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Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Varun Chaturvedi: Main motive behind Volttic to start where we can contribute to our social responsibility when climate change risk is increasing day by day to most of Indian cities and across world. Same time it helps to generate employment and revenue as well. So we were thinking to do something which cover both aspect. As individual I always believe we always doing such thing where we have our own expertise and command. Being as electrical engineer background battery charging technology was not new to me and have vast experience on electrical infra and battery, battery charging from my past industry experience. So Volttic is a unique outcome for me where my technical, social and economics all plans get matched and then we started. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Volttic EV Charging Varun Chaturvedi: Volttic is one of the leading EV charging service provider at India where we provide complete end to end EV Charging solutions for home as well commercial charging segment. As Volttic we provide EV Chargers integrated with cloud base backend monitoring software and also the services for installation and maintenance. You can say one stop solution for all your home & commercial charging needs. As a business model we operate in 3 ways- EV Charger sales (Home chargers), Commercial Charing & Software subscription CMS services. More dominant business model is CPO business where we have captive and public charging stations available as solutions. We are serving charging facility to real estate, housing societies , hotels, mall, public places, EV fleet operators as per their charging needs. Our major business comes under CPO( Charge Point Operators ) where we own the Charging infra and EV users pay for using our charging services. We are developing EV charging network same as fuel station chain currently existing from many oil companies. With currently operating 450+ EV Charging points across India we are trying to overcome “CHARGE ANXIETY “ of EV users. Great Companies: What makes Volttic EV Charging different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Varun Chaturvedi: First thing that differentiate Volttic that its provide end to end EV Charging solutions which means land infra , power infra and charging infra all together to clients for ease of charging. The major difference is safe & reliable charging infra with maximum uptime commitment for what we have develop our software platform in that way where all events of charging are available online and in case of any breakdown our team get notified immediately and start giving support. This platform is completely cloud base where all feature and services are available online 24*7 to users and with our great analytics tools we are making best practices for operation of our assets. Since EV Charging is asset based business where service offering going to make crucial difference so Volttic is always more focus on reliable and safe operation of our asset so that our EV users never get out of charge at our network. Our flexible business offering also helping our client to choose best option as per their own plan same capex purchase or opex rent from Volttic. Our founding team is from pure tech side so they are best on technology selections and then operations reliability of business which in turn helping Volttic to grow faster at different segments. Great Companies: What were the struggles and challengesa you faced and how did you overcome them? Varun Chaturvedi: When we started our journey EVs were very new to India so first challenge was to convince our customer on EVs future and real use cases. Second major challenge since Volume of EVs were very low so revenue challenge was always very slow. So we have challenge on both side with new technology and other side revenue generation for survival. To overcome this we had develop strategy where we should target those segment where EVs can penetrate immediately and those sector who come under compliance part to add EV charging infra. With this we able to really convince the customers on EVs and they start deploying charging solution as well. Like housing societies, real estate companies, corporate offices. Then for revenue generation we target segment where EVs can prove as economical against daily run and for that commercial fleet was best use case and we got very heavy penetration is that segment and right now we are largest commercial EV fleet charging operations across India. These EV fleets daily run is very high and same time they need frequent charging which means high machine utilisation and in turn more revenue. So with our very balance approach on asset utilisation and then segmental approach pitching helps us to overcome all these challenges and make more revenue and scale in operations. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Volttic EV Charging? Varun Chaturvedi: With currently operating with 450+ EV charging points we are targeting to reach in next 5 years up to 10000+ EV charging points. Along with this we want to expand globally as well to project Volttic as global brand. So we expecting that coming 5 years are going to be quite exciting as Evs are going to rule the automobile market so as demand of EV charging infra also going to boost. We want to lead this vertical at India and same time willing to expand globally in next 5 years. Focus on more product and service improvement we are looking to have one of the safest and reliable EV charging network by Volttic. We want to set Volttic as global brand with making strategic partnerships and expand its as much as possible but again focus will remain on having market fit product and add real value to need of customers. We may add more EV vertical for operations expansion apart from charging as market demand will give us fair understanding of need. Sustainability always come when you keep exploring new vertical which is in your control and compliment your existing business nature and this will be crucial factor for our expansion plans Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Varun Chaturvedi: Always keep focus on developing solution in house to have self-dependent rather than outsource third party knowledge and services. This give you flexibility to work and command on your product offerings. Don’t get frustrated with what other doing if you are confident then you can prove yourself and your product. There might be some delay but if you have fire in belly then for sure you can turn the clock. Make team of those who are like minded rather than hiring employees make team of friends who feel same comfort while working with you like family this will really make your initial journey more comfortable. Website : www.volttic.com Social Media : Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Monish Shete: The company was started in 1983 by my father, Mr. Suhas Shete. He foresaw a need for providing low cost automation at a time when labour costs and supply were in abundance. He was a visionary who could foresee the future requirement of automation not just for reducing labour but mainly for improving quality of the process. To this end, he started Elscint as a provided of automation solutions for part handling needs. