Raising a Business to 9 Figures Without Funding

I’ve now worked with a few founders.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be directly linked and work with great and influential people gaining an understanding of how they think and approach issues, as well as how they deal with them.

I’ve recently started working with Abhyank Srinet, founder of mim-essay.com and mentr-me.com.

As someone who is constantly researching, studying, and evaluating people, it has become second nature for me to identify the behaviors that shape individuals into the persons they are.

Working with Abhyank has been a similar experience. This time, however, I wanted to record it.

I saw his love for learning and supporting others in learning when I first started working with him. He also gave me a handful of books.

Over the years, I’ve learnt a lot from him. I wanted to share some of the ideas and his thinking that can help businesses be more successful in this interview.

Abhyank’s bio:

Abhyank is the creator of mim-essay.com, a study abroad consultancy, and the founder of mentr-me.com, a new enterprise that is taking form. Abhyank may be seen playing with his dogs when he is not working or fretting about deadlines and prioritizing.

Ques: Tell us about one strategy that distinguishes your approach to your business from that of most new entrepreneurs. And if not differentiating, you feel to have aided in constructing what you have.

It is difficult to put down one technique since it becomes confusing as you learn new things and read other things. It layers one on top of the other to produce a fresh and distinct approach to things.

Our USP is that we focus on high-value creation in an age when it is simpler to lag behind capitals.

We have bootstrapped our way to success and have outperformed the majority of our competitors because we have concentrated on value creation. People collect money and gain development by posting advertisements and other items on their websites.

We have concentrated on our marketing, but we have also concentrated on determining what was wrong and working tirelessly to improve it.

For instance, improving 1-2% every week has given us a significant edge in terms of technology and the social following we have on our website, which is exceedingly tough to duplicate.

We’re doing something similar to innovation stacking. We are stacking every benefit and alternative enhancement. And you end up with something that no one else can replicate.

Regardless of how much money they raise. So, identifying problems and doubling down on them.

Ques: Everyone has that one moment in their business journey when they feel like it’s time to call it quits. Did you happen to have any? If you answered yes, what was it, and how did you overcome it?

To be honest, I’d never thought about wrapping it. Of course, there are terrible days and everything. But, as previously said, there was no such thing as backing out, or if there was, it was very bleating. We sometimes assume we’ve accomplished a lot in this field.

Let us now move on to other industries and sell this off. But when we think about it, we realize we still have a lot of work to do. We are only scratching the surface, as we discovered when we launched our new company this year. It has provided us with four to five times the growth.

And we’re not doing this for money; we are doing this to generate value. To make a more substantial influence on expanding into one of the major ed-tech organizations, one of the top study abroad consultancy firms. And that’s kind of what kept us going. So, it’s more about developing new things, adding value, and producing new things; that keeps me going.

Ques: The most difficult aspect of becoming an entrepreneur is assembling a team you can rely on. What was the most difficult obstacle you faced when creating your own?

Ans: Well, the issue continues. It isn’t easy to discover decent individuals. Because there are so many individuals in the market, some get things done.

Many individuals claim to be able to get things done, but only a few are truly able to accomplish it. The difficult aspect is locating the perpetrators. We are still on the lookout for them.

We have obviously matured. I’ve conducted thousands of interviews and recruited hundreds of individuals myself. So, with each error, we learn what we might have done better. Moreover, we’ve acquired this sixth sense that tells us within 5 minutes of the interview if this individual is worth it or not.

The most difficult element is recognizing when a person is awful and wanting to give him another chance, believing that he can do better, and giving him more opportunities than he may deserve.

That opportunity may have gone to someone more deserving who could have provided you with more value. So, it’s tough in that area to tell these people it’s not functioning, but we’re still working on it.

One of the most difficult aspects is maybe just letting someone go when you realize they are not a good fit. Finding good individuals while overcoming prejudice is also one of the most challenging tasks. The team-building process isn’t done yet. Every week, we have meetings to learn new things.

Question: Your vision is what distinguishes you as a leader; where do you see that vision taking you?

Ans: I enjoy constructing things, and reading helps me contribute value. Once you produce value, build something innovative that has a valuable outreach.

There are many players in our industry that are just concerned with service. However, we are concerned about value. That is why we continue to innovate.

As a product where we can provide software services to schools, we are also entering the subscription model to deliver a low-cost alternative to our premium services that many individuals can get.

We wish to establish a platform for studying abroad where you can find anything and everything about studying abroad and in India.

Ques: What would be the most intriguing aspect of Indian start-ups in 2022? Why should we encourage more young people to create their own businesses when the market is already saturated?

Ans: A red ocean, in my opinion, is dependent on the industry. We had a large red ocean when we started.

You’ll discover study abroad counselors ranging in size. So I don’t believe it’s the Red Sea. It might be dubbed Red Ocean integrity, depending on whatever company you are in. Then there’s the issue of the business model.

Assume you’re new to service; it’s a red ocean. However, if you’re looking to start a software recruiting firm, it’s a Blue Ocean.

