At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the finest stories from the startup ecosystem. As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur Ojus Sharma for an exclusive interview with us. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Applify – a mobile app design & development company. Let’s learn more about his exciting journey, his background and his advice for our growing community.
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Ojus:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I am Co-Founder and CEO at Applify, digital transformation, and a Startup Tech enabling company. We love what we do for our clients and are very passionate to see products from a piece of paper to designs to product launches.
Having an entrepreneurial spirit to the core right from the beginning, I pursued BBA and then MBA from Amity University to gain basic knowledge.”
My entrepreneurial journey has been full of learnings. There is always something new to learn, for example, people management is one of the most important topics. So, I further took a couple of courses, ‘The science of happiness at work’ from Berkeley, and ‘Strategic Management’ by Wharton.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
I was inspired by my dad. Coming from a business family and watching my dad, especially from a very early age.
I saw him grind and enjoy the process with rewards like nowhere. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur like him and make an impact that people would recognize when I grow up and make everyone proud in my family.”
‘Applify’ 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 with the help of your startup?
Well, we started out as a focused Mobile App development company and we wanted to make sure our company’s name clearly states what we do. That’s how we came up with the name ‘Applify’.
Applify enables startups, small businesses, and enterprise teams to design and develop world-class products. We offer design + product strategy services for entrepreneurs which is the first stage in a startup’s journey, followed by prototyping and making them ready for raising funds.
We also work with funded startups to create their product strategy, develop MVP and further scale their products.”
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
The first thing we did was to go remote. We started working from home and started to hire remote talent. The pandemic has opened new possibilities for us, we work at a global level and more clients are happy with video calls than ever before. Even with enterprise customers, who would generally prefer an onsite meeting, we have been meeting over Zoom calls and this has improved the transparency and the overall customer experience.
Additionally, we have introduced Talent interviews, several new client journey processes and a new Client Success Manager role in the organization which has led us to better client engagement and project success during the pandemic.
We have also realized that this pandemic has a huge impact on SMEs (especially small businesses) so we’ve come up with pre-packaged apps for these businesses to help speed up their Digital Transformation. We are working with some government agencies to enrol for the grants in Singapore and Australia to offer financial support to our clients.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
I think working with some defined principles will lead to less stress and more work is done. Some of such principles are:
Balance between Smart and Hard work: too much smart work leading to less hard work can do more harm than good. You become soft and less entrepreneurial. Too much hard work is also insubstantial as you’ll lose time in silly things and won’t end up getting the right closure. You need to balance it out.
Soundproof the outside noise: It was extremely difficult for me to make decisions in the beginning because of people’s opinions. You just have to cut that out and do what you feel is right ruthlessly.
Delegate work, and see how your plan executions pick up speed as you’ve never seen. Of course, it needs to be delegated smartly
In your opinion, what is more necessary: An idea or a good team for a successful startup?
I think while ideas are the initial building blocks of any Startup, execution is critical to the success of any business. Without execution, the ideas have no value. Hence, a good team is at the very core of a successful business. That’s one of the reasons why startups all across the globe spend so much time and resources on maintaining impeccable company culture.
An Idea is important but you may have an average idea and can still be very successful if you hire the right team.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
Running a business seems like a daunting task and trust me, it really gets challenging but over the period we learn as entrepreneurs. We learn from our mistakes and sometimes from others’ mistakes too. We have to be able to persist, make informed decisions, and hustle through tough times.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as aspiring entrepreneurs?
If you have an idea, understand that you don’t know all, seek expert advice, and validate your idea. Find a company that can help you validate the idea. Building a business is like building a house, if you have a professional architect layout the correct blueprints. At Applify, we have the right team that can help you start on the right foot.
Find a co-founder. A startup with 2 co-founders is the best team size investors look for. Look for someone who does have experience and can contribute to your company success by handling a department.
Do not be in two ships. Focus is everything. Quit your job, burn the bridges and get 100% into it. Building a business requires a high level of commitment.
Learn Product Management, you can take some online courses. It will give you an idea as to how a product works – will take you from 0 – 50% knowledge. Investors also are attracted to founders who know how things work in their business.
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.
