If you've read Five Point Someone by ChetanBhagat, you'd know that a six-pointer isn't considered an academic whizkid in the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). In fact, there is a running joke among IITians that a six-pointer justifies his education by becoming an entrepreneur. As a student of mechanical engineering at IIT Bombay (2000-4), my extra-curricular activities, particularly in robotics, overshadowed the lack of academic excellence. I was better in practicals than theory. So in my case, too, the campus was where the entrepreneurial seed took root.
I participated in several national level competitions in robotics and was also part of the team representing my college at a contest organised by the prestigious American Society of Mechanical Engineers in New Orleans, USA, in May-June 2003.
Two IIT graduates trying to make learning science a friendly experience for kids by using robotics We made a baseball testing machine, and though we didn't win the competition, I learnt a lot. To begin with, I realised that robotics was not just a hobby in the US. It was used as a project-based learning tool from the fourth grade in schools. They implemented the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) approach to learning, which meant putting classroom learning into practice for skill development. This is when a business idea started buzzing in my head.
As soon as I returned home, I started conducting research on the Indian requirement for implementing this concept in schools. By July 2003, I was hard at work trying to indigenously develop a pedagogy that would enable children to learn science using the robotics technology. However, family pressure to get a stable job did not allow me to explore the idea after graduation. Instead, I joined Hindustan Petroleum's Mumbai refinery as a project engineer in July 2004, but within a year, I was chaffing at the bit. Since I had no family responsibility, I felt I was whiling away the only time I had to do something unconventional. So, in December 2005, I quit my job, and with my father's support, began work on my idea.
In the next six months, I put together Rs 1.5 lakh from my savings, and asked some juniors from IIT-B to help design a robotics kit. The content was centred on teaching the basics of mechanical engineering to junior college students. They worked on weekends and I paid them a stipend of Rs 5,000. By February 2006, we were ready with the finished product and organised a small programme at the College of Engineering, Pune. I was expecting close to 20 sales, but managed many more, making a profit of 20-30%. Buoyed by the success, I incorporated the company as ThinkLABS Technosolutions in October.
Keen to replicate the Pune success, we started organising training programmes, tapping 10-15 colleges in tier II & III cities. This brought in close to Rs 10-15 lakh, which was re-invested in product development. We made another kit, which was focused on learning electrical engineering with robotics. One-and-a-half years later, when we needed to scale up the venture, I approached the incubation cell at IIT-B and bagged a soft loan of Rs 10-12 lakh, along with infrastructure.
It had also dawned on me that a door-to-door selling model can't be scaled easily. So I hired nine people to convert my functioning business idea into a designated enterprise. Around this time, Gaurav Chaturvedi, my batchmate at IIT-B, came on board as a co-founder. Prior to joining, he had been working in a start-up called Rhizo Tech, but has been involved in sales and marketing for us since 2006.
Recognising that we needed to develop a deeper engagement with school children, we started approaching schools with career- and job-oriented course modules. In January 2008, we got the first round of funding from SeedFund, which helped us push the dream. By the end of 2009, we had two trainers for schools and 4-5 trainers for colleges. Today, we have 105 people dedicated to the task. In many ways, 2009-10, was our first year of operations since we had neither made sufficient money to be quoted nor was the accounting formalised. Our turnover that year was Rs 1 crore from eight schools and two colleges. By the end of 2010, we doubled the figure.
We broke even last year in our operational costs, raking in Rs 5 crore in 2011-12. Today, we have 200 schools and 28 colleges in India as our clients, but this is a high traction space. In addition, we have 15 international schools in our kitty; three are in Saudi Arabia and the rest in Dubai.
In this financial year, we are expecting close to Rs 10 crore, of which we have already achieved Rs 8 crore. This helped us move into a rented office space at Powai, Mumbai, a couple of months ago. In the next three years, we are hoping to hit the Rs 50 crore mark. In the near future, we plan to approach government schools and the retail market with basic science experiment kits for children to help them have fun with robotics.
I participated in several national level competitions in robotics and was also part of the team representing my college at a contest organised by the prestigious American Society of Mechanical Engineers in New Orleans, USA, in May-June 2003.
Two IIT graduates trying to make learning science a friendly experience for kids by using robotics We made a baseball testing machine, and though we didn't win the competition, I learnt a lot. To begin with, I realised that robotics was not just a hobby in the US. It was used as a project-based learning tool from the fourth grade in schools. They implemented the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) approach to learning, which meant putting classroom learning into practice for skill development. This is when a business idea started buzzing in my head.
As soon as I returned home, I started conducting research on the Indian requirement for implementing this concept in schools. By July 2003, I was hard at work trying to indigenously develop a pedagogy that would enable children to learn science using the robotics technology. However, family pressure to get a stable job did not allow me to explore the idea after graduation. Instead, I joined Hindustan Petroleum's Mumbai refinery as a project engineer in July 2004, but within a year, I was chaffing at the bit. Since I had no family responsibility, I felt I was whiling away the only time I had to do something unconventional. So, in December 2005, I quit my job, and with my father's support, began work on my idea.
In the next six months, I put together Rs 1.5 lakh from my savings, and asked some juniors from IIT-B to help design a robotics kit. The content was centred on teaching the basics of mechanical engineering to junior college students. They worked on weekends and I paid them a stipend of Rs 5,000. By February 2006, we were ready with the finished product and organised a small programme at the College of Engineering, Pune. I was expecting close to 20 sales, but managed many more, making a profit of 20-30%. Buoyed by the success, I incorporated the company as ThinkLABS Technosolutions in October.
Keen to replicate the Pune success, we started organising training programmes, tapping 10-15 colleges in tier II & III cities. This brought in close to Rs 10-15 lakh, which was re-invested in product development. We made another kit, which was focused on learning electrical engineering with robotics. One-and-a-half years later, when we needed to scale up the venture, I approached the incubation cell at IIT-B and bagged a soft loan of Rs 10-12 lakh, along with infrastructure.
It had also dawned on me that a door-to-door selling model can't be scaled easily. So I hired nine people to convert my functioning business idea into a designated enterprise. Around this time, Gaurav Chaturvedi, my batchmate at IIT-B, came on board as a co-founder. Prior to joining, he had been working in a start-up called Rhizo Tech, but has been involved in sales and marketing for us since 2006.
Recognising that we needed to develop a deeper engagement with school children, we started approaching schools with career- and job-oriented course modules. In January 2008, we got the first round of funding from SeedFund, which helped us push the dream. By the end of 2009, we had two trainers for schools and 4-5 trainers for colleges. Today, we have 105 people dedicated to the task. In many ways, 2009-10, was our first year of operations since we had neither made sufficient money to be quoted nor was the accounting formalised. Our turnover that year was Rs 1 crore from eight schools and two colleges. By the end of 2010, we doubled the figure.
We broke even last year in our operational costs, raking in Rs 5 crore in 2011-12. Today, we have 200 schools and 28 colleges in India as our clients, but this is a high traction space. In addition, we have 15 international schools in our kitty; three are in Saudi Arabia and the rest in Dubai.
In this financial year, we are expecting close to Rs 10 crore, of which we have already achieved Rs 8 crore. This helped us move into a rented office space at Powai, Mumbai, a couple of months ago. In the next three years, we are hoping to hit the Rs 50 crore mark. In the near future, we plan to approach government schools and the retail market with basic science experiment kits for children to help them have fun with robotics.
No comments:
Post a Comment