“We have bifurcated the functions – sales and business and the developing work would take place in India,” says Raja, who established the entity three years ago.

But the web and app development solutions provider had to face the prospect of data piracy by its own employees, who left to form a new company.

Raja claims to have gone through the tough times by seeking advice and putting management principles at work. “The endeavour is to rebuild the entity to last year’s level, as the ‘knowledge’ capital is what sets us apart. We have had to start from the scratch,” he says, sharing details on the ‘conspiracy’ hatched by 20 of his employees that has put his enterprise on the back foot. Projects were on hold and became dormant as the payments were done on milestone basis. These people left with all assets, credentials, deleting all the coding work of the company.

However, taking a “respond and not reactive approach,” the entrepreneur sounds confident now. Betting on the frameworks and business processes has spurred Raja to forecast a revenue of $10 mn within a couple of years. “We have taken the lean route as our tech expertise and our efforts are directed to acquire clients to cover the operational expenses,” says Raja, who sees Digiryte emerging as a service company as it scouts for organic growth opportunities in small and medium businesses.

A personal challenge led the 31-year-old Raja to return to India for good, as he went on to establish the firm on the outskirts of Chennai. It caters to eight retail clients and NHS is among its 40 customers. “We have started hiring in the UK as well,” he says, pointing to the truncated team that now has 30 people.