FieldAssist, the art of asking, and the wisdom of crowds

Paramdeep Singh and Divir Tiwari wanted to sell software that would help consumer goods companies automate their field operations. But convincing one of the most tech-averse industries in India to go digital required rolling up their sleeves and becoming boots on the ground

“You are talking about chaddi baniyan (vests and briefs) companies. How will you deal with FMCG?”

An elderly gentleman had interrupted the presentation to fire these questions at Paramdeep . “Do you know us? Do you know our reputation? Do you know our turnover?” Of course, Paramdeep knew. That is why he and co-founder Divir had spent nine months cold-calling for a chance to be in that 2,000-sq ft. conference room with the board of directors of a Rs 5,000 crore Noida-based group. Paramdeep was showing images of brands that already used their company’s software — mainly innerwear sellers — when he was brought to a halt.

But Paramdeep Singh and Divir Tiwari were not thrown by scepticism. They had experience. In the 15 months since starting up FieldAssist in 2014, they had met and changed the mind of every variety of naysayer. They also knew that when you believe in yourself, it helps people bet on you.

What exactly was FieldAssist, though? Its purpose was, quite simply, to assist companies on the field. Managers could use it to keep track of whether their sales personnel had reported on duty, which areas they were covering, which outlet was being stocked, and to record orders from mom-and-pop store owners, forecast demand, manage expenses etc.

What sparked the idea was a comment from a CXO, someone from outside the country running a consumer goods business in India, who said integrating on-field operations had been a problem for his company. Divir had his own QR code startup in 2013 when he met the guy. That comment was enough for the ISM Dhanbad alumnus to begin plotting a tech solution together with a few other founders.

Pretty soon he realised he needed to bring in someone with FMCG experience. His network recommended Paramdeep, who had had exposure to FMCG in previous roles and wanted to foray into tech. The two met, and they found love in a bookshop at MG Road, Gurgaon in 15 minutes.

But this was going to be a particularly tough industry to crack. Not all CXOs of Indian consumer goods companies were open to tech solutions. They were already running thin-margin businesses and investing money in devices and software made them sceptical. In 2014, smartphone penetration in the country was far from the peak it would reach in later years. “SaaS” was still alien terminology. “Cloud” still prompted quizzical looks skywards.

Deep down, however, there was a real need. FMCG operations tended to be disorganised. Salespersons reported to work with a 10 am phone call to the manager. They filled log sheets by hand at the end of the day and carried physical catalogues that were not always up to date. There was potential waiting to be tapped by technology.

Before we go into the details of exactly how Paramdeep and Divir made inroads, suffice it to say that they did.

Just like all the innerwear and other clients they had won over until 2015, the founders knew that the Rs 5,000 crore group too faced problems in equipping their field staff. “We know your pain and we can solve it for you. Trust us.” The board members accepted Paramdeep’s appeal. The company gave the young team its big breakthrough — an opportunity to execute its dairy business. Today, FieldAssist is profitable with an ARR of $5 million.

Be the boots on the ground

So how did the startup go about making inroads in a tech-averse industry? An industry so tech-averse, in fact, that the sales director at one of the first companies the founders pitched had declared to his management: “You can either keep the sales team or get this software.”

It was a bit like a war. And FieldAssist had to go guerrilla. “Whatever it would take to make the business a success, we had to do that without blaming people for not knowing,” Paramdeep recalls.

The team hung out at kirana shops and local supermarkets, making friends with hundreds from the on-ground sales staff of various companies. Starting at the grassroots actually served two purposes. It helped them access and gather intelligence because, as a bootstrapped company, they could not have reached CXOs as easily. Also, since these were the people who would ultimately use the software, their inputs were important for product development.

“We did not have money, and we did not know any corporate honchos,” Paramdeep explains. “But we were sure that when the guys on the ground say the software is useful and won’t be a waste, the bosses will buy it.” They worked from the bottom-up.

LinkedIn was not as ubiquitous then. To land meetings with management, the founders relied on emails, cold calls, and gatecrashing. The founders were still young and upbeat, and they brushed off failures. “Every rejection was an inspiration to come back with a more creative pitch,” says Paramdeep. He says they went to every FMCG and CPG trade show possible, even getting thrown out a few times for touting their software product in places where consumer goods were supposed to shine.

FieldAssist’s early days, in an age before the data revolution in India, became about pushing hardware too. The team made ROI charts for devices and the FieldAssist product to convince clients their money would be well spent. Their work involved procuring devices for prospective clients, too. They had to educate users on how to use aeroplane mode, how to replace the battery, and adjust the app for different screens.

Little by little, the uptake started. “One of the first milestones was when we reached 600 users. Not customers. Users. We were elated,” Divir says. That is how many they managed to get in the first year of operations. Today, it takes the company about a week to add 600 users.

