Mushin Innovation Labs: A Brand Recognized for Transforming Business with Creative Automation Products & Solutions
Rachit Srivastava
Co-Founder & MD
A young firm based out of New Delhi, Mushin Innovation Labs is a name recognized for using technology in innovative and creative ways to develop industrial products and solutions that not only solve complex problems, but also create value and makes a difference in a users lives. Established by Rachit Srivastava (Co-Founder & Managing Director) and Rishi Gupta (Co-Founder & Business Director), Mushin Innovation Labs strives to eliminate basic tasks out of human hands by employing state-of-the-art Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning(ML),Artificial Intelligence(AI), firmware and industrial power & embedded solutions. New technologies are reshaping the way business operations are managed and executed, and Rachit and Rishi, along with their highly experienced team, are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to bridging industry gaps and offering customized solutions that meet clients’ objectives.
CEO Insights has got this opportunity to interact with this proficient pair, where the duo Rachit and Rishi highlight upon the journey of their young business from idea to inception and beyond.
CEO Insights has got this opportunity to interact with this proficient pair, where the duo Rachit and Rishi highlight upon the journey of their young business from idea to inception and beyond.
Tell us about yourself and what is it that inspired you on this entrepreneurial journey? What was the idea behind the inception of Mushin Innovation?
Rachit:Rishi and I are school friends. We pursued engineering from renowned institutes. Both of us are well-educated and hold strong industrial and corporate experience. While I started my career with Philips where I was the youngest to actually go out and have a product of my own and supervise production of various products, Rishi got his share of success and experience from being involved with Bader GmbH, which is a renowned German automotive leather company. Working for these renowned MNCs gave us the opportunity to interact with a lot of small and medium scaled units and factories, who were our then suppliers and vendors.
While our interacting with these units, we realized that there is a huge gap in the way how operations are carried-out in India, versus how developed manufacturing sector is in China, Europe and America. The automation sector in India, especially industrial automation, is not yet developed and even if it is developed, it is extremely expensive and complicated for the Indian SMEs to adopt it efficiently.
So, this was one of the major reasons why we thought that it is perhaps time for us to actually use our skills and experience to build products and solutions which can automate and upgrade the Indian SME sector. SMEs make-up a major chunk of India's manufacturing GDP, and with Mushin Innovation Labs, we wanted to contribute something which can actually, in the long run, contribute towards India's growth agenda and uplift the SME manufacturing sector.
Mushin means ‘A State of Zero Mindedness’. About 90 percent of the time, my mind will be blank and earlier, I used to think that it’s something negative. However, later in life, I realized that this actually helps you focus. When you're in state of zero-mindedness, that is when you can focus on the tasks which are actually important, and that is how Mushin Innovation Labs came together.
Rishi:Today, around 33 percent of India's manufacturing output is contributed by the SME sector which is around eight percent of our GDP, and yet, this sector of our economy is highly unorganized and underdeveloped. With the lack of automation, both their output quality and productivity suffers. The Prime Minister also says, it is now time for India to actually Make in India and Make for the World, which means bringing the quality which can only be done by certain automation, which is also affordable, so that the solutions can actually be adopted, very known in your price, and then quality of service. Thus, with Mushin Innovation Labs, we are taking the first step towards this initiative.
How did you overcome the initial challenges of your journey as entrepreneur?
Rishi:Being a bootstrapped venture, we had to rely on our corporate savings, and even though we had good packages at MNCs, not a lot of people start saving large amounts at the age of 24. However, there was one plus side to our corporate career; Rachit and I were good with net working, so we had a pool of contacts from Phillips and Bader which came-in handy, especially with clients. While COVID was a stumbling block in our path, in those 4-6 months, we developed 90 percent of our software solutions completely online and with a highly efficient remote team.
Rachit:Adding to this, one of the key factors that helped us through the challenges was the fact that we had got each other’s back. These times can be very stressful, and it is essential that you have the right support to steer through such situations. Apart from understanding, patience is equally important. Getting clients on board can take some time, and it is important to have a positive mindset through this wait period.
