EDITION 13

And sometimes a superior product would think be a natural winner, one would think. But for Nishant Kathpal who founded Ayati Devices that manufactures a portable medical device to help diagnose neuropathies, that alone did not work. Says he, “I worked at a camp where doctors in rural areas tried to pick out neuropathy in the feet of patients. The existing device uses electricity and the patient has to lie down, and power cuts in villages is a serious problem. So, we thought, why not work on this problem.” And they did.

After spending two years working on it, Nishant and his team had a portable battery operated device that could not only pick up Neuropathies but also grade them, record the data for further monitoring. Neuropathies are not a one-time event. They progress slowly and if a patient returns after three months for a check-up the doctor must know what the earlier readings were. Our device stores all patient data on the cloud, ready for the next reading.”

But better is not always enough. Says Nishant, “Our competitor has the money muscle. They sell about 15000 biothesiometer (that runs on electricity) every year and are well entrenched in the market.”

An issue that even Amit had to face. “When we started, we priced our product much higher, but we soon realised that competition was charging much less, and now we sell at 50% that cost.”

The matter was resolved for Constems but Ayat Devices had an old player who had more money and better reach in the market. So even if their product was priced much lower at Rs 33,500 against theirs that costs anywhere between Rs 50-75,000 they could not reach out to a large number of customers.

And that is where creative thinking helped Nishant. Says he, “we do not have huge marketing budgets or even to hire staff. So I thought, why not tap the retired pharma sales executives. I know that no one likes to sit at home post retirement. We approached three of them, who agreed to work on a commission basis. They had a network of past customers that could help our sales and because we paid them only when a sale was made, we didn’t have the stress of paying salaries.” So far, Ayati has managed to sell 250 devices in four months. A win-win for all.

The magic of fintech has lured many an entrepreneur. And Satyajeet Kunjeer of Traustast P Ltd is one of them. He has built an app, deciml for micro financial investment, and has even done a beta run of it. “What deciml does is helps young people invest small amounts that can eventually add up to quite a bit.

Targeted at the 21-28 year olds, deciml rounds up their spends to the nearest 10. “So, if you buy coffee for say Rs 45 and make the payment digitally, deciml will round that Rs 45 to Rs 50 and appropriate Rs 5 into our investment program. Typically, this will go into Mutual Funds.”

Sounds cool! And like all entrepreneurs who get an idea, validate it, do the POC, test market it and then realise that ground realities are different from what they put on paper, Satyajeet too found out some realities. “There are 12 start-ups that are working on similar lines, the VCs and other investors informed me. And in a few months’ time they should be ready to launch.”

So, what happens then? In depth customer study will help, feels Satyajeet. “The younger generation is not very excited about saving. In the sense, they don’t mind the small change going off from their bank account, but simply saving for the sake of saving is not a big deal with them. In our heads, investing is for big things, so there is a disassociation to think of money from a short-term perspective. The concept that MFs push – invest as little as Rs 100 a month doesn’t go down well with the youngsters. So, we have now offered them goal-based investing.”

This translates into communicating with the target audience that if you wish to buy an iPhone you can do that with your spare change. “This way we see better traction. And more importantly, win over their trust. The fintech industry is about trust. No one will come to you for financial advice if they don’t trust you.”

Satyajeet is hopeful that when he is ready to launch his app deciml his understanding of his customers and his specifically designed product will win over that trust. And then he can lead them onto bigger investments.

As Amit puts it, “when you are in the market there are three things that impact your sales – one is how adaptable your product is to customers’ needs, two the cost and three one must have a complete know of the industry you are operating in.” And as Satyajeet has learnt, in depth understanding of customer habits.