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Elscint India Pvt Ltd Monish Shete: Elscint manufactures small part handling systems like vibratory bowl feeders and centrifugal feeders. It provides a comprehensive solution for part feeding needs of its customers by using its standard products and customising the same for the particular needs of its customers. Great Companies: What makes Elscint India Pvt Ltd different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Monish Shete: Elscint works on a concept by which it uses its standard products and customises the same for particular needs of the customer application. This helps the customer find a solution to their feeding and other similar problems. Further, build quality of Elscint products is such that they not only provide long lasting service but superior performance with the least amount of maintenance. This makes Elscint different from similar companies. Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Monish Shete: Struggles in this business is finding the right type of employees, training and retaining them. This type of work is a specialised work and a fresh or even experienced person requires a lot of training before he can master the knowledge. Most don’t have the patience to stay for a few years so that they can learn the work. Hence, the struggle as well as challenge in this line of business is getting and retaining the right type of employee. To overcome this problem, Elscint has designed proper training tools which help new employees understand get trained faster. It leads to their own improvements. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Elscint India Pvt Ltd? Monish Shete: For further growth, Elscint has earmarked increasing of exports. Right now exports constitute 30% of turnover. The plan is to make these 60% of turnover in the next 5 years. Further doing more value addition in the automation field is another way which is being looked into for increasing the business in the next 5 years. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Monish Shete: The main advice for anyone starting a engineering product company is = Work for ensuring customer satisfaction with robust products. Do not compromise on the quality and build quality of your products. Website : www.elscintautomation.com Social Media : Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Manas Kumar Das: The sphere of software and solutions is unveiling a spectrum of opportunities. Needless to say, it is allowing technocrats to emerge above mediocrity and do something innovative with their lives. In the past few years, the emergence of software technologies has seen the advent of many tech integrators. Being an emerging tech-integrator in the coup; from managing a leadership position in a world-class tech magnate, I have fortuitously changed my route to became a 'Techpreneur'. Beginning at the turn of the millennium, I could witness the changing tides in technologies and the surge of opportunities that accompanied them. I had realized that technology would bring dynamic transformation across segments. Digitization and automation will transpire the best prospects, further driving immense competition amongst players. I could see this thing as an opportunity for an IT Service company, having categorized solutions and robust infrastructure to scale customer’s business. To turn this opportunity into a concrete reality, we had incepted Exabyte Infotech Pvt. Ltd. in 2018. The company is an ISO 9001:2015 Certified firm and recognized under the ‘Startup India’ initiative. It offers a comprehensive set of transformational IT solutions that can help clients improve their ROI, increase the value of their IT investments, and adapt to changing market conditions. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Exabyte Infotech Private Limited Manas Kumar Das: Exabyte is authorized partner of all major OEMs for IT Hardware & Software products. Exabyte is offering end-to-end IT Services directly or through strategic partnership to all major cities across India. The services provided by Exabyte are as follows: - - Supply, installation & maintenance of IT hardware & Software – Desktops, Laptops, Servers, Storage (High-capacity NAS, SAN etc.), Hyper Converged Infrastructure Implementation, Networking items i.e., Routers, Switches, Hub etc. CCTV Security, Projectors, Professional Display (LED/LFD, Video Wall etc.), Printers & Peripherals, UPSs, Microsoft & other OEM Products, Antivirus & Security Products etc. - IT Infra Services – SI Projects, Network & Infra Security, DC/DRC Solutions, Managed Services & FMS, Cloud Services etc. - Global Software Services – Web & Mobile Apps Development – e-Governance, Healthcare, Hospitality, Cloud Migration, ERP Implementation, Resource pooling & full Turnkey projects, Digital Transformation, IOT & Automation, Data science, Blockchain, AI/ML/DL projects etc. Great Companies: What makes Exabyte Infotech Private Limited different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Manas Kumar Das: The Indian technology market is congested, with a slew of tech integrators focusing on mainstream or innovative solutions. However, the abundance often doesn’t conform to quality; clients often find solutions that may or may not tailor the actual requirement. This is something Exabyte aims to change. It has a distinct portfolio and works on a communicable model, which allows it to go above and beyond what the consumer expects. Exabyte works with all sizes of companies, from Startups to big enterprises. And since every company has individual concerns and requirements, Exabyte invests a good amount of time and resources in training of the team members. The leaders on board conduct timely in–house training sessions and online programs to constantly update the team in technology matters. Exabyte also focuses on R&D to evaluate and develop its overall efficiency. Exabyte Infotech has been a trusted favorite for its clients owing to the dedication and expertise of the team. The Team Exabyte has been built on the three pillars of education, knowledge, and experience. The company also puts a strong emphasis on innovation. Innovation is important to grow in the business, innovating based on where the technology is moving is the need of the hour. Exabyte is thriving at a positive pace; team is consistently refining their expertise as a strategic knowledge partner to aid more businesses in achieving the transformational goals. Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Manas Kumar Das: Technology is one of the selective segments constantly influenced by changes. Every now and then, the sphere contrives a new innovation or practice stirring a cut-throat competition. And in IT, the competition is up by ten times. So how does Exabyte uphold a competitive position? The Company leverages the expertise of its employees. Although it’s still a small cadre, it includes skilled professionals, technocrats from leading IT enterprises, such as TCS, HCL, etc., with proven expertise in optimizing customer experience. Such in-house resources help Exabyte offer perfect synchronization of technical solutions with business requirements at optimized cost. Exabyte also drives inspiration from corporate values imbibed within its modus operandi. The five underlined core values include – Business Integrity, Passion, Excellence, Unity and Win. These core values define their very purpose and code of conduct. Exabyte strives to be a trusted IT partner across different verticals and geographies. Exabyte maintains a laser-like focus when it comes to scalability of its resources and solutions. It believes in instilling trust, transparency, and responsibility in its employees – so that they bring the same value to its solutions. From the very beginning, employees are made aware of the core values and vision statement and ensured they adhere to them. The approach further helps in maintaining an assertive culture and ensure trust between everyone. Further it’s true fact that tough times breed strong players, and Exabyte Infotech has built its fortitude on trials. Among others, COVID-19 was a trial by fire for a startup like us. The chaos and uncertainty across the world created a disruption that froze client budgets. In such difficult situation we could take a holistic picture of the market conditions to strategize a sustainable plan. This extended to customizing the deliverables and offering an in-depth market analysis to clients. The efforts fostered our capability to make realtime business decisions in the face of uncertainty. This is how Team Exabyte could survive the crisis and thrived in large numbers. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Exabyte Infotech Private Limited? Manas Kumar Das: The IT space is presenting cluster of opportunities to innovate on. Particularly, the increasing digitization is presenting opportunities to create products that address emerging concerns and needs. Exabyte already has a robust portfolio of services, but now, Exabyte is venturing into product-based operations. The Company aims to create a niche presence and attain new heights in Software domain in near future. Exabyte’s upcoming feats: • To achieve the highest levels of client success rate. • Be one of the leading software companies globally. • Utilize technology more effectively to develop and deliver high-quality solutions Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Manas Kumar Das: - It’s critical for the companies to embrace a technology-focused approach to business in order to survive and prosper in their market. - Establishing a business venture is easy but conducting it, is little difficult! Technology is a vast and arduous space and aspirers have to be patient, flexible with focus on small-term goals. On the other hand, try to build a strong network of professionals and always try to have a uniqueness – for it attracts more attention. Website : www.exabyteinfotech.com Social Media : Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn

About Praveen Rao-Founder Praveen Rao is a Digital Transformation & Public sector Advisor with a vast experience in Strategic Consulting and Business Development roles across various industry sectors with primary focus in Government. He extensively works with Central and State Governments, City municipalities, Urban Development Bodies, quasi-government agencies & helps them to achieve their economic and social goals. In the public sector, Praveen has supported several government organizations in redesigning their operating model. He has also worked closely with institutions to redefine their long-term development plans and guarantee their capacity to deliver results in growth strategy, performance improvement, organizational redesign, and change management. He has deep experience in digital transformation and leading large-scale, technology-enabled business turnarounds. About Capturing Life Foundation Capturing Life Foundation is an ISO 9001:2015 certified Non-Profit Organization which promotes digital Literacy. It focuses on human psyche and help individuals to identify conditions under which inaccurate information is more or less likely to influence their subsequent decisions. In our initial research we noticed that how Information Technology is enabling us to be more responsive & also demanding to be more responsible in our management of this planet and its people. Today we have physical as well as digital sources of information reaching us. We are regularly confronted with information that is inaccurate or inappropriate & unfortunately people believe such information and are influenced by the same. This has led us to take the initiative to empower the youth to identify conditions under which inaccurate & fake information might influence their decision making. Therefore, we have started “Capturing Life Foundation”. We want to bring some positivity in the people’s mindset towards government and society. During the research we found that social media is a big source of information and We as “Capturing Life Foundation “wants to empower our youth to use the technology responsibly specially in case of social media. We are conducting various sessions in various private and public educational institutions through our foundation (Without any Cost) and will promote certain information initially like: Best Practices of social media and how to deal with negative information. How to increase positivity in citizens’ mind for Governance. Best Digital Parenting practices. How did you get your idea or concept for the Initiative? Praveen Rao: I have got this idea when somebody sent an ailing boy photograph to me on Facebook and asked me to send this to 3 more people. By doing this Facebook will pay $ 1/per share to the child family. I used to tell everybody don’t do such things and even encourage. I have also seen many what’s app forwarded messages within the family and friend groups are filled with various fake news. I thought, just by writing comments in the comment box will not solve the problem. This digital garbage will never come down until we start ignoring them. Let the people know how to judge the post and how to save future younger generation from this. What are the various services provided by Capturing Life Foundation Praveen Rao: Capturing life Foundations conducts free workshops like Digital Parenting Social Media Awareness E Governance Awareness We work with various schools, educational institutions & various Government run societies, and, in this workshop, we teach how to keep a dispassionate view rather than an influential view. What makes Capturing Life Foundation different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Praveen Rao: Keeping a dispassionate view in country like India is challenging as we follow people, their ideology but refrains to think on our own. I thought to work on this area. Technology is enabling us to be more responsive to change as it happens, providing us with a wealth of timely data and insight into mankind's many interactions with the natural world and their effects. And technology is also demanding to be more responsible in our management of this planet and its people. Nowadays sitting on an active social media handle is a dangerous position even more than a solder situation at border. In a click, social media can conduct riots, can get somebody murdered and can destroy anything. We are trying to enable a thought process to see things without being biased. What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Praveen Rao: Social Media addition is in its peak and asking people to see the world with my eyes is the biggest challenge. When I ask a Question to somebody, in return I always get a Question only (सवाल का जवाब एक सवाल ही आता है) When we don’t know the answer, we will cover up that with a question only, so while preparing for my workshops this was a big hurdle. I overcome when I changed my approach, reminding the people about their life priorities. We write something on social media and want everyone to stick to your ideology only and this create differences. I ask people do you really need to spend time of Facebook daily for 3 hours and writing Hate content against Government without knowing the ground report and people don’t have answer for this . How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Capturing Life Foundation? Praveen Rao: As my mission is to support future generations ideology