Info.: Avdhesh Pratap Singh Solanki, Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer, MotorBabu Pvt. Ltd.. Previously CTO & Co-Founder at Provanic and JabalpurWala.com
Other Co-founders:
Aditi Chaurasia (CMO), past CEO, EngineerBabu IT Services Pvt.Ltd.
Mayank Pratap Singh (CEO), past CTO, EngineerBabu IT Services Pvt.Ltd.
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| MotorBabu Team |
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| Co-founders , Motorbabu Mayank Pratap(left) , Aditi Chaurasia(middle) , Avdhesh Pratap Singh Solanki (Right) |
Q1. What is MotorBabu ?
MotorBabu is Indore-based vehicle service booking platform that picks up your vehicle for the ‘make-over’ (servicing) and drops it back to your place. Apart from the usual repair jobs, washing and oiling, MotorBabu is also your Johnny-on-the-spot, providing assistance during break-downs.
Q2. How you got the idea ?
I was facing several problems in the maintenance of my newly purchased car. I couldn’t find a viable solution for the same. I met Mayank Pratap (CEO) & Aditi Chaurasia (CMO) over a coffee. They already had a startup by the name of EngineerBabu IT Services Pvt. Ltd. While talking they shared about a recent accident that they had met and how they were not finding any time to get their vehicle repaired and serviced. As a result, they were forced to take other means of commutation. All of us realised that we all had the same problem – no time to get our vehicles serviced. We also felt that if we delay repair or servicing, it could be dangerous using those vehicles. Generally, a person has to spend almost 4-5 hours in the service centre garage, travelling, billing procedures etc.
That’s when we made a decision to start a service that would solve this problem. While still working on the technology aspect, we already began taking and processing orders manually. It’s a totally new field for all of us, so we are also learning the various processes involved in vehicle servicing. By now we have visited several service stations, washed cars by ourselves, tested different methods and finally learned how the system would actually work.
Initially we launched MotorBabu in Indore, and the response has been tremendous. Now we have a robust backend technology which is capable of serving huge customer base in real time. Most of the things are now automated.
Q3. How it all started ? Who all helped you out ?
My deceased father was an engineer - a true car and bike lover. I had observed how he used to care for his vehicles. As a result, I became an automobile enthusiast and began servicing and modification of my own vehicles at my own garage. Currently, I own an old Royal Enfield and a JEEP (which is older than me).
Co-founder Aditi is a multi talented beautiful city girl and an active entrepreneur. She is a very busy person. She loves her two-wheeler – a Scooty – but hardly gets time to clean, dust and get it serviced.
On the other hand, Co-founder Mayank has always cherished the dream of giving employment to needy labour class from his hometown. Most of these people are farmers, labour class and are struggling for their daily needs. Since Mayank ran an IT firm, he couldn’t find a suitable job for these rural folk. At MotorBabu, we channelized this workforce through training for daily chores at our startup. Now they have roles such as washerman, pickup boy, mechanic etc. This class of people is now getting a fixed salary each month and is able to supply for family. Their children today are proud that their fathers are working for a city brand.
Mayank has a great sales acumen, Aditi is very good in conceptualization, branding and promotions. I am good in automobiles and technology. And that’s how we are a complete 360 degree team.
Q4. What kind of problem or roadblocks you faced in this kind of startup and how you tackled them ?
Since we are trying to aggregate an extremely unorganized market, most of the mechanics/service stations are unprofessional and poor at public relations and communications. Yet, they know their field and work well. Our job is to educate them to use a technology platform and to teach them how to deal and behave with the customers.
Q5. How MotorBabu is different from other similar startups ? what promising an extra you provide ?
Our primary focus is customer satisfaction and user experience. We have appointed several area managers whose responsibility is to keep an eye on efficient operations of service stations and to maintain the quality of vehicle service.
Q6. What cities do you currently cover and how are you gonna expand in future ?
Currently we are serving in Indore. Soon we will expand to 10 different cities in India.
Q7. Have you faced any wow ! moment till now regarding Motorbabu ? What was it ?
The Wow moment was when my friends and relatives started using MotorBabu.
Q8. What phases one should care about if s/he is doing a startup ?
The technology is the backbone of current startup scenario. As a CTO I learned that it’s important to use the technology that you know best and refrain from switching technologies during the initial run. One of my favourite quotes is “Move fast & break things” by Mark Zuckerberg.
Q9. What are the most common problem startups face ?
The biggest problem most of the start-ups face is choosing the right team members. We have handpicked each team member and trained them according to their interests. If all the co-founders have different skill sets (Mayank – Sales; Aditi – Management; Me - technology geek), it will be an added advantage.
Avdhesh on Developer's Interview Blog :
Developer’s Interview blog by Vinay Jain is a very good platform to express our views, share ideas and to learn from the experiences of others.
