Mohan Kumar
Co-Founder and CEO
Trendwise Analytics
Short Description
Co-Founder and CEO of Trendwise Analytics. Former Vice President - SAP Labs. Mohan holds a B.Tech(Electronics) degree from IIT Kharagpur with more than 20 years of experience working for reputed organizations like SAP and IBM.
Company Profile
Trendwise Analytics is a Business Analytics firm with special focus on Big
Data(Hadoop). One of the very few startups in this space in India. Co-Founded
by two of us - both IITians with around 20 years of IT experience working
for global companies like SAP and IBM. We help clients globally to leverage the
power of Big Data to gain actionable insights for the Retail and Healthcare
industries. Our offerings include solutions, Consulting Services and Training.
Challenges faced
i.
One of the major challenges is hiring. There is a huge skills shortage in Big
Data space and people are unwilling to join a start up even if we are willing
to give a hefty hike.
To some extent we are overcoming this by hiring freshers and training them - but we still need people who can hit the ground running.
ii. The other challenge is access to global markets. We are targeting US and UK markets. Reaching out to these markets from India with our limited marketing and Business Development Budget is a challenge. We were hoping to overcome this by leveraging social media, but to our surprise - platforms like LinkedIn proved ineffective so far.
To some extent we are overcoming this by hiring freshers and training them - but we still need people who can hit the ground running.
ii. The other challenge is access to global markets. We are targeting US and UK markets. Reaching out to these markets from India with our limited marketing and Business Development Budget is a challenge. We were hoping to overcome this by leveraging social media, but to our surprise - platforms like LinkedIn proved ineffective so far.
Motivating employees
I keep a couple of factors in mind to motivate the troops.
Providing challenging work and a positive and cordial work environment are key to keeping the team motivated. Everyday is a challenge for a start up and we face problems on a daily basis. But I shield the team from most of the issues , so that they do not get demotivated and demoralized. I am liberal with praises when they deliver results and refrain from blaming them when things go wrong.
Making correct decision
Decisions
are taken on a daily basis. I try as much as possible to take informed
decisions using data points, but some times you have to follow your gut. And
you cannot be sure all the decisions will be correct. So you end up making some
mistakes. But the key point is not to repeat the mistakes and to learn from
them.
Advice
Stay
positive, have fun and help other entrepreneurs in whatever small way you can.
Getting first customer
Our first customer was through our network. He was my partner's classmate at IIT Delhi. They are also a start up and just at the time when we are planning to launch , they were looking for an offshore development partner. So it was a matter of being at the right place at the right time. And it is a win-win situation for both.