Greytip Software, a leading provider of HR and Payroll solutions to SME’s and enterprises across India, has raised INR 35 crore in its series B round of funding. The funding was led by New Enterprise Associates and Blume Ventures. The funds will be primarily used to enhance their flagship cloud solution, greytHR to enable its adoption among a wider set of enterprises and small businesses and for expansion into Tier I and Tier II markets.
greytHR helps businesses manage their employee-related TDS, PF, ESI, & LWF compliances and significantly cuts down the cost and time in providing services to their employees. It automates key areas of HR, payroll management, leave and attendance tracking, thereby reducing and simplifying work while delivering accurate and super-fast results. Its employee self-service mobile app is being widely used with 30K+ downloads, empowering employees to check their TDS, PF, etc. on-the-go.
We have constantly obsessed about how we can help SMEs easily and efficiently manage their HR and Payroll processes. Our cloud app, greytHR is a product of that obsession. In NEA and Blume Ventures, we see ideal partners who believe in our vision of helping small businesses use cloud to cut down operation costs and improve productivity.
Greytip has been a pioneer in developing an SMB-centric solution that’s a leader in India already in its space. Scaling this beautifully to both large enterprises now and regional markets across Asia, we are very excited to deepen our investment into Greytip after being their first believers a couple of years ago.
What impressed us was that greytHR team has demonstrated their ability to achieve tech leadership and gain meaningful scale in the SaaS based HR and payroll market in India in a short span of time. With more than 300,000 employees across India already getting their payroll processed each month through their SaaS platform, greytHR is well poised to grow through new product offerings and expanding reach. Their deep presence in the Indian market makes them an ideal platform to benefit from the digitization of enterprises in India, irrespective of company size, sector or location.
Greytip Software enables more than 3,500 businesses manage 300,000+ employees daily. The company’s vision is to reach out to all enterprises and small businesses across Tier I and Tier II cities and help them benefit from automating their people processes.
About Greytip Software
Greytip software is a leading provider of HR & Payroll solutions to SMEs across India. Its cloud application, GreytHR, helps clients manage their employee life cycle. It automates key areas of HR, payroll management, leave and attendance tracking, thereby reducing & simplifying work while delivering accurate & super-fast results. For more information, please visit www.greytip.com & www.greythr.com
About NEA
New Enterprise Associates is a leading venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With approximately $17 billion in committed capital across 15 funds, NEA invests in companies at all stages in a company’s life-cycle, from seed stage through IPO. For more information, please visit NEA
Shadowfax, a leader in the hyper-local delivery category, successfully concluded its Code Warshackathon in Bangalore. The Code Wars was organised with an aim to bring all tech enthusiasts including front-end developers, back-end developers, android developers and data scientist developers to showcase their capabilities in solving complex challenges and decode systems to bring the next innovation in the competitive logistics industry.
The two-day hackathon event attracted over 100 advanced developers to compete for prize worth over 2 Lakhs which included iPad Mini, Kindle, Headphones, Speakers and many more, along with an opportunity to work full time in Shadowfax’s tech team.
As per the format, the participants worked in teams of two and the full stack developers worked solo where they ideated on various projects such as Game of deliveries, Payment on the spots, Location exchange and lots of location. The next day the participants presented their ideas to the eminent judges Rohit Jain, Former Principal, SAIF Partners and Puneet Khanduri, Staff Engineer & Tech Lead – Stealth Project at Twitter India. Among the 700 entries, 100 participants were shortlisted and finally two winning teams, two runner-up teams and three special mention awards were declared.
Commenting on the initiative, Abhishek Bansal, Co-founder & CEO of Shadowfax Technologies Private Limited said
In the Indian logistics space, Shadowfax is playing a crucial role in revolutionising delivery with its distinctive tech platform and on-ground delivery. Through hackathon we would like to bring forward the challenges faced by the logistics space on a democratic platform where we can understand the different perspectives to solve the same problem and in turn get some innovative solutions which are completely out of the box. Another important aspect that we are taking into consideration at Shadowfax, is the technology that we are creating, it can be used in various other platform. This is also the first time we have opened doors to all tech enthusiasts and are overwhelmed with the response and their powerful ideas.
