• We always find our interviews between two different things. To see more candidates on finding the best and get disappointed at last or selecting the average candidate whom we see at first.
• The selection process should not be dragged and the best candidates won’t wait for our feedback till we are in the process of finding the best.

Courtesy: Hirington.com

• One of the low cost of living compared to any Tier II city.
• Good place for entertainment which already has 2 multiplexes and 4 more come soon.
• Two new shopping malls coming in less than 6 months.
• Famous tourist like Kaniyakumari, Kodaidanal, Rameshwaram, Moonar, Thekadi, Theni etc are all less than 4 hours travel from Madurai.
• Famous for temples.
• Famous for its authentic food.
• No traffic jams.

With all these benefits it would be wonderful place to work. How would it be if you are being paid a salary standard of Tier I city and enjoy the benefits of Tier II city.

These are the requirement available in Cogzidel’s Madudai unit.

Position 1
————

Position: Team Leaders
Experience: 2+ Years
Skills: Good leadership skills, good communication skills, proficient in LAMP technology, innovative and eager to update and learn.

Position 2
————

Position: Web Developer
Experience: 1+ Year
Skills: Good communication skills, Proficient in LAMP Technology, innovative and eager to update and learn.

Position 3
————

Position: Fresher
Skills: Good communication skills, good aptitude skills and eager to learn.

You can forward your resume to boopathi@cogzidel.com.

 

Q. Hello Ajith. Can you tell us about yourself?

 

A.  I graduated from Crescent Engineering College (Chennai) in 2005. My first job was with HP, where I was working as a Java/J2ee Developer for 2 years. I also worked for 4 months with a startup based in Chennai handling marketing and sales. Currently I consult for internet based businesses.

 

Q. When & how did your entrepreneur desire started & blossomed?

 

A.  I did not enjoy working as a software programmer and felt I wanted to do something that I am really passionate about. Also, I had no clue what I wanted to do. The month I completed my 2^nd year with HP, I felt if I don’t venture out now, it could be never. I had a bank balance of Rs.50,000 when I quit. I moved to Chennai (from Bangalore). The cash I had would sustain me for 6 months and I told myself if I were smart enough I need to find something that I was passionate about before the time and resources run out. If I fail, I had to get back to a software job.

 

Q. What are your hobbies other than your business?

 

A.   I read books, listen to music, play the guitar and enjoy travelling, visiting nature’s most virgin un-touched places, star gazing. I am right now working on a pet project of mine, which would be a community portal that would bring people of interest groups like star gazing/ astronomy, nature lovers, photography, travelers etc. together.

 

Q. Tell us how eBizLeads took shape?

 

A.   I read a book called the Long Tail by Chris Anderson. This was an eye opener for me on how Internet is changing our lifestyle and commerce. I started studying how various internet businesses work and got to understand their models.

        I started promoting websites on the internet and soon started offering the services for clients. My first client was from Ireland. He was retailing mobile phones and accessories through his portal. Right now, I have my own internet based business where we do online retailing of gift items and collectibles in US by partnering with one of my past clients.

 

 

 

Q. Tell the challenges you faced (Pre formation & post formation)?

 

A. Pressure from family and relatives was a factor before formation. They were concerned I was losing a lucrative career in software. But when they started seeing some progress in what I was doing, they were supportive even when things were down for me. Post formation, the biggest challenges were in creating a system and process to make sure things go on smooth and organized.

 

Q. Tell us about eBizLeads business model & Services?

 

A. We consult for businesses/websites, offer them services like search engine marketing (SEO and PPC).

Who can use our service?

People who are interested in selling their products or services on the internet can use our services. Also small businesses who wish to get more leads to their business using the internet. Internet is a powerful medium today. Just like advertising in radio, TVs and Newspapers, a lot of people turn to the internet for attracting customers and increasing their brand reach.

 

We also own our own internet businesses where we sell products targeting the US market.     

