Startups are born when an individual or a group of individuals are ready to make some big moves and changes with their constant brainstorming and extensive research in the market. You can work for a company and let your mind rest in the cubicle, or you can work out of the box (and think too) and become an entrepreneur with your startup. The decision to drop everything to start a company from scratch is a risky task for people, but with the right guidance and implementation of the plan, you can work up a decent strategy for the company.
Most of the businesses have decided to go online today and to make the platform more interactive; some websites have opted to add chatbots. These chatbots are functioning softwares that are added on the platform to simulate a human conversation regarding the website and the products or services it offers. Anshul Shrivastava, with the passion of becoming an entrepreneur, decided to be a part of this world and launched his startup- AxleWeb Technologies Private Limited.
However, this was not a first shot success for Anshul, in conversation with TimesNext, he told us about his journey and how he never lost hope even after the failure of his first startup. Anshul has been working hard from the beginning to fulfill his dream of becoming an entrepreneur, and with the launch of AxleWeb Technologies, it came true. The failure of his first startup taught him several things and worked as a good experience for him to make the next one a big hit.
The journey of Anshul Shrivastava
Born and brought up in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, Anshul Shrivastava, pursued engineering in Information Technology from Oriental College, Bhopal. Fortunately, he bagged a job in a company named Mindtree through campus placement and went to Pune to start his new life as a Software Test Engineer. After spending four years in India, he was sent to London to work on a project. For the next four years, he worked on the project and moved back to India last year in October 2018.
After serving the company for more than nine years, he decided to resign from Mindtree, and in June 2019, he fulfilled the dream of becoming an entrepreneur and launched AxleWeb Technologies.
The story of his first startup
Anshul shares his point of view on his first startup’s failure to TimesNext and says that even though the startup failed, it was a learning experience for him as he learned how to build websites and manage finances. Anshul teamed up with Vishal, who was good at developing and programming. They both had plans for their startups and decided to implement them, but soon they failed.
Anshul wanted to build a website for farmers where they could list their products like wheat, pulses, and vegetables to be sold online. He named the platform AgroMart.com but with a lack of knowledge in the field of website development, he had to depend on Vishal. The work that started for AgroMart ended soon, and they switched to another startup idea, a job search website with social networking features. But with Anshul moving to London for his project, and the distance between the team as well as the communication gap ended as they decided to shut the startup.
What is AxleWeb Technologies Private Limited?
After learning several lessons from his first startup, and gaining the experience in website development and hosting, Anshul started working as a freelancer along with his daily job when he was in London. This is when he learned about chatbots and decided to enter the world of developing chatbots. He has created more than 250 chatbots for over 100 clients in the past few years, and in 2018, he came back to India.
His love for entrepreneurship flourished again, and he decided to launch his platform dedicated to developing chatbots and related products like Alexa Skills, Google Home Actions, and other social media platforms. With the help of Google Dialogflow, Rasa NLU, Amazon Lex, and IBM Watson, they are building chatbots.
The obstacles faced by Anshul
Anshul talks about how he met the challenge of going for an onsite project, and leaving the first startup was a difficult decision for him. But the challenges and the lessons he learned from the failure of the first startup made the journey for the second one a little easier and helped him in building a solid foundation for the new startup.
Anshul’s take on working/collaborating with someone
His partnership with his co-worker, Vishal for the first startup is not a pleasant experience for him. He talked about some personal differences that he had with Vishal. In his new startup, he decided to go solo and not have a co-founder so that he could entirely focus on the development of his startup.
The first milestone in his journey
The decision to quit a full-time job to incorporate his startup is what he considers as a bold move and his first milestone. Once this was done, he never looked back, and several milestones later, his company made sales worth five lakhs in just four months of operations. The next milestone for them was when their startup got recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Industrial Trade, Government of India.
The current growth and his vision for the company
AxleWeb Technologies is a wholly bootstrapped company, and with no fundraising, they have been performing well from the past few months. The company is already generating profit as it has made six lakhs in just five months of operations.
Anshul has planned to double its revenue every six months to become one of the best chatbots and voice bots development company in India. With clients in over ten countries, they aim to cross the turnover limit of INR 1 crore by 2021. His vision for the company is to use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and chatbot technology to help businesses around the world to communicate with their customers efficiently. The potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance the experience of communications between companies and customers is vast, and this will be a massive opportunity for everyone in this space.