The hackathon was organised in Shadowfax’s R&D Centre which is situated in the heart of Koramangala, Bangalore. The R&D Centre is a one-of-its-kind research facility that is breaking new ground in the Indian delivery industry. The work space is occupied by passionate innovators, coders, developers and data analysts who work around the clock to re-invent current systems and processes in order to build Shadowfax as the most cutting-edge and efficient logistics network in India.
About Shadowfax
Shadowfax is India’s largest technology platform to enable intra city logistics. It focuses on serving the first and last mile delivery needs for companies, across different segments, in 10 cities across India. It is trusted by McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, Snapdeal, Paytm, Bigbasket etc., to name a few of its 1000+ clients. Founded in early 2015 by Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal (both Alumni of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi), Shadowfax has become a market leader in a very short span of time. It is revolutionising delivery in India with its distinctive tech platform and on-ground delivery network of 2000+ Shadowfax Riders. The Shadowfax R&D Centre in Bangalore is its hub of innovation, with the product and data teams taking steps closer to solving India’s logistics problem, every day. For more information, please visit Shadowfax
On 17 June 2016, IBM will host IBM DeveloperConnect, a first-of-its-kind meet up that will bring together the developer community. Designed to give developers a year’s worth of learning in one day, the event provides opportunities for hands on experimentation with next-gen technology on IBM Cloud, including Bluemix, Watson, IoT and Blockchain
Additionally, IBM executives will lead technology sessions and share key announcements on new products, offerings and initiatives. IBM speakers include
Sandy Carter, General Manager, Developer Ecosystem and Startups
Michael Gilfix, Vice President, Mobile and Transformation
Michael Rhodin, Senior Vice President, Watson Business Development
IBM will also host lightning demos and an immersive experience zone, where developers can test out the newest technologies and offerings on IBM technology.
Despite the increasing number of data breaches and more than 3.9 billion data records worldwide being lost or stolen since 2013, organizations continue to believe perimeter security technologies are effective against data breaches. This is one of the many findings of the third-annual Data Security Confidence Index released by Gemalto, the world leader in digital security.
Key Findings
One-third of organizations have experienced a data breach in past 12 months
69% of IT professionals are not confident their data would be secure if perimeter defenses were breached
66% of IT professionals say unauthorized users can access their networks and 16% believe unauthorized users have access to their entire networks
Of the 1,100 IT decision makers surveyed worldwide, 61% said their perimeter security systems [firewall, IDPS, AV, content filtering, anomaly detection, etc.] were very effective at keeping unauthorized users out of their network. However, 69% said they are not confident their organization’s data would be secure if their perimeter security was breached. This is up from 66% in 2015 and 59% in 2014. Furthermore, 66% believe unauthorized users can access their network and nearly two in five [16%] said unauthorized users could access their entire network.
Please click to enlarge
Jason Hart, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer for Data Protection at Gemalto said
This research shows that there is indeed a big divide between perception and reality when it comes to the effectiveness of perimeter security. The days of breach prevention are over, yet many IT organizations continue to rely on perimeter security as the foundation of their security strategies. The new reality is that IT professionals need to shift their mind set from breach prevention to breach acceptance and focus more on securing the breach by protecting the data itself and the users accessing the data.
Perimeter security is a focus, but not a panacea for data breaches
According to the research findings, 78% of IT decision makers said they had adjusted their strategies as a result of high profile data breaches, up from 71% in 2015 and up 53% in 2014. 86% said they had increased spending on perimeter security and 85% believe that their current investments are going to the right security technologies.
Despite the increased focus on perimeter security, the findings show the reality many organizations face when it comes to preventing data breaches. 64% of those surveyed said their organizations experienced a breach at some time over the past five years. More than a quarter [27%] said they experienced a breach in the past 12 months, with a similar number of IT decision makers [30%] reporting the same frequency in 2015. This suggests that organizations have not made significant improvements in reducing the number of data breaches despite increased investments in perimeter security.
Jason Hart, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer for Data Protection at Gemalto concluded saying
While companies are confident in the amount of spending and where they are spending it, it’s clear the security protocols they are employing are not living up to expectations. While protecting the perimeter is important, organizations need to come to the realization that they need a layered approach to security in the event the perimeter is breached. By employing tools such as end-to-end encryption and two-factor authentication across the network and the cloud, they can protect the whole organization and, most importantly, the data.