which should not be biased, and they should see the world from all possible angles. Social media is a dumping ground on which some people trust blindly. We criticize government, we criticize people, we criticize policies, we criticize methods and why we do this because we don’t get a chance to deliver our frustration or disagreements. Therefore, the outcome is we fight, and we impose our points on other people. May be that person is on track but gets deviated because of this forceful imposition. I want to see in next 5 years, I want to train at least 1 Lacs students who will run the world keeping a dispassionate view. If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Praveen Rao: My piece of advice to younger generation is don’t get trapped under social or political ideologies which will not allow you see the world from all perspectives. For a student, priority is to study, to focus on career, to earn a livelihood and support family in future. That’s it ! Website : www.capturinglifefoundation.in Social Media : Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Arushan R Katyal: I started doing Numerology as a full-time profession in 2020 and when people used to ask about the gems recommendation or some remedial accessory, but i did not have any. So the idea was conceived from there and i started searching about Rudraksha and its effects on humans. I gradually started recommending Rudrakshas to my clients as a remedy and got good results which made me curious to do further research on the subject. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Rudra Samrat (OPC) Private Limited Arushan R Katyal: Rudra Samrat is a start-up venture to disrupt the disorganized market of Rudrakshas. Rudra Samrat aspires to be the first online brand not only sell quality Rudrakshas but to educate the end client about the applications of this magical bead of Lord Shiva. The founder of Rudra Samrat is Arushan R Katyal who has educated more than 3000+ people through demo classes and Rudraksh Course™. His course has already got a trademark on the name and this course is famous in the online space. Great Companies: What makes Rudra Samrat (OPC) Private Limited different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Arushan R Katyal: Nepali Rudraksha market is highly unorganized with some players plying locally in areas of Haridwar, Varanasi, Surat and Mumbai. There are very few players who are organized and educate the end consumers and want to make themselves as a brand. Rudra Samrat aspires to be the first online brand not only sell quality Rudrakshas but to educate the end client about the applications of this magical bead of Lord Shiva. Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Arushan R Katyal: There were struggles to find the right supplier base who trade into Rudraksha ethically and honestly. There are many false practices and hacks we encountered during the initial days and still are present in the market. We worked and changed many suppliers in the interim before we set up a robust supply chain that provides us with the best quality Nepali Rudrakshas at affordable prices. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Rudra Samrat (OPC) Private Limited? Arushan R Katyal: Our plan is to expand the online presence to Rudra Samrat to offline mode after we acquire a certain number of customers and sales. We will plan to open retail stores in Delhi/NCR and further plan to grow in other metros as well. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Arushan R Katyal: Don't rush to start a venture, first research and go into the deep to understand market, behaviour and certain other aspects which will benefit you in a long way. Do not ever compromise on the quality at any price. Do not compete ever on the price with your competitor's, compete for the best quality.

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Shreyash Mishra: My partner Rex Pereira and I have been involved in a variety of businesses over our careers and we have worked with a variety of consulting companies - some from the top tier. In our experience, there was always a gap in how consulting companies helped their clients. They were either management consulting driven or were a simple tech factory. That is when the idea of Cosdec Alpha was born. A company that brought the best of both worlds - management and technology. Cosdec Alpha now has been involved in leading the transformation of organizations through Codec Alpha's Intelligent Industrial Web. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Cosdec Alpha Shreyash Mishra: Cosdec Alpha is a consulting group specializing in the application of Industrial Intelligence. We work with our clients to solve the biggest organizational problems with technology and scale their innovation & growth efforts. We Lead Advanced Transformations for Organizational & Government Leaders to achieve Deeper Stakeholder Relationships & Enterprise Value Maximization with Industrial Intelligence driven by our Global Management & Technological Prowess. Great Companies: What makes Cosdec Alpha different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Shreyash Mishra: What makes us truly different is that we have leveraged our experience and over 100 billion data points to create a technological ideology called the Intelligent Industrial Web (IIW). The IIW will orchestrate the future of organizations by bringing valuable transformations to businesses. To unlock the next wave of growth, companies must embed different types of innovations in a disruptive new business model. This is where the ideologies of IIW enter the game. The Intelligent Industrial Web brings together futuristic technologies and methodologies infused with management expertise and global research such that it promotes the stable development of enterprises. It is aimed at ensuring futuristic innovation without sacrificing core enterprise values, stability, and scalability. That is what sets us apart - the creators and only strategy & implementation experts of the coveted IIW. Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Shreyash Mishra: Early on we were often compared to the Big 4 & MBB firms and we still are especially given that our client bases are mutually inclusive to a certain degree. Therefore, we always had to go to great lengths to explain why should someone opt for us over the best in the world. Eventually, through our strong brand communications and the influence of my Senior Partners, we were able to explain to our clients how we were experts at something truly revolutionary that could help them beyond just what regular consulting could do. To an extent, we also opened doors to work with the best firms in the world. Our focus has been the implementation and adoption of the IIW and that's what we're committed to. Ultimately, if you are committed and have something truly valuable, your clients notice and appreciate it. That's what happened to us. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Cosdec Alpha? Shreyash Mishra: In the next 5 years we look to expand our subsidiaries, their operations and our core consulting practice such that we are helping the maximum number of organizations and governments across the world. It is all about rapid scalability and expansion for us now. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Shreyash Mishra: Develop something truly amazing, deliver value beyond what is expected, build a great team and stay put on your course. Your success will come as long as you are really persistent in building and delivering value. Stay patient and committed.

