Flatpebble Leading The sCommerce Trend in The Startup World
Flatpebble.com is a promising venture which is successfully operating in the rapidly growing services marketplace sector, deploying a winning combination of a powerful and scalable tech platform, with deep understanding of the nuances of the target services – photography & videography.
Flatpebble want to build the worlds best services ecosystem, right from helping consumers hire the best service providers using upfront pricing, verified pros and helping the pro’s complete deliveries to managing their businesses and digital identities.
How did the entrepreneurial bug bite you?
From a very early stage it was clear to me that I had to do something intellectually challenging, money was never a motivation. Research & science & computers were my passion. Studying to be a Chemical engineer, there were two paths ahead of me. One was to do a Masters and a PhD in the US where I had a few admits, or work. The more I connected with friends, relatives and seniors it was clear to me that Businesses were innovating faster than academia, primarily because they were forced to do so to stay afloat. Academia was less worried about impact and producing meaningful results and was more concerned with publishing papers that would never impact the common man.
Through my work experience and after an MBA, I understood how business was conducted and learnt the ability to apply processes, motivate team mates and deliver under pressure. However the limitations of an employee especially in very large firms, limits one to operational excellence and provides little to no decision making or strategic opportunities.
In addition it was clear that running a company needed oodles of energy and resilience, so I had to start earlier than later. After a large project for Microsoft in Malaysia, Pranav and I decided, it was now or never and took the plunge. We were very clear that we would not waste time on a business plan and that we will require about 8-12 months to find a problem worth solving, and one that we could dedicate our lives to.
What were the challenges before you while setting up this startup?
Challenges in starting up are more psychological than anything else. The first person to be convinced is yourself. This is a journey with many doubts, questions and hard bumps. I had to be sure I was doing the right thing for me and my family. I was walking away from a cushy job and very green paycheck. I had to be sure I wasn’t doing this for fun.
The second part of the challenge was to convince near and dear family, who were worried that I was throwing away a fast growing career.
Luckily we have been efficient with our deployment of capital and have been fortunate enough to get mentored by some of the best people around.
What are the challenges for startup companies setting up shop in India?
It was relatively simple to incorporate, but getting a name that we really wanted was tough. However we didn’t face any bureaucratic pain in setting up. That came later, when we tried to get a payment gateway for the business.
How is your business model different from the existing ones?
Getting customers to transact online for High Value Services, is a very difficult problem. This is something no one has really attempted at scale. Flatpebble is using a SAAS (Service as an SKU ) model to solve this problem.
Who are your clients? How do you look at expanding?
Consumers looking to get married, or having a party,family event, and businesses looking for various types of photography, or corporate events are our customers. We will expand into the Lifestyle Services space.
The best and worst memories while setting up..
The best memories are mostly with the team, when we took up a tough problem and saw how customers responded to it. Today we laugh about it, but 10 months ago, we were very worried as we took a big decision to walk away from a Revenue stream, because it makes sense for our customers.
I’ve been enjoying every minute of the Roller coaster, so no bad memories, touch wood !
