This Noida-based Startup is Redefining Business Delivery in the Internet Marketing Space

Panache Softech has been excelling with their state-of-the-art services by providing digital marketing solutions, online reputation management, email verifier services and SERP improvement. Simultaneously, they cater website development service, software development, bulk email services, graphic designing, 3D architectural visualization, product design visualization, logo creation and animation, short 3D films for business promotion and 3D advertisements. Panache Softech Pvt. Ltd. was launched on January 17th, 2013. Under this they are running few initiatives like;

1. Hikemytraffic
2. DIgitalaka
3. PIMS( A Digital Marketing Institute)
4. SMTPGET

We are publishing an interview with Mr. Manish Chauhan – CEO & Founder, Panache Softech Pvt. Ltd.

Q.: What is the problem you are trying to solve? Please share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?
Ans: Finding a Right Company/Person in industry is main pain of any business, I have suffered a lot personally. At the Early stage when I was trying to set my startup. Digital Marketing was the major part and I couldn’t find the right person. My maximum seed fund was wasted to pay to the online advertisement company. At last, I faced a huge failure. Further, I found this as a opportunity and started one stop solution for Digital Marketing Services & Training.

Q.: Please tell us about the founders
Ans: I (Manish Chauhan) & Durgesh Mishra, founder & co-founder of Panache Softech Pvt. Ltd. respectively. I met Durgesh Mishra at the startup- event in Gurgaon. He was also working on his idea. After few meetings, I convinced him to join me as a co-founder. Because of this effort, we could survive for 3 years for our travel startup. We are still working together on different project with a big vision. In 2015, I also started Digital Marketing Institute with name of Panache Internet Marketing School (Now known as Professional Institute of Marketing & Strategy, PIMS). Furthermore, we added two more like-minded entrepreneurs, Pranav Jha & Shashank Shrivastava, in 2019 with a bigger vision to provide More updated and Quality Education to the students and Professionals. We are Working as a team and strongly believe in “Education imparted is education multiplied,” hence, continues to apply the practical knowledge gained in educating others. How they do it and what motivates them, this interview is all about their journey so far.

Q.: List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles – How you see them evolving over time. What would be each of their Skill Sets? – Elaborate also if any of the team members has a specific domain expertise.
Ans: I feel very fortunate that I have very Passionate and dedicated team. Most of my Team members are working with me from the first very day of Company setup.

The list of teams is as follows For Panache Softech Pvt Ltd and other subsidiaries.

1. Manish Chauhan
2. Durgesh Mishra
3. Faizan Ahmad
4. Sanjeev
5. Nisha
6. Priyank
7. Gurpeet
8. Vinay
9. Jitendra
10. Shobha
11. Vibha
12. Akash
13. Shahin
14. Nitin

List of teams for PIMS ( Professional Institute of Marketing and Strategy are follows)

1. Manish chauhan
2. Pranav Jha
3. Shashank Shrivastav
4. Nitesh
5. Munendra
6. Dishika
7. Aakash

Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. How did you get your first customer? Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
Ans: From getting a business online via website and Brand Promotion to market it through various social media channels like email, social media, etc., we do everything. Gone are the days when people use to think how online marketing can help their business reach more customers. Now, from getting milk at your doorstep at 7 AM sharp in the morning to get your mobile recharged, there is an online business running for everything. This satisfactorily shows the amount of potential Internet marketing has. We are all about it only.

Q.: What is your USP?
Ans: At Panache Softech Pvt. Ltd. , we provide Digital Marketing and Bulk Email Marketing through our specialized subsidiaries, hikemytraffic.com and digitalaka.com. We deal with our clientele with an industry specific approach, which is rare to find in a saturated internet-marketing sphere.

At PIMS, students are groomed by entrepreneurs, guided by professionals and mentored by an alongside running organization, like ours. In the same space, students are learning and applying the same in our organization. I have never seen such a class to cabin experience and learning.

Q.: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have at least one of them signed up?
Ans: At the time when we entered the market, the internet was evolving but there were fewer players where were indulged in online marketing. Today, the numbers have grown ten times in just a decade. Not only has this boosted the market, but the reach as well. Today, more than 70% of the population is online which gives fair evidence of the fact two out of three businesses are growing through online marketing. As far as our ideal customer is considered, we target almost every business that can be boosted through digital marketing. And yes, we have got many businesses signed up for it.

Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??
Ans: I once had a startup where I used to compare the travel packages and hotel prices. For this project, I devoted three years, 2011-2014. I even got angel investors to invest in my startup. Since digital marketing was a major part and there were very few people with the right skills in the market during that time, I faced a huge failure. But that taught me a lot. This is one of the reasons why I provide digital marketing services to startups and newly established companies.

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: We are in the service Industry and charge on an hourly basis model to the client. Our Pricing Includes Softwares, Resources, tools and service charges. Our minimum charges start from 15000/Month (200 usd) and goes up to no limit. No one wants to limit the marketing budget.

Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)
Ans: We don’t have any Investors on Board. But, we are planning to pith to the VC’s in coming years. Once our new B-plan would be ready, it will be a good time to go for.

Q.: Is there any interesting success story of your startup? If yes, please write about it. ?
Ans: We have huge client base from all over the world. There are a lot to mention.
But, the most interesting that comes to my mind is: There is our client from the US state of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, specifically), he runs a restaurant which now has about 5 branches in the state. When we first started with him 3 years ago, he was doing fine but he had hunger to market himself in the most creative way possible.

We formulated a Digital Marketing strategy for him and to-the-point execution plan. Looks like to worked for him because it was surreal to us when we congratulated him for each branch he extended.

Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in detail.
Ans: Our team worked hard to earn Rs. 3 Crore in the last financial year. Right Now, we have 100+ recurring client every month from all over the World who contribute the 80% of the revenue for the company.

Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product/service leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Ans: The potential online marketing holds today can be seen from the fact for every dollar spent on digital marketing, businesses are making double in revenue on an average. Among the most popular online activities, social media marketing and watching videos play a very big role. According to the recent statistics, global digital Ad spends will reach 375 billion USD by 2021 while the Indian digital Ad spend is expected to go 7 billion USD by 2024.

The facts simply don’t end here:

• 47% of users act after viewing the video ad.
• Location-specific Digital Ads are 20 times more effective.
• 75% of advertisers plan to increase their budget for mobile social advertising.
• Only 7% of search engine users ever make it to the third page.
• On an average smartphone conversion is 64%.

Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?
Ans: Competition is very good for business. It has always been. It helps in maintaining the competition. Not only it motivates you constantly but also gives you wings to do new things.

Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? Any other information you would like to share?
Ans: Not just for six-months, but we believe in planning long-term. I and Durgesh never want to limit ourselves. We constantly yearn for new ideas and therefore, keep on working to cultivate them. Currently, we plan to find expand via other subsidiaries Hikemytaffic (A Digital marketing agency) and Digitalaka (An email marketing company).

Furthermore, I, Pranav & Shashank have big plan ready to train more than 15,000 students, conduct workshops in 20+ universities and organize more than 1000 seminars in next 5 years.

Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Ans: There is not one but many. However, I would like to sum it up with a quick story. There was this guy who use to visualize and imagine things differently. There was another guy who had little or less visualization but what he had was – the ability to work hard. Both of them were just doing fine but not that great. Now you may think that a hard-worker must be successful but the world has changed. Today, a combination of both, visualization and smart work, is what that makes you successful. So, if you want to achieve something, visualize it, plan your efforts for it, and work smartly because if you won’t someone else will!

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Thanks Manish. All the best!