Glowship, launched in 2014, is an online marketplace platform that offers end-to-end energy solutions. It helps customers make informed decisions regarding various energy and environment-related products. When Srinivas Potukuchi began his foray, he immediately understood that the biggest hurdle that was preventing consumers from buying solar products was the lack of awareness. By organizing the home utility space in India, he wanted to both convert more people into buying solar products as well as support his organisation by selling conventional products.
Srinivas, an IIT Madras and Stanford Business School alumnus, had spent five years in solar energy and home utility sectors, learning everything that he could, before venturing out on his own. It began when he noticed that there was a customer need to buy home utility products via an online marketplace. Srinivas wanted to provide a customized shopping experience complete with product selectors, thereby giving his consumers the power to discern what is best for them so that they could shop accordingly. Indeed, few were happy with the transparency that the platform afforded its customers. There were legal notices to fight against and answer to. However, Glowship and Srinivas prevailed.
“The journey is challenging and the only thing that helps you be on course is fundamental, deep- rooted passion”
Success was achieved in stages. While Srinivas’s tenure at Kotak Urja and SunEdison taught him the small-scale and large-scale precepts of solar industry respectively, a major constraint he now faced was his limited tech knowledge. He had to learn all of that by himself. While being the sole founder had its luxuries, he now wishes that he had had a co-founder with complementary skill sets. Similarly, the ideas he proposed had no precedents, so to speak of. No one in USA or other developed nations had created a similar platform. Therefore, it was hard for him to convince investors of the viability of his idea and the potential of his venture; they were wary of Glowship being a ‘risky project’.
Moreover, his was not a hotshot idea with ‘glitz and glamour’ attached to it.
Operating in an unexplored sector, the journey, of course, has been challenging. Srinivas’ passion, perseverance, and hardwork have made Glowship stay on course. In less than three years, it has onboarded 200 customers from across 10 states in India. To become the leading online residential seller in India is a major goal that Srinivas is eyeing now. And there is no stopping this tenacious entrepreneur!