communication and collaboration features to students, parents and educational institutes. We have various other ideas in mind which we would like to implement in future which can solve critical issues or add values for the masses.
I want to make our company very successful globally with quite good innovations.
Work-Life Balance : How do you find a balance between work family and social life?
It was a difficult task in the beginning. As and entrepreneur, you have to wear multiple hats and give lots of time in setting up and stabilizing the venture. I am very thankful to my family for providing great support during the time when I wasn't able to give enough time. I would recommend that work-life balance should be maintained from the beginning and it becomes more difficult to achieve as time goes. We have achieved very good stability since couple of years and with the help of our team, it is no longer a big challenge to balance life with work. As an entrepreneur it can be tempting to work on many things and trying to do everything yourself. It is best to learn the delegation as early as possible. You can not do everything yourself and you should be focusing on big picture instead of micro-managing the things. This gives opportunity to other for growth and you get more time and peace of mind to do the things which really matter more.
Risks : Which was the boldest decision you ever made to have this venture work?
The boldest decision was to start the venture. We started at very early age and had no major funding but thankfully we had some backing from a friend and good flow of projects we didn't face major challenges. Having different offerings compared to many others helped us not only survive but thrive even during the bad global economic period.
Here are some amazing photos from Ruchir's entrepreneurial journey.
