Nachiket Patel - Keep Learning New Skills to Stay Relevant (Co-Founder - Digicorp)

At Digicorp, we firmly believe in the concept of Employee First, Customer Second by Vineet Nayar. The whole organization is structured with Employees at the center of the organization and the whole ecosystem along with a leadership team to support them.

Tell us about your background, journey, and upbringing.

I have completed my computer engineering from Nirma Institute of Technology which is now Nirma University and applied for USA visas for further studies. I got rejected thrice and started a dream company which college mates have thought during college time. 

So right after graduation (June 2003), in 2004 we (along with my other 3 friends - Abhishek, Kuntal & Sanket) started Digicorp.

In the beginning, we are lucky enough to get the work from a reference and that too USA customer who wanted fresh, young professionals to carry his health care product. That was our breakthrough and that drove us for almost 6 years. 

During that period we used to code and test the health care application and also hired more members to support a huge system. After 3 years of Digicorp's existence, we get the lead from the middle east and started a business partnership to get mobile/web development work from Kuwait. 

After that, we started getting inquiries from all over the world - Australia, Germany, Lithuania, France, UK & USA - silicon valley. We grew with revenue and team members year on year and built our own brand and culture. We have always had a passion to build our own product after seeing the success of Facebook, Google, Orkut, etc. 

We have built almost 8-9 different ideas and failed in 10 years. However, we continued with our passion and built CricHeroes (World's largest cricket network) & Vastrapp (No. 1 Business App for Indian Textile Manufacturers) as separate ventures. In order to provide the best user experience to all our products, we have also developed our own UI framework called Propeller.

At Digicorp, we firmly believe in the concept of Employee First, Customer Second by Vineet Nayar. The whole organization is structured with Employees at the center of the organization and the whole ecosystem along with a leadership team to support them.


When and how did you get clarity on what you wanted to do?

Honestly speaking in the initial years we didn't have any clarity but just went with the flow of custom development work which is the easiest work one should get from overseas. 

We learned a lot of things during the journey that people are the biggest assets of the company and we just built a culture such that they never want to leave the company. We also focused a lot on product design and engineering which made us different from the market competition. It helps us beg sizable contracts which last long.

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What does your typical workday look like?

Usually, I start my day by checking important emails and make sure I respond to them on time. I read technology and business articles for an hour to keep my knowledge as relevant as possible. 

Before lunchtime, I ramp up meeting with key stakeholders of the company to get things going. afternoon, I usually keep it for hr, sales, finance team to support their action items if required.

Evenings are where we have management strategic calls twice a week or coordination with USA counterpart if any. Most of our customers are from the USA so many time have to take calls with them either for an existing project or for the new lead.

I also take a look at the company's finances are in place every month and making sure we have enough business and funds available for the quarter.


Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?

I completely agree with them and usually what we check in the candidate is his technical skills, soft skills, and whether he/she is a culture fit or not. It doesn't matter what/where he/she has studied.


How do you handle someone who has lied on their resume?

I definitely don't like people who lie but if I find such a case, I would first analyze and get feedback from the team on how he/she fits into her roles and responsibility. 

Also with check with the People manager whether he/she is a culture fit or not. If everything is in place along with the commercial aspect, It doesn't matter he lied that he has studied in IIT.

What are some of your typical challenges and how have they evolved over time?

We have faced many challenges during our tenure of 17 years, it is finance, business, people, and so on so forth. The typical challenge we overcome during this period is to increase the retention rate against the competition. 

I would proudly say that we have the people who last for long in our organization and also have re-joined.


We solve it by giving benefits and building a strong culture 

• Every new member is more than just a new addition to our family, we made them feel special.
• Relationships can be open and honest. To back our claim, we kept our HR policies on the website open since 2010.
• If you make mistakes, don't worry, we got your back.
• Taking candid feedback from anyone at any level with the positive intent of helping Digicorpians and thus, Digicorp to grow.
• Our founders are approachable to anyone in the company and they don't have to take anyone's permission.

                  

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or those eyeing the top job?

•  Have a vision for what you want to build a company for.
•  Build a great team and a Product/Services
•  Validate your idea/strategies quickly
•  Build your own strong brand which others would like to follow - Be different always.
•  Keep learning new skills to stay relevant in the industry.
•  Read lots of books
•  The habit of writing to bring clear thoughts - It could be blogs, sales pitches, company-wide emails, presentations. You can start with keeping notes of things you achieve at the end of the day.

Which is your favorite book and why?

The Lean Start-up by Eric Rise. Because it is a new approach to businesses like us being adopted around the world. It is actually changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.