"Almost all the challenges most companies today face arise from a more foundational problem–a lack of transparency and communication."
Baskar Agneeswaran is the CEO of Vajro. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Vajro is a mobile app platform exquisitely crafted for Android and iOS apps that brands can use to build native Android and iOS apps in just sixty minutes without writing a single line of code.
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We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Baskar Agneeswaran: I’m the co-founder and CEO of Vajro, a cloud-based mobile app development platform that helps e-commerce stores build native android and iOS apps in 60 minutes without writing a single line of code. Vajro is a SAAS platform company and has over 2500 active paying clients in over 100 countries. I’ve been passionate about entrepreneurship and featured in the 40 Under 40 Asiaone Most Influential Leaders 2020-21.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Baskar Agneeswaran: 2020 was crazy, in the sense that it was devastating to a lot of retailers because of the lockdowns and restrictions. A lot of companies in our space started downsizing but we did something counter-intuitive. We beefed up our workforce. We were less than 20 people before the pandemic but we grew to 100 employees very fast. We also made significant investments in sales and marketing.
The primary thought process was that this would cause a boom in the eCommerce landscape and the calculated risk we took paid off. We grew in triple digits since the pandemic started.
So the lesson here is that when life throws curveballs at you, swing really really hard.
2022 is going to be the time when people look beyond the pandemic, try and get to a ‘normal’ life. This would be challenging for ecommerce businesses and we now need to do other things to continue to grow at a fast pace.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Baskar Agneeswaran: The pandemic turned every aspect of life upside down; from the personal to the professional. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it has fundamentally changed how businesses work and how consumers buy.
But… in the words of JFK, “every crisis presents a choice; an opportunity”. Businesses should largely focus on business continuity while being fluid to adapt to changing economic landscapes and consumer needs. They need to be quick at identifying opportunities and addressing them before a competitor does. This will play an important role in the growth of the company during the recovery phase.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Baskar Agneeswaran: In our case, we faced a lot of issues and miscommunication due to all of us working remotely. We were displaced from our physical workspaces and so brainstorming sessions were no longer spontaneous. Every piece of communication had to be deliberate and conscious.
We changed our whole game plan and became headquartered in Slack. We adopted tools and channels to mimic in-office discussions. We came up with several core values that defined us as an organization and became the new foundation for our operations.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Baskar Agneeswaran: People actually advised us to conserve cash when the pandemic started and asked us to be very frugal with new initiatives. However, we ideated and clearly felt that ecommerce (and therefore mobile commerce too) would take off and actually did the opposite of what people told us! It worked well for us and we grew multifold.
In 2022, we want to continue to grow fast despite anticipating that people would start adapting to ‘normal’ life.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Baskar Agneeswaran: One other thing that was rage during the last two years was social commerce and live selling. A lot of D2C brands and online retailers jumped on the bandwagon and saw an insane jump in their overall revenue.
Combining the elements of live streaming and eCommerce, sellers can present their product through the stream, answer questions in real time, and encourage viewers to buy products. It helps provide the brand experience and instill confidence in the purchasers regarding fit, quality, and authenticity.
I expect live selling’s adoption to increase multifold in 2022 as more and more brands see live selling as a profitable channel.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Baskar Agneeswaran: As an organization, we like to be involved in more face-to-face interactions rather than Zoom or Slack, considering we’ve started working from the office. But, screentime is not something we can eliminate. I’d say I spend around 7-10 hours a day on average in front of a screen.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Baskar Agneeswaran: We’ve always been a passionate bunch at Vajro. We work as a collective consciousness and that’s because all of us believe in the same dream. Using stories for developing a new feature or coming up with a new business idea has helped our team understand the entire context and why that idea is worth pursuing. The best example is how we built Blynk, our live selling platform.
We zeroed in on a buyer persona, named them, and brought their story to our team. What the situation was like and what problems and challenges they faced without a solution like ours. They had to spend a ton of time manually reading comments and invoicing the customers. Blynk does all of that in seconds and in real-time, resulting in more conversions and better engagement.
In effect, we not only use stories to persuade and communicate at the workplace, but also use it to ideate on the product and come up with innovative features.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Baskar Agneeswaran: During the pandemic, we grew at the rate of triple digit percentages, fueled by the success of eCommerce stores. The real challenge for us now is sustaining that growth rate post-pandemic.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Baskar Agneeswaran: One thing I’m keen on learning this year is scaling Vajro and putting it in hyper-growth mode. We’re constantly on the lookout for innovative ideas that will put us at the top of the S-curve while standardizing structures and processes.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Baskar Agneeswaran: Almost all the challenges most companies today face arise from a more foundational problem–a lack of transparency and communication. Teams are not aligned with the business objectives and have little to no idea how they contribute to the bigger picture.
Most of our Slack channels are open. No matter their function, anyone can be a part of any channel, pitching in when they have the next big idea. We truly believe that the next big idea can come from anyone and everyone deserves a platform to be heard.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Baskar Agneeswaran: I’d pick speed as my superpower. The nature of our business is changing really fast and that means it’s important to respond to events really fast and make both reversible and irreversible decisions in a flash. Yeah, I’d like to be “Business Flash” or something like that.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Baskar Agneeswaran: While Vajro has achieved #1 position in the marketplace with over 1000 five star reviews, there is a great opportunity to go much deeper there as less than 2% of eCommerce stores actually have a mobile app. We want to be the most preferred Mobile App Builder for ecommerce stores.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Baskar Agneeswaran for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Baskar Agneeswaran or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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