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In conversation with Sanjoe Jose, Founder of TalView, participant in Intech50 2014.

Talview was founded as Interview Master in 2012. Starting up as an asynchronous video interview platform, in 3 years they have grown to a full-fledged Video Interaction Platform, with use cases as varied as hiring-training, telemedicine and customer engagement. In 2014, Mayfield funded them. Today, they have more than 60 large-enterprise clients, including many Fortune 100 companies.

TalViewDo you think that product companies in India have the mettle to go global? What was your experience?

In my opinion, a company’s ability to go global is defined by vision of the team. We strongly believe that every product company in India can go global if they get the right assistance. iSPIRT is doing a good job in this regard. As a company which has successfully acquired many global clients, we try and share our experience whenever possible with aspiring product companies.

Is India geared up to be a ‘product nation?’

Today, India is a services nation and I think we should be very proud of that. Service companies have tremendous capability to provide job opportunities to millions of our youth. Having said that, product companies are also great value creators and I would like to see a right mix of both.

Why did you consider participating in InTech50?

Initially, InTech50 looked like an exciting opportunity to connect directly with the decision makers of large enterprises. The scale and focus of the event was also very interesting for us when we considered applying for Intech50.

How has getting shortlisted for InTech50 helped you?

InTech50 helped us connect with many potential clients in India and the US. Some of the largest deals we closed in 2014 had their origins in Intech50. 

What advice would you give to other emerging companies as they plan their scaling up?

I think clarity and speed are very critical in building a global company. Identify the milestones; set timelines for milestones; and ensure that you have access to the resources you would require to execute your plan to reach those milestones on time.

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Great Tech Rocketships (GTRS) to the UK – a UKTI, Tech Hub UK and iSPIRT initiative

Great Tech Rocketships to the UK is an initiative by UKTI to assist companies from India that would like to do business in, with or from the UK.

(UKTI, or UK Trade & Investment, is a UK Government department whose mandate is to assist UK based businesses in their overseas expansion, and also encourage the best overseas companies to look to the UK as their global partner of choice.)

UKTI chose TechHub, a London & Bangalore based co-working facility, and iSPIRT as their key partners to implement this program on the ground.

iSPIRT saw this as an ideal platform to encourage and assist Indian software product companies go global. According to Sharad Sharma, “The Rocketships initiative is another significant step forward in the journey to create a product nation here in India. It was a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with TechHub and UKTI to provide a platform for high-potential companies in India to explore global markets.”

GTRS is intended to be a long-term initiative for creating a platform, to assist high-potential companies from India, explore UK as a destination to do business, in, with or from.

The initiative launched was an interesting competition wherein 5 high-potential startups were selected from nearly 300 applicants, and are now on their way for a one-week sponsored tour of the innovation hubs in UK.

The program was launched at a packed event at Tech Hub’s Bangalore centre on the 3rd of Feb. Our call for entries was an application form, with a one-minute video pitch. We connected with a lot of companies – through social media, emails, and even personal phone calls. The response we got was overwhelming. In the last four weeks that we launched and called for entries, we received nearly 300 entries from companies across India. What was most satisfying was that 55 of these companies scored 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, and 25 companies scored 3, indicating an overall high quality of software product companies across India.

A jury comprising of Sharad Sharma, Mohandas Pai, Stewart Noakes, Dr. Vicky Pope, and Dr. Chris Moore, selected the winners from a list drawn from among the 61 companies that were shortlisted to present at Demo Nights held across 5 cities – Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Delhi.

With rigorous effort and comprehensive screening, we are proud to showcase the following 5 companies as the finalists of the first leg of the Great Tech Rocketships to the UK initiative –

  • Frilp – The quickest way to access the local knowledge of your friends and our experts.
  • Agrima Infotech – Development. Design. Online Marketing.
  • Talview – Talview is a pioneer and leader in video based assessments. It has more than 1000 clients across the globe from startups to Fortune 100 and have completed more than a million video responses across 102 countries.
  • Tonetag – ToneTag allows easy, frictionless & secure proximity payments using soundwaves (Tone) or NFC (Tag) and enables Contactless experience on any device
  • Congruent Technologies – Multi-national IT-solutions Corporation, with deep domain expertise in the financial services, healthcare, education and e-retail verticals

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The winners gets –

  • A week-long trip to UK, that includes flights, accommodation
  • Deep-dived interaction with world class investors, incubation hubs and science tech parks
  • Guided tour of Tech City, Europe’s most vibrant innovation hub
  • Network with like-minded entrepreneurs, start-ups, research scholars and pioneering companies

Also, the Founders of each of the shortlisted companies will be further empowered in their endeavor, by way of a year’s membership (Flex) from TechHub, which will enable them to leverage the global network and support system, thereby fast-tracking their journey of going global.

Long-term impact

While these 5 companies were shortlisted as the winners, iSPIRT is committed to guide companies that have the potential & desire to go global, and UKTI is committed to assist in anyway they can in the company’s journey to the UK.

iSPIRT is glad to have developed a strong working relationship with UKTI, Tech Hub, and through them we are now better connected with the entrepreneurial eco-system in UK.

There are several programs and incentives that are available from the UK Government, and UKTI not only can provide you information about these programs but can also assist companies in accessing programs that may be relevant to them.

As iSPIRT, we would love to see Indian software product companies go global. Great Tech Rocketships to the UK is one significant initiative which will help iSPIRT provide deserving companies a facilitated access to UK, thus paving a path for their European and global expansion.

Should you be interested in knowing about opportunities in the UK, or if you are keen on exploring what the opportunities in UK are, drop us a line at gtrs(at)ispirt.in. Wherever relevant, we will be happy to connect you with our contacts at UKTI and Tech Hub.