How did you get your idea or concept for the business? I started Mavenwit when I was at my university last year of my graduation to help businesses the right way possible into marketing and advertising efforts. I started small, but over the period of last 2 years, we have won multiple awards, become a part of incubator, took Mavenwit from India to United States officially with legally known as Mavenwit Corporation, produced the very own podcast The Maven Show, etc. Its been a great ride for me specifically since Its my first company which I started at the age of 20, and made global in 2 years with great talent around the globe. We have some great plans to bring Mavenwit to market the best way possible even into the SAAS industry as well. What are the various services provided by Mavenwit? We are an Award Winning Full-Time Global Advertising, Marketing & Innovational Transformation Company. We are a one-stop shop for any brand for Go-To-Market Strategy. We are into Productions, Digital, Strategy, Creative, Media, Influencers, Ecommerce, etc. What makes Mavenwit different from hundreds of other similar service providers? We are pretty unique from other service providers or other marketing agencies in comparison to pricing, quality, long-term relationships, and positioning, etc. We are much more creative as comparison to other marketing agencies, since we used to hire talent from global market to connect the dots. What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Everyday comes up with a big challenge, its all about to be humble at all cost. Being as a CEO of a startup founder, it takes a lot, heavy work hours, no parties, managing all parts of business in the beginning including, operations, Hiring, feedback, onboarding, payrolls, growth, etc. So being an Entrepreneur is not that easy but yes it is fun as well. How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Mavenwit? We would like to get into the either SAAS or Web3 industry as well and will bring our Maven Show to next level as well to broadcast in much bigger way and will take Mavenwit to other locations as well with global footprints. If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Hardwork! I used to work 12-16 hours a day, and being a startup founder or anyone starting from ground level, be ready to sacrifice. Persistence is key! Fail fast!

How did you get your idea or concept for the business? In 2015, I began my journey at TimeOut India as Head of Restaurant Relations. I worked closely with hospitality brands - ideating and executing their event IPS, curated Menus, Blogger Events and on a dynamic pricing app. Having completed three years working with Restaurants and Bars, I noticed a need for excellent Social Media Management and decided to offer it as a service to our existing restaurant partners. We started with three brands; however, with business moving quicker than anticipated, the CEO of TimeOut, Rajnish Rawat and I decided to partner and set up our Marketing Agency, Social Pill, which was officially incorporated in 2019, along with a third partner Neelesh Pednekar. What are the various services provided by Social Pill? Social Pill is a holistic digital marketing agency that specialises in Social Media Marketing, Digital Marketing, Performance Marketing, SEO / SEM, Website Creation and Management, Video Production and Augmented Reality (StickAR - Web based Augmented Reality stickers). What makes Social Pill different from hundreds of other similar service providers? The 3 founders of the company are each from 3 different generations. I’m born in the 90s, Neelesh in the 80s and Rajnish in the 70s. What this brings is varied experiences and perspectives which each of us can learn and feed off of. Each of us are able to bring out the best in each other and are each other’s biggest critique. I head the creative side of things, including the Social Media vertical, video production, photography, content development and strategies. Neelesh heads the technical side of things such as the Performance Marketing, SEO and Website Development. Rajnish runs the business including the Finance and HR Verticals. As a millennial I’m able to understand the kind of marketing that young audiences expect from brand and curate communication strategies that focus on that. Neelesh is able to bring his 2 decades of technical knowledge and expertise with regards to how digital works and to build it further. Rajnish is able to look at things on a macro level and apply his decades worth of marketing knowledge to consult brands on the way forward. Most importantly, we understand the marketing goals of the brand and curate customized plans accordingly. The processes we have in place and the kind of work we do, ensures that the client can let us take over. What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Because we started working with restaurants and bars as our initial clients, it was very hard to diversify our portfolio at the pace that we would have liked. We mostly got referrals and leads in the same industry. In February 2020 we had 15 clients, 8 of which were restaurants and bars. In March, 2020 when the lockdown was announced, we lost 53% of our clients overnight which was a huge challenge. But because the founders values and ethics align very well together we were able to pull through and come out of it stronger. The founders did not take a salary and divided all incoming revenue amongst the employees on a pro-rata basis of their salaries. This helped our team manage their expenses while dedicating themselves to work harder to bring us to where we are today. As of today we are a 30 member strong team, have increased revenues by 3x and worked with over 85 clients across various industries. How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line Social Pill? We see the Digital Services we’re offering expand to more clients, but alongside we also see ourselves setting up more verticals such as Video production and Augmented Reality. We also see ourselves partnering with brands in a bigger way than just the usual retainership model, which could include direct stakes in the growth of the company. We plan to launch 2 verticals, which include our own content creation brand to build an audience as well as a digital product creation vertical with our current IPs Ad Rocker and StickAR. Social Pill will also set up a research lab for pioneer cutting edge digital marketing products of the future. If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? For someone starting out it is very important to get hands-on work experience as early as you can and as much as you can, before you join your first job. Internships are a great way to learn a lot in a small amount of time, without the added pressure of responsibility. It is extremely important to upskill yourself, because as time moves along, so does the skills you need to have to catch up. Other than that what worked for me is to hyper focus on the thing it is that you want to do and pour all your hard work into it.