 

Q. How did you raise capital for starting eBizLeads?

 

A. There is a lot of thrill in bootstrapping. There was no capital to start with and I was offering services through freelancing sites. Slowly we started scaling up and now we are a team of 5.

 

Q. Will this recession have any impact in your plans? If yes how do you plan to overcome this recession?

 

A.  Obviously it will have some impact as customers will think twice about spending. Whether there is recession or not, there will always be products that get sold and people that need such services. In fact, in times like this people tend to spend a lot on effective advertising. Cost per acquisition of a lead for a business is the least through the medium of internet so I only see a spike in people taking such services.

 

Q. What are your future plans?

 

A. Currently all our customers are either from US, UK or Australia. We are planning to extend the services to local Businesses in Chennai too. For Indian market, the rates need to be competitive and you need to score in volumes. Hence, you need a well equipped team with clear defined process to execute the projects.

 

Q. What is your advice for new startups and wannabe entrepreneurs?

 

A. My advice is do one thing at a time. Take a task; see it through to the end and only then move on to the next. A lot of times you may be pursuing an idea and all of a sudden something else comes along that you find interesting and you divert your energies into the new one. It’s like pushing a car to get it to start and just when it is about to start, you move on to the next and so on and the cycle keeps continuing. Stay away from that habit.

 

Thanks for the interview Anand.

 

=========>End of interview<=========

 

Thank you very much Ajith for sparing your valuable time with us and it was really inspiring and informative to be with you. We wish you all the very best…

It is nice to be with Mr. Bala Murugan, Co-Founder of Cogzidel Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd. Bala has hands on experience on finance and has headed the finance department of Cricinfo.com and has done wonders during turbulent times. Also to talk about his qualifications we need to have a separate session, but let me make it simple he is a qualified Charted Accountant, Company Secretary and has got Master of Business Administration. Let us get back to him to know more about him and his Venture.

Q. Hello Bala. Can you tell us about yourself?

A. Well, I’m a Tamil-speaking Indian. Born and brought up in Chennai. Graduated from Vivekananda College. As listed by you, I possess CA, ACS, MBA plus certifications on business administration, management and advanced commercial / technical applications. Did my CA articleship with Brahmayya & Co (one of the leading CA firms in Chennai) and happened to be part of their audit team for about 45 clients.

My career started with www.cricinfo.com (now, it’s an ESPN company) as Asst. Manager – Finance. Was able to become the Director – Finance through my performance. Fortunate enough to head many departments like Finance, Accounts, Secretarial, HR and Office Administration. Apart from cricinfo.com, I held directorships in couple of ESPN subsidiaries in India and also, in Agriya Infoway Pvt Ltd.

Q. When & how did your entrepreneur desire blossom?

A. For anyone who passes his life as an employee, there would be a wish in his mind to become a boss for himself and I’m no exception. As an entrepreneur, I can take decisions on my own. I can try anything that flashes in my mind. I’m responsible for every single move. These are some factors that triggered my passion to be an entrepreneur.

Q. What are your hobbies other than your business?

A. Browsing the net, reading magazines, listening to melodious songs, watching movies, socialising with people, meeting friends (and not relatives).

Q. Tell us how CCS took shape?

A. There are many entrepreneurs and SMEs who are unable to find a suitable firm to take care of their support functions like accounting, payroll, taxation etc. Even if they have engaged someone, they feel that the services are either unprofessional or biased or expensive.

This study became an emerging factor for incorporating a company which will focus on helping people to have their support functions discharged in a smooth way. This helps them to concentrate on operating the business and we take care of the rest.

Q. Tell the challenges you faced (Pre formation & post formation)?

A. Undoubtedly, the 3Ms are the basic requirements of any business – Men, Material and Money. In other words, I could define it as Team building, Infrastructure and Working Capital. These were our challenges before formation and we were fortunate enough to overcome this problem.

Challenges during the post-formation are mainly in to client handling and delivery. The perspectives and requirements of each client differ from others. Hence, it becomes a challenge to face every query in different style. The job involves lots of clerical, tiresome and roaming work. ‘Time’ is an important factor that needs to be controlled properly.

