After working for a myriad of IT companies, including Infosys, Capgemini, and Cognizant, Naren Lokwani wanted to startup on his own.
In June 2019, he started an edtech startup in Bengaluru. Soon, he realised that a lot of startup founders are non-techies.
“We thought of helping the non-techie founders and help them build the software product or mobile app they dream of building. Frshr Technologies is a startup for startups,” says Naren.
The platform provides product development services to its five startup clients from the US, UK and India.
Naren explains that Frshr assists its client startups to build custom software products, helping them in building their dream product MVP (Minimum Viable Product) in a short period of time.
The Frshr Tech team
The initial seed
Naren got the idea to build Frshr from one of his friends working in Silicon Valley, who wanted to build a startup but had no tech team to build the product.
Naren’s friend wanted to create an identity management platform for individuals and enterprises. However, he was not sure how to go about setting up a team to build this product.
Being a non-technical person, his friend was not sure of which tech stack to choose, how to go about hiring people, how much it will cost to build the product, and how to support it post its release.
“I clearly realised there was a big latent need in the market for services to help non-technical founders with their dream software product. Hence, Frshr Tech pivoted from being an edtech venture to a product development services venture,” says Naren.
The startup was able to get its first few customers with word of mouth and through initial contacts. In fact, its early success in building good software products led the company to its next set of customers.
“We follow our unique methodology of “Idea to MVP in 12 Weeks,” which helps startups a lot as they enter the market at a lower cost and short time. We are a team of software product development experts, engineers, designers, product managers, and entrepreneurs, with a common vision of client success,” says Naren.
Frshr Tech provides software services in enterprise platforms, mobile app development, blockchain and cryptocurrency development, AI and ML services, mobile gaming, robotic process automation (RPA), ecommerce portal development, enterprise software deployment, and web design and development.
So far, the startup has built a social media app (built on Hedera Blockchain) for its UK client, an identity management platform for its US client, a code-sharing web app for its Indian customer, an ecommerce web app for another Indian customer, and so on.
The problem it addresses
The product development services business is a very tough sector to enter, sustain, and scale. For the past 30 years, companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, etc., have been doing software product development for large companies.
“On the other hand, there are some very small outfits who undercut prices and make it non-competitive for an established player to go exclusively after startup clients. There are hundreds of mobile app development companies in the market today, and almost no one has been able to build a scalable brand for themselves,” adds Naren.
He adds, “The key to is to understand clients well, provide consistent engagement experience, and deliver solid products at very competitive prices. We believe we have been able to deliver on these lines very well.”
At present, Frshr has 35 people in its team, which includes software engineers, product managers, delivery leads, UX, and software testing and management expertise.
Market
According to the Grand View Research report, the global product design and development services market size was valued at $7.9 billion in 2020, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.6 percent between 2021 and 2028.
The bootstrapped startup competes with the likes of Guwahati-based TechVariable.
“We do the initial discussion with clients on their understanding of the domain, problem area, solution space, and we provide a comprehensive solution and plan to deliver an MVP in 12 weeks flat. Our process of delivering a software product differentiates us from our competition and helps us grow consistently,” adds Naren.
Although Frshr charges a commission from the startups, it has declined to disclose the same. Naren claims the startup is growing at 50 percent annually. In the next two years, Frshr Technology is projected to clock $1 million revenue per annum.
Future
At present, the startup aims to establish offices in key countries in Europe like the UK, France, Germany, and a few offices in the US to establish a nearshore experience for its clients.
“In the next 10 years, we want to grow Frshr Tech to a 1,000 people company, with presence in several key cities in India. We want Frshr Tech to be an aspirational brand and employer of choice for best colleges in India and abroad,” says Naren.
While in the first 10 years of his career, Naren spent it with large corporates, during the next 10, he jumped into entrepreneurship and started several companies, such as Algorial (had raised seed funding) and DealXprt (sold to a US-based firm).
“Frshr Tech is my third venture, and my previous ventures taught me several lessons in scaling teams and building businesses from scratch that I can utilise in this venture as well,” says Naren.
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