What has changed? They discovered a few secrets about researching and breaking into an industry: “Pooch dala toh life jhingalala (Ask and you shall receive),” Paramdeep observes. “Because India doesn’t have data collection like the US, founders have to keep their eyes and ears on the ground, not in cabins,” Divir adds.

It is okay to falter, get back on their feet

A number of lessons came along the way. And they came from making mistakes.

The founders started out with the right idea. “Our mode was not about already having the ‘perfect product’. Basically, if you needed 100, we had 50, and we would develop the next 50,” Paramdeep recalls.

But as growth started, before they had got their first 500 users, things changed. “We began institutionalising before reaching critical mass,” according to Divir. “I was putting in too many structures. It was analysis paralysis.” He realised he was trying to bring efficiency way too early, even before they had solved a problem, and course corrected.

Playbooks are not one-size-fits-all, reminds Paramdeep. So they may not apply to you. “Don’t read into the success stories of others. Popular coverage does not mention the graveyard of ideas, the failures, and it can fool you into feeling like you’re doing something wrong.”

Divir says he made similar mistakes too. “I would read. A lot,” he says. He would read books on how Google or Microsoft built their companies and set in place processes. Divir says he was inspired by them and tried to replicate them within FieldAssist. “But it was too much too early. There is a time and a place for processes, the early days of a startup is not that place,” he explains. “You need to enable the creativity that chaos brings.”

Leave your hesitation at the door

In the founders’ own assessment, one mistake they made was that they underpriced the product. Paramdeep says, “Consumers had CRMs which they had been using before, and they were paying a certain amount for them. So during the pitch, I would say I will match the price.” As it happened, those systems were offering only about 20% of the features FieldAssist had. “We learnt the hard way that once you sell for less, the word spreads.”

Another problem crept up when they learnt the industry had a high attrition rate — sometimes as high as 30% — and managers did not want to trust sales officers with costly phones and tablets. The time of ‘BYOD’ or ‘bring your own device’ was still a few years away so FieldAssist encouraged companies to insure the devices and introduce monthly EMIs so salespersons could eventually own the gadget if they stayed in the company for 12 months or more.

During the growth phase, they did not chase funding. They found they could manage better by staying cash flow positive and frugal. But that meant they had to protect themselves from bad customers. You see, money was only paid once the product was ready, and the founders had to field costs during its preparation. If the project was dropped, they lost money. That is how they learnt some golden questions in the art of asking: What is your budget? Can you afford this project? Don’t waste time, energy and capital, they say, on customers that may not be able to afford it. Ask, you lose nothing.

Understand team building and live it

Hiring was always FieldAssist’s strength but getting there means making mistakes along the way.

Divir hired a product manager with international pedigree, paying him more than the combined salaries of others in the company. “Months after joining, he said the co-founders know more than me. You are wasting money on me when you need to be on the ground.” And that was a large learning for him. Divir admits that he was starstruck by the resume and when he attended events, he would look to others who could solve problems in his company. In this case, Divir, whose perception had been that MBAs know how to talk and can lead sales better than him, this was eye-opening. “What we perceive as expertise in others is sometimes our own inherent fear and inferiority complex.”

The founders taught themselves roles that they felt they weren’t good at. It was the kind of bootstrapped thinking that has led them to this place. A lot of this comes from their past. “In my previous venture, I lost money, time and energy. When I needed capital to start up, even though my father was a successful industrialist, he asked me to get loans from a bank in my name and said he would give me the land and building but not for free. I would have to pay rent. I thought who pays rent to their own father!” Paramdeep laughs as he recollects. Later in life he realised his father was teaching him about real life, teaching him about a time when the training wheels came off.

And these were lessons they carried forward into their company. It helped them demolish ego in their life and that led to a significant hire.

“I was not a founder; I had joined as a sales strategist, but I was asked to be co-founder later,” says Paramdeep. Divir looks on proudly when Paramdeep says that.

This was built via a simple mantra: right person, right seat. The work culture that FieldAssist introduced into the company.

And there’s no better win than the story of the geologist.

Divir and Paramdeep are overwhelmed when they tell this story. “A few years ago, we hired a graduate in geology from a campus drive. We put her in quality assurance,” says Divir. A few months later, she got bored and came to the founders and said she wanted to code. The right person, right seat mantra clicked in.

“Our technology head mentored her in our engineering team. Credit to her that she worked hard and picked up how to code,” continues Paramdeep.

This geologist turned quality assurance executive turned coder was courted and hired by Microsoft recently. “For us this is a huge win,” says Divir. The team planned a great farewell for her, as it is a celebration of her accomplishments.

“But how do you get here?”

Divir smiles.

“Show empathy, not ego.”