How This Pune-based Startup is Transforming the Way Two Wheelers Are Serviced

BikeDoctor was started with a team of three bike enthusiasts and their dream to revolutionise the bike maintenance market. Bikedoctor came into operation in the beginning of 2014 within a small part of Pune City. After a successful launch, they started expanding their service areas and by the end of year 2015, BikeDoctor was serving happy customers all over Pune City and PCMC areas. We are publishing an interview with Mr. Pratik Hedaoo – CEO & founder of BikeDoctor.

About the founders
Pratik Hedaoo, CEO & founder. Pratik Hedaoo is a self-driven and passionate entrepreneur who likes to experiment with different business model across various business segments. He co-founded JSP Engineering works, it boasts an impressive array of bigwig clients like Tata Motors, Mahabal Auto, and Blue Star Pvt. Ltd.

Zeeshan Haris, co founder and B2C head – Zeeshan Haris is a bike enthusiast who found his calling with BIKE DOCTOR. He has experience of working with Indiabulls Power Plant and Nyka Steels Pvt. Ltd. In Production Engineer capacity.

Yusuf muhammed co founder and B2B head – A commercially minded person, he has extensive experience in operations and administration management. He has years of experience working at Nyka Steels Pvt. Ltd. And Tristar Industrial Tools as a Production Engineer. He has also worked as the Plant Head at Nyka Steels Pvt. Ltd.

Mr Santosh, Sanjay and Vijay Karnamarkar started Bike Doctor in February 2014. In September 2015, Bike Doctor employed Mr Pratik Hedaoo as a consultant. As time passed his interest increased; he had seen and studied the model and found it had enormous growth opportunities. In mid-June 2016 Mr Pratik Hedaoo bought Bike Doctor and officially took reins.

The enterprise grew in size at which point Mr Pratik Hedaoo felt the need for more help. He proposed Mr Zeeshan Haris to join Bike Doctor as a partner. Mr Zeeshan Haris being a bike enthusiast accepted and joined Bike Doctor. Bike Doctor grew to own three garages, two vans and four bikes. The business was growing so more people were needed. Later Mr Yusuf Mohammed joined the Bike Doctor team as the third partner. Mr Pratik Hedaoo was in-charge of development and marketing while Mr Zeeshan Haris handled operations.

Q.: What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Ans: We are trying to solve various problems such as no spares transparency when getting your two-wheeler serviced as many people have complaints of being cheated. Another problem is that its not feasible for women to visit garage most of the times. There are very few authorized garages available and the nearby garages had no standard process. Another major problem would be the mechanics being under paid.

Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
Ans: In today’s fast paced life, it can be tiresome for some to go till the garage to get their two wheelers serviced. To solve these problems, we started Bike Doctor. Bike Doctor provides servicing at doorstep making it feasible for women as well as others looking out for authorized garages. It also enables customers to cross check the spares, consumables, pricing and accessories making the process convenient and easier. We have handpicked and trained mechanics for your perusal. Bike Doctor spares you from the hustle and saves your precious time.

Q.: What is your USP?
Ans: Our unique selling proposition is that we provide low cost service and we are tech enabled. We are the pioneers in this field. Another USP is that with a vast experience of 5 years we are at a better position to understand various problems of customers and resolve them.

Q.7: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learnings that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have atleast one of them signed up?
Ans: Yes, we have more than 10k customers signed up. When we entered the market, we assumed that the mechanics will get business and desired income. After a while, we learnt that mechanics are likely to get enrolled or associated. Working women are our ideal customers.

Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??
Ans: Biggest failure as an entrepreneur has been that we were unsuccessful to build Technology as per requirement and as per region so we failed miserably. Lack of knowledge and less expertise in the field of technology in todays world can prove to be tragic for any business.
From this experience we learnt that an experienced partner in the field that you lack in proves to be valuable and advantageous for the business.

Q.: How are you pricing the Product? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium etc. ? Explain your thought process.
Ans: The pricing is general as we have a service business so the price depends on the service that the customer takes. We provide AMCs , warranty’s etc.

Q.: How did you get your first customer?
Ans: We organized a service campaign at a housing society where on our very first day we served around 25 people.

Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)
Ans: We have one investor whose details can’t be disclosed

Q.: Is there any interesting success story? If yes, please write about it. ?
Ans: 15k customers serviced and achieved a cumulative turnover of 1 crore over a period of time.

Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Ans: Bike Doctor is currently operational in 3 cities- Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore. We have B2C as well as B2B customers. Our customers comprise of BigBasket, Indian Oil, Pizza Hut, Credr, Dominos, Bounce, Rentomojo, IFFCO-TOKIO General Insurance and many others. The bigger picture of the startup is that we have planned to provide our service in more than 100 cities. We are planning to add more allied services and products as well.

Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in details:
Ans: Value of business since inception is 1 crore. Our current turnover is 60 lakhs. More than 15 thousand people have registered. And we have more than 50 thousand website visitors.

Q.: What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
Ans: Since we have strategic alliance with Indian Oil we have in-depth knowledge of this particular field and that will prove to be unique about our startup.

Q.: List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles.
Ans: Sure.

• Pratik Hedaoo (B.E & Pursuing MBA from NMIMS) – CEO & founder of BikeDoctor.
• Zeeshan Haris (B.E MECH)- co founder and B2C head
• Yusuf muhammed (B.E MECH)- co founder and B2B head

Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?
Ans: Authorized service station are our competition. We differentiate with them by providing better quality and delightful experience at doorstep.

Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months?
Ans: To acquire maximum business in existing cities is out current goal for the next six months.

Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Ans: Consistency and Persistence are the keys to success.
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Thanks Pratik. Best wishes!