 "We want to grow our customer base 10 times in one year: Arvind Singhal")
Six months into his job as the chief operating officer, Arvind Singhal, 38, was elevated to chief executive of aggregator TaxiForSure when the company was bought by competitor Ola for $200 million in March.
Founders Raghunandan G and Aprameya Radhakrishna have moved out of TaxiForSure and Singhal is reporting to Ola's chief executive, Bhavish Aggarwal.
Having worked for 15 years with McDonald's, Reliance Communications, Nokia, Marico and Asian Paints, Singhal tells Itika Sharma Punit he has no regrets moving to a four-year company. Excerpts:
How did you join TaxiForSure?
I met the human resources head of TaxiForSure through shared friends, and he said the company was looking for a chief operating officer (COO). We spoke for around one-and-a-half hours and I was bought over by the company's vision. I did not even take 48 hours to say yes. Having worked in telecom and fast food, where there were big transformations and people adapted to them and made them a part of their everyday life, I feel I am doing the same thing now. There are barriers in this sector, and we are working to solve the problems.
There have been big changes at TaxiForSure. How has the experience been?
I have never worked in a start-up before, and though I have been here only for six months it feels like I have been around for a decade. The company works at a very fast pace, but we all work very closely. I have worked with all the teams here as COO. Over the last two months, we realised we are on a growth path. We were doing around 30,000 transactions two months ago, now we are doing around 50,000 transactions. It feels much more responsible now, and the responsibility is in two shapes—one, that comes with the role, and second, because someone founded this company with deep passion, and I don't want to let that person down.
We have earmarked $100 million for TaxiForSure for the next year. We are going to work on the way we spend our money. The key areas where we are going to spend are building better technology and product experience. We are going to hire 150 more in this quarter to improve technology. We will invest in aggregating the supply network.
Exploring synergies with Ola?
There are some synergies in thought process and learning, but the teams are independently executing road maps.
We are only working on strategic and directional matters with Ola. On the technology side, there is some sharing, but the teams are working independently.
You have worked with the teams of both TaxiForSure and Ola. What has been your experience?
There is a lot of passion. They are all very paranoid people. They want to find out what could go wrong and solve it now. They are customer focused and very charged-up individuals.
Founders Raghunandan G and Aprameya Radhakrishna have moved out of TaxiForSure and Singhal is reporting to Ola's chief executive, Bhavish Aggarwal.
Having worked for 15 years with McDonald's, Reliance Communications, Nokia, Marico and Asian Paints, Singhal tells Itika Sharma Punit he has no regrets moving to a four-year company. Excerpts:
How did you join TaxiForSure?
I met the human resources head of TaxiForSure through shared friends, and he said the company was looking for a chief operating officer (COO). We spoke for around one-and-a-half hours and I was bought over by the company's vision. I did not even take 48 hours to say yes. Having worked in telecom and fast food, where there were big transformations and people adapted to them and made them a part of their everyday life, I feel I am doing the same thing now. There are barriers in this sector, and we are working to solve the problems.
There have been big changes at TaxiForSure. How has the experience been?
I have never worked in a start-up before, and though I have been here only for six months it feels like I have been around for a decade. The company works at a very fast pace, but we all work very closely. I have worked with all the teams here as COO. Over the last two months, we realised we are on a growth path. We were doing around 30,000 transactions two months ago, now we are doing around 50,000 transactions. It feels much more responsible now, and the responsibility is in two shapes—one, that comes with the role, and second, because someone founded this company with deep passion, and I don't want to let that person down.
What are your plans for TaxiForSure over the next one year?
We are working on upgrading our technology and product. We are building our network. We now have more than 20,000 cars across the country. We have increased our footprint and are present in 52 cities. We want to increase our customer base 10 times to over 20 million in one year.
Are you taking steps to keep expenses under check?We have earmarked $100 million for TaxiForSure for the next year. We are going to work on the way we spend our money. The key areas where we are going to spend are building better technology and product experience. We are going to hire 150 more in this quarter to improve technology. We will invest in aggregating the supply network.
Exploring synergies with Ola?
There are some synergies in thought process and learning, but the teams are independently executing road maps.
We are only working on strategic and directional matters with Ola. On the technology side, there is some sharing, but the teams are working independently.
You have worked with the teams of both TaxiForSure and Ola. What has been your experience?
There is a lot of passion. They are all very paranoid people. They want to find out what could go wrong and solve it now. They are customer focused and very charged-up individuals.