Mohtashim Shaikh, Co-founder, FREESMSAPI: Helping developers and entrepreneurs increase their brand equity through SMS marketing

When Mohtashim Shaikh wanted to send out ad-free SMSes, he looked around and found that there wasn’t a single option that could do this along with SMS tools and free API services. But being an entrepreneur at heart, he put together a platform that could do all this and called it FREESMSAPI. In this exclusive chat with YourStory, he speaks about the startup that he’s co-founded and the SMS gateway market.If someone asked you to tell them about FREESMSAPI in about three sentences, what would you say?

Free SMS API is a comprehensive free SMS platform offering single window ad-free SMS and API solutions to corporate and entrepreneurs. It’s the quickest and most hassle-free way to enhance your brand equity and customer satisfaction. In a nutshell, it’s “your SMS gateway to growth”.

How is FREESMSAPI different from other SMS gateways?

As the name suggest, we offer free SMSes with API and tools permitting software applications and websites to send SMSes to their customers. We gain customer trust by allowing them to completely test our services before making any commercial commitment with us. This helps us build a long term, trust-based relationship with our customers.

The users can register at absolutely no cost with a valid domain name and corresponding email address and start integrating our API with their websites, applications or simply use our console to start sending free messages to promote their business.

We have an edge over the competition by offering ad-free SMSes and free API with a variety of tools to make the process seamless and less cumbersome.

How did the business idea for FREESMSAPI come about?

Well, you know what they say about necessity, right? It is truly the mother of all inventions. The idea for FREESMSAPI came about under circumstances.  After an extensive search for a ‘plug & play’ solution, we realized that there was not a single cost-effective & seamless solution in existence that could offer ad-free messages, with a range of SMS tools and free API services.

So, after much technical analysis, market research and extensive discussion with the end users, FREESMSAPI was born. The basic goal is to provide ad-free SMS and API solutions to help fellow developers and entrepreneurs with small or absolutely no budget to enhance their brand equity.

Finally, in May 2010, we launched FREESMSAPI under the banner of Gyrodev IT Services (www.gyrodev.com) purely out of the necessity to offer mobile features to the developers and consumers looking to enhance the functionality of their websites and software applications.

Tell us about your background.

Along with me, Sandeep Ghia is the other co-founder of FREESMSAPI. He plays a pivotal role in the company with a key focus to increase competitiveness, improve customer experience, and increasing the depth of services. Sandeep has over five years of IS and IT expertise including three years of IT Management & offshore management expertise.

Prior to this entrepreneurial venture, Sandeep started his journey in 2002 at The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE – Boston) USA, in the capacity of Operations Manager. In 2005, he moved back to India and began his entrepreneurial endeavor in the field of Information Technology.

Sandeep holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Mumbai University (1999) and a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a major in Management Information Systems from University of Massachusetts (UMASS) in 2003.

I work on defining the road map for technology, innovation and customer services. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (IT) in 2007 from M.H. Saboo Siddik C.O.E Mumbai and I come with a background in open source technologies. After graduation and before starting FREESMSAPI, I have worked with a few IT companies and was involved in deploying web-based consumer products.

Is there acceptance for your concept? Can you give us a 'use-case' to illustrate the same?

The acceptance for our concept is quite overwhelming, especially from the development community and software companies. We have had enquiries from a lot of companies seeking advanced API services, catering to their niche requirements.

As far as use-cases are concerned, I can take the example of one of our customers, a software company specializing in mobile medical applications. They found it very convenient as they did not have to undergo the hassles of purchasing a SMS package and further customizing the API, thereby saving time and money. Our service acted as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for their requirement and within few hours, they had all the tools required to offer more value added services to their customers.

Where do you see SMS gateways and FreeSMSAPI five years from now?

In today’s mobile landscape, everyone is talking about Internet on mobile, 3G speeds etc. However, SMS is pretty much the most frequently used feature even today. Every individual uses it for a variety of reasons, including checking bank balances, mobile bills, status of train/flight etc.

Recent TRAI data shows that Indians are using SMS as an extension of their lives more and more every year. An average Indian sends 29 SMS per month. Considering the rapid increase in the number of mobile subscribers in India, one can gauge the significance of SMS gateways in coming years.

The API has set a benchmark for us, firmly establishing our presence in the mobile web landscape. We do not intend to stop here. We’d like to expand the range of services and tools offered to developers/business owners and provide first-class value added services to our customers.

What is FREESMSAPI's revenue model?

We make our money in the following ways:

• We charge a nominal ‘business sender ID’ fee from the customers with a small audience base. The SMSes sent are absolutely free, along with our API offering
• We charge premium/bulk users on the basis of the SMS packages that they pick for their marketing requirements. Our e-SMS platform for premium users is bundled with set of advanced analytical reporting features to keep track of their promotions
• We charge non technical users for basic and advanced SMS integration with their applications. For developers and software companies, we charge for advanced API services
• We also do web development and internet marketing services

As an entrepreneur, what are your joys? What are the challenges?

So far, the journey has been quite overwhelming. The idea of venturing out, entering into a competitive space and emerging victorious enthralls us and keeps us going. As entrepreneurs, we find immense satisfaction in challenging ourselves and we see success in terms of every satisfied customer.

Every day has been a challenge. The SMS market is very huge.  But it is also highly competitive with minimum barriers to entry. Apart from the operational challenges with respect to getting the right vendors to creating synergies or strategic alliances, the biggest challenge is to distinguish ourselves from the competition and convince the customers that they are the recipients of a very niche service.

How big is the FREESMSAPI team?

Currently, we are a two-member team. Sandeep Ghia, my co-founder, is actively involved in creating synergies and developing strategic relationships, apart from handling the day-to-day operational activities. With my knowledge and skill in the field of programming, I’m religiously involved in QC and developing user-friendly tools, with the aim of 100% customer satisfaction.

So, who’s using FREESMSAPI?

Currently, we have a user base of over a thousand users who are sending messages at a rate of hundred SMSes a day. And it is increasing with every passing day. We are serving a dozen WAP sites which have used our free API to create their own chat servers. Other clients are from hospitality industries, medical industries, educational institutions and brokerage firms.

Let us know about your expansion plans.

We are negotiating with educational institutions for a tie-up to integrate our product with their electronic media, facilitating two-way messaging solutions among their students. Also, since IT companies form a significant portion of our customer base, we plan to diversify our service offerings through an affiliate partnership programme for our customers.

We at YourStory wish this young startup all the very best. To know more about FREESMSAPI, do check out http://www.freesmsapi.com/. Also, do let us know what you think of this story. You can write to us at [email protected].

Sriram Mohan | YourStory | 1st March 2010 | Bangalore