Directi, the Yesteryears by, Bhavin Turakhia CEO, Directi (http://directi.com)

1989 – 1994

1989 - 1994

Pointer 1 “Read … a LOT!!”

1994 - 1996

“Read a LOT of biographies” Pointer 2 “Read a LOT of biographies”

Pointer 3 “Build your Business / Career in something you would gladly do for FREE!!”

“If you are gonna spend time thinking, you might as well Think BIG!!” Pointer 4 “If you are gonna spend time thinking, you might as well Think BIG!!”

The Internet Revolution 1994 - 1996 The Internet Revolution

1996 Faced considerable resistance from Parents concerning career choice, especially post 12th results 

“If you can or you think you can’t, you are Right” Pointer 5 “If you can or you think you can’t, you are Right”

“Don’t keep thinking … Just Do it!!” Pointer 6 “Don’t keep thinking … Just Do it!!”

“Have conviction in yourself” Pointer 7 “Have conviction in yourself”

1996 - 1997 1. Started Bits and PCs - Failed 2. Started The Web Spinners - Failed

Pointer 8 “What you learn on your own is as/more important than what you learn at school”

1996-1997 The Birth of Directi Registered the domain name Wrote a humongous piece of software that noone wanted !!!

“Being ahead of your time is not always an advantage” Pointer 9 “Being ahead of your time is not always an advantage”

Pointer 10 “Success is a bad Teacher” “Failures are Stepping stones to Success”

“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again” Pointer 11 “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”

1997 Fundamental Tenets of Directi’s vision Products and not Outsourced Services Volume based products Internet related products Global focus

“Establish a base set of guiding principles” Pointer 12 “Establish a base set of guiding principles”

1998 Borrowed 25k from Dad Bought my first server at Alabanza Got 40 clients in the first month Repaid loan and continued growing

“Become cash flow positive as soon as possible” Pointer 13 “Become cash flow positive as soon as possible”

1999 First employee – Kunal Sheth Played Peon to President Automated tons of initial processes – mainly collection Introduced bulk packages for the first time First yr turnover – 4 lacs

“Credit and Collections can kill you” Pointer 14 “Credit and Collections can kill you”

“Do unto others what you would have them do to you” Pointer 15 “Do unto others what you would have them do to you”

1999 Divided time between marketing and development Grew team

“Spend time on the field actually selling your products” Pointer 16 “Spend time on the field actually selling your products”

2000 Continued to grow team and clientele Promoted ourselves in tons of conferences

“Continue adding people” Pointer 17 “Continue adding people”

2001

“Vertical Integration is a common growth strategy” Pointer 18 “Vertical Integration is a common growth strategy”

Pointer 19 “It can be easier to sell new stuff to existing Customers than to sell existing stuff to new Customers”

2001-2002 Continued to grow rapidly Brought on several elite clients / Multiplied clientele Adopted a Reseller focused model Moved to a new office First inflection point – 5 people to 30 Functional departments – dev / support / sales / sysad / finance etc Launched dedicated servers, newer control panels Launched Transecute – 1st PG

2001-2002

Pointer 20 “Get things done!!”

“Focus on your strengths” Pointer 21 “Focus on your strengths”

2003 Moved to newer offices – 100 seater First layer of Managers and Functional heads Crossed 100,000 Customers, despite dotcom crash Penchant for Automation Automated everything – stuff that didn’t need automation  Billing, HRIS, Knowledge Management, Support Desk, Sales Automation, Reporting etc

2003

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” Pointer 22 “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”

Pointer 23 “Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate”

“Invest in Knowledge Management Software” Pointer 24 “Invest in Knowledge Management Software”

2003+ Kept buying addtl Real Estate 100 -> 200 -> Automated everything – stuff that didn’t need automation  Billing, HRIS, Knowledge Management, Support Desk, Sales Automation, Reporting etc Culture percolation, Values etc became challenges

“Don’t underestimate the importance of information percolation” Pointer 25 “Don’t underestimate the importance of information percolation”

Pointer 26 “Don’t tell them what to do. Tell them what we stand for, what we believe in, what are our values”

“Negotiate great Real Estate deals” Pointer 27 “Negotiate great Real Estate deals”

2003+ Kept launching additional products and Business Units Email, Web hosting, Ded servers, Reseller interfaces, Digicerts, PG, Sitebuilder, Antispam / Antivirus etc Reseller Automation Suite Registrar Automation Suite LogicBoxes WebHosting.info

“Many of our Products were built for our own use” Pointer 28 “Many of our Products were built for our own use”

Pointer 29 “Eat your own Dog Food”

Pointer 30 “The more services they buy from you the lesser the chance that they will leave”

2004+ Skenzo Parking – Initial Stage Grew offices (had to lease space) – 300+ Crossed 200,000 Customers

2004+

2005+ Launching a new business unit every 2 years Mid Management layer for each unit / team

Pointer 31 “If you are not going to be a market leader there is no point in spending time on it”

Directi Today A $300 million tech enterprise 500+ employees and growing Ranked amongst Fastest Growing technology companies in Asia and India (Deloitte and Touche ‘05, ‘06, ‘07 & ‘08) Doubled our employee strength every year over the last 3 years, with a CAGR of over 30%

Directi Today 6+ businesses; all amongst the Top 5 or 10 worldwide in their respective industry 25+ indigenously developed Web Products, Properties and Services All businesses are exponentially profitable and funded only through internal accruals since inception 56

Directi Today Offices in 4 countries - Mumbai, Bangalore & Delhi – India Dubai – UAE Xiamen – China San Francisco – USA

Directi Today Millions of Customers in 240+ countries Over 53,000 Global Channel Partners 58

“Dream it, Achieve it!!”

Building a multi-billion dollar enterprise Email me: bhavin.t@directi.com Follow me: http://twitter.com/bhavintu Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bhavin.t Blog: http://bhavin.directi.com Website: http://directi.com Download Slides: http://wiki.directi.com