E-commerce is here to stay, says co-founder of b2bsphere.com
Updated: Sep 23, 2015 04:14:13pm
New Delhi , Sept 23 (KNN) Business optimization, in the genre of tech-driven era, has not been excluded from the sphere of emerging enterprises these days. Providing a single platform for collating various business activities for the mass market has been the sole motto of b2bSphere.com
This was stated by co-founder of b2bsphere.com, Sudhi Seshachala, underlining the goals and vision of the enterprise.
“Rethinking B2B (Business to Business) - by digitally engaging business partners and enabling them to optimize business operations is our objective,” Seshachala said, providing a brief insight into the online portal, b2bsphere.com.
“b2Bbsphere helps buyers and suppliers connect, collaborate and streamline their business operations within an integrated platform. For businesses and professionals it is a marketplace for new business opportunities - to learn, connect, converse, collaborate, share documents and transact within an open or closed network,” he added.
The founders came upon the idea of b2bsphere when they themselves experienced the pain points in one of their earlier ventures.
“Current B2B trading platforms are primarily directories that charge businesses exorbitant prices for listings, with no measurable return on investment. Limited communication solutions within B2B trading platforms cause communication breakdowns between buyers and sellers, resulting in loss of business transactions and future potential,” Seshachala said, listing some of the challenges they faced.
“Also, lack of secure and seamless document management and collaboration solutions between buyers and suppliers always seemed a trial to us,” he added.
However, equipped with the spirit of entrepreneurship, the founders were driven to find a solution that would in turn helps find solutions to the stated problems. For starters, they met with potential users from both the buyer and supplier side and discussed the problems they encountered on a daily basis.
“We validated the solution with them and within 120 days built an MVP. Thereafter, we collected feedback from users and made improvements from then on,” the co-founder said.
As of now, the enterprise has over 1000+ users with 61 per cent repeat users, 900K suppliers and 300+ buyers. B2BSphere has facilitated business worth USD 3M+ and counting, in less than 2 months of the platform going live.
Bootstrapping and then building sustainable product business was a challenge by itself for the firm. “Hiring the right talent at an attractive/manageable price point posed yet another challenge. However, we have adopted some unique and attractive ways to hiring and retaining talent. We train freshers with acceptable academics and then absorb them into the company. This has worked out well so far. Though some of them might decide to go on a separate path – the ‘Train to Hire model’ has worked well for us,” Seshachala said.
According to co-founder, funding is not the ultimate measure of a startup success. Business model and long term plan to build a stable company is an approach they had taken while building B2BSphere.
“We have bootstrapped B2BSphere till today with traction and are closer to realizing our business model in revenues,” said the entrepreneur.
The start-up is 15-member team with operations spanning across Bangalore and the US with their sales office in Houston.
The co-founder firmly believes that e-commerce is going to stay in the economy. “Ecommerce today accounts for just one per cent of overall retail spend. This also means that there is a huge opportunity with in the e-commerce segment. However, there are certain categories within e-commerce that might do exceedingly well than others such as electronics, gaming etc,” he explained.
Seshachala pointed out that the government should subsidize taxes on consumer spend on e-commerce – thereby providing the much needed help for the industry. It would be a sort of tax holiday for consumers to buy online, thereby helping e-commerce to grow.
The founder is firm on the belief that India is the home of MSME and SME. he also holds the notion that B2BSphere helps SME/MSMEs to maximize their opportunities by creating their company/product portfolio pages and showcasing them to prospective buyers.
“With the new Make in India initiative by PM Narendra Modi, B2BSphere is at an infection point where we provide a platform empowering the SME/MSME segment to optimize their operations and export their products,” he elaborated, on the issue of SME development in the country.
Over the coming years, the founders are currently focused on India and the sub-continent to make an impact around the Make in India Initiative and help support Indian MSME/SME/SMB to target global customers. They aim to have around a hundred thousand plus companies registered on the platform within the next 12 months.
He is happy with initiatives such Make in India, Startup Fund and simplification process of forming companies. (KNN Bureau)
This was stated by co-founder of b2bsphere.com, Sudhi Seshachala, underlining the goals and vision of the enterprise.
“Rethinking B2B (Business to Business) - by digitally engaging business partners and enabling them to optimize business operations is our objective,” Seshachala said, providing a brief insight into the online portal, b2bsphere.com.
“b2Bbsphere helps buyers and suppliers connect, collaborate and streamline their business operations within an integrated platform. For businesses and professionals it is a marketplace for new business opportunities - to learn, connect, converse, collaborate, share documents and transact within an open or closed network,” he added.
The founders came upon the idea of b2bsphere when they themselves experienced the pain points in one of their earlier ventures.
“Current B2B trading platforms are primarily directories that charge businesses exorbitant prices for listings, with no measurable return on investment. Limited communication solutions within B2B trading platforms cause communication breakdowns between buyers and sellers, resulting in loss of business transactions and future potential,” Seshachala said, listing some of the challenges they faced.
“Also, lack of secure and seamless document management and collaboration solutions between buyers and suppliers always seemed a trial to us,” he added.
However, equipped with the spirit of entrepreneurship, the founders were driven to find a solution that would in turn helps find solutions to the stated problems. For starters, they met with potential users from both the buyer and supplier side and discussed the problems they encountered on a daily basis.
“We validated the solution with them and within 120 days built an MVP. Thereafter, we collected feedback from users and made improvements from then on,” the co-founder said.
As of now, the enterprise has over 1000+ users with 61 per cent repeat users, 900K suppliers and 300+ buyers. B2BSphere has facilitated business worth USD 3M+ and counting, in less than 2 months of the platform going live.
Bootstrapping and then building sustainable product business was a challenge by itself for the firm. “Hiring the right talent at an attractive/manageable price point posed yet another challenge. However, we have adopted some unique and attractive ways to hiring and retaining talent. We train freshers with acceptable academics and then absorb them into the company. This has worked out well so far. Though some of them might decide to go on a separate path – the ‘Train to Hire model’ has worked well for us,” Seshachala said.
According to co-founder, funding is not the ultimate measure of a startup success. Business model and long term plan to build a stable company is an approach they had taken while building B2BSphere.
“We have bootstrapped B2BSphere till today with traction and are closer to realizing our business model in revenues,” said the entrepreneur.
The start-up is 15-member team with operations spanning across Bangalore and the US with their sales office in Houston.
The co-founder firmly believes that e-commerce is going to stay in the economy. “Ecommerce today accounts for just one per cent of overall retail spend. This also means that there is a huge opportunity with in the e-commerce segment. However, there are certain categories within e-commerce that might do exceedingly well than others such as electronics, gaming etc,” he explained.
Seshachala pointed out that the government should subsidize taxes on consumer spend on e-commerce – thereby providing the much needed help for the industry. It would be a sort of tax holiday for consumers to buy online, thereby helping e-commerce to grow.
The founder is firm on the belief that India is the home of MSME and SME. he also holds the notion that B2BSphere helps SME/MSMEs to maximize their opportunities by creating their company/product portfolio pages and showcasing them to prospective buyers.
“With the new Make in India initiative by PM Narendra Modi, B2BSphere is at an infection point where we provide a platform empowering the SME/MSME segment to optimize their operations and export their products,” he elaborated, on the issue of SME development in the country.
Over the coming years, the founders are currently focused on India and the sub-continent to make an impact around the Make in India Initiative and help support Indian MSME/SME/SMB to target global customers. They aim to have around a hundred thousand plus companies registered on the platform within the next 12 months.
He is happy with initiatives such Make in India, Startup Fund and simplification process of forming companies. (KNN Bureau)
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