Meet the space scientist who became an entrepreneur with CodeMyMobile
At an age when most of us were still toying with basic mathematics, Ankit Khatri was teaching himself computer programming. He wrote his first program when he was 12. At college, he conceptualized tech-fests – now a given at most engineering colleges – and built a website from scratch. He went on to become a space scientist at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), but the dreamer in him urged him to quit the comforts of the well-paying, high-brow job and startup.
CodeMyMobile, the mobility solutions startup Ankit founded in 2013, in just 9 months was picked as one of the 20 most promising mobility solution providers of 2013 by CIO Review. What’s noteworthy is that this startup was the youngest and the only Indian startup to make it to the list.
The core idea
In simple terms, CodeMyMobile develops innovative mobility solutions. They aim to be one of the most sophisticated enterprise mobility enablement partner for “businesses that seek to maximize task-specific productivity, while optimizing security in compliance with NIST 800-124 standards”.
According to Ankit, CodeMyMobile has 3 key differentiators:
1. Turnkey mobile application development product libraries and API integrations that reduce development timeframes by more than 300%.2. Flexible mobile device management software that reduces total cost of ownership while ensuring compliance with NIST 800-124 standards.
3. A consulting-led methodology that cost-efficiently helps prioritize requirements on enterprise mobility projects based on contributions to revenue and profitability growth.
CodeMyMobile's products include customizable Apple and Samsung MDM (Mobile Device Management) server user-interfaces, analytics modules, car research databases, OpenXC app libraries, and real-time quiz apps for educators, Yahoo finance integration scripts, image editing libraries for Android & iOS, affiliate aggregator programs, etc. “These help reduce integration and development timeframes for enterprise mobility apps. CodeMyMobile also offers specialized R&D services for CIOs that are on the forefront of innovation,” Ankit says.
From $1 million funding to Mercedes Benz as client
CodeMyMobile’s client roll is quite impressive. “Mercedes Benz, Ford, Prada, Samsung and Huggies are some of our biggest customers. These companies are seeing the most traction in applications across all industry verticals that help manage customer, partner and employee interactions with the 100s of legacy applications that already exist in companies,” Ankit says.
Headquartered in Noida, the startup has an office in New York as well. "So far, CodeMyMobile has raised $1 million angel investment from prominent technology industry investors," he says. Currently, a 20-member team of “passionate developers, designers and marketing specialists who are out to make a difference”, CodeMyMobile is focused on growing their product development and API integration libraries. They want to “continue to provide business leaders with greater flexibility while providing IT administrator’s easier device and application management capabilities,” Ankit says. The roadmap also includes ensuring greater regulatory compliance with HIPAA-HITECH, SOX, GLBA, etc., he adds.
You can check out some of CodeMyMobile’s case studies here.
The sole bread-winner at home
It wasn’t such an easy choice for Ankit to throw away the job at ISRO to follow his dreams. He is the sole bread-winner of his family, and therefore, shoulders a lot of responsibilities. The startup journey wasn’t something he could embark on a whim. But the bureaucracy at the institution was too stifling for Ankit.
“He started with a meagre amount and was betrayed by number of people, a number of times. But strong-willed and self-confident, he kept on moving. A believer of god, he fought with all the vagaries of life without letting go off his self-belief,” Swati Bagaria, Ankit’s teammate at CodeMyMobile, tells us.
This entrepreneur firmly believes in the power of innovation. He is proud to say that at CodeMyMobile, “we develop world-class mobile applications that adhere to engineering best practices and deliver engaging user-experiences.”
What do you think of this brave-heart entrepreneur's venture? Tell us in the comments below.