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Moshe Horesh: I was fortunate to find my bliss in selling enterprise software solutions. During my 30 years tenure as Managing Director, and Vice President of Sales, for large technology companies, I delivered service and product growth for enterprise accounts in the Pharmaceutical, Financial, and Healthcare sectors. I love digital technologies and their evolution and decided to start my consulting company, established in 2018 with a Co-Founder, and advisors, to help companies with Datawarehouse, Metaverse immersive development programs, and Cloud services. We were the first to recognize Snowflake as a significant data warehouse & cloud entity. Recently, we identified the Metaverse and immersive technology as another area for investment and growing the company. With many years of consultative services experience, we attribute our success to mutual relationships and client engagement. Our business model is built on internal and external consultative teamwork and vigilant collaboration with our clients to ensure mutual success. Our go-to-market was established through strategic partnerships to form integrated consulting services solutions under the XCG umbrella. We set up a white-label partnership with Snowflake, Matilda Cloud, XR-Terra, Matillion, and its ecosystem of offshore consulting and technology partners. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Xcelerated Consulting Group Moshe Horesh: Metaverse XR, AR, VR: Metaverse development is revolutionizing the WEB3 internet. Many organizations, especially industrial companies, have started adapting digital twins, immersive marketing programs, games, and virtual meetups, establishing the foundation for the future of the Metaverse. We are involved with organizations to develop unique and exciting XR immersive projects by providing services with human talent and VR productivity tools. Many organizations have already developed immersive travel, retail, fitness, health care, and education immersive applications. Other visionary organizations are considering immersive development to market their brand digital assets in a new way to generate a new line of revenue. XCG has the expertise to expedite those initiatives' time to market, manage costs, and power the brand with force multiplier immersive solutions. Our diverse group of XR experts helps organizations develop or manage metaverse projects with game developers, environmental designers, concept artists, VR/AR Developers, and Storytellers. We also have programs with our partner XR-Terra to train organizations with immersive skills. Companies will need to upskill their IT staff with Metaverse XR, as their IT teams have the expertise to manage, secure, and deploy mission-critical applications. Our combined training includes foundations, development, and designers' curriculum. Cloud Migration Services: XCG offers software & Professional Services to help our clients with their cloud migration activities. XCG, a reseller of Matilda Software and services, helps clients design, build, and execute successful migrations to any cloud platform. We help you discover, assess, modernize, migrate and validate your migration activities to any cloud platform, Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google GCP, or Oracle Cloud. We are fully automating the actual migration of each application to the target cloud environment. Datawarehouse Solutions with Snowflake: Xcelerated Consulting Group has partnered with Snowflake to provide cloud-based data warehouse modernization solutions to help organizations become more data-driven. Xcelerated Consulting Group is committed to finding top talent for our clients. We continue to become a recognized leader in placing highly qualified IT professionals in contracting and permanent positions. FP&A – Financial Planning & Analysis with Excel & Power BI: We help fill the void by offering complete and innovative start-to-finish advanced modeling solutions and assisting enterprises in unlocking the value of existing enterprise Excel applications. We have expertise in developing unique Excel applications which allow enterprise organizations to find operational cost reductions, maximize royalties revenues, and enforcement of governance and regulations. We can deliver at speed and a fixed cost. IT Human Talent: We continue to become a recognized leader in placing highly qualified IT professionals in contracting and permanent positions. We can deliver your organization the best XR, VR, AR, and IT consultants 10s out of 10, emphasizing your specific requirements. We have experience in Information Technology, specializing in information/Data Management, including architecture, data warehousing, business intelligence (BI), data quality, and governance. Great Companies: What makes Xcelerated Consulting Group different from hundreds of similar service providers? Moshe Horesh: That is a great question. There are other consulting organizations with different expertise, and I often ask myself why companies would want to get involved and conduct business with XCG. Let me break down our principal values for companies to recognize: Emphasis on customers relationships, Management experience, The founders' history, Integrity, Commitment to mutual success, Solving today's real customers' problems. Our clients and employees are the most critical aspect of our success, and we continue to ensure that it is in our mission and compass belief. Companies want to work with us because we do more with less with our partner's network. We can assemble the right resources the same way as any other large consulting company and deliver more and better solutions at a lower investment cost and with creative and enduring service programs. Companies are looking to lower their operating expenses, and we help them achieve these goals. We have strong relationships with our clients and partners, great balance sheets, customer successes, and testimonials. Our sales and marketing acumen is also essential to ensure we will be around for the long term. We don't have a high burn rate or irresponsible financial obligations. We are financially independent and a profitable company. We can think out of the box and disrupt conventional industries through innovations and ground-breaking, projection growth, and meeting demands at speed. We take great pride in solving business problems with speed and quality of services to our clients. We help organizations solve complex problems with immediate attention to detail and finding the right solutions. Our consultative approach helps define the need and the appropriate resources to deploy the proper cost savings. Great Companies: What were your struggles and challenges, and how did you overcome them? Moshe Horesh: We started the company in 2018; Covid came around, and encountered some headwinds growing the business. Today, we are increasing our growth, and the challenge is expanding without sacrificing customer attention and services. We brought the best in people and expertise on a personal scale. We take great pride in solving business problems with speed and quality of services to our clients. We help organizations solve complex problems with immediate attention to detail and finding the right solutions. Our consultative approach helps define the need and the appropriate resources to deploy the proper cost savings. Having roots in some of the world's top global consulting companies, our highly skilled professionals look beyond standard solutions to develop new insights, mobilize organizations, drive tangible results, and make businesses more capable. Our experienced resources collaborate with our clients to meet organizational goals by implementing strategy, facilitating change, and fulfilling business objectives. XCG combines unparalleled experience and comprehensive capabilities across many business functions to significantly improve our client's bottom lines. Our integrated services guide our clients in meeting their business, technology, and operational goals from concept to delivery. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What do five years down the line look like for Xcelerated Consulting Group? Moshe Horesh: Five years is a long time. We described our fundamental capabilities through the five pillars: Providing XR Talent, XR training, and IT Human Talent Metaverse XR, AR, VR productivity tools, and Human Talent for building immersive infrastructure for enterprises Cloud Migration Software and Services with Matilda Cloud Datawarehouse services with Snowflake FP&A with Excel and Power BI We plan to execute each pillar to grow the business. Due to increased demand to develop Metaverse and cloud applications, we are expanding our team with the best human talent to serve our customers better. We help companies reduce time to market, reduce cost and focus on mutual success. Great Companies: What would it be if you had one piece of advice for someone just starting? Moshe Horesh: For new enterprises, you must ensure you have sufficient funding to last and grow the business. Do not get discouraged when your business is not generating revenues on your timetable. Always pivot and change strategies if you find hurdles with your current business plans. Website : WWW.Xconsultinggroup.com LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/in/moshehoresh Email : Contactus@xconsultinggroup.com

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Vaishal Dalal: After completing my CA in 2011, I took the chance to explore as I had one clear goal building something of my own. At that time, Manan my co-founder and best friend, we were 21 years old and I proposed the idea of "On Wheels" to him. On wheels was basically a magazine that we wrote and designed ourselves. We even got pitched and got some brands to advertise their products/services in it. The idea was to build shelves in the modes of public transport mediums such as auto, taxis, and buses to keep the magazine there for people to read while they commute. But after a month of starting this, the brand asked us if their ads can be placed on the vehicle itself instead of the magazine and that gave us the idea of starting transit advertising and sparked the idea of starting an advertising agency. At that very moment, the idea of Excellent Publicity popped into my head and I immediately knew how I want to go ahead with it. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Excellent Publicity? Vaishal Dalal: We are a 360-degree Marcom agency and we deliver all kinds of advertising services a brand needs. We have divided our services into 4 primary segments: Offline Media Marketing, Digital Media Marketing, Corporate Gifting, and Sports and showbiz marketing. Great Companies: What makes Excellent Publicity different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Vaishal Dalal: Excellent Publicity is an employee-oriented company. We believe that an employee is always at the core of any company and that's why we try to provide the friendliest culture possible, we have made sure that access to upper management is easy, Manan and I both are available for our employees whenever they need us. Besides, our team plays a huge role in making excellent publicity a successful organization. Our team is filled with young, dynamic, and dedicated people who are always eager to learn and deliver the best to our clients. We have a fair incentive model, and we make sure to give promotions or hikes on one's performance but not based on their degree, experience or seniority. And because of our diverse services and upgraded working model we are growing constantly year-on-year. Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Vaishal Dalal: We have faced many struggles in these 11 years. Manan and I, None of us are from the advertising field, and initially, we faced many challenges to make a place in such a competitive industry, We used to work day and night and used learned everything on our own. It was a trial-and-error process for us. As a company, not many people know this but at the very start in 2011 we got conned for 7 lakhs and which was more than the overall profit we made that year we felt like we have already hit the rock bottom but we did not want to give up. After that, I also remember having a hard time laying the foundation of excellent publicity in Mumbai, the initial phase was challenging even though I had a number of clients because it was not enough to sustain in such a big and expensive city and I remember almost giving up on the idea of expanding the Excellent Publicity to Mumbai. But could not give it up just like that, After some time I went again worked harder than ever, and grabbed 5 big clients including Mitashi, Wockhardt Hospitals, and JetKing in just a month. We faced many challenges during the time of Covid as well, we had to change our business model at that time to keep on going and we also made sure to take care of our employees in every which way possible. When other companies were laying off employees or cutting off their salaries, I made sure to give my employees their full salaries and not to lay off a single employee, For this, we had to make and adapt a lot of new changes which was not a piece of cake for any one of us, but we made it possible. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Excellent Publicity? Vaishal Dalal: Our goal is big, Our last year’s turnover was a total of 45 Cr. which we outlasted recently this year in just 7 months by reaching 50 Cr. and we are planning to close the year by reaching 100 Cr. Manan and I have planned everything accordingly. Currently other than Pan-India, At the global level, we are providing our services in Dubai, and our plan is to deliver our services in as many countries as possible globally. