Rishav Agarwal - Challenges Are Part of the Entrepreneurial Journey (Founder and CEO - Picxele)

There is no age to be an entrepreneur, but whenever you start to decide – make sure you’re completely ready especially if you are starting in your college days. Don’t take a hit or trial method.

Tell us about your background, journey, and upbringing.

I put up in Asansol, West Bengal Completed my Schooling and went to Chennai in 2015, and Graduated from SRM IST In Btech (IT) in 2019. During my second year of college, I completed around 43 Internships and got to know about Marketing getting to know about Marketing and other profiles, I got intrigued and developed a great interest in that. 

I researched extensively to understand the need among the Students and Brands and how both of them have a gap among them because of which they weren’t able to meet the goals. 

I started with my own venture INTEGER Innovation where I used to get work from Companies and get it done via students and paid them as a stipend and after running it for some time along with my college studies. 

Having gained good expertise and accumulated knowledge, in July 2018 I got my firm registered as Floatex Marketing Solutions Private Limited. But as the demand increased and when I kept onboarding new companies to meet their requirements through Gig Workers. 

The process becomes tedious and their idea of developing Picxele came into the picture where Gig Workers can keep working on tasks from multiple companies and get paid instantly through the app.

About Picxele:

Picxele helps companies meeting their on-demand work requirements through trained Gig Workers, where companies pay only for results delivered not for manpower.

For Businesses Promoting the brand is always a primary intention for all the companies, but meeting objectives has become a tedious process in terms of managing and monitoring on regular basis without ensured outcome. 

Picxele helps in linking the voids between the Companies and the Gig Workers through meeting their on-demand work requirements via a smooth process using skilled and trained Gig Workers.

On the other side, the Workforce always strives for opportunities to work and earn some extra income as part of side gigs along with daily routines, despite having skills they fail to grab opportunities due to a lack of a well-organized work structure.

Through Picxele, Gig Workers can apply for multiple tasks and perform gigs to earn regularly based on their skills from top companies across India by simply
working from their smartphones.

                                   

Studies today show that an organization can lose INR 10 lakh (~ $17,000) on average on a wrong hire or for hiring someone with a false degree. The only tried and tested way to prevent frauds is via a thorough background verification process. Download SpringVerify's e-book for a comprehensive guide to Employee Background Verification in India.

What does your typical workday look like?

A typical workday is engaging with more and more Gig Workers to check out what they actually look for and simultaneously checking with Companies with the type of Taskforce they need to meet their business requirements. 

This has been a regular practice that helps me to understand the core problem on both sides and with that, at Picxele we try to meet.

What are some of your typical challenges and how have they evolved over time?

Due to a lack of legal knowledge and a strong core team, we had faced issues in the beginning in terms of payment from companies and other aspects. But, with time and experience and when I interacted with more and more people, knowledge kept boosting. 

Challenges are part of the entrepreneurial journey. We keep encountering and solving them. We are in a much better place now than we were a year ago.

Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?

I completely agree, but there always shall be a basic degree in hand, but not setting up education as a landmark. But being an entrepreneur your College/University is the best place to start because step out from your home i.e. the comfort zone and face the world. 

You have enormous areas where you can expose and ultimately put your ideas into reality. But I do agree that Formal Education shall not be the benchmark but what is most important is the skills and experiences that you get from work.

                                 

Tractions Achieved

Since the beginning, the vision of Rishav to scale the Company to greater heights alongside creating a profound impact in the lives of fresh graduates and helping them as they begin their careers has led Picxele to accumulate feathers under their hat. 

Here, the Company has associated over 100 brands out of which 20 percent have remained for a long time. Furthermore, from bootstrapped to becoming profitable and having crores of revenue, the Company has 5000+ monthly active Gig Workers.

Currently, Picxele has 200K+ Gig Workers in-app and plans to add around 1M+ Gig Workers by March 2022 by onboarding more and more brands alongside adding a wealth of new features in the app.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or those eyeing the top job?

There is no age to be an entrepreneur, but whenever you start to decide – make sure you’re completely ready especially if you are starting in your college days. Don’t take a hit or trial method.

There are no second thoughts in entrepreneurship. It's either Yes or No. Just go for it only if you are ready.