Does age have anything to do with starting up? There are different theories, based on who you talk to. But when you meet young startups, it appears that enthusiasm is hard to kill at that age.
Meet the young folks at Theekkardo: The average age of the team which founded the company is about 20. But their ambition isn’t limited by age.
Sonakshi Pratap, the CEO of the company is all of 23, so is Hardik Shah, the managing partner. The other members of the founding team– Bhavishya Pratap who heads marketing and Shantanu Kamath who heads IT– are both still in school!
The four founders, have not only picked the daunting task of organizing the after sales service market in Mumbai, but also want to take the place of JustDial as the household name for repairs and services.
The company, called TKD in short, wants to be the one stop repair center for electronics, laptops, home appliances and promise a 3 month warranty to each repair they carry out and want to expand its service portfolio to 40 different products.
“We have served nearly 200 customers since November,” says Shah who is a Chartered Accountant by qualification. The company currently services the western part of Mumbai and has plans to improve coverage. “We will be known more than JustDial as the go to place for repairs and services. Only a number can’t help you much in case you need repairs. We guarantee to get it done,” he added.
Shah and his team have been leaving pamphlets and refrigerator magnets to increase their brands visibility. The startup makes money by taking a cut form the service provider for each customer. But how do they make sure that the quality of service is consistent? “We call the customer to after the service and a month after the service to see if the same problem has come back. We also offer a 3 month warranty on every service,” said Shah.
Mumbai has a bunch of startups trying to make lives of the busy Mumbaikar easier. For instance, Timesaverz, a startup we profiled earlier helps customers save time by helping them find people willing to do jobs like grocery shopping, plumbing, maintaining the computer, paying utility bills, filling up forms and delivering stuff from one place to another.
The after sales and post warranty service market is very strong for electronics, especially for laptops and computers in Mumbai, so TKD isn’t going to have it easy. But hey, sometimes, you just have to screw it and go do it!
We have often wondered if starting up has anything to do with age? Or pedigree? One investor recently told one of our folks that he was too young to startup. What do you think? Is there an age to startup?
