Balasubramaniyam Kandaswamy, founder, Contus Support Interactive Pvt Ltd
Monday November 02, 2009 , 4 min Read
“The riskiest thing to do in life is not take a risk. There is a thrill in deciding your fate and taking charge of your own life,” says Balasubramaniyam Kandaswamy, one of the founding members of Contus Support. “As the world moved into a depression, we generated revenue to sail through the bad times and cope with the growth demands our organisation faced.”
For a period of eight years, the founders of Contus Support worked for biggies like Wipro Technologies, IBM, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Slash Support, Microsoft and General Motors, in areas such as service delivery, project management, software development, customer support and technical services. Once they were convinced that they had the right blend of experience and skill, always being passionate about being entrepreneurs, they established Contus Support, an end-to-end web and mobile solutions provider for all outsourcing needs, in February 2008.
“However, we overrated ourselves before starting off. Once reality hit, we understood that what we had learnt in the last eight years was just 15 to 20 per cent of what is required to run a successful business,” Kandaswamy said.
These entrepreneurs overcame the challenges they faced by minimising expenditure, implementing online marketing techniques and taking certain key decisions, to manoeuvre themselves away from misadventure.
Contus Support’s presence is in the web development, web-based product development, mobile application development and internet marketing (SEO) sectors. In addition, the company converts its solutions into products to meet the demands of its customers, thereby providing quality and affordable solutions.
With regard to this, Contus Support offers small and medium businesses across the world services comparable in quality to what large enterprises can afford. “We wanted to use our earlier experience in serving Fortune 500 companies to bridge the gap to small and medium enterprises, by providing web and mobile solutions at an affordable cost,” said Kandaswamy.
Funding their venture by themselves, these entrepreneurs began with the minimal of resources, in a negative economic atmosphere. Despite the exacting demands of the situation, Contus Support managed exponential growth, its revenue increasing 300 per cent in the last year.
“In the last year and a half, we have served more than 200 customers from 14 countries, meeting their demands at affordable costs and superior quality. Our team strength has risen to 32, and our service capabilities have simultaneously expanded,” Kandaswamy said.
In the future, the founders of Contus Support aim to make their company a leader in the field of mobile application development. “And the ability to work towards the success of our customers is what makes us stand out,” Kandaswamy says. Around 80 per cent of Contus Support’s business is through references of its existing customers, underlining the recognition of its work by its clientele.
The company now plans on expanding its sales and marketing capabilities to the Americas, Europe and APAC regions, while increasing the workforce to meet the high demand for its niche services. In the short run, it aims to grow to a base to 100 employees and successfully release four web-based products which are currently under development.
Kandaswamy’s advice for those looking to strike out on their own is, “Follow your heart and back this up with proper planning, a sense of urgency, and never wait for opportunity to come knocking on your door,” and yourstory.in recognises this optimistic attitude towards entrepreneurship, a willingness to get your hands dirty while pursuing your passion.