Homing in on a good idea
COMFORT CALL These youngsters hope that their services will appeal to busy Mumbaiites battling inflation, says Humaira Ansari
WHAT: Hammer & Mop, a start-up less than a year old, provides personalised cleaning and upkeep services to homes and offices.
Sushrut
Munje (left) quit his engineering course to launch a service that
targets people’s ‘pain point’ of inefficient maids. He and his dentist
partner, Ashish Pingle (right), are looking to expand to other cities.
WHO: Sushrut Munje, 22 and Ashish Pingle, 26, are the cofounders. After
passing Class 12, Munje joined the Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology,
an engineering college in Navi Mumbai. When in college, he interned with
the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and a web entrepreneur. He dropped
out in his third year, in 2010, to launch a startup. Pingle, a part-time
director of the company, is a dentist.
WHEN: Immediately after dropping out of college, Munje tried to launch an online humour magazine, but that didn’t take off. He then launched Hammer & Mop in November last year.
HOW: He began with just Rs 50,000, consisting of his savings and contributions from friends who believed in his idea. Munje rented a warehouse near his home in Kalyan for stocking cleaning tools and equipment. He then hired a seat at Bombay Connect, a coworking space in Bandra (West), for his front-end operations. Every day, from this base, he communicates with his clients and staff. He has a staff of more than 10 cleaners, all of whom live in slums or low-income neighbourhoods.
WHEN: Immediately after dropping out of college, Munje tried to launch an online humour magazine, but that didn’t take off. He then launched Hammer & Mop in November last year.
HOW: He began with just Rs 50,000, consisting of his savings and contributions from friends who believed in his idea. Munje rented a warehouse near his home in Kalyan for stocking cleaning tools and equipment. He then hired a seat at Bombay Connect, a coworking space in Bandra (West), for his front-end operations. Every day, from this base, he communicates with his clients and staff. He has a staff of more than 10 cleaners, all of whom live in slums or low-income neighbourhoods.
Munje caters mostly to working couples, senior citizens and people
moving into new homes, charging between R3,000 and R15,000, depending
on the nature of the work and size of the flat.
“We’re still bootstrapping and earning just about enough to cover our expenses,” says Munje candidly. “Also, we are constantly upgrading our equipment.”
But as he put various elements of the venture in place, more investment came in, eventually totalling R5 lakh.
“We are still working on getting the product ‘right’,” says Munje. “But I do look forward to expanding and raising more funds.”
WHY: Munje’s heart was never entirely in engineering. In college, he spent more time outside class than inside it, getting involved in various campus clubs and in editing a magazine. “I quit engineering because I wasn’t inclined to complete the degree for the heck of it,” he says matter-of-factly. It took him six months to convince his parents. “If an entrepreneur is able to convince his family about his decision to start up, he will have less trouble finding customers,” Munje says. After six months of planning, Munje finally launched his venture, offering to ease people’s ‘pain point’ of inefficient maids.
“We’re still bootstrapping and earning just about enough to cover our expenses,” says Munje candidly. “Also, we are constantly upgrading our equipment.”
But as he put various elements of the venture in place, more investment came in, eventually totalling R5 lakh.
“We are still working on getting the product ‘right’,” says Munje. “But I do look forward to expanding and raising more funds.”
WHY: Munje’s heart was never entirely in engineering. In college, he spent more time outside class than inside it, getting involved in various campus clubs and in editing a magazine. “I quit engineering because I wasn’t inclined to complete the degree for the heck of it,” he says matter-of-factly. It took him six months to convince his parents. “If an entrepreneur is able to convince his family about his decision to start up, he will have less trouble finding customers,” Munje says. After six months of planning, Munje finally launched his venture, offering to ease people’s ‘pain point’ of inefficient maids.
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