This Indore based CA, shares his entrepreneurial journey and his startup “Icresst Models (A Business Templates Marketplace)
- ByStartupStory | November 1, 2023
Founder’s background and journey before establishing the startup
In today’s interview, Startup Story Media had an opportunity to interview CA Yashh Mantri, the founder of Icresst who has over 11 years of experience as a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary. He previously worked at Genpact and went on to establish a global consulting company, “Infocresst,” in 2014, specializing in Investment Banking and Business Modelling. Their latest venture is a startup called “Icresst,” which was launched in 2021 as a product of Infocresst. Icresst is a marketplace that offers highly curated business tools and templates that are ready to use. Yashh mentioned that “he has a wealth of experience in their field, and our entrepreneurial spirit is evident in our success with both Infocrest and Icresst”. Yashh continued that, “realization for this product came in 2016, but the launch was delayed until 2021”.
Discovering the Inspiration behind the Startup Setup
In an interview with startupstory media, when we asked about the inspiration. Yashh, the founder mentioned that there are 2 aspects from which the first is; for many business associates, working professionals, and service providers in fields like finance, marketing, business, research, and IT, creating documents such as business models, financial models, investor presentations, and research documents is a regular part of consulting with clients. However, once the project is complete, these documents often become dead stock. That’s where this startup comes in. By registering as a vendor on our platform and removing any confidential information, professionals in these fields can sell their industry-driven documents and earn passive income. It’s a simple and effective way to turn their dead stock into a valuable asset, while helping others in their field access high-quality industry documents.
Later Yashh mentioned Second aspect which is, “Our platform caters to a diverse group of users, including fellow business consultants, entrepreneur professionals, service providers, direct entrepreneurs, financial analysts, accountants, and college students. Business consultants, entrepreneur professionals, and service providers who work with specific clients can benefit from readily available industry-driven solutions that save them time. Direct entrepreneurs who are planning to start or expand a business can find business planning documents, project reports, feasibility studies, and social media strategy documents. Financial analysts and accountants who work in a particular industry can find research documents, financial models, Excel tools, and dashboards. College students working on a project can find readily available business tools to help them complete their assignments”.
Impact of COVID-19 on the Startup and Measures Taken to Minimize Monetary Losses
The platform’s automated nature proved to be a blessing during the Covid pandemic. The founder, Yashh and the team, launched it unofficially during the first lockdown, contacting professionals to bring as many products onto the platform as possible before the official launch. This gave professionals who were hit by less work an opportunity to upload their past work and earn passive income. The platform provided a much-needed solution during difficult times and continues to serve as a valuable resource for industry professionals.
Distinguishing features of startup’s products/services and market competition
The platform is a unique marketplace that offers readily available industry-driven business tools and templates from its own inventory as well as inventory created and uploaded by vendors from around the world. With over 50 vendors and more than 300 products, the platform has a distinctive business model that sets it apart from global competitors. It has also other features like
“Raising Tickets”: Wherein you can ask question about the document before its purchase
Hourly Consultation: You can also take a one on one consultation with our Vendors at a one time fee basis by booking their calendar in advance.
Referral/ Affiliate Program: If you are an user, you too can earn a commission from our platform, by simply copying any of the products and sharing the same with others for purchase.
We are also working to soon bring some new and exciting features like community building and AI features.
While there are currently no competitors in India, the platform’s approach of having 60% of its own inventory and 40% from other vendors ensures a diverse selection of high-quality solutions for its users.
Meet the team behind the growth of the startup: A closer look at the team and its members
‘Icresst’ despite being a bootstrapped company with a small team, the platform’s promoters and operational team are dedicated to providing the best possible experience for their users. The team includes CA Yashh Mantri, the Concept Creator and handles the Products department, CA Divya Maheshwari, is responsible for Marketing and Collaborations, Shreya Mantri, Heads the Content department and Samarpita Jain, Heads Brand Design. While there are no direct competitors in India, the team considers themselves their own biggest competition, striving to constantly improve and provide better solutions for their users.
Fostering a Positive Work Culture: Methods Employed by the Startup
The company prioritizes employee health and discourages overtime unless absolutely necessary. The belief is that urgent requests are often a matter of perception, and that everything can usually wait a few hours. Instead, employees are encouraged to work to their full potential during working hours and then take time for themselves.
Future plans: Expansion and growth strategies for the startup
The startup is focused on expanding their product offerings to provide a more diverse range of tools and templates from different professional fields. They plan to form a dedicated product team and technology team to continuously add new products and innovate by introducing new features. As of now, the company is 100% bootstrapped and is focused on increasing their reach, traffic, and sales before considering fundraising. Their goal is to improve their platform’s user experience and establish themselves as the go-to marketplace for readily available industry-driven business tools and templates.
Exploring the startup’s customer experience and challenges encountered along the way
During an interview with startupstory Media, Yashh mentioned about challenges and customer experience, he stated, “The customer experience is generally positive, although there are occasional challenges due to technology issues and infrequent communication with subscribers through email marketing. To address these challenges, the company is working on establishing a dedicated IT and marketing team”.
Advice for readers and young entrepreneurs
Well during an interview, Yashh Mantri has concluded with an advised to all the young entrepreneurs to believe in oneself, stay positive, be patient and work hard towards the goals as the universe will eventually create ways to achieve them.
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