Why I'm Joining Haptik

I have decided to end my entrepreneurial journey with Fivity Coffee where we went from zero to bringing a coffee product to life and market. The journey was a great exercise, personally, in product design, development, management, and dealing with setbacks. Mentors like Prof Sunil Handa and others have been transformational for me.

A culture that values entrepreneurial experience

However, my job search experience brought me face to face with a startling reality of the Indian tech scene. That is not many company value unconventional or entrepreneurial journeys. A leading startup worth about $1 Billion said: "...we don't think your coffee experience is relevant to us." That's reasonable since they're looking out for themselves, and I won't contest that.

However, there are few companies which not only value a startup experience but seek one. They understand the courage, mettle, diligence, and qualities, a self striving effort to breathe life into a product/ business brings to the table. Such a company is Haptik where my boss, the founders, and colleagues are not only skilled at their jobs they also come from diverse experiences and many with previous startup experiences.

Top reasons why I chose Haptik and Mumbai

1. Avg employee age 30yr - The energy I witnessed here is palpating. Never before have I seen a 100+ employee org with such a low avg age. One can see the momentum and hunger it brings to strive to deliver great products.

2. AI-augmented conversational bot products - A field I have worked and was enthusiastic since 2015 on the other side of the world, USA. Seeing an Indian company lead the charge with meaningful products for the Indian market and the globe was very impressive and inviting.

3. Revenue generating and sustaining company - It's a no-nonsense no-fluff business, one that earns its own bread and runs the show.

4. A culture that fosters an attrition rate of only 6-9% - Although the company size doubled last year the number of employees who went through a critical pivot at Haptik is impressive. A sub 20% in the tech industry is insane in my opinion.

5. Founders who are in it for the long run - Jio acquired 80% of the company in 2019 which could've made it easy for the founders to leave the ship with a cushy cash reserve but they're around. That's inspiring.

6. Mumbai is diverse both culturally and work-wise. Unlike Bangalore, Mumbai doesn't have a monopoly of tech jobs. There's advt agency, film industry, a bustling art scene, a play and performance art scene, which personally make it a richer environment to be in.

7. Pay - I won't shy away from saying that the pay is good. By that I mean it's not market average, it's market best. It's also adjusted for typical life in a metropolitan city like Mumbai. It speaks to the health of the company, the competitiveness of the company to hire good talent.

Having said that, my journey is just starting and I'm curious to discover how this journey will unravel. I'm excited, motivated, and cannot keep calm, as this is an opportunity to do my best work, to lead a team to deliver great work, to have a part to play in the journey of what can be a historic tech product based from India.