Bootstrapping to $6M from Durgapur, West Bengal: Pinnacle CAD CEO Bimal Patwari (Part 2)

Sramana: During the five-year period that you ran the computer-aided design (CAD) training program, what kinds of business were you able to build? What was the revenue level like?

Bimal Patwari: My father gave me five lakh rupee, which was about $12,000. I always believed in myself, and I always pushed myself to be the best. When I started the training business, I took the money from my father to get started, and I also took some loans from the bank because I knew I was going to have to invest to be the best. I built infrastructure for training and I had to convince Autodesk that they needed an authorized training center here. In the first year I did 25 lakh rupees [~$44,555]. By 1997, that amount had quadrupled to a crore [~$178,222].

Sramana: The one crore business that you were doing in 1996 was primarily training?

Bimal Patwari: Yes. We had partnered with HP because the engineering companies needed a complete solution, not just training. They wanted the hardware installed along with the training. We sold the software for AutoDesk as well. Our revenues were from training, hardware and software sales.

Sramana: That is brilliant. The fact that you were able to go from 10 lakh to one crore in that market demonstrates that there is opportunity there.

Bimal Patwari: I always try to stay very close to the clients. I want to understand what the pain points are. I want to know what is making them uncomfortable. I solve their problems and make money at the same time.

Sramana: How did you build these relationships with these customers?

Bimal Patwari: I have an engineering background, so that helps me a lot. I have personally learned and I understand AutoCAD very well. I then go to the industry partners and see what they are building, how their engineering processes work, and I am able to understand how AutoCADcan can help solve their problems.

Sramana: Was your primary customer base during that time primarily corporations as opposed to individuals?

Bimal Patwari: I did both. There are a lot of engineering colleges around, so we had a lot of students who wanted quality AutoCAD training. We would have students come and use their grants at our training institute. We also had a lot of partnerships with local industry. I was running both a B2B and B2C business.

Sramana: Let’s move from 1996 to the next phase. What came after 1997?

Bimal Patwari: In 1997 I had a breakthrough in my life. That was the year when Autodesk invited me to attend a conference in the USA. All of my friends worked in the U.S. and abroad. I had a scholarship offer to complete my MBA in the U.S. as well, but I chose to stay in India. I was really looking forward to visiting the U.S. and seeing my friends again. I also wanted to see how business operated in the US.

When I attended the conference, it was an eye opener. I could see that there was a huge demand for quality AutoCAD work in the U.S. The conference was a three-day conference in Philadelphia that was hosted by AutoDesk. I met a lot of people attending the conference, and I saw that there were firms in the United States that offered AutoCAD design services. I could see that the problems corporations faced with the U.S. service providers were the turnaround times. Most of the U.S. service providers were small, disorganized and were really mom-and-pop shops.

I did a good review during my 10-day trip to the U.S. I met with a lot of people to understand their requirements, their drafting standards and their expectations. I also took a lot of time to study the competition. I identified their limitations. When I returned to India, I realized that I had a tremendous opportunity. I was training a lot of ambitious young people who simply did not have a lot of opportunities. There was high unemployment. In 1997 the Internet was opening up, and by 1998 I had received my first order from the United States.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Bootstrapping to $6M from Durgapur, West Bengal: Pinnacle CAD CEO Bimal Patwari
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