A former Microsoft employee, Mr Ramakrishna Chiniarlapalla has come a long way from the corporate world to build his business Spoors. Today we will take a look into how he built his business right from scratch.
What were the most difficult challenges you faced while starting your business?
I am a first-generation Entrepreneur, Had no idea of where to start, Just quit my job at Microsoft and started, Initially getting people to join the company, Company Registration and incorporation everything was a challenge, retaining employees the biggest challenge is to switch from corporate culture to a startup culture.
Tell us more about your company Spoors?
Spoors Helps enterprises Digitize and Manage Field and Non-FieldBusiness operations and Processes using its no-code platform “EFFORT” for Maximum productivity and efficiency
“EFFORT” Enable “remote collaboration” between Employees(Field and non-field), groups, customers and organizations
- Configure Unlimited Business Forms and Workflows
- Multiple User Interfaces for your Convenience (Mobile App, Web and Web Lite)
- Multiple Use modes (Offline and Online)
- Integrations with external systems (DropBox, Suite, HR, CRM etc)
- Build Custom EFFORT Reports and Scorecards with Report Studio
- Build Advance Dashboard using Google Data Studio
- GeoTag all activities
- Decision Bot and Data Provider Bot
What was your idea behind establishing this business?
It started with solving the problem of providing visibility of field employees to customers and employees so that they don’t provide false information about their availability, Slowly it transformed into a full-fledged workflow and workforce management platform
What are the unique features of your business?
- No Code Do-It-Yourself (DIF) platform where a non-tech person also create Workflows
- Offers SaaS model, so customers do not need to invest in infrastructure and OPX cost
- Monthly Subscription model, Customers can pay as use
- Unlimited workflows and Form, no restrictions on features that can be used
- Start small and grow big
- Experiment, improvise and only then take it to end-users
- Who is your role model and why?
Andy Grove, his philosophy of only paranoids survive, I strongly believe this and being paranoid is different From being negative, Being paranoid makes me be on my toes and constantly improve myself and the product
There are so many coders coming up in this digital era, what are your strategies to cope up with this tough competition?
I do not believe in focusing on other competition, while I look at other competition but I look at myself as competition, Run faster today than yesterday, make things better today than it was yesterday. This is something that I learnt from the book Only Paranoids Survive
You have worked with big companies like Mahindra, Siemens, Godrej and so many more, how do these giants work, and how was your experience working with them?
It’s been a great experience working with them, every company has different culture and process but one thing in common they all support startup products and be with you during the highs and low of your organization and constantly push you to do better and make our product innovative
What advice would you like to give to your fellow coders and freshers who want to open their startup in this field?
- Don’t take up Entrepreneurship because it is cool, it’s very challenging no matter the experience you have
- Professional experience and friends not of much help, you need to have your Network, Network, Network
- Your goal should be solving a practical problem not to get funded easily,
- Though you might have a brilliant idea You need to have a good strategy to attract customers, Don’t expect them to just come and use the product
- Have the right founder mix with complementary skills
- Building a Product needs patience and it will take time to mature, don’t focus on short term gains