To download the entire report & get India specific data, click here
About the Survey
Independent technology market research specialist Vanson Bourne surveyed 1,100 IT decision makers across the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Benelux and the Middle East on behalf of Gemalto. The sample was split between Manufacturing, Healthcare, Financial Services, Government, Telecoms, Retail, Utilities, Consultation and Real Estate, Insurance and Legal, organizations with 250 to more than 5,000 employees. For more information, please visit Gemalto
In the new Ericsson ConsumerLab Report – Wearable Technology and The Internet of things, six in ten smartphone users state that wearables have uses beyond health and wellness. Devices related to personal safety and security, such as panic buttons and personal locators, attract most interest.
[Image Source – Wearables]The report highlights key trends in wearable technology, such as:
One in three smartphone users believe they will use at least five connected wearables beyond 2020.
Early signs of detachment from smartphones are visible today with 40 percent of today’s smartwatch users already interacting less with their smartphones.
25 percent of smartwatch owners use their smartwatch to remotely control other digital devices at home, and 30 percent use voice search on their smartwatches.
38% of smartphone users say wearables will be used to perform most smartphone functions within just five years.
Top five most-wanted wearables across five markets surveyed [% interested & willing to buy]
Panic/SOS button – 32%
Smartwatch – 28%
Wearable Location Tracker – 27%
Identity Authenticator – 25%
Wearable Water Purifier – 24%
Click to enlarge
The report captures the opinions of 5,000 smartphone users [of which 2,500 are wearable users] in Brazil, China, South Korea, UK and US, representing the views of 280 million smartphone users globally. In addition to the top five most-wanted wearables, it shows consumers predict a booming wearables market beyond 2020, as well as that wearables might replace smartphones and will help consumers interact with physical things and objects in the internet of things [IoT] era:
A booming wearables market beyond 2020
Ownership of wearables among smartphone users in the surveyed markets has doubled in the past year. However, consumers predict it will take at least another year for the current generation of wearables to go mainstream. A more diverse set of wearables, such as personal safety devices and smart garments, will go mainstream beyond 2020 – but when they do, a booming market can be expected. One in three smartphone users believe they will use at least five connected wearables beyond 2020.
Wearables to turn smartphones into just screens
The integration of smartphones into every aspect of daily life makes it hard to envisage a future without them. But with two in five [43%] smartphone users expecting wearables might replace smartphones, this could indeed happen – although it may take some time. As wearables get smarter and more independent in terms of factors such as connectivity, the smartphone screen may become less significant. Thirty-eight percent of smartphone users say wearables will be used to perform most smartphone functions within just five years.
Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Consumer Insight Expert, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says – Early signs of detachment from smartphones are visible today with 40 percent of today’s smartwatch users already interacting less with their smartphones.
Wearables bringing people into IoT
Wearable technology will also accelerate the convergence of the digital and human worlds, by bringing people into the [IoT]. While consumers are confident that wearable technology will help them interact with objects in their surroundings, they also say that this technology may not necessarily be devices. 60 percent believe that ingestible pills and chips under the skin will be commonly used in the next five years – not only to track vital health data, but also to unlock doors, authenticate transactions and identity, and to control objects. Already today, 25 percent of smartwatch owners use their smartwatch to remotely control other digital devices at home, and 30 percent use voice search on their smartwatches.
Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Consumer Insight Expert, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says Although consumers show greatest interest in devices related to safety, we also see an openness to wearable technology further away from today’s generation. In five years’ time, walking around with an ingestible sensor, which tracks your body temperature and adjusts the thermostat setting automatically once you arrive home, may be a reality.
The complete Ericsson ConsumerLab Report – Wearable Technology and The Internet of things report can be downloaded from here
VMware,Inc have announced the findings of a study on corporate data security practices conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit, which VMware sponsored globally. The research highlights growing cyber-security vulnerabilities in India, with nearly 8 in 10 IT and C-suite business leaders experiencing increased cyber-attacks on their firms in 2015.
Indian businesses are under increasing risk from serious cyber-attacks, with a third [33 percent] of the respondents expecting to be targeted within 90 days – a number higher than the Asia-Pacific region. These findings suggest that many leaders in India are concerned about growing instances of cyber-attacks and their lack of preparedness as they explore new IT innovations to advance their business. This reinforces the need for a new approach to security.
Conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit in the first quarter of 2016, the survey’s primary objective was to analyze the differences, if any, between the C-suite and senior IT executives on data security.
