As part of our ongoing quest to get you meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur Gaurav Mangla for an exclusive interview with BrilliantRead Media. Gaurav is a Leader, Product Strategist, Seasoned Entrepreneur and Co-Founder & CTO of Pickrr. Let’s learn more about his inspiring journey, way forward and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Gaurav:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I was born and brought up in Faridabad and further pursued B.Tech in Maths and Computing from IIT Guwahati (2009-2013). I used to have fun in problem-solving from my initial days and that later helped me in developing my interest in maths and programming.
My professional career has been a roller coaster starting off as a consultant in IP consulting with iRunway and later venturing out to start up to solve a niche problem for businesses and hence had a very exponential learning curve through a startup journey. I quit iRunway, to start OptimisedBits – A Modern Age Hiring Software which used to replicate F2F interviews online.”
We bootstrapped it with almost zero savings and floated it well in the market. It was our first entry into the startup world and we realised the ecosystem is getting nurtured in India. 2013-2015 timeline was a great boom for the startup ecosystem in India which led to the emergence of a lot of young folks pursuing a business problem for a startup.
At the beginning of 2015, we realised that OptimisedBits was not scaling well and the major value proposition in the hiring industry was more towards finding the right talent and making sure that talent joins the company as well. Hence, we sold the product of OptimisedBits to a Delhi based company and joined there as Product managers. The company itself pivoted to a Shuttl type business model and we eventually decided to move on as it popped up like an opportunity to attempt our own startup again.
Me, Ankit and Rhitiman collaborated post Rhitiman’s MBA from ISB and decided to start Pickrr. Rhitiman was our Manager at iRunway. We started Pickrr as a pick, pack and deliver company with owning end to end operations. We started with our own warehouses and delivery boys on a hyperlocal model as a 22nd player in the market at that time (yeah we calculated!).”
We raised one angel and seed round on this model and founders of iRunway also participated in the round. We tried building and scaling operations but both demand and supply had a lot of competition and money intensive requirements with a blurred future.
We started researching, experimenting and pivoting and realised that we can solve the same problem in a scalable manner using tech and for SMEs and medium scale companies as they themselves started flourishing in the Indian E-commerce market. Till 2017, marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart etc used to cater around 80-85% of e-commerce orders and this number started shifting due to emergence of D2C brands and shopifys of the world. COVID also triggered this surge and eventually, this number in 2020 is about 50-50.
Since 2018, we have started shifting Pickrr to a model where Pickrr can give an Amazon-like logistics experience and service to each and every business including SMEs and SMBs.
We became a logistics API to efficiently plug all logistics services on a single platform and started acting as a strong data layer bringing efficiency and scalability in the business of our customers. We emerged as a plug n play logistics arm for any business.”
We automated the entire flow post order generation and helped our sellers save cost on the software and logistics front with efficiency as a big value add on. After a lot of failures and learning, we started scaling this model with a lean team and now we are on the right path to scale Pickrr. Omidyaar networks and Guild Capital joined our mission in late 2020 and has been a big support hand for us to float well in the ecosystem.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
During my college days at IITG, I pursued an internship at Amagi Media Labs in 2012 which was an early-stage startup and the environment and adrenaline rush there fascinated me towards the startup world.”
Then the ecosystem of Bangalore was a huge boost for me to pursue OptimisedBits. We started OptimisedBits from NASSCOM which helped me in my journey of networking and problem-solving.
‘Pickrr’ 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?
We started Pickrr as a pick, pack and deliver model. Hence Pickrr was an apt choice name at that point in time.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
As a business scaling up during COVID, each measure is taken to ensure that the model aligns with challenges of the pandemic.
~ Our business model consists of a lean team which is not at all resource-heavy and has minimal overheads.
~ E-commerce and digitalisation surged post-COVID and that gave us more opportunity to scale and stay ahead in the game. We started hiring A+ talent and made sure that every single person at Pickrr stays aligned with our mission.
~ Every aspect of the business is online and tech-enabled to ensure automation as much as possible.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Like I mentioned above that I am a programming enthusiast, solving traditional problems through modern architectures on scale excited me. Be it tech or business, the aspiration to learn every day keeps me going strong and motivated. Never give up attitude is a must in parallel to motivation. One should not shy from iterations and upgrades.
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
Grabbing the right opportunity and performing to the best of your capability when you get that opportunity. Stay hungry and develop a calm never give up attitude.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?
I’ve learned finally to not compare myself to other successful people who seem to have it all together. Invariably, things are not always as they seem, and no one has it all together.
I have also learned how important it is to embrace change because, at any given time, you will need to shift strategies due to circumstances beyond your control.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
The ability to effectively lead is a crucial factor in the success, or lack thereof, in entrepreneurial ventures. By understanding and embodying what it takes to lead effectively, entrepreneurs can maximize their chances of success.
In your opinion, what is more necessary: an idea or a good team for a successful startup?
In my opinion, it should be a mix of both. You just cannot go ahead with an idea jotted down on a piece of paper without like-minded people working on it.
I have seen companies with very innovative ideas with niche market segments fail just because they lacked proper team spirit in them.”
To be successful, you should team up with co-founders who share your vision behind the idea and you also need to hire the right people for the right position so that it gets implemented in a proper way.
Please share with us, what has worked well for you so far?
One thing I would say that helped me and my company grow is the stealth phase where we bootstrapped our pivot from an operations company to a complete tech-enabled company.
We experimented with many possible directions and identified differences between long term scalable directions and low hanging fruits. We learned the hard way and that has started paying off.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
I love my work. Anything you do in life you have to have a passion for and should not feel like work.
Any lows that I see today are way better than the challenges I had faced while starting up. This keeps me humble and motivated at the same time
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and see them as an opportunity to learn. Don’t get married to an idea and always stay hungry to change and innovate.
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.