Rachit Srivastava, Co-Founder & MD
Why did you choose Delhi to be the breeding ground of your startup? How has been the city favoring you so far in your operations?
Rishi:Both of us are from Delhi, while working too, I was working in Gurgaon, and Rachit was working in Noida. So, we have always been in the NCR region and could develop a wide network here in our home grounds. If we had been solely an IT or Software company, then I think definitely Bangalore would have been the place for us, but since we are making products both on the hardware and software levels for SME manufacturing units, Delhi locally has the right vicinity. There are a lot of manufacturing companies in the vicinity of Delhi NCR and we could find a lot of direct customers and use cases here. So, I will say for our company, Delhi has been very kind to us. And with all the internationals brands and their manufacturing units being put-up in Delhi NCR, the opportunities are even more. We were able to get new networks with different companies, learn from them, adapt with new players, and work with clients who are in this business in India and abroad.
What are the unique factors about your company’s products & solutions that separate you from your competitors? Explain your USP.
Rachit:Mushin’s USP is our team. Our team of professionals comprises of good engineers, software developers and hardware developers who are young and keen to learn. While we are a team of young professionals, we also have people who individually have over 25-26 years of experience in the industry. So, we are definitely a blend of young experienced young minds who are innovative or good developers. Our skilled experts know how things work, they know how and when we get stuck and actually how to deliver products to the industry.
Delhi is that one place which has people from Europe, America, Germany and many other countries sitting and working together. So, that was the main reason why we really wanted to continue working in Delhi. And not only about the customers, you could find a lot of good developers here along with authentic business management students from all across the country. So, being based out in the capital and with the Government offices accessible, we receive a lot of support from the Central Government. Keeping that also in mind, Delhi was our go-to place, and we don’t regret it till date. To discover all the things in mind and an understanding that they can all come-in handy if you're at the right position, it is a different satisfaction.
Secondly, we are tapping the untapped market. We have it all; Mushin is not a software company, it's not a hardware company it is a one stop solution provider. So, this really gave us an edgeover our
We have IT all;mushin is not a software company, IT’s not a hardware company - IT is a one stop solution provider
How did you overcome the initial challenges of your journey as entrepreneur?
Rishi:Being a bootstrapped venture, we had to rely on our corporate savings, and even though we had good packages at MNCs, not a lot of people start saving large amounts at the age of 24. However, there was one plus side to our corporate career; Rachit and I were good with net working, so we had a pool of contacts from Phillips and Bader which came-in handy, especially with clients. While COVID was a stumbling block in our path, in those 4-6 months, we developed 90 percent of our software solutions completely online and with a highly efficient remote team.
Rachit:Adding to this, one of the key factors that helped us through the challenges was the fact that we had got each other’s back. These times can be very stressful, and it is essential that you have the right support to steer through such situations. Apart from understanding, patience is equally important. Getting clients on board can take some time, and it is important to have a positive mindset through this wait period.
Rachit Srivastava, Co-Founder & MD
Why did you choose Delhi to be the breeding ground of your startup? How has been the city favoring you so far in your operations?
Rishi:Both of us are from Delhi, while working too, I was working in Gurgaon, and Rachit was working in Noida. So, we have always been in the NCR region and could develop a wide network here in our home grounds. If we had been solely an IT or Software company, then I think definitely Bangalore would have been the place for us, but since we are making products both on the hardware and software levels for SME manufacturing units, Delhi locally has the right vicinity. There are a lot of manufacturing companies in the vicinity of Delhi NCR and we could find a lot of direct customers and use cases here. So, I will say for our company, Delhi has been very kind to us. And with all the internationals brands and their manufacturing units being put-up in Delhi NCR, the opportunities are even more. We were able to get new networks with different companies, learn from them, adapt with new players, and work with clients who are in this business in India and abroad.
What are the unique factors about your company’s products & solutions that separate you from your competitors? Explain your USP.
