It is not just a story of success; rather it’s a legacy that is left behind and broke every stereotype which said: “It’s a competitive world and a tough one to crack.” It’s a story of from “Being Inspired” to “Inspiring”. The fact of being the only engineer in his town was crazy and amazing one. He felt no competition, no cunning eyes, and no hands to pull him down from his path. And when you are free from every thought or fear, you can solely concentrate on your goals and make them come true. It’s a feeling of being pure and dedicated to your dreams; you abide by them.
It’s the story of Mayank Pratap, co-founder of EngineerBabu. Everything mentioned above is from the man itself; penned down by me. After Mayank graduated, he joined an MNC in Bangalore. It was then that he realized the importance of work culture in an organization. It also then when he realized that a typical working cycle from 9-5 along with anytime-overtime was not his cup of tea.
“I always knew to fly, so I was unable to walk, to run. Thus, I resigned with the belief that there is something brighter waiting for me on the other side,” Mayank.
The Start
What started as a Facebook page is now India’s one of the biggest IT companies. Being the only engineer, Mayank was the “EngineerBabu” of his village. Meanwhile, 3-Idiots released and like the millions of engineers; it inspired him from within thus EngineerBabu was started as an FB page. He didn’t even have the slightest of the idea that it’s going to carve his future, his dreams. He used to help engineers by providing them with a free consultation regarding their career related queries through the page which reached 2.5 lakh users within two months. It was a break-even point for EngineerBabu. A seed was now a tree bearing 2.5 lakh fruits. It all started on a serious note when one of his friends told: “If you need any help, ask EngineerBabu, EngineerBabu will help you.”
Mayank then left his job & came back to Indore to pursue his only “Wanna-be” dream. Half the time he taught students to gather funding for his product, and another half he worked on his product. Meanwhile, after a month the company suddenly shuts down. The students started asking Mayank, “Sir what to do now?”. At that time, all he could do is to teach them for free till they get a job, nothing could get worse than this. Without losing hope and with his hard work, all of the students got a job, except 2 of them, one office boy and the other one was a milkman. Both of them came to Mayank with expectations, and this was when he took the biggest decision of his life to start a company. And it all began, with excellent and people-friendly culture.
Chapter 1: The initial product
Then was born for the first time “EngineerBabu”. The name “EngineerBabu” was a perfect fir for the company because that’s what Mayank was. The second best thing that happened in was that his best friends became an integral part of shaping the company. Aditi Chaurasia became the Co-founder and CEO, and is the lady lead and the one who always believes in playing on front-foot. She built the team from 3 to 45 people and rooted great work culture deep within the pillars of EngineerBabu. Avdhesh Solanki, Co-founder & CTO of EngineerBabu. He is the “Ranchod-das Shyamaldas Chanchad (Rancho)” of the company. He is the geek on board to have built excellent products for start-ups, AI Based apps, Robotics and an automobile-champ.
As none of the co-founders were born with a golden spoon, the company was bootstrapped entirely from personal savings. EngineerBabu started its journey to be one of the biggest product-oriented companies in India.
Chapter 2: The growth phase
During the initial months of the startup, the co-founders, drained and dusted, but the will-power and passion were still burning down within, still intact and still on the voyage to build a great company.
It was not easy to set the feet and stand still in such dynamics of the market but they did, because there was an urge within them. The tough part was to convince people to work for the company, because then EngineerBabu was a merely a small IT related services company. As it is said “Slow and steady wins the race,” EngineerBabu gradually began gaining people’s trust to work with it.The projects started coming, so, there was a need of sufficient manpower to deliver and cope up with their client requirements. While there were new recruitments were going so were the projects delivery. It all began in hustle-bustle and started a new adventure that was not only going to change our future but lives.
The team not only delivered products to the clients but also built a potential and reciprocating cycle that was going to flow in thousands of new ones.
EngineerBabu was now a service provider unit, where the co-founders shared their learnings and earnings both. The work culture and policies were like an open book; everyone could access it. It broke nearly every stereotype related to marketing. Many came and left a big-buzz about “Without money you can’t jump into markets and sell your services.” Well, they did sell their services without spending even a penny. The best part of any startup is that when you don’t have money but only dreams, you find out innovative ways, solutions to any damn problem that might fall in your paths. You fear nothing because you don’t have anything to lose. All you have is a bunch of amigos having your back and a hell lot of experience.
Chapter 3: Innovation ( Aggregator: - Alibaba for IT Services )
The next was to create a subscription-based platform to connect filtered clientele to expert companies who are excellent in delivering work. Also creating an AI based requirement gathering platform to collect project information from a client. China is known for manufacturing skills and India for IT Services. Right now the platform has 250+ Paid subscribers, and 240+ are in waiting list just within two months.
Next Phase?
Opening offices in metro cities, USA, UK, Singapore and Saudi, building an AI based platform that will make project development a lot easier and a lot more are on the roadmap.
As an interesting fact, while the team was looking for mentorship they happened to meet the former founder of Indianroots, Mr. Rahul Narvekar. All they wanted was the guidance of a serial entrepreneur who would act like a ‘big brother’ and bring in solid frameworks for their bootstrapped venture. That’s precisely why Rahul, who had recently co-founded Scale Ventures, decided to fund them. With a funding of INR 1 Cr from Scale Ventures, Mayank & team are aiming to achieve their goals in next few months.
Why do I call it a success story?
EngineerBabu doesn’t have any IITians of IIM people or an experienced crew on board. They not successful because of the typical hard work and no enjoy work culture. They are successful because the co-founders dreamt of something; chased them; worked for them. They didn’t have any magic wand or spells like Harry Potter. But, did have magic spells like hope and dreams which drove them to a journey so far. A journey that made them friends and indeed a great company.
When you are at the starting line, don’t hire an employee, hire people. Because they don’t chase the money; rather a dream to break things & think out of the box. They are equally eligible and driven to learn something out of this business world. They are not here to get lost in the pool of 9-5 squeezing-out-the-soul job.