Q. Tell us about CCS business model & Services?

A. CCS business model works like this:

Client Enquiry à Analysis à Designing the solution à Fee Negotiation à Delivery

We always intend to continue our relationship with clients even post-delivery. Hence, we render many value added services to our clients, as and when required.

Services rendered can be briefed as follows:

- Accounting Services (including Internal Audit)
- Payroll Processing
- Company Incorporation
- Regn of co-operative society / trust / partnership firm
- Employee-friendly Tax planning
- Filing IT returns
- Obtaining PAN / TAN / DIN / DSC
- Statutory compliances – PF / ESI / Profession Tax/ Sales Tax / Service Tax / STPI etc
- Trademark / Patent Registration
- Business Incubation Services
- Drafting Agreements
- Other related activities

Q. Will this recession have any impact in your plans? If yes how do you plan to overcome this recession?

A. I do not see this recession as an opposite factor for our business. In fact, we are in outsourcing services and hence, we expect more business orders to reach us. This recession has given us additional responsibility of advising our clients on how to save/control costs.

Q. What are your future plans?

A. Like an USP, I would like to establish a BSP – ‘Best Service Provider’ for our business. I would like to capture a unique place in the market for rendering back-end services. I want CCS to spread across all over India. Also, exploring the possibilities of go beyond the boundaries of our country, by attracting international clients.

Q. Any marketing pitch?

A. Yes, we do marketing by participating in social networking programs (both offline and online), writing interesting blogs, advertising on newspapers, sponsoring events etc. We would like to increase the level of participation. Our clients refer their friends and help us to market our services and reach the desired goals.

Q. What is your advice for new startups and wannabe entrepreneurs?

A. My first advice to entrepreneurs is ‘Don’t take any advice at first shot’. Listen what people say from their past experience. It’s not that every technique that a successful business man adopts will fetch the same value for others. You need to analyse whether the advice fits your requirement, your interest and your preference.

I could list down few necessities, but I think these are applicable for everyone in the business world. These are not exhaustive, but important qualities:

-          Self-confidence

-          Dedication

-          Sincerity

-          Trustworthy

-          Perfection

-          Leadership

-          Relationship

My extreme thanks to Anand for letting me share my thoughts and views. Would be great if readers can correct me if I’m wrong on anything.

================>End of Interview<================

Thank you very much Bala for sparing your valuable time with us and it was really inspiring to be with you. We wish you all the very best.

 

Q. Hello Bala. Can you tell us about yourself?

 

Friends, it’s too early to talk about me or Contus Support.  We have a very long way to go, for now we just identified the path to walk and we have miles to complete.

 

I am a Mathematics graduate and had dreams about starting a company since my college days, along with my friend Sriram.  Even Anand invited us (myself & Sriram) to join his team in 2000, but we couldn’t join him for some reason. 

 

I am environmentally friendly person having great respect and love for nature. I spend most of my free time with likeminded people.

 

Q. When & how did your entrepreneur desire started & blossomed?

 

It started when I were in school, when I really didn’t know the meaning of entrepreneurship J…  After college I  had been to various ventures which includes Internet, Finance / Banking, etc., where I experienced a mix of Success & Failures. I always believed  the magical word “Dream” by A.P.J.Abdul Kalam.

 

It took us one long year to gather information, raising funds, building team. Finally Contus Support was born on Feb 2008…

 

Q. Tell us about your past ventures and let us know your experience?

 

My first entrepreneur dream came true in the year 2001 when I and Sriram took lease of Sify Iway  in Saidapet, Chennai.  Though it is not a big venture we learnt a lot there and it really helped us to keep the thirst of entrepreneur and that was the reason for the birth of Contus Support.

                                                                                    

Q. Tell us how Contus took shape?

 

As the name (Contus Support BPO Pvt. Ltd) says Contus was started as a BPO company last year and slowly transformed as Software / Applications provider after Mr.Amalraj and Mr.Balamurugan joined the team Contus.  Now Contus is in to Web Applications & Product development.

