Devesh Chaudhari is a firm believer in doing things that make you happy. He explains why it’s important to follow your heart to be successful.
At a glance
Startup: Ephrine Apps
Founder: Devesh Chaudhari
The year it was founded: 2015
Funding: Bootstrapped
Chaudhari was pursuing B.Pharm when he decided he wanted to do something of his own. He didn’t want to work for someone else for the rest of his life like his friends. He started exploring new ideas and the more he thought about it, the better ideas he got.
Back in 2015, the Android industry was booming and individuals across the globe could be seen launching new apps every day. Chaudhari decided to make an educational app and gathered a small team of 2 interns to help him with it.
About Ephrine Apps
There is a total of 15 apps under the Ephrine Apps umbrella. Some of them are educational apps while others are health care and productivity apps.
One of the most common apps is Pharma Hub that focuses on educating Pharmacy students. All the notes related to the course are easily available for free enabling students to gain more knowledge.
Healthcare and fitness apps are currently work in progress while productivity apps aim at SMS drives. Here, the process of backing up and syncing SMS becomes seamless. We all receive innumerable SMSs’ throughout the day and therefore it becomes crucial to have a secure backup file which can be restored in case of the loss of the phone or deletion of messages.
Chaudhari’s SMS drives were an instant hit and he quickly formed a loyal customer base. He earned via in-app advertisements and launched a subscription model for his SMS drives. Starting at ₹50/- per month, it was a cheap solution to ensure the safety of your messages.
Costs Incurred
“I didn’t need a lot of money to launch the apps since I wanted to keep it lean and therefore, did most of my work with the interns. I spent ₹1,000 to register on Google Play Console and invested some money to run advertisements on Facebook.”
Apart from this, he had to bear server costs to host the apps. Since he wanted to keep his business model very lean, he had to manage everything right from creating the apps to marketing and offering customer support.
He tried finding the right team members but failed multiple times. Dejected, he sought his parents to help. They were more than happy to help their son and handled the financial and legal aspects of the business. Juggling between his college and business got tougher but so did Chaudhari conviction.
The Inspiration
“I’ve always been an avid reader. I was inclined towards biographies and self-help books.”
Chaudhari’s biggest inspirational leaders are Steve Jobs and Bill Gate. He believes that’s what shaped his perception early on to create something of his own rather than work for someone else.
Building a Customer Base
“The best way to attract and retain customers is to provide something of value.”
He believes that customers are not fools and they will always remember the kind of service you provide them—good or bad. In his opinion, constantly providing value to your customer is a sure-shot value to retain them.
Drawbacks
Since Chaudhari had launched the app when he was a student to get ahead of his peers, he missed out on his college life. While his friends were busy partying, he was holed up in his room debugging the apps. He says he misses those times and sometimes wishes he had hung out with his friends more often.
Top 3 Skills Needed to be an Entrepreneur
- Be a spiritual and mindful person. It’s important to have ambitions and have money but its equally important to be mindful of your actions and how they affect people.
- Be a visionary and trust your gut feeling.
- Have strong work ethics.
Advice for Young Entrepreneurs
“Follow your heart and don’t do something because everyone else is doing it. Entrepreneurship is a tough journey and you’re bound to fail if you don’t put your heart and soul into it.”
Don’t Miss: How To Get Your Startup Through Its First Few Years Of Business
