Hello Infinity Business Solutions is a software consulting company founded by three Engineering graduates right after their college.
We started this venture right after our college. I had this ability to sell things to people right from school & college days. That combined with love for technology made us kick start.
Give a brief info about your startup?
Hello Infinity Business Solutions or HBS is a software consulting company founded in 2012 as a college startup. We started as a hosting services provider by hosting website for friends and family. We were lucky to get initial projects from Dr.Ashalatha Thampuran who was then principal of MCET. Sooner we got into web applications, developed an ERP product for small and medium scale businesses. and later worked on mobile applications of outsourced projects in AI for billion dollar startups. Presently we have clients from all parts of the world, however our main market being the USA.
What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?
Our friends and family needed hosting services and we figured out that this industry can fetch us a decent revenue if we start early. However scaling hosting services was a challenge and risk, we continued it as it is and began concentrating on outsourced IT services like development of offshore projects. The most important issue my startup solves is that it provides job to 12 employees in Trivandrum. Apart from that, we act as a bridge for technology between our clients and their customers. We fill the gap.
Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?
We started this venture right after our college. I had this ability to sell things to people right from school & college days – used to buy and sell things to friends and family. That combined with love for technology made us kick start.
Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?
Our start up is based out of Trivandrum – seems to me the best in the state. Factors like economy, transportation, airport access, good hotels & restaurants, meet ups, good and warm people, startup hubs, government help at doorstep and of course great entertainment. You need to run for your business and chill. Trivandrum has a lot of places to do that.
As a startup founder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?
Bugs in code and production. If you have at least one client in the USA, there are chances that your client’s app/website/any piece of code you or your team wrote might break or catch a bug, so either to prevent this from happening, or to fix any issue that was pointed out by your client or your internal team, you gotta be awake at night thinking about the right solutions for them.
Who are your competitions and how are you better than them?
Any outsourced services company is my competitor, I wouldn’t name them publically, but yeah. So, I’d say we are a strong team, quality oriented, committed and constantly updating ourselves to keep that flag high.
How hard is it to have a work-life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?
At first we thought it was hard to handle but actually it is not. You just have to get a hang of it and things are cool. We personally have a schedule. We work from 8-4 and then rest of the time we are not sitting in front of a computer. My office phone switches on only after 8am. But there are exceptions. Offshore clients can call me anytime. There is a different line and if the issue is priority level red, the schedule stays off and we work. We used to work all daylong in first two years, but later found out it wasn’t going to help us in the long run. Office has a night shift (a team that works at night) to keep things up. This turn rotates for each team so everyone in the team has a balanced work life.
Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you’re looking to raise?
So far no external funds are raised. All the investments came from within by taking loans and so on. Like last time when we needed an office expansion we took a loan. Not in the near future I believe as services business doesn’t need a huge fund investment. You can grow it eventually, so that everything is monitored, you know about each step you take and if things go wrong you can switch back, analyse and decide on the next plan.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?
Since my business runs inside an office, people think we are doing an easy job and gets easy money. But the reality is we put in a lot of effort to make that mobile app or website you are using. It takes time and effort. Thus it isn’t easy money too.
What gets you excited about this company?
The process is exciting. It is like bringing up a baby. We enjoy the process of building our company. You have at least one challenge per day and at the end of the day you know you’ll find a solution to it. That is exciting as an entrepreneur.
Tell us how a day in your life looks like?Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.
I wake up at 7:00 am daily. If there are conference calls scheduled by the client or overseas team I reach office at 7:30 am. If there are no calls – office hours usually start at 8 am. The first thing is to go through the day’s agenda which includes informal meetings with team, daily stand up call at 9:00. The whole team plans and charts the days activity and then the day is buzzed with client calls and meetings. There is obvious breakfast and lunch breaks in between with a small nap while listening to music after which we resume work in full swing. The day ends with a closure call at 3:45 pm and the whole team leaves office at 4:00 pm. We also ensure work life balance is maintained and takes time to catch up with friends, watch a movie or have dinner with family. The day ends with a daily management call with the team scheduled at 11:00pm, attend client calls if any and goes to bed by 1:30 am.
Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?
My self, Anish Sheela and Anoop Anson started the company as a three member team. Anish Sheela was my college mate and Anoop Anson is my twin brother. Later Lekshmi Sabarish who was Arun’s senior at MCET joins and further we had Aishwarya Sudheesh joining the team. Anish Sheela leaves the team due to some family issues. Hence currently our Board of Directors are Arun Anson Anoop Anson Lekshmi Sabarish Aishwarya Sudheesh.
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