We are publishing an interview of Mr. Sharique Ahmed, CEO at Mahatrucks – An Aurangabad Based Startup which Provides One Point Solution to All the Transportation Needs.
Please tell us about the founders.
- I am an MBA finance post graduate and I have been in the logistics stream for over many years, as the family back ground is of transportation industry.
- Yaser Basravi is an Electronics and telecommunication engineer from JNEC Aurangabad. He belongs to an family background of Indian army. His father is an ex army man. Discipline in him reflects that.
We both first met back in 2008-09, while in engineering days. I quit engineering while Yaser continued the same. We faced went on to face failure at our first venture in college itself at stock market. We studied our weakness and started working on Mahatrucks together.
Give us a brief background of what founders were doing before starting the venture.
Yaser Basravi started an motorbike showroom back in 2014 and successfully and sold it after at a good deal. I joined the transportation industry.
List all the names of the core team members, along with their skill-sets, specific domain expertise & designated roles.
- Sharique Ahmed – CEO at Mahatrucks (entrepreneur having experience if 3 years in the industry)
- Yaser Basravi – CTO at Mahatrucks (Developer and entrepreneur)
- Jawed Khan – Management head.(20 years in the industry)
Over time we integrated the traditional ways of working in the transportation industry with the benefits of information technology.
What is the problem you are trying to solve? Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?
Whenever anybody need transportation vehicle for need , whichever, including house shifting, Industrial needs, local transportation, parcel transportation, buses etc he has to approach different transports or agents in the segment for the work to be done. With highly volatile price , depending on availability and monopoly. Mahatrucks provides them one point solution to all the transportation needs. The problem exists all over India.
What challenges did you face when you were starting out?
The major problem was the creation of an effective business model of Mahatrucks, it took over 6 months to develop the same. Then some amendments were done in the mean time while the prototype was tested for around 2 months. Then Mahatrucks evolved.!
How did you get the initial capital? What returns does it have? Tell us about the investors (if any)
Initially we started with an self capitalisation. We wanted to prove that the model has an effective revenue and market traction, thus we initially started with Rs 3000 only for marketing purpose, with the same we received the revenue if Rs 5000 in only 2 initial consignments. All the expenses were minimized as myself and Yaser Basravi worked in different segments for different works, reducing the expenses drastically.
Please tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
MahaTrucks acts as an one point solution to all the transportation solution whether it be to various segments in the industry.
What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have?
Basically we thought that bringing the truck owners and the industry owners would cost us heavy cost, as the, truck industry owners are often not highly educated. But after initial workout, we found out that it is tangible area.
What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
First of all the business model of Mahatrucks is unique itself. Secondly, We enjoy the Mentorship of Central India transport agency, which is an well established firm in the industry for over 35 years. We have an deep insight of the vehicle ownership as well as the brokerage business in the industry. We very well understand the do’s and dont’s of the Industry.
What is the strength of the startup and the scale of operations? Who do You Perceive as Your Competition?
Currently successfully established in Aurangabad, Mahatrucks aims to move to all over India ,within next 3 years. At Mahatrucks, we belief that competitor are great teachers. We have a positive attitude towards competition, we feel each startup in the industry is our competition.
What is the revenue model? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium etc. ? Explain your thought process.
MahaTrucks doesn’t charge any commission for the local transportation services intercity. A minimum commission is charged on industrial transportation.
Who are the consumers that you are targeting? How is this going to affect them?
Anybody needing any transportation services will be the target for mahatrucks. They will be getting the vehicle at the cheapest and competitive prices at Mahatrucks.
How did you get your first customer?
We hosted the website on dummy testing and suddenly received an order for intercity transportation. After the customer expressed satisfaction we waved a sign of relief.
What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Yes . Mahatrucks aims to become an global model for the transportation industry. Mahatrucks has also submitted the model for international application at the IE20 London summit 2017
Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? What is the current turnover? (From Launching till date total no. of visitors on website/persons registered/enquiries and enrollment). Please explain in details:
Within 6 months of establishing, Mahatrucks achieved turnover of over 15 lakhs , and enquiries generated for more over than 30 lakhs. Considered that the Users There are nearly 50-60 unique visitors daily ,on the website, which provides a fee industrial rate calculator.
What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? *
Covering at least 5 metro cities.
What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs? *
Believe in “DATA BEATS EMOTIONS”. We also want to thank Dr. Anwar akhter ,
Professor – Millennium institute of management.
Thanks.
