It all started with a failure

HYDERABAD : Most startup founders believe that metro cities and incubation hubs are places to start their dream company. Vijay Konda not just believed, but was convinced, that it’s one’s attitude, not the city, which leads to success. So Eluru it was, he decided for his startup Cloudmellow. “Since childhood, I’ve always wanted to do something on my own and be my own boss. Entrepreneurship ran in my veins. Creating something innovative and selling it to the public gives me immense satisfaction,” he says.

A computer engineer, he was into building websites and playing with graphics and design was part of his research. “After my post-graduation in 2013, I used to have brainstorming sessions with friends and colleagues who also were keen to start a technology services company,” he says about how the entrepreneurship seed was laid in his life in his 20s. Vijay, 29, who did his Computer Science and Engineering graduate from Anna University, Chennai, and Post Graduate in the same field from Texas, USA, says that attending startup networking events became his weekend activity.

During one such event, an acquaintance has reached out to him asking him to build a custom application for his upcoming company. “I felt that it was a great opportunity to start something new and spent days developing the concept. Perhaps I was too young and he did not take me seriously, but my proposal got rejected. I had two options – to move forward or shift gears to a regular IT job. I opted for the former and joined hands with my partners/enablers to start a web development agency building websites. We received leads from our network of friends and well-wishers.

Then and even now, customer services and delivering an ethical working product out has been the only goal, and never profitability,” explains Vijay. Cloudmellow started in late 2014 with two people in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, in a garage turned office with ` 30,000 as seed fund. Today it is a team of 70+ employees, leaders with three regional offices in India delivering to a client base of 150+ in USA, India, Canada, Dubai and UK with gross revenues crossing `10 crore. “My target is to create 100 rural jobs in 2020. We have been recognised by Andhra Pradesh Government for empowering jobs in rural regions with delivery excellence and been grateful to be provided with employment and infrastructure subsidies from the government for the same cause,” Vijay adds.

One of the biggest challenges he had to face was the wrong perception that Indian offshore companies do not deliver quality products. Within a year, he unders t o o d the demand in digital marketing space with a technology competence. “Without further ado, we started catering to digital marketing services to our existing clients and the new clientele. Many clients who weren’t sure of our backend teams were surprised the quality of the work being delivered in terms of design, content and reliability.

Organic referrals and word of mouth have always been and is our success secret in keeping us motivated in growing this company to what it is right now. Even today being in the digital marketing and technology service area we strive every single day to learn something new and hungry to make a difference in the everchanging industry,” he explains. His core team comprises himself, 29 and J Jain, 39. Vijay takes pride in saying that his company is “self-funded, has zero debt and has reinvested profitability in the same business for exponential growth.”