At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the finest stories from the leadership world. As part of this endeavour, we invited a passionate entrepreneur – Hari Sasi for an exclusive interview with us. He is an entrepreneur, leader, strategist, mentor and coach. Hari is the Co-Founder of Fynamics Business Solutions Pvt Ltd. Let’s learn more about his exciting journey, his background and his advice for our growing community.
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Hari:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I did my bachelors in electronics from Kerala university later I pursued my MBA in marketing from M.G. University, Kerala. I was a passionate individual from the beginning and always aspired to be one of the youngest achievers by delivering high performance in all walks of life.
To add to my skills and knowledge, I also completed a course in Financial modelling, which is very necessary in all fields of work while looking to raise funds. During my college days, I took part in major contests and competitions since I was an all-rounder in studies & cultural activities.
I have always been very passionate about building something on my own that can solve major environmental problems. We all know how much pollution is caused by the building material elements, and the amount of carbon dioxide generated by them adversely affects the environment.
Later after my studies, I started my career with IT startups in Kerala, from there I realized the potential in myself as an entrepreneur and started working towards that. I scrutinize all the problems budding entrepreneurs go through and try to solve it as a challenge.”
Later I found that the biggest challenge of an entrepreneur is to understand finance and also to create a financial proposal for a fundraise and started to solve the problem with the ease of doing.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
I chose entrepreneurship because I always wanted to make an impact. I have always been intrigued by entrepreneurship and read success stories of all successful entrepreneurs.
I found that I can dedicate my 100% into an effort where I can make an impact in society. Also, I believe I have the skill of solving complex problems, So combining all these aspects, the entrepreneurial journey makes me well suited to me.”
During my college days, we used to sell different products/conduct activities to earn pocket money, and that makes me confident enough that I can start my own journey.
‘Finline’ 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?
It’s a combination of two words – ‘Finance & lifeline’ – we are helping entrepreneurs to create the proposal of their business, which is a kind of lifeline to that organization. So that’s why we come up with the idea of coining Finance with a lifeline.
What is Finline all about? How do you help the users?
Finline is an online ‘Financial Modelling Platform ‘ for everyone including entrepreneurs, professionals like CA,CS, banks and aggregators. A financial model is an important document for a business unit to get a loan/funding( just like a biodata for a job).
The financial model includes if you have an existing business then its audited financial statements and the future projections. If it’s a new unit then the business plan and projection.
It also explains how the firm will utilize its resources and how it makes revenue and effectively it can repay the loan/fund. Also, it gives value to the investor that how valuable it will give back to the investor. So in a nutshell it’s a complete financial detail of the firm.
For an entrepreneur it’s always difficult to create but using Finline, he/she can create complex financial details by just answering to the questions given in the software, the AI system will take care of the processing and will provide the P&L, Balance Sheet and cash flow within seconds. It’s also helpful for professionals like CAs to create the proposal to their clients as it helps reduce their turnaround time from 3 days to 15 mins.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
The initial days of covid lockdown was a learning session to us as we have not been through such things and later we identified the potential of exploring the untapped customers. We make finline available in 8 different languages so that everybody sitting at their home can plan their new business idea and ask for funding. We engaged with YouTubers as influencers and focused more on digital marketing.
Ours is a completely new model to the users and the report they can download instantly once answering the questions was a new experience to them compared from the waiting period of 3-4 days. During the pandemic period, our business increased by 350% and we created a strong brand and reputation among the young entrepreneurs in India.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Empowering and making the user educated about the financial details is the main challenge that we face and we continuously give details/learn about the industry, finance etc to keep them motivated.
Another challenge we found was the lack of confidence among customers to create financial modelling as DIY. But due to the continued efforts and education, we are solving the challenges.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My life changed around my pillars; my parents and my wife – Krishnapriya They stood behind me and kept me motivated when I’m down.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
1) Be trustworthy
2) Always being resourceful & humble
3) Taking extreme ownership and responsibility for my actions Courage
4) Ability to take risks & venture into uncharted territories.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
Success for me is the journey, not the “achievement” you earned on a fine day. I think if you don’t have guilt for your actions and if it’s progressing towards the planned way, you can cheer up.
Success is an endless journey but being humble and resourceful is what we need. Stay with confidence, work smart to achieve the goal, then you can define yourself as successful.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
My request to students is to take your projects/internships seriously – not just for the namesake, do the work sincerely and understand the building blocks which derive from each industry. Every employer looks at a person who can add value to the organization.
So by understanding the basic functionality and you make sure that how this basic functioning can be made more effective then you can easily shine in the career. Also, it is very important to stick to a profession you deeply love, follow your heart not the words of society.
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.
