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What happens when an automobile engineer's vehicle breaks down in the middle of nowhere? Well, obviously, he will use his training and experience to set the snag right and continue with his journey. Well, in case of Mahesh Shetkar, his vehicle breaking down was the aha moment in which he saw the need for easy roadside assistance. And pronto! that led to the birth of his start-up Doers that provided door-step servicing. Mahesh has got a degree in automotive engineering from one of the best international school at Chalmers College of engineering from Sweden and had carried out multiple national and international level projects during educational career along with few publications. He is heading the business development and strategy planning at Doers since its inception in 2016. Here he shares his entrepreneurial journey:
Inspiration
When I faced an issue with my vehicle in 2016, I was surprised to know that there was no company providing the hassle free, transparent and professional online service at that time. As per the recent data, close to 60,000 vehicles gets registered everyday in India. These numbers reflect the size of the aftermarket. This was the time when I realised that end-to-end professional service is the next big thing in the automotive service industry. The market for door-step vehicle servicing with high credibility is huge as there are companies which are functioning more like an aggregator or other model which are having difficulty to address customer needs via prompt and hassle free service. Doers is a credible platform, which can provide affordable and reliable car service for customers.
Challenges
The biggest challenge faced while implementing the idea was to standardise or organise the data for the Indian market where there were hundreds of popular models. The second challenge was operation and setting the right price for vendors and customers. Last but not the least, creating the brand which customers can believe was also a big challenge.
A word of advice
If you're going start something, you should really love it because others may not love it. Be prepared for rejections and failures and disappointments. Resilience is the key. Don't give up and don't take things personally and most of all don't take no for an answer ever.
— As told to Geetu Vaid
Achivements
Doers has achieved a strongl customer base in a short span of three years. We have achieved customer satisfaction index of 96 per cent with excellent customer retention rate. Doers is also a part of an NGO, which is a rehab center for prisoners where we are training youngsters under the age of 18 in mechanical domain.
Future plans
Network plays an important role to meet the supply and demand and to cater to any requirement of the client. Doers has set a clear strategic direction for the future. This incorporates disciplined growth with innovation as the key, exploring the services to other major Tier 1 and 2 cities. We are currently focusing on widening and strengthening our network pan India.
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