A key finding from the study is the opposing view of the perceived importance of cyber-security as a high-priority initiative in India. IT leaders [32 per cent] in India regard cyber-security as their number one corporate priority, while only 8 percent of C-suite business leaders share a similar point of view. Similarly, while 36 percent of IT leaders believe security budgets will significantly increase in the next two years, only 21 percent of C-suite business leaders foresee likewise.
Forward-thinking organizations understand that the reactive security approach of today is no longer doing its job. They also acknowledge that people and systems can be easily bypassed or blindsided if the business lacks a ubiquitous IT architectural plan that cuts across all levels of compute, network, storage, clouds and devices. By taking a software-defined approach to IT, security is ‘architected’ into everything, empowering organizations to gain the flexibility required to succeed as a digital business.
Critical risks identified by both groups were ‘unknown cyber threats that move faster than their defenses’, ‘resources and data that may unknowingly reside in the cloud’, ’employees who are careless or untrained in cyber-security’ and ‘illegitimate users and devices accessing corporate networks’. Leaders in India are more concerned about the ‘theft of customer data’ than their regional counterparts, with four in 10 [31.8 percent] believing that this could cause the greatest harm to their businesses.
As cyber threats grow in sophistication, any gaps in security resulting from a ‘disconnect’ between C-suite and IT leaders can lead to the loss of intellectual property, competitive positioning and customer data. IT leaders must therefore become more conversant with business risks and objectives. By having deeper conversations and translating cyber risks into business terms, IT leaders can justify requests for more investment in security. The C-suite can then better understand the business implications associated with evolving threats and make informed decisions around strategy and budgets.
VMware NSX : The Platform for Network Virtualization
A layer in between physical infrastructure and applications will be necessary for businesses to detect and respond to cyber-attackers taking advantage of new gaps or exposed frontiers. Virtualization has become the most ubiquitous infrastructure layer covering compute, network, storage, clouds and devices.
Network virtualization through VMware NSX delivers a completely new operational model for networking that forms the foundation of the software-defined data center. NSX builds networks in software, allowing data center operators to achieve levels of agility, security and cost savings that were previously not possible through physical networks.
What’s needed is an organizing framework, a true architecture that all the leading players can align to so that security can be architected in. By changing the dynamics of how we deliver trusted services over vulnerable infrastructure, the IT security industry has an opportunity to chart a new path forward.
In January to February 2016, Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by VMware,Inc, surveyed 1,100 senior executives recruited from companies between $500 million and $5 billion in revenues, on data security practices within their firms. The survey’s primary objective was to analyze the differences, if any, between the C-suite and senior IT executives on data security. The full EIU research paper is available here.
Kickstart Jobs, a Gurgaon-based entry-level talent acquisition startup, raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its Series-seed round. Led in collaboration with ah! Ventures, this round saw investments from marquee investors like Vivek Joshi – Founder, Wyzen Tech; Mohit Satyanand – Chairman, Team Works Art; Amit Banati – President [Asia Pacific], Kellogg’s; Arun Khanna – President (Asia), Dun & Bradstreet and a few others including ah! Ventures themselves.
India, as a country, in addition to its existing market, has seen a tremendous spurt in its entrepreneurial outlook and is soon becoming a utopian land of thriving businesses. Unfortunately, this turn of events has still not transcended into the concurrent employment it should encourage, especially in the blue and grey collar jobs market. The core of this rut lies in the fact that there has been no bridge that connects the eager job seekers with the right employers. This is where Kickstart Jobs, a startup focusing on the niche talent acquisition in the entry level workforce, comes into the picture.
Started in August 2015, Kickstart Jobs evolved to solve an inherent problem in the highly fragmented entry level workforce ecosystem. The company aims to create a scalable platform to connect entry level candidates with prospective employers and vice versa. Within a year of its commencement, Kickstart Jobs is already operational in the key north Indian territories of Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon, with a workforce of 10 employees and 2 promoters. It has, in this short span of time, registered more than 5000 candidates, enlisted about 3000 vacancies, conducted more than 2000 interviews and boasts of a month on month growth of 100% in the number of candidates scheduled for interviews via their platform.