It’s all about how you think about it. And one fascinating thing is that there are several ways to look at things, and if you can crack that, if you are bold enough to tackle it, take the least traveled road. That is where you will find a plethora of opportunities.

That is what a company may have to accomplish. However, many individuals simply mimic others. That’s Okay. But then again, that starts going to the red ocean.

The most thrilling aspect is that there is still a lot of Blue Ocean out there. You should deviate from the standard copy of this section and try to stack some essential points on top of what is currently being followed.

Follow it, get started, but then innovate; don’t stop with innovation.

If you don’t innovate, you’re just like everyone else. However, creating something of value and stacking innovation on a previously adopted paradigm is exciting, and this is what I would recommend to everyone.

Question: Everyone has a source of inspiration that pushes them to get up every day and do their best. Who are you?

Ans: I am a major proponent of growth. I want to get better and better. So, my objective is to get stronger and better at every aspect of that portion. And it all comes down to effort in the end.

It enables me to work longer and smarter than others. Also, read a lot and then incorporate new ideas. In the end, it all comes down to my doing four times the work.

Of course, if you can work 4 to 8 times harder than the other individual, you will outrank them. My source of inspiration is improving myself and, in turn, improving the firm as a whole.

I believe in creating a better working environment for the people that work with me. It makes me pleased that they like coming to work. In other words, you are creating value.

Ques: How does your product match the market, and how much market share do you think you can capture?

Ans: Previously, we solely provided high-end premium services associated with the finest and top-most institutions. As a result, we learn that we are only entering around 1% of the market size.

That is why we established affiliate services, which are now used in various regions of India. On top of that, we are developing business model innovation. We’re integrating additional technology, CRM, and so forth.

We are producing more value by giving things out for free than others used to charge for, which has allowed us to expand immensely, at least in terms of growth figures, if not money.

Because it is a deferred revenue model, our product determines what a person wants, and we are providing that service. Some people are prepared to compensate us financially.

Some people are willing to pay less, while others are eager to spend more. In the premium sector, we already have a good service.

We’re constructing it for users who don’t want to pay anything and providing them with affiliate services. We also provide a subscription option for those who wish to spend less money.

As a result, there are several approaches to catering to the entire market and expanding. It’s difficult to estimate the size of the market because there aren’t any official statistics.

But even if you can take 10% of the market, that is insanely large. However, our objective is to continue to expand and figure out how we can enhance.

We don’t have a target growth rate in mind, and we don’t want to settle for 10% or 20%. If you work on the product, add value, and expand your reach, you will see an increase in your reach.

Ques: You appear to have a firm grasp of your concept; why delay locating a well-fuelled investor? Are you worried about something?

Ans: We never required an investor because, as I previously stated, we were always focused on value creation, which allowed us to remain cash positive and successful while others were not.

We were also cautious about spending money; if I’m going to spend one rupee, I’d rather know where I’m going to spend it. The issue is that as you increase your investment, you suddenly have so much money that you start doing useless experiments.

We competed with those that ran TV commercials. It makes no sense to me, with the ability to run highly targeted advertising on Instagram and Facebook. Hence, it’s more about understanding when to raise money than simply raising it.

You don’t need to locate an investor if you’re profitable. We could easily find an investor, and we had a lot of interest, but we decided not to pursue it. We were considering seeking funds about this time last year, but we decided against it because we are currently capital positive. To be honest, when you are seeking investors, they will question you why you want more money when you already have money; this is an issue. You don’t need investors if you’re already profitable; it’s all about time and business strategy.

We’re starting a new business, and we’re hoping to raise funds soon for that. For example, if you are getting paid off after a large investment, you will want investors.

Ques: Did you know from the outset that this is how your start-up would appear in six years, or did you evolve the idea with the business?

Ans: To be honest, I didn’t think about it. I thought we’d put a stop to the business. That we will not exceed a particular level of growth; we will do so in 2018.

And now we’re on track to triple that amount this year. Because the market is so large, we expect to grow steadily and have no plans to slow down. It’s something that was planned out.

We noticed a variety of options and numbers. We just kept plugging away at it. We didn’t stop saying things like, “Hey, this is good enough; let’s just stop, let’s make money off of it.”

We’re still developing and upgrading things as we go. In response to the first question, I stated that if we produce value, opportunities will present themselves.

Read More: Daring To Be Great: A Story About Sanchit Bhor 

We were quite concerned about the business market. It was a personal reluctance; why should I apply to tier 2 and tier 3 schools? The problem was that the market was leaning in that direction.

People wanted to go to those schools; therefore, it was silliness on my part to believe I had a personal reason why it would not work out.

If you want to progress and remove your restrictions, look at the market is heading and follow it.

It’s a pretty great concept that I observed from another entrepreneur that I’m now following. It makes no difference how hard you paddle; what counts is whatever boat you are in.

As a result, we are also attempting to acquire larger vessels. We travel quicker because we are moving with the current. That is something that will benefit us and allow us to flourish.