Pune OpenCoffee Club at a Glance - April 19th

Exclusive - Startup In Focus:

The startup in focus this week is Pineapple Innovative Solutions – a venture that takes care of the IT and business needs of SMEs. To find out more about this venture, we caught up with Amit Jayant Savargaonkar, the Director of this venture. Here’s what transpired: 

Tell us about Pineapple Innovative Solutions

Pineapple Innovative Solutions is the one-stop solution to all your IT needs. This is the best place to get your IT needs fulfilled with highest ROI. We help you make the business smarter, more profitable & ready to take on the global challenges with highest level of support & satisfaction. 

What was the idea behind the venture, what propelled you to start?

The idea behind the venture was to serve the small and medium scale companies in satisfying their IT and business needs. This sector has been traditionally ignored by the IT MNC’s and other IT firms. The needs of this sector are small and infrequent. But if IT support is provided to these companies, the companies can really grow at much higher pace and become competitive globally in terms of cost & quality. The dedication to address the needs of this sector propelled us to start Pineapple. We now offer Business Intelligence (BI), Knowledge Management (KM) & custom application development services.

Tell us about your team

The core team is a 4 member team. It comprises of technical experts with 28 years of industry experience as well as management wizards. The extended team consists of software techies and marketing professionals to execute the projects.

Raising capital can be a major bottleneck in any startup’s growth. How did you resolve this hurdle? 

Pineapple Innovative Solutions is mainly bootstrapped, with funds being raised from family and acquaintances.

Tell us about the challenged you faced during the initial phases 

We mainly faced the challenge of building the brand. Since we were a start-up, companies were not really keen on working with us. We had to undergo multiple rounds of discussions before the business can be generated. We also needed funds to setup & we needed the team to generate some revenue out of the projects. We broke this vicious cycle by working hard & managing help from some outside partners. The strong bonding between the core team members made sure that everyone contributed to the fullest for resolution of any issues.

What are your plans for the future? 

We plan to build and offer the BI as product along with the current offering as a customized BI solution. We have made some initial inroads in the outside India market and we hope to generate a larger chunk of our revenue from the US market. We also plan to enter in strategic relationships with various channel partners and associate partners to grow at a much faster pace than what we could manage working as an independent and detached entity.

Here’s wishing Pineapple Innovative Solutions a glorious future. You can have a look at this innovative startup at www.pineapple.co.in. We are looking forward to know your take on this story. You can write to us at writing.stylus@gmail.com

News You Can Use

Making the most of business networking events:

The successful launch of Pune OCCs in different parts of the city has opened up amazing networking opportunities for the Pune Startup Community. Though we can benefit tremendously if we make proper use of these opportunities, most of us have no idea how to achieve that. Here are some pointers to help you make the most of a business networking event:

Before the event:

• Come prepared to network by bringing business cards, a pen and a small notebook.
• Know your goals: What is your purpose for attending this particular event? To meet certain people? To find prospective customers? To find a resource you need?  Nurture existing relationships?

At the event:

• Arrive before the event starts and the group is small. Make sure you mingle and do not restrict yourself to your acquaintances.
• If you are new to the networking group, ask the host to introduce you to people you want to meet. If you are familiar with the group, help the new members feel comfortable. Meet people standing by themselves and introduce them to other people.
• Create, practice and use a description of yourself and your work that can be said in 30 seconds or less. Know how to describe your work in one or two sentences.
• Listen more than you talk.

After the event:

Once you have someone’s business card, make sure you follow up with them within 24 hours of the event. If there’s an obvious win-win connection with someone you’ve met at an event, call them up and invite them to lunch to explore the connection further.

About POCC at a Glance

POCC at a Glance is the fortnightly newsletter from Pune OpenCoffee Club. POCC is a community that encourages and nurtures the spirit of entrepreneurship. This newsletter is an attempt to give you a brief overview of the POCC-related activities and keep you updated with the latest news and events. So join the alliance and leverage the power of an active community to enhance your business!

About The Author

Hi, I am Amruta Ranade, the editor of POCC at a Glance. I am a Content Writer and Blogger. My mantra is to provide useful and relevant content at justifiable prices, irrespective of the tools and media. You can visit http://writingstylus.wordpress.com to know more about my work.

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