The neighbourhood kirana store chottu, the pest control guys, the water purifier servicing chaps all come home to fix or fetch, but when it comes to a breakdown of the personal computer or laptop there is no immediate help at hand.
At most times you have to run around in circles and finally rely on half-baked technicians who could in one stroke lose all your stored data. Else, you are forced to pick up the bulky machine and drive down to the company's service outlet in a big mall or a far flung market and wait for days before it comes back home. Now, here is a start-up that's ready to fill this gap in technology support through a band of professionals who call themselves ‘eTechies.in'.
Targeting small units
Inspired by the ‘Geek Squad' in the US, three former Quattro BPO executives, backed by angel investor and ex- Microsoft India Managing Director Mr Rajan Anandan, have formed the company to address the needs of individuals and small-scale enterprises in the country.
“There are local organisations that provide annual maintenance contracts but the turnaround time and the credibility are both questionable. Keeping in mind the growing frustration of people and small and medium businesses who cannot afford individual IT teams, eTechies.in has stepped in to fill the void,” explained the CEO, Mr Rohit Chaudhary, who is also the oldest of the three partners.
Mr Choudhary is not a novice to technology. With an MBA from Anand's Institute of Rural Management, for over 18 years he has worked in the industry as well as in several well-known technology companies such as Wipro, Spectramind, Quattro, and Moser Baer. Last year, he incubated LemonLearneServices (P) Ltd, specifically focussed on the under-serviced M&SME segment, to cater to managed business services.
“We found that India, relatively insulated by the recession, had good consumer appetite to experiment with new technology. But technology support for individuals and SMEs was badly lacking. So in April 2010 the three of us set up LemonLearn with brand name eTechies.in,” he says.
His other partners, the COO, Mr Siddharth Bhatia, and the CTO, Mr Samarth Goyal, too have a decades' experience in the industry. Mr Bhatia, with a background in transition and operations, has spent years with organisations such as Convergys India and Quattro BPO serving end-users and clients such as Microsoft and HP.
Mr Goyal, the pure blood technology man, has done much the same. At LemonLearn, he spearheads the development of the organisation by introducing and leveraging technologies that redefine the way business is conducted. It involves evaluating technological breakthroughs, spotting trends, introducing standards into the organisation to make IT infrastructure flexible, scalable and adaptable.
Apart from forming a quick response team that uses branded Tata Nanos to ferry its technicians around to service clients, eTechies is also going to be using the retail model. This means that the company will open tangible support and service consumer stores for all digital equipment where you can also drop in if need be.
“To start with, there are three stores coming up in Delhi and later in the NCR region, but there are plans to scale up and in the next three months have a presence in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Next fiscal we hope to be in eight cities,” says Mr Bhatia.
To invest in training
To be a differentiator in the market, eTechies intends to invest more on the training of its quick response teams and extending its services to all digital devices, including smartphones.
However, what will bring the company a large chuck of its revenues and reputation is how it helps out small and medium enterprises. The idea is not only to help SMEs choose their tech equipment, but also maintain and service it for them on a long-term basis.
“Individuals need tech support and we will be building an organised business around that need. But in the last few months we have realised that small firms with 2-10 computers need us as well. They generally have crucial decisions to make and cannot go in for the mega IT companies due to price issues. Our price points are affordable, much less than the giants. Also, our service is much better than the big companies as we give individual attention and help SMEs save their precious resources,” says Mr Chaudhary.
And, last, the crucial question: Why did they chuck up high paying jobs to create their own start-up? For me, it has been an evolution, says Mr Chaudhary, who flirted with entrepreneurship in all his previous jobs and hence got the experience. However, he could enter the arena on his own steam only with solid family support (a wife who is their informal CFO), the right connections and right partners.
“Had it not been for the angel investors and Mumbai angels, it would have not been possible. My connections with Rajan and the right partners is what made it happen,” he explains.
Mr Bhatia and Mr Goyal, on the other hand, have age on their side. “Even if anything goes wrong I have time on my side, but as partners we three gel so well and that's why I walked out of a job and into this venture,” says Mr Bhatia. He, however, admits that it is scary when you quit and for a very long time you have to curtail expenses and focus on the business first. And that's what the three eTechies are doing.
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