As part of our endeavour to identify and share some of the unique and compelling stories from India and around the world, we invited Ganapathy Swaminathan for an interview with us to understand more about his inspiring journey so far. He is the Founder of Beekle. Let’s learn more about his inspiring journey, background, and advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Ganapathy:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
After my Engineering, I started my career with Oracle Financial Services in Bengaluru. I was part of the Banking Products team and had the good fortune of moving to Europe and interacting and collaborating with some of the leading financial institutions in more than 10 countries in the region.
During my time in Europe, I did my Executive MBA at the prestigious INSEAD Business School, France. After having spent 13 years with Oracle, I relocated to Singapore to head Business Operations for a cloud-based banking software company in Asia-Pacific.
During my stint in Singapore, I met with key stakeholders of a lot of financial institutions in the region, esp. Philippines and Indonesia and this gave me a different perspective to the challenges faced by institutions in the developing world when it comes to adopting technology and reaping benefits on their technology investments.
And this motivated me to startup a fintech company, for which I teamed up with my INSEAD batch-mate and moved back to India and started up FundsCorner, a digital lending fintech company that leverages the latest technology advancements in the field of data science, to arrange easy-to-access Collateral-Free, Stock Purchase loans for Small Retailers to buy Stock from their distributors. After having successfully built and grown the company over the past 6 years, I decided to move on and have now started up Beekle.
Beekle is a Voice AI company and our Artificial Intelligence(AI) based voice meeting assistants help businesses & individuals to capture voice conversations, transcribe meetings and make these voice conversations searchable and gain insights from this powerful knowledge source.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
In India, kids while growing up are always told to study hard, get a degree because having a good degree from the top colleges will place you in a good job and life is all set after that.
For most of us, this belief is firmly ingrained in us that it is difficult to think otherwise, esp. when you do not have any businessman or entrepreneurs within your close family circle to get influenced by. I am no different, as I grew up in a small town in the Cauvery Delta region in Tamil Nadu, with little or no experience in Entrepreneurship.
Fortunately for me, right from the early days of my professional career, I got exposed to different cultures & business environments that shaped my thought processes over the years, which also culminated in me deciding to do something on my own.
“You are your own boss and you own your time” – this is what attracted me towards entrepreneurship, made me leave my corporate job and take a plunge into entrepreneurship.
‘Beekle’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
“Beekle” is a wordplay on “Bee” and “Google”. We wanted me to be as nimble as a “Bee” and as innovative and disruptive as “Google”.
Imagine you could search a voice conversation the same way you search your email. You would be able to go back, listen again to what was said, and find exactly what you wanted in seconds.
Beekle aims to make voice conversations accessible and searchable in the same way texts and emails are now.
With Beekle, you miss less, collaborate better, and improve results. It’s not another app to learn or a tool to share. Beekle automatically joins your Zoom or Google Meet meetings, takes notes, and shares them with meeting participants. So everyone can stay focused on the conversation.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
We are a 100% remote setup and intend to continue to operate the same way even after the pandemic, as we believe that teams can be highly productive even in remote setup and save a lot of time and energy that are typically lost in commutes.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Entrepreneurial life is filled with unexpected challenges and obstacles and it is important that an entrepreneur has in him that resolve to be ready for such challenges day-in and day-out, turn some of these challenges into opportunities, wherever he/she can and learn from the mistakes/challenges faced and keep moving ahead.
One has to dig deep into his resolve, face it out and then move on. Only people, who have the inner strength to do that, can survive and succeed in the long run. And my spiritual beliefs, wanting to remain calm and collective under pressure and seeing everything in perspective, is what keep me going even during the toughest of times.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My family has been my biggest strength and motivation. I strongly believe that
“Startups are built by entrepreneurs but Startup journeys are taken by their entire family”.
There is no dearth of startup ideas in this world, but very few take that plunge to execute such ideas. And for those who manage to take that plunge into entrepreneurship, support from their family is the most critical element that has a big say in how long they keep fighting to see success.
What are some of the strategies that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
> Trust your gut feel, especially when taking decisions under a lot of uncertainty, which an entrepreneur most goes through
> Being collective and calm under pressure
> Precise & clear in communication
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
It’s a combination of factors
1) Right attitude
2) Being inquisitive & Curious
3) Knowing your strengths & weaknesses
4) Being a good Human Being
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
In the early part of the career, approach things with an open mind and embrace things as they come along. Do not try to box yourself to a particular domain/technology/industry.
If you are a student, learn life skills by doing internships and part-time jobs, and this might open up a lot of opportunities. Also, don’t be too worried about what the world might think of you and don’t try fitting in the set pattern/precedent set by others.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
