Ahmedabad: Apna swelled many hearts with pride in Ahmedabad because an Amdavadi boy, a Nirma University alumnus and early incubatee of Ahmedabad University’s Venture Studio, Nirmit Parikh hit the headlines by securing $100 million Series C funding led by Tiger Global to become a start-up to surpass the valuation of $1 billion in just 21 months. Apna is a networking platform for the blue- and grey-collared workers and on September 16 it became the youngest start-up to attain Unicorn status in India.
Parikh’s start-up grew 125-times over past 15 months to become a Unicorn. Today it has 16 million users and 150k employers on it.
With 18 million monthly interviews, it has raced past a B2B e-commerce platform that became a Unicorn in 26 months.
In fact, Apna has nearly 5 million jobs listed as of now which is the highest even if all the job portals are put together.
How the journey started
Parikh, who pursued MBA from Stanford and later worked with Apple Inc in the USA, said his journey as an entrepreneur started from Ahmedabad.
Talking about his journey, Parikh said, “I started on my first business idea by developing flood control technologies in the second year of engineering. I went on to form a company, Incone Technologies, that we merged into the family business later. I started working on my second start-up Cruxbot after my medico girlfriend wished during a book store visit on SG Highway about having a mechanism that summarises reading content for readers. It was our first date and I ended up doing some coding during the weekend. Later, I gifted it to her. The side-effect of the product was that not only my girlfriend, who is now my wife, started using it but her friends and mine also joined in using it. That is how the start-up was born. I worked from Venture Studio with support of Ahmedabad University founder-member Prafull Anubhai.”
How Apna was born
The name of the platform was picked up from popular Hindi song Apna Time Ayega from hit Hindi movie Gully Boy. Parikh said, “Apna was born to bring out the champion in all the blue-collar and white-collar employees. Apna was born out of experience and not from sitting in a glass-cabin.”
Parikh worked as an electrician, a floor-man in a shop and did gigs to understand issues plaguing electricians, plumbers and masons. “I went to Odhav, in Bhikhabhai-ni-chawl behind my home in Ahmedabad, to observe the issues they face. I doubled up as a plumber and electrician to get to the real problems they faced. It is through Apna that we have tried to address the issue of hiring these champions, giving them space to network with peers and upskilling them. And we are happy to share that once at a job, an employer can test an employee’s skill set in just 4 hours,” he said.
Tips for start-ups
Parikh said start-ups are mostly born while trying to solve real-life problems. Apna was born as his family business faced hiring issues. “Those wishing to go on an entrepreneurial journey should keep these aspects in mind: Start with a problem, try and get a solution to these issues, look for a business angle to the problem you have solved and make sure that there is enough for each stakeholder to go and use the product.”
Failure part of life
Parikh said failures are okay and keep happening to entrepreneurs. “My first venture almost started with a failure. In a start-up, people tend to see only highlights and not the roller-coaster ride that the start-up goes through,” he said.
‘Ahmedabad close to heart’
Parikh said his family shifted from Mumbai to Ahmedabad when he was in class 4. He was admitted to NR High School.
“This was my first step towards change. I was an introvert and started changing my ways of communication by opening up to new friends. In Nirma University, attendance rule was stringent. But when we skipped class, I did not miss out on having Chinese Bhel in the canteen. I still miss the cutting chai we used to have outside Venture Studio and the street food outside HLCC. I met my girlfriend for the first time in Ahmedabad and she’s my wife now. Ahmedabad holds a special place in my life.”