 

 

Q. Tell the challenges you faced (Pre formation & post formation)?

 

As I mentioned before we started Contus as a BPO and it required huge capital investment. We tried to raise capital for Contus before one year of its inception through friends, relatives and acquaintance.  We were also in discussion with Pentamedia for joint ventures through one of our Director Mr.Dinesh.S. 

 

All these attempts failed and that is when we decided to raise capital ourselves. We were able to raise capital money ourselves because of Mr.Thiaghu.R and Mr.Prakash (Directors) who gave the idea and motivated us on raising money.

 

After formation of the Company, things were not smooth like we expected.  We quickly realized weakness and we changed our business model from BPO to IT / S-A-S provider.

 

Q. Tell us about “Service” offerings of Contus ?

 

Contus Support offers three main services

 

è    Web Applications & Product development    (www.platoon.in)

è    Internet Marketing S.E.O.                              (www.webstreetsmart.com)

è    Technical Support Services                             (www.support1000.com)

 

Q. Have you accomplished everything you dreamt about Contus?

 

No.

 

Q. How did u raise capital for starting Contus?

 

Contus was founded by a team of five (Directors) and we all invested the money equally.    We raised money by applying personal loans from Bank.

 

Q. Will this recession have any impact in your plans? If yes how do you plan to overcome this recession?

 

We won’t have any impact for us because of this recession. Infact recession is a blessing in disguise. We are getting talented resource for an affordable package.

 

Q. What are your future plans?

 

It’s too early for now to say that.  But I can say we have fixed a very big milestone.  Our next step would be developing niche products which you can get the updates from our website (http://www.platoon.in) in the coming days.

 

Q. What is your advice for new startups and wannabe entrepreneurs?

 

è    Believe yourselves

è    Proper planning

è    New thoughts

è    Execute without delay

 

===========>End of Interview<=========== 

Thank you very much or sparing your valuable time with us Mr.Bala… you have a inspiring story and it was really inspiring to be with you. We wish you and Contus all the very best…

Q. Hello Kavi. Can you tell us about yourself?

My native is Thanjavur . My father is a government servant . My brother is a farmer . I finished my B.E( I.T ) in Annamalai University . M.E ( Computers ) in Sathyabama University .

Q. When & how did your entrepreneur desire started & blossomed?

A.  Am basically a WEB 2.0 enthusiast and was an addicted user of Various sites like Orkut , Facebook etc. Always thought these networks were not for India.  India is very different and our people always want a face to face interaction.

So wondered how it would be to build a network that helped people to find the same frequency persons in their neighborhood itself. That is when we started building this network.

Q. What are you hobbies other than your business?

A. Watching movies, reading books and roaming around with my friends.

Q. Tell us how areapal.com took shape?

A. As mentioned, when I got this idea of root level INSTA NETWORKING, I went to Anna University and started telling my friends about this idea. They were excited and so instantly we formed a team of interested students and started building this project. So we got contributions from lots of students from various colleges. That is how we have built the product which you are seeing now.

Q. Tell the challenges you faced (Pre formation & post formation)?

A. Our initial problem was lack of funds. We somehow managed to get some small loans and also put our own money for renting servers etc. Distributed different modules to various people / freelancers and got it done. We all took different roles in developing the project from designing, strategy to coding, DB designing etc.

Q. Tell us about areapal.com’s business model?

A.   “ The most interesting person you have been searching for all over the ( web )world may be just a street away – areapal.com helps you find him “  - as per our slogan , areapal is a platform that helps people to connect in a very drilled down manner based on their locality ( area ) . We are trying to remove the 6 degrees of separation and connect people in the first degree itself.

Q. Have you accomplished everything you dreamt about areapal.com?

A. Nope, still there is a lot to accomplish J

Q. What is your experience in approaching VC & angels?

A. In India we feel that approaching VC’s is a bit difficult at the idea or seed stage. But approaching angels is a bit easier.