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Vaishal Dalal: There are three things that I always tell people to follow First of all, keep on doing the hard work and success will follow. Of course, success and failure are not in our hands, our job is to make sure that our efforts are in the right direction. Be patient and be devoted to what you do, and give your best in every way possible. if not now but in the future, you will succeed. Secondly, if there is a will there's a way. At times we might feel that things are not going as planned or it seems impossible but most of the time, we do achieve it. So it may seem difficult or impossible now but won't be in the near future. And the third one everyone should remind themselves regularly is that "Do not settle for anything less than perfection". Website : https://www.excellentpublicity.com/ Social Media : YouTube | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Ranjit Shewale: Back in 2016, I had more than 16 years of experience in IT industry and I had worked with various clients in US, UK, Canada and Australia. Ajit, our other Director of Ishu Technologies LLP, who happens to be my brother too, suggested to start business based on this experience. Eventually it happened that we started Ishu Technologies LLP the same year. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Ishu Technologies LLP Ranjit Shewale: Currently Ishu Technologies LLP is focus just on Quality Assurance and Testing services for products of overseas clients. Rather than being jack of all trade/ services, the goal has been to help clients navigate from adhoc to structured quality testing and eventually automation thereby increasing the quality of the product and reducing technical debt. Increase in product quality results in client’s end customer satisfaction and eventually consistent business. Great Companies: What makes Ishu Technologies LLP different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Ranjit Shewale: Breaking the conventional industry model of providing one service and later scaling to other services, our goal is to achieve win-win situation with clients by focusing on single service. This approach frees up client’s valuable time and helps them focus on core areas of product design, architecture thereby scaling them up the value chain. Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Ranjit Shewale: Initially we started off with rented office, rented hardware and eventually moved to our own premises using our own equipments. The journey has been fantastic like a roller coaster ride. The first struggle was setup and initial funding but once it was resolved there was no looking back. We were able to handle other challenges of working capital, knowledge, people with brainstorming, discussions, timely attention and resolution. Covid19 was another latest big challenge disrupting IT industry and in fact all industries but our IT department lead by Pradeep was able to plan around it quickly and setup remote working. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Ishu Technologies LLP? Ranjit Shewale: We have been growing slowly and consistently over last six and half years however we intend to have a small footprint and stay lean. This will not only help us give value to clients we work with but also build a long term relationship. The top lines may fluctuate due to uncontrollable factors of economy as inflation, slowdown but things always bounce back after such contractions. All we need to do is stay strong and keep providing the service consistently. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Ranjit Shewale: One piece is too short 😊 but let me try. Believe in yourself and have strong communication skills. Always inspire yourself towards greater goals and try to move things in right direction. Website : http://www.ishutechllp.com/ Social Media : Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Twitter

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Ajay Kumar: Being passionate about business and its functioning , I came to know about the foundation of any business which starts from legal and financial roots. Sitting and Networking with CA , CS , lawyers and entrepreneurs I came to know that there is huge gap in providing the right legal functioning of any Startup. Thus the Idea of COINSHELL hit into mind for making it happen. We at COINSHELL stand on a theme of FORMATION TO FUNDING in which we incorporate , manage and get the financial assistance to the startups. Great Companies: What are the various services provided by COINSHELL FINANCIAL SERVICES PVT LTD Ajay Kumar: Coinshell Finserv is working on serving startups and aspiring entrepreneurs through various services, like Business commencement services include registration, licensing, etc. Managing the accounts, taxation, and providing virtual services to build robust financials for the business. Business Development Programme to mentor aspiring new entrepreneurs to build a market-friendly business model. Investment, Fundraising, and Financing for startups across PAN India with Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists, and FundHouses in the network. Great Companies: What makes COINSHELL FINANCIAL SERVICES PVT LTD different from hundreds of other similar service providers? Ajay Kumar: Some of our USPs 1. Coinshell doesn't believe in selling packages to customers , we first identify the need of customers by listening them. Since we have more of human interaction in place of automated calls and emails , we build a long term relation with clients. 2. We at COINSHELL make it possible for startups investing their time with us to learn the in and out of business financing and make them eligible for funding in the mean time as well. 3. We at COINSHELL are time flexible for support of customers with silent convo approach, where a customer can get answers for his basic queries on whatsapp itself. Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Ajay Kumar: Entrepreneurship is full of struggles and challenges , sometimes financial , sometimes emotional. According to me few challenges are common for each one of us i.e , financial crisis at initial 1 year, to hold the team together, to defend the competitive markets. But for all these we need to work hard and get such people in your team who understands your business and can inject some cash at time of challenges. So as I did overcome with such problems because even if we talk hell lot of terms about business , we have to find the human relation first to manage it. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for COINSHELL FINANCIAL SERVICES PVT LTD? Ajay Kumar: Our plan is build top 1 million businesses in India who will be responsible to uplift the Indian economy in coming decade and can do massive exports . We will be introducing the automated tech process for making incorporation faster and managing financial data to be used by lending agencies and investors to make funding faster. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Ajay Kumar: To start a new business, a few important points that need to be taken care of are: Finding a real existing problem Testing the solution in the market before becoming anxious or worried about raising funds. Building a team. Understanding the unit economics of the business. Website : http://coinshell.in/ LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/authorajay/