Somnath Meher is the CEO of Witworks, an exciting startup that has created quite the buzz. Witworks is the brain child of Somnath, Ankit and Chandrashekhar and is a consumer technology company that makes smart wearables and home devices to solve user problems. These IIT graduates won almost every B-plan competition they entered while they were in college, but were clueless about what to do once they graduated. So, they took jobs when they completed their undergraduate education in 2012. However, when they found their jobs unsatisfactory, they moved to Bangalore in May 2014 and started Witworks.

Witworks initially was a platform to crowd source ideas. They have now focused their attention and on smart devices and aim to develop products on par with Apple.

Their pilot product, Rewind, was manufactured with great difficulty. Developing their prototype proved to be a head ache. Finding the right prototype manufacturers and settling with a product that met their expectations of design, feel and quality proved frustrating. After that, scaling up was a lesson in itself. With the lack of infrastructure and Kafkaesque bureaucracy plaguing them (as well as Indian product entrepreneurs in general), Witworks found it easier to outsource production to China. However, all the hard work paid off with the successful launch of their product and now they have created a space for themselves in the market.

J: What is HookedUp?

AP: HookedUp is a social meeting-cum-dating app where people can connect with each other on the basis of similar interests. The HookedUp app was launched on Google Play in 134 countries on 5^th Jan 2016 and it has been growing at a 10% daily rate since then. This app has some unique features like “Ask for a coffee meeting” so that users can freely connect offline with others users without bringing the concept of “date”. USP of this app is its special feature called “Insta Connect”, using which HookedUp users can connect with strangers as well as Facebook friends in the vicinity. We are launching a fun activity during Unmaad (IIM Bangalore’s cultural fest), where people at IIM Bangalore campus can easily connect with strangers and friends using “Insta Connect” and top 10 users with maximum connections will be given attractive prizes.

J: How did you come up with the idea of HookedUp?

AP: During my internship in Mumbai, I realised that Tinder was getting a lot of traction in India but I did not find the app very useful as it was based on probability and chance. I thought that it could be made more useful by adding some innovative features which are better suited for Indian markets, particularly for female user base. For example, HookedUp app has government id based authentication feature. I started working on the app after joining IIM Bangalore where I got immense support from professors in doing market and industry research and in building connections with Angel investors.

J: What obstacles did you face while starting up?

AP: Starting up is very difficult, people do not take you very seriously. It demands a lot of time and energy, I used to sleep for only 2 hours in my term 4 when I was designing and developing the app. Given the nature of the industry, product acceptance is also very difficult in India. It is not only tough but risky as well to enter in the industry of online dating. The name and symbol of HookedUp are also very outright. But I took the risk as the name owing to its different meanings in different context can help us cater to wide variety of users. The company is completely bootstrapped as we did not want to involve investors at an early stage.

J: What future plans do you have for HookedUp?

AP: I am already working on 2 new features which are to be launched in the coming months. We are planning to raise funds in March which will enable us to reach a wider audience and to scale-up our startup. Apart from that we are also devising various marketing campaigns which we will launch post March 2016. We are thinking of having HookedUp branded parties and collaborating with TVF as a part of our marketing strategy. We need to constantly evolve our startup so that it always remains relevant to our users. We are also excited about the Unmaad activity where people inside campus would be able to connect with each other using Insta-Connect

J: What do you think about entrepreneurship at IIM Bangalore?

AP: Not many students at IIM Bangalore want to venture into entrepreneurship. There is lack of major push and students are apprehensive about start-ups. NSRCEL can promote the concept of “Student Run Ventures” among IIM B student community which will help start-up enthusiasts in taking a shot at entrepreneurship. I feel that 2 years at IIM Bangalore is the perfect time to experiment with a startup and students can get support from many professors as well. Also there is not much at stake while in college. I recommend everyone who wants to start-up to enter with genuine intentions and positive frame of mind and to don’t give up.