Post on 28-Oct-2014
description
Intelligent People. Uncommon Ideas.
Directi, the Yesteryears
by, Bhavin Turakhia
CEO, Directi
(http://directi.com)
1989 – 1994
1989 - 1994
“Read … a LOT!!”
Pointer 1
1994 - 1996
“Read a LOT of biographies”
Pointer 2
“Build your Business / Career in something you would gladly do for FREE!!”
Pointer 3
“If you are gonna spend time thinking, you might as well Think BIG!!”
Pointer 4
1994 - 1996
The Internet Revolution
1996
• Faced considerable resistance from Parents concerning career choice, especially post 12th results
“If you can or you think you can’t, you are Right”
Pointer 5
“Don’t keep thinking … Just Do it!!”
Pointer 6
“Have conviction in yourself”
Pointer 7
1996 - 1997
1. Started Bits and PCs - Failed
2. Started The Web Spinners - Failed
“What you learn on your own is as/more important than what you learn at school”
Pointer 8
1996-1997
• The Birth of Directi• Registered the domain name• Wrote a humongous piece of software
that noone wanted !!!
“Being ahead of your time is not always an advantage”
Pointer 9
“Success is a bad Teacher”
“Failures are Stepping stones to Success”
Pointer 10
“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”
Pointer 11
• Fundamental Tenets of Directi’s vision Products and not Outsourced Services Volume based products Internet related products Global focus
1997
“Establish a base set of guiding principles”
Pointer 12
1998
• Borrowed 25k from Dad• Bought my first server at Alabanza• Got 40 clients in the first month• Repaid loan and continued growing
“Become cash flow positive as soon as possible”
Pointer 13
1999
• First employee – Kunal Sheth• Played Peon to President• Automated tons of initial processes –
mainly collection• Introduced bulk packages for the first
time• First yr turnover – 4 lacs
“Credit and Collections can kill you”
Pointer 14
“Do unto others what you would have them do to you”
Pointer 15
1999
• Divided time between marketing and development
• Grew team
“Spend time on the field actually selling your products”
Pointer 16
2000
• Continued to grow team and clientele• Promoted ourselves in tons of
conferences
“Continue adding people”
Pointer 17
2001
“Vertical Integration is a common growth strategy”
Pointer 18
“It can be easier to sell new stuff to existing Customers than to sell existing stuff to new
Customers”
Pointer 19
2001-2002
• Continued to grow rapidly• Brought on several elite clients /
Multiplied clientele• Adopted a Reseller focused model• Moved to a new office• First inflection point – 5 people to 30• Functional departments – dev / support /
sales / sysad / finance etc• Launched dedicated servers, newer
control panels• Launched Transecute – 1st PG
2001-2002
“Get things done!!”
Pointer 20
“Focus on your strengths”
Pointer 21
2003
• Moved to newer offices – 100 seater• First layer of Managers and Functional
heads• Crossed 100,000 Customers, despite
dotcom crash• Penchant for Automation
Automated everything – stuff that didn’t need automation
Billing, HRIS, Knowledge Management, Support Desk, Sales Automation, Reporting etc
2003
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”
Pointer 22
“Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate, Processify,
Automate”
Pointer 23
“Invest in Knowledge Management Software”
Pointer 24
2003+
• Kept buying addtl Real Estate 100 -> 200 -> Automated everything – stuff
that didn’t need automation Billing, HRIS, Knowledge Management,
Support Desk, Sales Automation, Reporting etc
• Culture percolation, Values etc became challenges
“Don’t underestimate the importance of information percolation”
Pointer 25
“Don’t tell them what to do. Tell them what we stand for, what we believe in, what are our
values”
Pointer 26
“Negotiate great Real Estate deals”
Pointer 27
2003+
• Kept launching additional products and Business Units
• Email, Web hosting, Ded servers, Reseller interfaces, Digicerts, PG, Sitebuilder, Antispam / Antivirus etc
• Reseller Automation Suite• Registrar Automation Suite• LogicBoxes• WebHosting.info
“Many of our Products were built for our own use”
Pointer 28
“Eat your own Dog Food”
Pointer 29
“The more services they buy from you the lesser the chance that they will leave”
Pointer 30
2004+
• Skenzo Parking – Initial Stage• Grew offices (had to lease space) – 300+• Crossed 200,000 Customers
2004+
2005+
• Launching a new business unit every 2 years
• Mid Management layer for each unit / team
“If you are not going to be a market leader there is no point in spending time on it”
Pointer 31
Directi Today
• A $300 million tech enterprise
• 500+ employees and growing
• Ranked amongst Fastest Growing technology companies in Asia and India(Deloitte and Touche ‘05, ‘06, ‘07 & ‘08)
• Doubled our employee strength every year over the last 3 years, with a CAGR of over 30%
Directi Today
• 6+ businesses; all amongst the Top 5 or 10 worldwide in their respective industry
• 25+ indigenously developed Web Products, Properties and Services
• All businesses are exponentially profitable and funded only through internal accruals since inception
Directi Today
• Offices in 4 countries -• Mumbai, Bangalore &
Delhi – India
• Dubai – UAE
• Xiamen – China
• San Francisco – USA
Directi Today
• Millions of Customers in 240+ countries
• Over 53,000 Global Channel Partners
“Dream it, Achieve it!!”
Intelligent People. Uncommon Ideas.
Building a multi-billion dollar enterprise
Email me: bhavin.t@directi.com
Follow me: http://twitter.com/bhavintu
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bhavin.t
Blog: http://bhavin.directi.comWebsite: http://directi.com
Download Slides: http://wiki.directi.com