As part of our quest to identify and share some of the meaningful stories from the entrepreneurship world, this week we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur – Manoj Mohite for an interview with us. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Imurprint. His startup aims to be one stop solution for all the Printing, Customised Gifting, Packing and Offline Marketing services. Let’s read more about his interesting journey and his advice for those aspiring!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Manoj:
Tell us a little bit about yourself (background) and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I’m an ordinary person who used to hold the dream of being an influential member of the world. I am 30 years old. After my graduation, I worked in IBM for an Insurance company in the USA. Then I moved to HolidayIQ which was a travel startup, I set up a couple of sales and operations vertical there.
That was my first startup journey and I gained a lot of knowledge in terms of operational dynamics and leadership skills.
In 2015, I had a job offer as a “Head Product Operations “in one of the most popular travel metasearch in the country – Ixigo. I worked there for 2 years and was responsible for setting operations process across all the products.
Later on, I Picked up an offer from a leading photo book company in the country – Canvera as Associate Director. After its acquisition with Printo, me and my school friend Asif (Co-founder) decided to start IMURPRINT (I M UR Print) which is into both B2C and B2B printing, Marketing, Branding and Gifting Solutions. It has been eventful and meaningful 2 years now. We are working with more than 25 Corporate Brands like Bounce, Rapido, Byjus and many more. As the CEO of this organisation, I value our team first. We do less market spends rather spend on the team to get better output.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I always believed every person in the company is an entrepreneur. I was an entrepreneur earlier in my previous companies. But I took a step to start-up a company initially to test my learnings and to learn more which I couldn’t get a chance to learn.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
For me, It is numbers and sales. I am always a number guy. I do not work on anything without targets. When I assign targets to the team, I assign a separate target for myself.
For me achieving numbers and targets gives more thrill and encourages me to focus more.
Till now most of my team members who have worked in my team have also cultivated the same.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
We keep facing challenges every day. There is no business that is successful without facing challenges. In my current journey, a major challenge that we face is the recovery of the payments from the clients. Since it is a B2B product we face this challenge every second month from the execution of the products. Managing this cash flow in this industry and surviving with having the 98% activation of the client month on month is the biggest challenge which we have cracked and I am very much proud to share this information here. I also appreciate my team for maintaining this percentage.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
Emotions and Team. If the emotions are right, then the money is in place. Both Emotions and Money are very important. If you have the right emotions and the team we can achieve wonders. The team can make a company successful or make it a failure. If these 2 things are in place, then the money is in place.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I manage pressure and stress by talking to my team and making fun. We also have a kitchen in the office where we cook some snacks and play music on a very stressful day. I love travelling, so I try to take a vacation as well.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
In my journey so far what has helped me immensely is being aggressive and a keen learner.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Key to success is just keeping focused and look forward to growing. Do not say “No” for anything. Everything has something new to learn which will add on to grow in the carrier.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
“Focus” and “Do it”. As per me, focus is the only key to open a start-up. If you have something in mind just execute it rather regretting not doing it. Success or failure is measured only if you execute. My another important point for all those who are trying to start, please do not waste time discussing your ideas or plan with people. This is one of the major things which I have personally faced and also see many of them facing this. Just focus and do it. Let the market tell if it is a success or failure.
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.
