Students cum Entrepreneurs under graduates running a IT company successfully dotCORD IT Solutions

7^th semester student duo of Sandeep Hegde and Manoj Nair both away from their home town who came here to pursue their engineering have landed themselves in a position they would not have expected. The duo started thedotCORD IT Solutions private limited an IT company while still studying.

 While they are taught new technologies at dotCORD the duo have seen that they know all the latest technologies in web designing and other allied works. At this time of global recession when students who get a campus placement will be the happiest of the lot, these two have proven that why wait for other companies to hire you, we can hire a few and they have done just that.   

dotCORD is a company founded by a group of students of Gogte Institute of Technology(GIT), Belgaum with a professional tint to their pursue of knowledge. They pioneer in providing superior and world standard web based solutions for small to large corporate companies; offshore and local. They seize each new opportunity and leverage it to the enhancement of overall development procedures. They fully appreciate the fact that in a highly competitive biz world a well designed web site can act as a strong and effective marketing tool for your company. Working closely with your ideas and necessities coupled with technical expertise can turn a simple web design from a mere presentation to powerful business equipment.

Their vision is based on the Internet wave. The ability to transmit information at a ZERO cost opens up possibilities that never existed before. Individuals and Entities worldwide must adopt and adapt to a new way of doing business, learn new lessons, evolve their processes and leverage on the advantages and opportunities presented by a connected globe, in order to increase efficiency, remain competitive, and enhance quality of life.

It is their goal to build unique software, applications and services that leverage the internet and assist individuals and entities to communicate, collaborate and stay in touch. 

The duo has now taken the responsibility of designing the IT Belgaum site which is a part of this blog’s initiative for collective IT growth in Belgaum.

 They have a full plan for the future laid down. In the coming month a new website for Belgaumites will be launched known as Belgaumpages where each one and anyone could get in touch with his friends, blog, share etc. They don’t stop here; they have future plans ready which would be sites on a global scale and web marketing as well.

Some excerpts of the interview with Sandeep Hegde, MD dotCORD IT Solutions private limited-

 How and when did u get the idea of starting the company?

Manoj and me got together to work on a project during the 2nd year of our engineering (2007 July). It was for a competition hosted by IBM. Getting into project, we soon discovered that we had to use only IBM products to develop the software. We understood that it was more of business intent from "Big Blue" and dropped out of the project. Then we started to build a website for a domain name I had registered in order to tryout some stuff online. Meanwhile we worked for IEEE GIT website design competition. Manas being the next roll number to Manoj assisted us in graphic design work. Everyone appreciated our design and the level of professionalism we showed in developing it. This made us think, why we don’t start our own company! And we never looked back again :)

Why this name dotCORD?

Once we decided to start a company next question was off course the company name. We wanted something unique, suitable for IT field, brand able in long run and a .com domain name availability for registration. We were trying to get a name for around two months. None of our friends also could suggest a good name which has unregistered domain name. Finally I and Manoj were trying to find a company name with dot and dotCORD was the outcome. We registered the domain name on 14th December 2007. On 11th February 2009 we were incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 (No. 1 of 1956), Government of India as dotCORD IT SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED with the help of our C.A., Mr.Shivangi.

dot - Symbolizes internet, technology, global 
cord - Binding dot

 Your parents reaction on starting company -
Sandeep - My parents have been very supportive always. Once we handled few projects and were firm with establishment of company I told my parents about the stuff in detail.  Although they do not know the technical aspects, they have been supportive in company matter also as usual. Dad has been giving me suggestions and tells me do's and don'ts etc. This kind of support from parents has always been helping me to focus on my goals and achieve it :)

 
Manoj- My parents had doubts about me getting into such a job during my education. But ever since we got the company registered, they have been extremely supportive and constantly keep asking about any developments that take place. They also give me tips on what to do in certain situations as and when I encounter them. Surprisingly, even my mom likes this idea very much (thanks to the astrologers she consulted). :)

The fact that we have not demanded anything extra in monetary terms from our parents even during the registration process, gives us more self-confidence and a sense of independence

How was the response from the college and staff?

College and staff have been supporting us right from the initial stages. We have got a very friendly and supportive environment in GIT. We could approach any staff and they are always there to guide us. Prof. Santosh Saraf who was the judge for the first website we did (IEE GIT) is with us till date as our mentor. Being the coordinator of IT Incubation Center of the College he suggested starting our office there. Our Pricipal Dr.D.H.Rao and Management have been very supporting in setting up our office. We have got many projects through the reference of staff, students and alumni of our college.
 

You are in the 7th sem now how do u manage work and studies?

Well engineering is not that difficult. I'm a bit allergic to books and clear the 3 hours exam with 3 hours study while Manoj does have an aggregate of 70% +. We have been instructed by college to work at office only after college hours. We attend college regularly with others and work for the company in our free time which would have gone waste otherwise.
 

Who were the co founders with you?

Manoj and I are the co-founders of dotCORD. Then Manas joined us followed by Chinmay. We do have many internees who work part time for the company.

Some good/bad experience while on work

Everything was a new experience to us. Being technical students we jumped into something that requires management. However good we are at work, we need to convince people that we can do it. Initially we did not have a portfolio and also the fact that we are still students made many doubt if we could deliver in time and up to their expectations. Yet, some people trusted us with the job. We would like to thank all our clients for this trust they share in doing business with us.

According to me, we have not undergone anything such as a bad experience. Due to our limited exposure to outer world we did face some hurdles. We had to face problems with the market survey for product pricings. We faced problems with collection of payment as well. Some companies outsourced their work to us but cancelled the project without any payment. We faced problems in setting up our bank account as well. Thanks to the support provided by Axis Bank, our problems with a bank account ended there. We are lucky enough that someone or the other helped us when we were facing problems.

What are your future plans?

Till now we have followed a path that revealed itself to us, and which brought us here. But we now know that we require to lay our own paths in order to move forward and make DOTCORD a true success story. We are in the process of developing a comprehensive plan for our growth, especially extending our client base to more locations within the country as well as abroad; with Belgaum remaining the center of our operations. At this point in time, we cannot afford to think of a situation where we may have to disintegrate after our engineering course. We will give it all we've got in keeping abreast with the market demands and satisfying our customers.

Best thing you like about Belgaum?

The best thing I like about Belgaum is its collaborative nature. The people of Belgaum are very friendly and supportive. It is a cool and calm city. The quality of education is very high here. It does not have pollution and traffic problems like larger cities but we do have all the facilities which are available in any metropolitan city. Our company has a lot of scope parallel to the growth of Belgaum.

What are your thoughts on the initiative taken by AllAboutBelgaum for the IT development?

We were already aware of the earlier version of AllAboutBelgaum, that is, Belgaumblog. My instinct said me that this blog is going to grow one day which is quite evident with the transformation into AllAboutBelgaum and the number of Facebook fans. :) We know that team of AAB is quite capable of living up to any initiative. The recent initiative of bringing together IT companies in Belgaum is another such example. We extend our complete support to AllAboutBelgaum for all future undertakings. All the best to the team of AAB!!!

Here are some of the sites developed by them:

• http://alumni.git.edu
• http://www.sdmchonavar.org
• http://www.cogentedu.com
• http://www.timeenglish.in
• http://www.eefabelgaum.com
• http://www.parijatha.co.in
• http://www.hedabuilders.com
• http://www.knowmepersonally.com
• http://www.anantterdal.com
• http://www.ashokayoga.com
• http://www.pingsense.com
• http://www.designfeatured.com
• http://www.belgaumpages.com

www.dotCORD.com