Raghav Aggarwal, Co-Founder, Trutech Webs
Monday August 31, 2009 , 6 min Read
YourStory features Young Entrepreneurs who exemplify the meaning of the words, in their vision and the manner in which they fulfill them. Raghav Aggarwal is young, keen, and determined to earn his claim to the title of entrepreneur. His nose for business has led to his early induction into the world of entrepreneurship in the shape of Trutech Webs - a cloud computing solutions provider in education.
Raghav spoke of his company and his dreams saying “Trutech Webs provides innovative software as service solutions to organizations in the education sphere. The company has innovated new web based software called the FRS which can be almost instantly deployed. One of the best things of the software is its inherent flexibility that it can be deployed for almost any educational institution ranging from preschools to full universities and even dance classes.”
Unlike others who develop education software, Trutech is a complete solution provider and easy on the pocket. Raghav says “The key differentiators are the simplicity and flexibility of our web offering allowing its application in diverse range of institutes having 50 students or 2000 students. Also our software as a service model is truly innovative in terms helping institutes avoid high capital expenditure on servers and hardware upgrades but rather being able to access the service online. The business model charges the user on a per user per year basis which is renewable every year.”
Trutech is targeting educational institutes that have a wider range enabling them to spread over a network. Raghav states “For scaling up we are approaching multi branch educational institutes having several branches where the software sale can lead to massive deployment enabling us to reach a larger number of learners. Also the company has launched a pilot project with the BMC to SMS enable municipal schools which could be replicated across the country.”
Raghav has never known any world other than that of an entrepreneur. Where others may have explored their options, he was dead certain about his decision. Raghav explains “The thing is I have never really worked. After graduating from Mumbai University with a BMS degree in 2008 i went straight for my MBA at FMS Delhi. In the meantime I and my brother Abhinav had started a website called exampapersonline.com which was doing reasonably well. The idea was to return from the MBA and take up entrepreneurship full time, although the rapid growth and scale of our business forced me to quit the MBA within 3 months and get into the company full time.”
Trutech has been proving their detractors wrong and winning over their clients. Raghav says “Initially a lot of institutes were hesitant to trust our software and its reliability. We then initially focused on the coaching and tuition class market where people were more ready to accept our solution. As our growth continued we got several referrals and were able to provide solutions to larger institutions.”
They had a learning lesson in store for them which made them realize the value of building a positive image. Raghav says “Our initial focus when we had developed the software was always on the technical side and not so much on the marketing. We mistakenly believed that once we had an excellent offering the marketing required would be minimal. However we have now understood the importance of marketing and our constantly focusing on improving the awareness of our brand and product.”
Their previous forays into business and a helping hand from their family were instrumental in forming Trutech. They have since made great strides and have been gaining ground on their competitors. Raghav says “The Company’s growth over the past few months has been quite heartening. We now provide a platform to over 6000 learners. Also exciting has been the breadth of our consumer base which spans institutions such as H.R College of Commerce and Economics (One of Mumbai’s premier Commerce Colleges), CPLC CAT Classes( An institution having over 1500 students) and Expressions Modern Dance Company (A Dance Studio having over 500 learners across 5 centres in Mumbai). Also our organization has been able to provide concrete software applications to several large corporates such as Puratos (which is one of Europes Largest Food companies having revenues of over 1 Billion dollars).”
The successful launch of their product at H.R College of Commerce and Economics remains a high point for Raghav among their recent accolades. He says “…at the end of the project implementation over 6000 students will use the software on a daily basis. Also our pilot project with the BMC is also very heartening as it provides a platform to students and schools which have been left behind by the I.T revolution.”
“Our organization won an award from IIM Bangalore for the best Business Plan in the Education Sector. TIE and ISB has also recognized our venture potential at the TIE ISB conference in Hyderabad.”
Yourstory asked Raghav if there are any possibilities of him joining the work force and he replies “No; not really our venture being less than a year old, we remain enthused by the challenge of growing and scaling our organization. Also as the founders Raghav (22) and Abhinav 18 are still young we look at our mistakes as learning points considering the time we still have to grow our organization.”
“Both Abhinav and me have always been excited by the potential of the educational sector in the country. We believe by applying innovative thinking and thought we can provide a service which can make the learning process more effective. Our dream remains not to be a huge software company but an organization focused on providing the right solution.”
Raghav takes his own perceptions into account while advising the budding entrepreneurs who might be reading his story and says “Starting early can really be the best advice that we can provide. Both Abhinav (who’s still in his first year of college) and I were young when we thought and built this. Being young allows you to make mistakes and adapt quickly.”
YourStory believes that the promise that Raghav and Trutech have shown will come to fulfillment in the near future. We wish him luck and success with his entrepreneurial journey.
