Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka: Rohith Bhat’s Exhilarating Journey with Robosoft (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What kind of revenue levels were you operating at?

Rohith Bhat: We were still at a million dollars.

Sramana Mitra: You were steady at a million dollars from 1998 to about 2002.

Rohith Bhat: In 1998, we were much smaller. By 2002 to 2003, we hit a million dollars in revenue. We were steady at that level for the next two years.

Sramana Mitra: I see. Then what happens?

Rohith Bhat: The game consoles had become more powerful. Gaming was moving from PC and Mac to these consoles. For Apple, that was worrying because they felt that games aren’t coming to their platform. They wanted us to help their game partners to port their games to the Mac platform. We did that for the next several years. That was 2005 to 2008. If you went to Apple’s retail store, Apple would have a section selling physical goods. If you flip the cover, almost all the games had the Robosoft logo on them. We helped them port two dozen games to the Mac platform. That continued until 2010.

Sramana Mitra: I have a question there. Who were you working for in porting these games? What kind of companies were your clients?

Rohith Bhat: There was a Mac game publisher called CRA Interactive. They’re based in UK. They specialize in publishing games in the Mac platform.

Sramana Mitra: How did you get connected with them?

Rohith Bhat: Through Apple.

Sramana Mitra: Apple basically did all the business development for you.

Rohith Bhat: Yes, that’s right.

Sramana Mitra: Fabulous. For the five to six years in the second half of the 2000 decade, you were doing game porting for Apple. What kind of revenue level were you operating at?

Rohith Bhat: By 2010, we were at around $3.5 million.

Sramana Mitra: What was your headcount?

Rohith Bhat: We had around 200 people.

Sramana Mitra: Tell me a little bit about the engineering talent pool that helped you build 200 people out of Udupi.

Rohith Bhat: We sourced from Manipal, Udupi, and Mangalore. Manipal and Udupi had the two of the best engineering colleges in the country. It was probably one of the older engineering schools in the country. We were able to tap into the talent pool in both these colleges.

Sramana Mitra: How far is Manipal from Udupi?

Rohith Bhat: Manipal is three miles from Udupi.

Sramana Mitra: Manipal is in the greater Udupi area?

Rohith Bhat: That’s right.

Sramana Mitra: How far is Mangalore from Udupi?

Rohith Bhat: About 40 miles.

Sramana Mitra: You built a 200-people operation by the end of the decade. What happens next?

Rohith Bhat: By then, we were also recruiting from other engineering colleges opening up in that area. Beside these engineering colleges, there were four or five other engineering colleges as well, but all within a 30-milesof Udupi. Something interesting happened in 2008. Apple released the iPhone in 2007. In 2008, they were planning to launch the App Store. For the first year of iPhone, they were not allowing any third-party apps on.

A couple of months before App Store went live, Apple asked us whether we would be interested in building some apps for the newly-opened App Store because we have been a long-time partner. We said that we were interested. We called our clients and said, “Apple App Store is opening soon. Would you want us to build your app for the App Store?” Some of them expressed interest. By the launch, we were able to build five apps for different customers on the App Store.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later from Udupi, Karnataka: Rohith Bhat’s Exhilarating Journey with Robosoft
1 2 3 4 5 6