Rachit:Mushin’s USP is our team. Our team of professionals comprises of good engineers, software developers and hardware developers who are young and keen to learn. While we are a team of young professionals, we also have people who individually have over 25-26 years of experience in the industry. So, we are definitely a blend of young experienced young minds who are innovative or good developers. Our skilled experts know how things work, they know how and when we get stuck and actually how to deliver products to the industry.
Delhi is that one place which has people from Europe, America, Germany and many other countries sitting and working together. So, that was the main reason why we really wanted to continue working in Delhi. And not only about the customers, you could find a lot of good developers here along with authentic business management students from all across the country. So, being based out in the capital and with the Government offices accessible, we receive a lot of support from the Central Government. Keeping that also in mind, Delhi was our go-to place, and we don’t regret it till date. To discover all the things in mind and an understanding that they can all come-in handy if you're at the right position, it is a different satisfaction.
Secondly, we are tapping the untapped market. We have it all; Mushin is not a software company, it's not a hardware company it is a one stop solution provider. So, this really gave us an edgeover our
competitors. We have always believed that if you're making products which are good enough, they will sell for themselves, and if you have a 10x improvement over existing technology or existing solution in the market, then people will be willing to pay for them also.
Rishi:Our clients always get an added advantage, especially because we have had professional experience which has helped with our strong network. So, we have already had a great head-start. Thanks to our network, we could identify people to talk to the right clients. So, definitely our major USP is our strong web of connections which we have garnered through years of experience. Our versatility is another plus point at Mushin Innovations, and it is very important from the very beginning. We have been able to adapt from the international clients and companies, and we were also able to foresee what we have of India, which is another perspective altogether. Today, we are able to create opportunities for people who are even specially abled.
Muhsin Innovation firmly believes in Innovate, Create and Repeat. Please tell us more about this concept and how is your team contributing to this? How do you keep your team updated about the changes in the industry?
Rishi: We're seeing a lot of young talent and industry veterans, and we have both on the team. We have experts who are industry veterans from consumer electronics and the power industry. We also have software experts in our team, young developers who are experienced people with know-how of production to chain works, or how a product has to be developed with right production standards. You have to have those kind of professionals that are experienced in delivering products one at a time. And definitely, when you have software engineers, hardware engineers, people from production sitting under one roof, only then can you find how to actually integrate it all together. If you cannot integrate all three of them together, then you cannot have that deeper experience of finding yourself without a user manual. So something is everything, because every kind of an expert, or every young talent fits together under one roof. Every person has their talents, they are unique and we have to try to get that out of the person. We try to support them with their growth projects and they support us.
What is the current growth of Mushin Innovations like? What is the future roadmap of the company?
Rachit:In different situations, you have to think differently. Rather than blaming the problems and challenges, we really thank COVID scenarios that gave us challenge to think and come-up with ideas and solutions which are affordable. What’s important is to have the right mindset to actually convert challenges into opportunities. We took a very different approach to the whole situation, and we developed the applications remotely and found there's a lot of the numbers which are there, which gave us time and then built our team in COVID scenario. We did a lot of brainstorming, and then we came-up with a lot of good products and situation plans, which were really built on them.
Given the fact that we have COVID19 pandemic, we are pretty satisfied with the improvement. There's always a scope of improvement and we don't stress it out. Now, if we calmly address it, we can improve ourselves to bring from 9.5 to 10 by doing a little brainstorming, talking it out. What is inside your brain is what really helps it out. There are a lot of ideas which get wasted when we think and don’t jot it down or talk it out. We really feel that talking about you it, saying out loud and not waiting for the right time or anything, and having no filters, I would say, it is really is beneficial in the long run. So, at Mushin Innovations, we try to keep it no filters. We’re being approachable and talking to friends & peers. So, everyone’s problem is solved, which is the main concern here. So, we aspire to create a comfortable environment where it automatically opens the door for communication.
