Entrepreneur Manoj Kotak on his Printing Related StartupsFlexiTemplates, FlexiWeb2Print and Flexi Print

FlexiWeb2Print is one of the three brands owned by Flexi Templates Pvt. Ltd. FlexiWeb2Print is a SAAS based module which helps digital & offset printing companies to run their very own Online Printing store. Flexi Templates and Flexi Print are the two other brands.Manoj Kotak is one of the four directors of Flexi Templates Pvt. Ltd. They provide a wide range of print design services, including logo designing, corporate identity designing, promotional material designing and printing. They also have ready to use print designs, which one can download by paying online.

Image Online Pvt. Ltd was started in 2000 and was the first company started by Manoj. The core team at Flexi Templates Pvt. Ltd is the same as the core team of Image Online Pvt. Ltd. Image Online concentrates specifically on web designing and web development.

YourStory caught up with Manoj for a chat. Here are excerpts of the interview.

YourStory: How did you enter the printing domain from a web development company?

Manoj: We were a hardcore web designing & web development company to start with. A number of inquiries coming in were for logo designing, brochure designing and printing. This prompted us to start Flexi Templates. Milind Padhye, one of the directors, is a commercial artist and has a specialization in photography. This ensured that we had the requisite expertise in-house to provide both designing & printing solutions.

We were first exposed to web to print technology at Drupa, Germany in 2008. Since we already had expertise and experience in both the web and print domain we were interested in exploring this development further. This led to FlexiWeb2Print.

We had to adapt our services to better suit the online model. This was one of the main challenges of entering the print domain through an online channel.

YourStory: How did Flexiweb2print evolve and what led to the launch of Flexiprint

Manoj: Before FlexiWeb2Print was started we were already researching the print domain. Post launch we were able to develop excellent Print Procurement, Digital Management and Print Order Management modules. At the time of the launch the market was not ready for such a service, but we believed that if travel, job, e-commerce, matrimonial, etc can generate high volumes of orders using the web medium then why not print.

YourStory: Can you share some statistics? Was the company bootstrapped or funded?

Manoj: Technically we are not a startup, but rather a small company which provides core services such as web designing, web development and print designing. Till date the company is completely self-funded.

FlexiPrint has been around for about six months and in this time we have completed 700 orders. For the first five months saw an average of 100 orders being generated per month. Last month 210 orders were generate, which was also the best month so far.

YourStory: What is Flexi Templates planning for the near future?

Manoj: The three areas we are focusing on currently are:

1. Customized Design Service
2. Selling FlexiWeb2Print engine
3. Concentrating on Flexi Print

One of the main goals for the next 12 months is to take FlexiWeb2Print to the international customers. There are some plans for Flexi Print in the pipeline as well. Three new services will be launched under the Flexi Print banner, which are:

a)    Customized Design Services

b)    Service for Corporate Customer

c)     Service for Bulk/Vendors/People from the printing industry

So, basically we have three-pronged plan. Firstly to attract more retail customers through Flexi Print; secondly to target corporate customers by providing dedicated service to companies with more than 10 members; and thirdly targeting customers with bulk or wholesale orders by providing a dedicated canvasor, digital store owner or reseller.

We will keep you posted on updates from Manoj and Flexi Templates group of companies. To visit Flexi Print website click here.