We Help Startups, Enterprises Build Sound Technology Products At Scale: MVPRockets

For building a technology company, product is the most critical element. Especially, startups require a sound product, which usually determines their future success. However, product development requires an inhouse tech team with sound expertise on domain. Many startups and enterprises face the challenge of creating a good tech product owing to several issues. MVPRockets is one such company, which helps startups and enterprises, to build a sound technology product at a faster pace.

In an interaction with the Bizz Buzz, company’s CEO and Founder, Giridharan N said that it has helped several startups and even marquee firms to build a sound technology product that solves multiple problems. The company has built more than seven fintech products, around five SaaS platforms, three edtech and healthtech products for startups and enterprises so far since its inception in 2020.

The company, which is profitable entity, is planning to expand its reach in the key markets like the US, to help startups build products at a faster pace with less cost. The company is also actively leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency in product development and shorten the time frame for development

How do you start MVPRockets? What is the motivation behind starting the company? Can you provide a brief overview about the operations of the company?

I am technology professional and have spent considerable time in product development space, working for large companies. These are very successful technology companies. In 2017, I moved out of my job and started the entrepreneurial journey by setting up my own startup. My cofounder’s journey is also in similar lines. After leaving his job, he went on to set up three companies. We met during our job in one of the multinational companies. So, we both set up an AI recruiter company, which helped companies like Swiggy, Zomato, Uber, Ola and many others to hire hundreds of frontline workers like drivers and delivery boys. The efficiency of our AI-recruiter platform was 10-15 times higher than human recruiters. We were operationally profitable and raised one round of funding. But after three years of operation, Covid struck. We were not able to raise our second round of funding as investors were worried about the pandemic situation.

Secondly, a lot of revenue got stuck because the companies, which helped to hire people, were not operating (or operating at a low scale due to Covid pandemic). As a result, we had to downsize 80-85 per cent of our team. So, it was a difficult time in 2020 and we were mulling over our next course of action. As we had not let go off our technology team during this downsizing, we still had a good product quality team. We were evaluating multiple ideas. At that point of time, a friend of ours reached out to us saying that his company had raised capital and already had some customers but he didn’t have a product team. He had the confidence that we would be able to build a high-quality product as he knew us well as we were colleagues earlier.

That’s how we entered into the business of building products for companies, who don’t have a tech team. This is how we get into helping companies to build high quality product. Then, more people reached out as we build successful products for our clients initially. It grew very organically.

So, you help startups and enterprises to develop (software) products at scale. Which industries are you helping to develop tech products? Can you give some details?

We have worked across industries and developed successful products for clients operating across the spectrum. We have developed over seven products in fintech, three products in edtech, three products in healthcare, and about four-five products in the SaaS spaces. So, if a company comes up with a specific problem, then we have the product knowledge and experience of working across industries. We have a lot of expertise in consumer facing products, fintech, edtech and supply side industries.

Usually, startups and enterprises apply for patents on their core technology products. How do you maintain the confidentiality of the technology platforms across several clients?

We take several measures to maintain the confidentiality. Firstly, not a single line of code is shared between two different teams. The tech platform, we create is very specific to a particular client. We don’t take that to another client. Even we insist that the code base is stored in client’s repository and not in our repository. Secondly, we sign a non-compete agreement with the client for six months to one year, which specifies that we can’t work with any direct competitor. So, confidentiality is maintained in all cases.

How big is the team now? Can you provide some perspective on this matter?

We have 140 people in our team. We have a fairly good retention rate.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the landscape of technology industry very fast. Can you give us a view what kind of product development work are you doing in AI space? Is it making the process faster?

AI is definitely an opportunity. There is evidence that AI is improving efficiency across sectors, but not yet on a large scale. As far as code generation is concerned, AI is definitely adding value in pockets and we are also leveraging AI to improve efficiency.

But AI has not reached a stage where it can replace a software developer. Across our customer base, our customers are leveraging AI and we are helping them to do that. Every product, we develop, has some aspects of AI or the other.

Can you give some perspective on the revenue model of your company?

The revenue model is mixed with both fixed price and resource-based pricing being applied. Delivery of the product within a specific time line is fixed. We don’t follow outcome-based pricing, which is based on success of the product.

What are your expansion plans in coming quarters? Are you serving clients from abroad?

We are serving clients across the world including South East Asia, Middle East, and the US. Going ahead, we will focus on expanding our reach through investing in sales. We are going to expand our presence in the US market in coming quarters. We are already in the process of doing it.

Have you raised capital so far? Are you planning to raise capital in the near future?

We have raised some capital in 2017 in our earlier company. After that, we have not raised capital and our internal accruals are taking care of our growth. We are not planning to raise capital as we have adequate capital as of now. We are a profitable company.

We have seen sound growth since our inception and are confident of maintaining the momentum in coming years.