We invited Girish Kukreja, Founder at FlexC, for an interview with Most Popular Stories. Let’s get to know about his entrepreneurial journey.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur
I am Girish Kukreja, coming from a small suburb in Mumbai named Ulhasnagar, and the place is most famous for Sindhi Businessmen. I have 20+ years of experience in IT covering Product Company, IT and BPO services. Starting something on my own was always on my bucket list, and I had been planning quite early in my career to be here in terms of financial planning, knowledge-base and connecting with the startup world. I have been experimenting with Ideas but realized that it is so much you can do part-time.
Ultimately, I decided to take a plunge in September 20th which was difficult considering me being settled and the market not that great due to Covid. But I believed in this Idea of FlexC, which has excellent potential and here I am.
2. Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I have been investing in businesses since I started my job and spent time attending AGMs, Analyst call of companies I invested in; it was always great to hear them; they were the inspiration always. I always knew that it’s the business that generates value while the job can give you a decent lifestyle. Apart from that, generating employment is a great responsibility, and I had a passion for that.
I am a big fan of Nandan Nilekani, VSS, Elon Musk. There is a lot of celebration for successful entrepreneurs, but of course, that’s probably 1 in 200. Being a Sindhi, I always had the genes; this is my test to see how good they are.
3. What was the vision behind it?
Our Idea is straightforward; In India, while the gig economy has kicked off well in blue-collar jobs, white-collar work is predominately providing full-time employment. Covid has changed the behavior where Work-from-Home is becoming the new Normal, the trust of Organizations to get work done remotely has improved, people like more challenges and hence are ready to try side gigs and be their bosses. There is no large player in India, creating a freelancing platform that aggregates India’s talent for global demand. I believe this space is going to expand, and we want to be No 1 in that.
4. Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what way they are unique?
In India, the perception is that whoever doesn’t get a job does freelancing; this thing is changing. More and more people prefer to do Independent Gigs, especially the Millennials, and GenZ.
FlexC is a scalable digital platform that serves as an integrated marketplace for Independent Consultants to access White Collar Gigs and for organizations to access best-in-class talent. The digital platform would provide an end-to-end ecosystem for users to access/assign gigs, manage contracting, invoicing, payments, performance feedback through a single dashboard.
We have carved out a full career path for Consulting and have three products.
- FlexCWork – If you are looking for something to do along with studies or maybe want to pursue your passion alongside your job, this is the place for you. FlexC Work is a marketplace to do side gigs in Content Writing, Video editing, App Development, etc. This is an excellent start for Early Career Learnings (End to End project execution, Interaction with Customers, managing time) and experimenting with new areas. This is a good platform for 0-8 years’ experience.
- FlexCForce – Enterprise Model where Mid and Large organizations employ and manage a flexible workforce with short-term and long-term contracting. This model provides little more stability for freelancers to have projects of 6-24 months cycle time. Beneficial for professionals with 8-15 years’ experience. Freelancers can also start a boutique agency and register on the platform to execute projects using other freelancers.
- FlexCelebrity: This model is used for Senior Executive for Mentoring, Consultancy and Program Management; all organizations can manage senior professionals’ contracting through the platform.
5. What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?
Every startup’s fundamental challenges are IDEA, TEAM, CAPITAL and Execution Speed and Quality. I think the fun is to solve a new problem every day as if your life depends on it. We have solved IDEA, TEAM for sure, Even Capital to a great extent, but of course, to become No. 1, we will need strategic investors and Capital to be there. Execution has been my focus; I believe IDEA is free; it’s the execution that differentiates. We are on the right path to make a difference in this space.
6. How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I am a sports person at heart and play tennis regularly, which takes me away from my daily routine and keeps the spirit of competition. My way of managing stress and pressure is to have the self-discipline of exercise, balance time with friends and family, and have the energy to work for long hours a workday.
7. In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
Patience and Perseverance are the keys to success in any field. Many people think that a startup is the fast way to make money; I feel you have played infinite game with patience, so customers know you will be around and have perseverance to be in the game; when opportunity knocks to capitalize on that.
8. What advice would you give to someone starting as an aspiring entrepreneur?
For people in their 40s who are planning to be an entrepreneur, my first advice is to have a good financial plan for the long run rather than an experiment for the short term. Secondly, if you start earning money, a job gives you easy money than entrepreneurship which is hard and takes long to become successful.
Connect Here,
Website: https://www.flexc.work/home/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/girish-kukreja-a3b4637/