Given the fact that we have COVID19 pandemic, we are pretty satisfied with the improvement. There's always a scope of improvement and we don't stress it out. Now, if we calmly address it, we can improve ourselves to bring from 9.5 to 10 by doing a little brainstorming, talking it out. What is inside your brain is what really helps it out. There are a lot of ideas which get wasted when we think and don’t jot it down or talk it out. We really feel that talking about you it, saying out loud and not waiting for the right time or anything, and having no filters, I would say, it is really is beneficial in the long run. So, at Mushin Innovations, we try to keep it no filters. We’re being approachable and talking to friends & peers. So, everyone’s problem is solved, which is the main concern here. So, we aspire to create a comfortable environment where it automatically opens the door for communication.
Rishi:Our clients always get an added advantage, especially because we have had professional experience which has helped with our strong network. So, we have already had a great head-start. Thanks to our network, we could identify people to talk to the right clients. So, definitely our major USP is our strong web of connections which we have garnered through years of experience. Our versatility is another plus point at Mushin Innovations, and it is very important from the very beginning. We have been able to adapt from the international clients and companies, and we were also able to foresee what we have of India, which is another perspective altogether. Today, we are able to create opportunities for people who are even specially abled.
Muhsin Innovation firmly believes in Innovate, Create and Repeat. Please tell us more about this concept and how is your team contributing to this? How do you keep your team updated about the changes in the industry?
Rishi: We're seeing a lot of young talent and industry veterans, and we have both on the team. We have experts who are industry veterans from consumer electronics and the power industry. We also have software experts in our team, young developers who are experienced people with know-how of production to chain works, or how a product has to be developed with right production standards. You have to have those kind of professionals that are experienced in delivering products one at a time. And definitely, when you have software engineers, hardware engineers, people from production sitting under one roof, only then can you find how to actually integrate it all together. If you cannot integrate all three of them together, then you cannot have that deeper experience of finding yourself without a user manual. So something is everything, because every kind of an expert, or every young talent fits together under one roof. Every person has their talents, they are unique and we have to try to get that out of the person. We try to support them with their growth projects and they support us.
What is the current growth of Mushin Innovations like? What is the future roadmap of the company?
Rachit:In different situations, you have to think differently. Rather than blaming the problems and challenges, we really thank COVID scenarios that gave us challenge to think and come-up with ideas and solutions which are affordable. What’s important is to have the right mindset to actually convert challenges into opportunities. We took a very different approach to the whole situation, and we developed the applications remotely and found there's a lot of the numbers which are there, which gave us time and then built our team in COVID scenario. We did a lot of brainstorming, and then we came-up with a lot of good products and situation plans, which were really built on them.
Given the fact that we have COVID19 pandemic, we are pretty satisfied with the improvement. There's always a scope of improvement and we don't stress it out. Now, if we calmly address it, we can improve ourselves to bring from 9.5 to 10 by doing a little brainstorming, talking it out. What is inside your brain is what really helps it out. There are a lot of ideas which get wasted when we think and don’t jot it down or talk it out. We really feel that talking about you it, saying out loud and not waiting for the right time or anything, and having no filters, I would say, it is really is beneficial in the long run. So, at Mushin Innovations, we try to keep it no filters. We’re being approachable and talking to friends & peers. So, everyone’s problem is solved, which is the main concern here. So, we aspire to create a comfortable environment where it automatically opens the door for communication.
Given the fact that we have COVID19 pandemic, we are pretty satisfied with the improvement. There's always a scope of improvement and we don't stress it out. Now, if we calmly address it, we can improve ourselves to bring from 9.5 to 10 by doing a little brainstorming, talking it out. What is inside your brain is what really helps it out. There are a lot of ideas which get wasted when we think and don’t jot it down or talk it out. We really feel that talking about you it, saying out loud and not waiting for the right time or anything, and having no filters, I would say, it is really is beneficial in the long run. So, at Mushin Innovations, we try to keep it no filters. We’re being approachable and talking to friends & peers. So, everyone’s problem is solved, which is the main concern here. So, we aspire to create a comfortable environment where it automatically opens the door for communication.