KickStart Jobs Team
The conceptualization of the enterprise is credited to its two founders, Samriddhi Malhotra and Abhishek Srivastava. Samriddhi Malhotra, an XLRI Jamshedpur alumni, comes with a rich experience of working with numerous rural communities on a grass-root level. This background of hers helps her thoroughly understand the core requirements and competencies of the workforce at the entry level section. Samriddhi heads the product development and operations at Kickstart Jobs. Abhishek Srivastava, a mechanical engineer from ISM Dhanbad, comes with years of experience in managing domestic and international operations at a multinational corporation. Given his wide exposure, he spearheads the strategy and business development at Kickstart Jobs.
Kickstart has developed a unique operational proposition, wherein ‘Leaders’ are identified among the communities of job seekers and are in turn collaborated with, to utilize their strong network and connect with the entry level job seekers. The company believes in empowering these leaders with technology, currently in the form of a mobile app, thus bettering the process of data mapping.
Commenting on the need for a product like Kickstart Jobs, its unique proposition and the inclusion of technology, Co-Founder Samriddhi Malhotra said
The market for entry level hiring is one with both tremendous potential as well as enormous challenges. None of the solutions present in the market today have been able to really delve into the job seeker’s psyche and create a solution that works for both candidates and employers. Kickstart is attempting to do just that. We have closely observed existing patterns of job seeking at the entry level workforce and are leveraging this existing pattern and enabling it with technology.
Giving an investor’s perspective, Harshad Lahoti, Founder and CEO of ah! Ventures opined
As an investor, the growth that is about to unfold in this entry-level jobs sector in the near future is evident to me. This growth and spurt of service offerings in the sector is especially lucrative for the currently existing workforce of over 500+ million in the blue & grey collar ecosystem of India. And, given the fact that this number is increasing at about 12 million per year, the need to effectively harness these human resources becomes all the more essential. ah! Ventures and it’s investors saw that potential in Kickstart Jobs, not only in terms of their strong team but also in their unique methodology in operating and creating value for both, the job seeker & the employer. In our opinion such a product was long overdue, especially in a growing market like India, and we are sure to see stupendous success in the future of Kickstart Jobs.
ah! Ventures is India’s first full-spectrum startup investment network and platform comprising of over 750+ investors, including some of the renowned angels and early-stage VCs. The CLUB ah! Network today has over 10000+ startups, 675+ seed/angel investors and over 80 VCs & institutional investors, making it one of the largest platform of investors and startups. The network last year secured its first profitable exit from Ed-tech venture Harness Handitouch within two years of its investment. CLUB ah! has till date invested close to INR 85 crores in over 25 startups spread across varied industries and domains, including Kickstart Jobs.
On working with ah! Ventures, Co-founder Abhishek Srivastava said
ah! Ventures has been most helpful during our period of fund-raise. We approached ah! Ventures to close our funding requirement and they pro-actively helped us close in 5 days, in which they also participated. Their network is huge and the response has been extremely prompt. We wanted to bring ah! Ventures on-board as their reach and connections will keep us in good stead for future. We hope to use their industry and investor connects to scale our business.
ah! Ventures is a growth catalyst that brings together promising businesses and investors by creating wealth creation opportunities for both. ah!’s unique model serves investors, entrepreneurs & enablers through a unique blend of customised services, skill, and industry & domain experience. Founded in 2010, ah! Ventures has systematically disrupted the early stage funding ecosystem of India through its innovative approach toward startup investing. First of its kind initiatives like the CLUB ah! platform, ah! Angels [India’s largest angel network], ah! Seeders and ah! VC networks [India’s first seed & VC investment networks], have brought together and integrated the previously segregated startup funding life-cycle, under one roof. This, coupled with ah! Impact network, an impact investment network for investing in social enterprises and ah! Mentors network, a mentor network to engage with startups in their growth and expansion, has today made ah! Ventures one of India’s most respected change leaders and a formidable industry force to reckon with.
ah! Ventures is in the process of closing 2 more investments in the coming week.
About Kickstart Jobs
Started in 2015, Kickstart Jobs is a startup founded by by IIT- XLRI alumni. The company focuses on talent acquisition, specific to the blue and grey collared workforce. Birthed to solve an inherent problem in the highly fragmented entry level workforce ecosystem, Kickstart Jobs, aims to create a scalable platform to get people at the entry level, to connect to the employers and vice versa. Within a year of its commencement, Kickstart Jobs is already operational in the key northern territories of Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon with a workforce of 10 employees and 2 promoters. It also boasts of 100% growth in the number of candidates scheduled for interviews via Kickstart. For more information, please visit Kickstart Jobs
About ah! ventures
ah! Ventures is a startup focused growth catalyst that brings together promising businesses and investors by creating wealth creation opportunities for both. ah!’s unique model serves investors, entrepreneurs and enablers through a unique blend of customized services, skill and industry & domain experience.
