Techjockey is an innovative e-commerce startup focused on providing an array of software products to startups, SMEs, MSMEs, as well as corporates. The platform basically allows businesses to discover software products across industries like retail, manufacturing, education, e-commerce, hospitality, automobiles, warehousing, and healthcare among others.
The sales experts at Techjockey are dedicated to simplifying the entire process and thereby helping SMEs adopt suitable technology to increase their productivity and efficiency.
The Founders and What Inspired Them
Entrepreneurs Akash Nagia and Arjun Mittal co-founded Techjockey in February 2016. However, Techjokey is not their first venture together. Before Techjockey, they co-founded SISL Infotech, a system integrator. SISL Infotech basically offers end-to-end IT consulting services to both Govt. & the Corporate sectors.
Image Credit: Startupterminal.com
Prior to starting his entrepreneurial journey, Akash has worked as the Vice President, Sales and Media Alliances with Zomato. In fact, he was one of the core founding team members. Before that, he also worked with TEN Sports. Arjun, on the other hand, has worked as an analyst with McKinsey & Company at the Boston office.
When asked about what inspired them to start Techjockey, Akash and Arjun revealed that while running SISL Infotech, they identified the two-sided gap between vendors and customers in the IT industry. The premium software OEMs were able to make a mark through their direct sales team & reseller networks, but the small vendors were struggling to market their product with their limited marketing budgets.
They also observed that SMBs were reluctant to invest in software solutions, mainly because of their price constraint. So, with a vision to provide an opportunity to niche vendors and to help SMBs find business software within their small budgets, the duo decided to set up Techjockey. According to Akash and Arjun, both premium and niche OEMs can benefit from the free software listing provided by Techjockey. They can use this service to improve their visibility with global exposure.
What Makes Techjockey Unique and What are Its Strengths
The Gurgaon-based Techjockey is a vertical e-commerce platform. Although there are other players in the market, they are not focused on selling software products online. And this makes Techjockey stands out, according to its founders.
The Techjockey family has expanded with time and is sailing smoothly. Like any organization, the strength of Techjockey also lies in their efficient employees, who are expert in software consulting across business categories as well as industry verticals. The founders of Techjockey are of the opinion that this coupled with technological prowess and a strong cultural DNA have been a winning combination for the startup.
Image Credit: Bwdisrupt.businessworld.in
The Journey So Far
Over the years, Techjockey has grown immensely in every direction. Today, they deal in more than 100 categories and there are 3000+ software products listed on their platform. Currently, they are associated with more than 1200 software vendors, which include reputed companies like Microsoft, Tally, Sophos, Greytip HR, and Spine Technologies.
Techjockey is also associated with a sizeable number of small vendors from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. At present, they have a customer base of about 2100 small and medium businesses which trust Techjockey for their automation needs.
In terms of revenue, the company has witnessed a Q/Q revenue growth of 15% while its order volume has also increased by 22%. In the financial year 2017-18, the company has clocked a total revenue of 8 crores.
The Addressable Market and the Underlying Opportunity
IT adoption among SMBs has been growing in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, and Techjockey, according to its founders, receives around 65-70% of orders from tier 2 and 3 cities like Gorakhpur, Hisar, Alwar, and others.
They further added “In India, there are more than 300 million SMBs, out of which 32% are digitally connected. But, only 2% of SMB’s are engaged properly. Others are now being driven towards digitizing their businesses, and they open a huge market for us. Being the pioneer in this field, we can grab that opportunity really fast.”
Funding Scenario
Techjockey has been bootstrapping since it ventured in 2016. Initially, they put about 25 lakhs to develop the online marketplace and then invested in building a strong team across technology, products, and sales and marketing. They are also open to equity-based funding from investors who possess similar interest.
Challenges and Takeaways from Them
While sharing the story of Techjockey’s journey, Akash and Arjun said that they had to go through various challenges in the initial period. For example, small vendors were not convinced with the idea of selling software online, whereas large OEM’s already had channel partners across the countries. In fact, some of them even had an online presence.
Another challenge for them was to find the right payment partner and the right talents to nurture the business. But, such challenges could hold back the founders of Techjockey as they believed in their business idea. They were confident that their business model would work for the small vendors having limited marketing budgets. So, Techjockey started onboarding them. Later, they also signed with larger OEMs who by now had realized the business potential coming to them via this platform.
Vision of Techjockey
Explaining the Vision of the company, the co-founders, Akash and Arjun said, “Through our platform, we want to help startups and SMEs overcome their budget constraints and fulfil their automation needs. Businesses functioning across different industries can easily find end-to-end software solutions from premium and niche vendors. Our plans have always been to work closely with SMBs and MSMEs to understand their enterprise-wide technology needs and provide tailor-made solutions.”
To achieve their vision, the Techjockey team has also developed a cloud-based IT asset management tool called IT Bank, through which it helps businesses manage their entire software/hardware subscription along with IT assets. The tool is already being used by more than 500 small and medium companies across the country.
Over the years, Techjockey has been assisting small businesses in adapting to technology and thereby helping them to derive the benefits of modern technology. We wish the team of Techjockey more successes in the coming days and hope that they continue to add more feathers to their cap while bringing technology to small and medium businesses.
