Sign in to follow 's advice will appear in your account when you log in. Follow specific Community Members and never miss out on their views and insights. Build a group of Members who you want to listen to.

Email: Password:

Don't have SiliconIndia account? Sign up Forgot your password? Reset

Ask K K Pal for Advice

If your advice request is relevant to other Community members, our Editorial team may choose to send this request to all Experts to attract a wider range of answers and share them with the Community. Rest Assured, we will protect your privacy (unless you recommend otherwise).

Advice Request

Submit Cancel

K K Pal

Next Member >>

K K Pal

Founder & Director

Laitkor InfoSolutions

K K Pal is a member of:

- Expert

Brief about company, offerings and foundation of the company

Laitkor is a 100%
Software EOU Unit under the STPI scheme. Laitkor has three offerings (a) Custom software
development (b) Private managed cloud Hosting (c) Media (a) Custom Software: We
build complex software web/mobile apps for clients in all continents. The
profile of our clients, for example is a startup from Stanford to a Telecom
giant in Australia and everything in between.(b) Managed Hosting: We operate
out of a secured datacenter in California.(c) Media: We have a Web media
business line.03Dec2003 in a small
room in residential area of Lucknow with 4 staff.Now,we are occupying whole of
STPI,Lucknow Incubation space.

Risks involved in business and way of addressing

As a startup, you have
got to take risks, but as the business grows, you get more risk averse. One
example is the risk involved in dollar-to-rupee conversion. A more established
company hedges the risk through contracts or financial means. A startup, just
hopes for the best.

Some of the difficulties faced while building product/ solution

Time difference and
client communication

Most critical decision

Starting the company in
India. There were a lot of unknowns and India doesn't have a startup friendly
business climate. However the STPI scheme was a godsend and helped us bootstrap
the company.

Three big lessons/ mistakes encountered while building company

Market Research, Product
and Positioning.

Motivation and Drives factor

Problem solving

Unique about my way of motivating troops

Empower them and Pay
them well

Way of choosing my people

I interview every single
hire. I look for out-of-the box type people.

The challenges and lessons learnt to get first customer

A hot lead led me to
contact the prospect. Then it was a short drive to a Starbucks cafe in San
Francisco. I pitched the solution and we signed the contract. You have got to
do your homework and understand what are the pain points of the clients. Then
you address them.

Experience of reaching out to potential investors

Haven't had a need. We
are self funded.

My role at different dimensions as the company evolved

From a code writer, to a
project manager, to a solutions architect/sales guy

As a leader how I make sure that I am connecting the right dots

As a consulting company,
no two projects are alike. Avoiding mistakes doesn't keep us up at night,
Figuring out more than one solution to a given problem does.

My thoughts related to entrepreneurship/ leadership and management

Trust
the people who manage your service/product. They will rarely let you down.

Best company I admire globally

Apple: For its UI and
products.

Advice for fellow entrepreneurs

Find a problem, then
solve it. The business will grow around it in due course.