Q. Will this recession have any impact in your plans? If yes how do you plan to overcome this recession?

A. ‘ areapal ‘ is a community driven project with contributions in various verticals from a wide pool of enthusiastic youngsters / students .  In fact we are also in plans to convert this project as a FOUNDATION and help all the youngsters own a particular city in areapal and earn via. it. So we are fully equipped to face the recession J

Q. What are your future plans?

A. Connect full India “area by area wise” and help user contributed local data flow in a more consumable manner to all the people .

Q. What is your advice for new startups and wannabe entrepreneurs?

A.  I always liked the line “… You should first START to become GREAT “   . Guess it was told by Abraham Lincoln.

Thank you very much Kavi for sparing your valuable time with us and it was really inspiring to be with you. We wish you all the very best…

Q. Good Day Vivek. Can you tell us about yourself?

A. Hi Anand, Thanks for getting me into this interview. I am Computer science graduate dreamt about starting a company to improve the everyday lives of people. Founder of Pertly. Throughout this interview you would find how my dreams became actionable.

Q. When & how did your entrepreneur desire started & evolved?

A.  During my second year of college I took up a challenge of taking a project which my seniors left it off saying they cannot do. I challenged them and started it off, added to the fact that I don’t know any programming language at that time. I geared up in preparing for that project. I hardly got a week’s time to deliver. I started reading good books and slowly 4 individuals highly talented voluntarily joined with me saying they would help me out to complete this project.
We put our best efforts and we completed the project on time and delivered on the said exhibited time. Our team got praised everywere and eventually we won the first prize for best project exhibited.

This is the first event that acknowledged my skills. That is the proud moment I started finding opportunities everywere. I decided to take the road less travelled [during our college days]. I haven’t prepared for any campus interview, even my favorite teachers scolded me for being a bad example for my juniors. I never give up, I focused my energy in forming a team and again a golden opportunity knocked at me, this time it’s pretty big, our college is being selected for an open source project named “Tamil Database” its been funded by Tamilnadu government. I took up that project for two reasons, a. I don’t have capital to ignite a company b. I don’t like to ask it from my parents, becoz its my dream and I don’t want to risk my parent’s hard earned money. I see this as a golden opportunity.

With many helping hands from IIT, especially from Dr. Hema moorthy [Prof. Computer science department] we were able to complete that huge project.
Once after completing my degree I still had very less money to start a company so went for interviews and almost through to Accenture, but that is the best moment as one of my senior called me up [with whom I decided to start a company during college days]  asked me to join hands with him to co-found a company in Chennai. My parents believed on me and I came to Chennai to start my entrepreneur carreer. My first company is Universal Elements. We developed a travel product and it got very high profile clients in Chennai. We have grown a considerable way and we developed from 2 t o12. After a year or so myself and my co-founder got a difference in attitude. It was him who called me up to start a company, hence I left my company with empty hands and cheerful memories. I gave all my clients to them, but they refused to take up one single client whom they cannot manage, so I took them up resided in friends place and did projects for them to feed myself. This is how Pertly evolved.

Q. What are you hobbies other than your business?

A. It includes playing chess, reading books, watching films, spending some time with friends.

Q. Tell us how Pertly took shape?

A. After being a one man, I started with typical office cum residence, then slowly we have moved to a separate office of ours. This is how Pertly took shape.

Q. Tell us about your previous ventures?

A. We started to sell our services and products. We learnt that products is the only way were you can bring harmony to the lives of people. Our product did it for travel industry.

Q. Tell the challenges you faced (Pre formation & post formation)?

A. The biggest challenge is forming a team and finding the right balance between demand and the resources to fulfill the demand.
As for registering a company we did outsourced it to Mr. Bala (Cogzidel), they did a great job and I found no problems in forming a company.
As far as post formation is considered, its all about creating talent pool.