Many a times, we come across instances where we wish that it would have been better to ‘Rent’ a product than ‘Buy’ it. When my wife Janukin sought to sell home-made chocolates online, we borrowed a good DSLR from a friend and got our catalogue ready !! He definitely charged us for the DSLR 🙁 There was definitely an un-tapped market for ‘Renting out such gadgets’ and this is market that EazyLeazy, a startup based out of Mumbai plans to address !!
EazyLeazy is co-founded by Peshotan Kapadia & Meheryar Tata that aims to make renting as easy as ordering a pizza. Today we have a chat with Peshotan Kapadia about EazyLeazy, Startups, Life as an entrepreneur and much more. So lets’ get started ….
Can you give a small background about you, your start-up and it’s founders ?
We provide easy rental access to great products to our customers – whether they want to use something for a short time without buying it or try something before they buy it. With easy online booking, instant confirmation, delivery in 3 hours [when needed], Cash/Card On Delivery, Low rentals and free doorstep delivery/pickup, we want to make renting so easy you #DontThinkJustRent
Meheryar Tata: A Chartered Accountant by training and spent 3.5 years in Deloitte in assurance and another 3.5 years in Deloitte in the valuations team with an extensive experience in valuation of businesses in connection with mergers/acquisitions/divestitures, regulatory compliance and financial reporting across insurance, infrastructure, telecom, e-commerce, pharma, agri-business and manufacturing. Passionate about equity investing, reading, football and playing the guitar.
Peshotan Kapadia: Chartered Accountant by training, spent 3 years at EY in financial risk management and the remaining 3.5 years of his past career at the Boston Consulting Group. With this [over] half decade-long career, he acquired experience in M&A, sales organization and efficiency, digital strategy, customer relationship management, marketing and consumer research across financial services, insurance and telecom sectors. Loves to play the guitar, go on long drives, eat and read fantasy fiction.
When and how did your come up with the idea of EazyLeazy ?
When I was going on my honeymoon, I wanted to take a DSLR with me. However, I knew if I bought one it would sit gathering dust after I returned. Similarly, Meheryar was having multiple house warming parties for his new place and felt the need for games, speakers, etc. What we found was that there was no professional, reasonable priced, online based and convenient service we could use.
Can you explain the entire process of Renting, Buying, Selling on EazyLeazy
The process is extremely simple. Come online, see the details of the product and pricing available, check the date availability and checkout online. We deliver to your doorstep on the appointed day and you can make payment via cash or card after taking delivery. Similarly we come pickup the product when the rental period is over. We are available over Call, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Email for both transaction and technical support.
Is EazyLeazy inventory led [i.e. you source products from buyers interesting in renting it out] or marketplace based [i.e. Connect interested parties over EazyLeazy]
It is currently a mixed model and varies by product.
What are the categories that are currently present on EazyLeazy ?
We currently have 4 major product categories: (i) Travel which includes amateur DSLRs, GoPros and Kindles (ii) Party and Entertainment covering karaoke, projectors, speakers, hover-boards, games & more (iii) Hobby which includes music & baking and (iv) Try before you buy which includes smartwatches, fitness bands and phones. We are constantly expanding our categories so expect a lot more soon.
Is it possible for someone to buy a product that has been rented out to him/her ?
Currently, given that we are constantly in need of supply, we do not sell inventory to our customers. However, in the future, depending on the asset class and age we will have a process by which you can keep the inventory if you like it.
How does EazyLeazy stack up against competitors like RentSher, RentOnGo or even Furlenco [though it is only in Furniture] ?
EazyLeazy is not here to replace ownership. There will always be products which you should own based on your passions and frequency of use. However, you will always feel the need to experience other products for a short period of time – that’s what we are here for. We are also extremely convenience driven – we want to make renting as easy as ordering a pizza. We hope in the long run we are able to impact the quality of our customers experiences.
