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HOT TOPICS
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Bootstrapping with Services in India: Srishtisoft CEO Ajay Sharma (Part 2)
Sramana: What were the primary sectors that you supported? Ajay Sharma: We did a lot of application integration work for healthcare companies, media companies, and financial companies. Those were our three primary verticals. In 2004, we ran into some challenges. In fact, the period between 2004 and 2005 was challenging for most Indian services companies. At
Bootstrapping with Services in India: Srishtisoft CEO Ajay Sharma (Part 1)
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. Bootstrapping with service, then building two products, then splitting up the company into two, and finally, scaling a sizable product company – not the kind of stories we hear often from Indian entrepreneurs. This story is a rare window into the journey of a group of
Building a Retail Business in India: Manish Sharma, CEO of Printo (Part 7)
Sramana: What was your next step? Was your first store a proof of concept to raise more money? Manish Sharma: I had enough money to do something else, but not enough for an entirely new shop. I decided to put up a smaller shop inside a larger store. I clearly identified the demand and need
Building a Retail Business in India: Manish Sharma, CEO of Printo (Part 6)
Sramana: Did you fund the business with just friends and family? Manish Sharma: I did have two angel investors when I started Printo. I met them at conferences and gave them a basic elevator pitch. I was looking to raise 2 crore rupees but ended up raising 1.4 crore rupees. I did not raise a
Building a Retail Business in India: Manish Sharma, CEO of Printo (Part 5)
Sramana: What happened to that business? Manish Sharma: We were caught in the crash. Not a lot of people remember how fast that happened, but I definitely do! The company did not go anywhere. Sramana: What did you do after the dot com crash? Manish Sharma: We had 40 people in India at that point
Building a Retail Business in India: Manish Sharma, CEO of Printo (Part 4)
Sramana: Where you trying to develop another company after you returned to India or did you decide to go back into services work? Manish Sharma: I continued forward with my goal of establishing a product company. I finally came up with a product idea in the AI space which had been a passion of mine
Building a Retail Business in India: Manish Sharma, CEO of Printo (Part 3)
Sramana: So you partnered with Informix? Manish Sharma: Yes, we partnered with Informix. They could not meet the deal requirements without us because they were a product provider, not a systems integrator. The database was a small part of the overall project. We had to submit our own credentials to win the bid. We worked
Building a Retail Business in India: Manish Sharma, CEO of Printo (Part 2)
Sramana: Why would the National Stock Exchange commission ask you to build a mission critical transaction system? Did you have credentials to gain their confidence? Manish Sharma: They were not our first customer. We were able to build a good portfolio before we started working on those high profile projects. Our first customer was Indian