21 Days Habit — A Journey from ‘100 to Zero!’
Carnot Chronicle
“Startup”, the term fascinates us!! It feels like freedom, fame, a room full of money, and whatnot. But the word “startup” starts with the letter “S,” which also means struggle, lots of struggle.
Isn’t it?
But deep down, we know that once our startup becomes a brand, everything will pay off. Every startup has limited manpower and resources. Funding is a big factor in the success or failure of any startup. In the early stages of a startup, decisions are made in terms of funding also. In such a situation, some people form teams of 100 people, while others make small teams and work with a capacity of 100 people, choosing to go with limited manpower. When you enter any startup company that has a few members only, it creates a trust issue from both sides of the coin. Everything that happens in this world is blessed with some problems, and there are many theories written by physiologists and startup experts to balance the life of a startup.
Researchers said, “When the cycle of the first “S,” i.e., struggle, touches the finish line, then the cycle of the “S,” i.e., success, starts, and the finish line of success develops a startup into a big brand.”
This is where the story of Carnot begins
Carnot, an Agri-tech startup by IIT Bombay alumni, is on a mission to improve the incomes of farmers through technology. It began with just three people and has grown to be worth millions of dollars.
Puskar Limaye (CTO, CO-FOUNDER) says, at the beginning, when he had to make a team of those talented minds for his company, he used to believe in two types of people: one who is honest and the other is a hard-working person. He had a poetry stick on the wall, which he used to read before going to interview creative minds. He says he is more confident in people who have some fall-off points because they have the power to learn things more quickly. He also believes in working with a team, hand in hand.
When Carnot was in his initial stage, Bhanu Rao, Director of Sales and Operations, joined in, and at that time, he was handling the sales of Carnot. Bhanu says that what inspires him to be with the startup is the futuristic approach of Pushkar Limaye, CTO and CO-FOUNDER, he believes he has a bright future here. But we are all familiar with the fact that in startups, there are only a few people and they have to manage everything. So, he shuffled a bit in different departments, and when he came to the operations, he was directly in contact with farmers. When he used to talk to farmers or customers directly, he would get to know the actual problem faced by them. And usually, he discusses it with the team.
It was a time in the success journey of Carnot when there was less manpower and resources. There was a time when they were getting many quarries related to the SIMHA kit(rental kit for tractors), and the ratio of problems has gone above 10%. In the year 2020, the customer happiness index was only 3.5%, and there were only 50 downloads per month. These are alarming situations for any startup; they create unnecessary bubbles in the minds of people working.
Let’s get to the good part first
In Oct 2021, the customer happiness index was 4.3. And there are 1000 downloads per month. Carnot has reached the pinnacle of his career in just one year! But the point is, how do they do it? What were their plans? How do they manage it with limited resources?
According to Pushkar, when there were few people in the initial phase with less manpower and the rate of problems was increasing, they decided to focus on their solution rather than the problems. From there, this 21-day habit culture came to the fore and we moved from 100 problems to 0 problems.
The simple answer to these questions is that the Carnot team met and came up with the brilliant idea of working on the most famous problem-solving theory known as “21-days-habit.”
Creating a habit may seem like brushing teeth on a daily basis, but it is much more than that. In this 21-day habit plan, they all decided to schedule a call every night for 21 days. The theme is to write down all the problems in one excel sheet to go through the core of the problems and find the right way to deal with the situation. In this 21-day habit plan, Pushkar and Bhanu have two more people in their discussion team.
Kunal Pachupate, who was the first employee of the product SIMHA, is right now operating the sales in Maharashtra. He is working in the field and is directly in contact with the buyers.
Anurag Kumar (head of customer support) said he was not familiar with the tractors, and even though he was from the IT department, he didn’t have any experience in the field. But when he saw Pushkar himself put up and doing everything by his own hands, that gave him the best example of how an actual startup works.
On the very first day, Pushkar Limaye scheduled a call at night around 10 p.m. with Anurag, Kunal, and Bhanu to get the actual scenario of the customers. The people are very familiar with what customers feel about Simha Kit and why the customer happiness index is low.
So, after writing the problems on an excel sheet, they used it to discuss them for almost an hour. Their main motive is not just to discuss the problem but to find a way to deal with it. They did it for a straight 21 days to make it a habit. The habit has exceeded 21 days and continues.
It leads to a lot of insights, decisions, and DNA for solving problems rather than cribbing about them. Besides this, the rate of happiness has shown massive growth and now reaches 4.5. And now this 21 days habit turned in the daily routine.
Just a slight change in the planning and execution can change the whole life cycle of a startup.
If you start something, just complete it. Don’t stick in between. If you are the one who is responsible for starting something, then you are the one who should be responsible for completing it.
- Bhanu Rao, Head of Sales and Operations
When you see your mentor working on the field with you, then you start giving your 200% to the company. In return, the company will give you more than 200%.
- Kunal Pachupate, Maharashtra operations and Support
Mind is never a problem is, mindset is. We, at Carnot believe that first principle thinking and solution mindset can move mountains. Literally.
- Pushkar Limaye, CTO and Co-founder