EazyLeazy is currently operational in how many areas of Mumbai ?
We are currently fully operational in the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Area, but we also serve Navi Mumbai and Thane on an exception basis.
How is the logistics and reverse logistics being managed by EazyLeazy ?
Given our focus on customer experience and service, we currently manage all the logistics in-house.
How do you ensure that there is no breach of trust by the customer [i.e. Same product is returned and it is not exchanged with some fake product] ?
We have multiple levels of checks to ensure this. Given that many businesses assume credit risk, we deal with the risk in a similar way.
What is the Total Market Size of the P2P renting in India ?
We are currently in the business of renting long tail assets [don’t include property, furniture, apparel and auto], the potential for which is largely unexplored or established. There is basically a very small un-organized market at this point. This is the total renting market. P2P renting is even more nascent than that. We will only know the true potential after a couple of players get funding and scale up significantly.
EazyLeazy currently caters to only consumer electronics/Hobby electronics, do you plan to venture into other areas like Furniture, Toys etc.
We are actively looking to expand into other long tail categories. However we are are conscious of not diluting or over complicating our business model. Categories need to be a good fit on the market proposition and operating model spectrums. We currently have no plans to do the larger asset classes [apparel, furniture, cars, etc.]
How is EazyLeazy funded [Self funded, Angel, VC etc.] ?
EazyLeazy is currently self-funded
What are the major changes that you experienced when you became an entrepreneur ?
Well may actually but let me try and list the major ones:
The level of drive, commitment and excitement towards what you’re doing
The ridiculously steep learning curve in all aspects of the business
Experiencing the “buck stops with you” level of stress; you are the last line of defense for a things
Not getting a paycheck every month but having to issue them 🙂
Going from being a “consultant” to a “business owner”
Being from a non-technical background [since both of you are CA’s], what do non-tech co-founders look into a tech co-founder ?
Well tech or non tech I think a co-founder needs to (i) be on the same wavelength in terms of vision, direction and ethics are concerned and (ii) be extremely reliable and trustworthy; The technical/functional skills for me are important but secondary to these two.
Some insights into marketing [Lessons learnt while marketing EazyLeazy] ?
Haha. Now there’s a tough question. My one simple lesson is more experimentation less discussion. Running small scale experiments will give you the answer.
What are some of the qualities that entrepreneurs should look into while hiring their initial set of employees ?
The initial days are very tough so I look for (i) faith in the idea (ii) tenacity (iii) willingness to do multiple things and (iv) a fun upbeat attitude
Can you give some pointers on Scaling Up & Customer Acquisition [some take-away for entrepreneurs]
For me, sustainability is a key factor when scaling up. Rapid scale up without definite validation of most important aspects of the business model is dangerous. While it does not mean you won’t scale up, it adds a level of uncertainty and risk which for me us not acceptable. A business process should be comfortably replicable for 100-1000 transactions and for 1-10 locations. Given that we run a rental business, the quality of customer acquisition is also a concern for us. Growth cannot come at the expense of default/breakage risk.
Bootstrapping or Funding, what are your views on the same ?
There’s no right answer given the large number of variables. My simple point of view is bootstrap until you need to grow 10-20x+ and have the confidence to scale up.
How important is it for startups to focus on Unit Economics [and not some other arbitrary factors] ?
Depends on the sector and revenue model of the startup. For us, unit economics are paramount given that we actually transact with our customers (and aren’t a social medium, content generator, etc.). I believe that building a transactional business at a price point which will change in the future brings a question mark to the lifetime value of the customer acquired. So if I acquire a customer at a rental of Rs. 500 a week, I am unsure of the impact on my base and the efficacy of my offering when I take the price up to Rs. 1000.
Your views on the current start-up eco-system & valuation correction currently happening across many startups ?
I personally think it’s still to early to tell. Startups are driving a fundamental change in consumer behaviour and the final impact of that may take some time to be realized. Overall, the increased focus on cash flows, unit economics, revenue models and profitability is very positive.
Your startup Mantra ?
Add true sustainable value for the customer at a profitable price point
We thank Pesho for his time & sharing his valuable lessons in building EazyLeazy with our readers !!! If you have any questions for EazyLeazy team, please leave them in the comments section or email at himanshu.sheth@gmail.com
![[Image Source - Wearables]](https://blog.himanshusheth.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/wearables.jpg)
