CEO Insights Magazine

From topnotch CEOs to celebrated industry stalwarts, from young entrepreneurs to quirky entertainers, successful alumni of IIT Bombay have inspired many generations of students. One such phenomenon is Ishan Rakshit, who gladly accepts the contribution of his alma mater IIT Bombay behind his journey so far as an entrepreneur and a corporate leader. 'Those five years I spent in college from 2012-17 have been supremely powerful, not just from an academic perspective but also in terms of industry exposure that cemented my confidence as a professional', avers Ishan, when asked about the influence of IIT Bombay on him as a student. Privileged to be a part of such a benevolent ecosystem that nurtured his skillsets as an entrepreneur, Ishan came up with his very own innovative product Shopflo that helps e-commerce websites at the checkout funnel. Currently leading Shopflo as a founder, Ishan is driving his company towards a promising future.

Ishan engages in an insightful interaction with the team of CEO Insights.

Could you talk about the learnings and experiences that you had acquired from IIT Bombay?
In my second year, I joined this team within IIT Bombay called PRATHAM, which was building one of the earliest students' satellites that got launched by ISRO in 2016. I was part of the mechanical subsystem that gave me a lot of exposure on working on a real product and working with a closely knit team. In my third year, I was part of the Mood Indigo team, which is the annual college cultural festival at IIT Bombay. There I was heading concerts and events at Mood Indigo 2014.

So, at a scale where 100,000 people are attending your event, the stakes

are high and it got me attuned to how to work with people in high-pressure environments and lead teams so early in my career as well. Right after that, I started my first company called Kibo. Thankfully, the college provided me with opportunities and facilities to make sure that my start-up journey does not get affected. Even while completing my degrees, I was running my startup & my studies did not get affected a lot. I'm sure I've used a lot of college resources, and even now also, I am in touch with my professors & mentors from college who have been super helpful so far in my journey.

Define Shopflo as an organization & where is it positioned in the industry?
Shopflo is a SaaS company, where we provide software products to e-Commerce merchants, and brands. We assist these online businesses by powering their checkout experiences so that they can focus on their core organizational objectives such as building their product, managing inventory, marketing, and so on. We take care of the technical aspects of their checkout operations, so that, they don't lose customers and can grow as a business. With time, we are opening up the product to stores built across all platforms as well as on mobile apps.

Could you tell me about the latest technologies you have adopted in your company?
Honestly, we haven't built our own rails as such. The fact that we are 'enablers' has pushed us to make our tech stack very scalable from the get go. We're built on AWS servers, using industry grade authentication systems. This has allowed us to scale very quickly and make our platform applicable for international customers as well, without having to develop all of these things ourselves. Internally, we have a very strong customer

data management protocol and we are obsessed about making Shopflo secure and data compliant.

What were the major challenges you experienced during the inception of Shopflo? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
I think like most early stage startups, there were some common challenges which are the major ones, such as, how do you attract talent? How do you set up the best team together? Especially focusing on quality over quantity has been one big challenge. The other big challenge has been how to reach out in an overly competitive market, & set out a product that merchants and our customers can understand is differentiated. For the first bit, in terms of hiring and setting up a team that early and getting such great quality, I think it has been super helpful for us to get someone internally to handle everything around people, culture, hiring, HR, and more.

A big thing that we did, as a company, even without a product, was starting to make noise on social media, so that, prospective team members can recognize that Shopflo exists, and it's something exciting to work on. We are now super blessed to have a very talented team around. The second challenge, which was about creating a mark for ourselves in this market, we have been able to overcome by co-building with our customers. Nothing else can beat that when it comes to the insights we are able to get, the pace at which we iterate.

Ishan Rakshit, Co-Founder, Shopflo Technologies
Brought up in Ranchi, Ishan graduated from IIT Bombay in 2017 with a Master's and Bachelor's in Aerospace Engineering and minor degree in Computer Science & Engineering. Before founding Shopflo, Ishan was doing fintech investments with Elevation Capital (SAIF Partners). Previously in his career, he was associated with EY-Parthenon as a strategy consultant & with MSCI as a part of their index calculation team.

•Favorite cuisine:Italian
•Favorite book:Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
•Favorite Travel Destination:South Africa and Spain
•Hobby:Playing the piano