Let’s talk about the new WhatsApp of the Real Estate Industry!
Any and all conversations with entrepreneurs often have undertones of a pervasive fear of failure in them. While the start-up ecosystem in India has been flourishing, especially by the presence and efforts of catalysers like CIIE, the first step by the entrepreneur in their journey is the one that faces the most resistance. For those entering the entrepreneurial space are often plagued with doubts: What if my venture doesn’t make it? What if I end up wasting my next couple of years? What if I end up losing my chances of ever having a steady career? What if, what if, what if. This holds truer if the person already has a well-established career, as they are no longer just mortgaging their career prospects, but potentially giving up the comforts and security that they worked their entire life for. For entrepreneurs, it takes much more courage and conviction to take that first leap of faith.
For Ajith Alexander, the innate desire to make meaningful changes in the industry of his choice gave him the mettle to let go of his inhibitions and kick-off his journey. Growing up in a small and medium enterprises business-savvy family in Kottayam, Kerala, helped him nurture a spirit of entrepreneurship from a very young age. However, after his higher studies, he was offered a position in McKinsey & Co., which then led to working with Nakeel Group in Dubai and Cisco. In all these three stints, he noticed a significant gap in communication between on-field construction workers and the management (back at office), a gap that reduced productivity by delays in decision making and thus incurring unprecedented costs. He immediately recognised the need for platform that could help solve this issue by real time monitoring of on-site activities by the senior management.
Reconnecting with a classmate from his engineering days, Roby Kurien, who previously worked with Kyocera Wireless, SiRF Technology, Impulsesoft and Motorola, Ajith got the boost required to go forward with the venture. Roby had already left his corporate life to run a start-up in the adventure tourism sector. Ajith bounced his ideas off Roby to see if it would be possible to create a monetisable product out of his idea and, to his delight, realised it was entirely plausible. Together, they mustered the courage to go forward, and QwikSpec was officially founded in 2015. QwikSpec is a Bengaluru-based construction site operations and analytics platform that gathers data from various stakeholders on a project site, furnishing insights that lower cost, save time, and exponentially improve quality.
The journey of building a business from scratch is always peppered with multitudes of challenges. From finding the right people who would work on the product backend and deliver services in time, to having the first pilot client who would ensure their ideas are not being developed in a vacuum, the challenges kept them on their toes. Ajith was used to having his needs taken care of by support staff at the corporations he worked in, only focusing on the projects given to them, but with QwikSpec, he swiftly became accustomed to wearing multiple hats.
Another major challenge, naturally, was funding. Ajith’s family and friends extended their support, assuring him that they believed in his ideas and would continue supporting him until he made it big. Being part of the Brigade Real Estate Accelerator Program in Bengaluru also helped them set a stage. However, their participation in the ShelterTech Accelerator is giving them visibility in the international arena as well as opening avenues for funding from investors already interested in the space.
Today, QwikSpec has more than twenty clients, who are brands in their own rights, including Mahindra Lifespaces, Prestige Group, Colliers International, and others. In these companies, the app has replaced WhatsApp as the primary means of communication with regards to workplace data management. As Ajith rightly pointed out, “An idea is only as good as how well you can deliver it.” Unlike entrepreneurs who are freshly out of college, the contacts Ajith and Roby carefully nurtured over the years helped them gain a faster customer base. Their growth was also facilitated by the favourable environment created by the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 which held the real estate developers accountable for finishing promised projects on time. Suddenly, their product was high on demand, since developers required more efficiency in delivering their services. In hindsight, they would have liked to make the app more user-driven in terms of setting up; nevertheless, they are still quite satisfied with how everything is turning out. The team at QwikSpec expects the company to be bought out by a larger organisation and until then, perfecting their user interface and gaining more client base are the primary goals they aspire for.
