[Startup Bharat] Kochi-based Skyislimit aims to simplify sales and communications for businesses

Having worked in consultancy, management, and entrepreneurship, Manodh Mohan realised companies faced a common business challenge — tracking productivity of sales executives. Most early-stage companies and businesses checked reports on excel sheets, making it a tedious, long, and inefficient process. 

“Through the reports were sent periodically, we weren't sure if the client interaction has actually happened. Another employee had to cross-check the reports and data sent across. So, we chose other option instead,” says Manodh.

In 2015, he launched Skyislimit Technologies, a Kochi and Mumbai-based startup, with the aim to help organisations manage teams and sort out these issues in the sales chain. Its main product Salesfokuz is a full suite software that supports sales teams with a simple tool. 

The founder claims that Salesfokuz experienced year-on-year growth of around 45 percent. Initially developed as a field force tracking app, it now comes in multiple versions for different industries and verticals. And, within five years, it claims to have over 10,000 users, including majors banks like SBI DFHI, CSB, DCB etc.

In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, connecting with people virtually and remotely became a necessity, which led Skyislimit to launch Fokuz, a video-conferencing platform. 

Some of the other products that the team has built over time include HrmNxt, Storeware, Alpha Billing, and PROMA that are meant for HR management, store ware management, billing software, and project management, respectively. 

ALSO READ

Inspired by Coco Chanel, this mompreneur went on to build a fashion jewellery brand

Making the right noise

For Manodh, building the right team — with the right skills and wavelength — was a bit challenging. 

He recalls, “Though it was tiresome, we succeeded in growing together with the right team. We had to raise funds to get the experts on board. Self-investment, friends, and family helped us.” 

At present, Skyislimit Technologies has a team of 70. In September 2020, the startup raised $2 million angel investment from a US-based company for Fokuz.

Launched in June 2020, the platform enables automated meeting reports — from time spent by each participant to the overall time spent on the meeting. It also lets you receive consolidated reports via email. 

Fokuz helps schedule meetings, add guests, share screens, chat with teams, share files, record meeting, and more — in a secure manner.

Skyislimit has multiple competitors. From FieldAssist, a B2B Sales automation platform, HR management startup Darwinbox, interactive guidance platform Whatfix, and more. 

For Fokuz, it competes with the likes of Airmeet, Zoom, InVideo, and others. There is also Y-Combinator backed Dyte, which enables video conferencing and team communications. 

“We focus on all aspects of remote team management through a single platform. It is affordable, has a simple UI, and doesn’t need technical knowledge to run,” explains Manodh. 

ALSO READ

These entrepreneurs decided to explore the new trend in farming - Hydroponics - to grow chemical-free greens

How Salesfokuz works

Admins can handle the dashboard, which is a unified platform with comprehensive information of leads, users, products, sales, targets, orders, collections, expenses, leaves, live locations, and even real-time reports. All updates that executives make on the mobile app are updated and available on the web dashboard in real-time. 

Additionally, the app works like a virtual office for executives. From the moment the executives punch into it to log in for the day, their manager can track their live location until they logout. 

It also tracks, organises, and manages the sales operations through a unified platform, remotely tracks meeting statuses, outcomes, beat plans, and targets achieved, while providing accurate automated reports. 

The platform categorises deals from hot status to cold status and helps the executives seamlessly differentiate qualified leads from the unqualified ones.

By the end of 2025, the team wants to list the company on NASDAQ, and expand into the US and set up the main centre there.