Q. Tell us about Pertly’s business model?

A. Our initial motto is “Do one and do it better”, It doesn’t mean that we would stick to only one in our lifespan, it means we would be in only one until certain process is evolved above the threshold. Once our base is strong we can build how many ever floors we want on the top of it.
We have started our focus on products, we are prototyping ideas, I suggest wait for few months to know more about that.

Q. Tell us about Pertly’s services & products?

A.
We are currently a service oriented company.
We design and develop applications pertaining to web. Our service offerings includes:

• Graphic design
• Websites – PSD to XHTML/CSS compliant websites
• Content management – WordPress, Plugin development
• Ecommerce
• Payment gateways
• Webapplication

Q. Do you feel the impact of recession? How do you plan to overcome this recession?

A. We are growing actually. Yes payments are getting delayed but other than that we don’t feel the heat. We are indeed expanding our team and starting growing ever faster.

Q. What are your future plans?

A. We are in the starting phase of our product designs and all I can say is only that, I can say more about that once official announcements are released.

Q. What is your advice for new startups and wannabe entrepreneurs?

A. “All things are created twice, once in your mind & once in the real world”, so create your idea in your mind and start evolving it faster and faster.

• Register your company as soon as possible.
• Get networked with fellow entrepreneurs

I hope you all enjoyed this interview let me know your thoughts on to it.

======>End of interview<======

Thank you very much Vivek for sparing your valuable time with us and it was really inspiring to be with you. We wish you all the very best… To know more about Pertly kindly visit http://www.pertly.co.in…

Q. Hello Nanda. First of all tell us about yourself?

A. I’m a cool guy, much interested in advanced internet technologies.

Q. When & how did your entrepreneur desire started & evolved?

A. In the beginning I was inspired by Microsoft Bill gates and wanted to run a big firm like him. Name “N.” was taken in my college days itself. But did nothing big till 2006. My inspiration is my Dad, he chosen different path in our village, still learning so many things from him.

Q. Tell us how Ndot took shape?

A. Well, I started it to focus on Social Media solution. We started “N.” with 3 guys. Currently we have employee base of 9 for providing solutions to many clients. Our main aim is not to deliver the code like a web company. We should deliver the result, co-create & provide options.

Q. Tell the challenges you faced (Pre formation & post formation)?

A. First of all we had initial investment of 0, We reinvested the revenues to make our company grow. Challenge we faced and facing is Cash Flow. And I can say that will be the biggest thing for every (startup) company. I had few failure startups before “N.”, learned so many things from those failure with which I gained expertise in business & Social Media.

Q. Tell us about Ndot’s business model?

A. Our business model is totally based on Products & services ( Both mostly on Social Media ). We also have our own startup stuff, which will be our unique thing.

Q. Tell us about Ndot’s services & products?

A.  We providing services & solutions in Social Networking, Business solution for social media. Currently we are developing 2 to 3 products. We developed our own social networking framework to make our development very faster. Also we plan to launch that application as Opensource soon.

Q. Do you feel the impact of recession? How do you plan to overcome this recession?

A. Impact, actually no, sometimes I feel when I don’t have good cash flow. Don’t have plans to overcome, but reading lots of books/articles/news. I don’t want to think about recession when working, I feel there are lots of opportunities to crack. Economic downturn, there are lot of problems in the economy. That means for an entrepreneur there are lots of new opportunities are available to solve. Recession needs us.

Q. What are your future plans?

A. We will rock the web One day. Have good future scope on semantic & AI web, and started focusing on it. Working on educational startup, aim to release soon.

Q. What is your advice for new startups and wannabe entrepreneurs?

A. Make sure everyone have good cash flow every month. Do some services side, to make your company for long run. Keep running with your concept side by side, which is going to make you unique.

=====> End of interview <=====

Thank you very much Nanda for sparing your valuable time with us and it was really inspiring to be with you. Your answers were really inspiring and motivation… I’m sure this interview will kindly the egos of many wannabe entrepreneurs and will make them jump into the world of entrepreneurship…

We wish you all the very best for your initiatives and wish to see Ndot a major force when it comes to Social networking or education or retail…