This start-up plans to help a million professionals earn Rs 10 lakh a year

Roshan Kumar studies design at a college in Delhi. He has shortlisted a few colleges in Europe for an advanced course in product design but they are expensive. So, Kumar is plying his skills for companies on TapChief, which is helping him save and also build a diverse portfolio of work.       

TapChief was founded as an online advice platform by Arjun Krishna Vasisht, Vinay Krishna Shivam and Shashank Murali in 2016 when they were still students at BITS Pilani. People could seek advice from experts in various domains over a phone call. In time, the model was found to be wanting as it had flaws on the monetisation front. TapChief then pivoted into what it calls a 'full-stack future of work platform' in mid-2017. 

The nature of work is slowly changing. Many youngsters today prefer flexible work hours, pay that they can negotiate on a case-by-case basis and take off for a holiday or a sabbatical without being hamstrung by the whims of superiors. According to the Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019, 84 per cent of millennials and 81 per cent of Gen Z’ers would consider joining the gig economy. 

Recently, the Bengaluru-based company raised a funding of $650,000 from over 50 investors, including Paytm, 500 Startups, AngelList India, Stanford Angels, and SucSeed Venture Partners, alongside marquee angels like Vokal founder Aprameya Radhakrishna, Freecharge founder Kunal Shah, former Flipkart executive Mekin Maheshwari, and Slideshare founder Amit Ranjan. 

TapChief charges a service fee of 5-15 per cent for each engagement, depending on the size and the type of a project. In the near future, the plan is to stick to it as the primary source of income. Co-founder Shashank Murali says that in future potential revenue streams could be ‘pro’ or advanced versions of business processes, such as recruiting, invoicing, tax assistance, which are now supplied free of cost.

Chief executive officer Shashank Murali says that technology adoption in India is still low and remains a challenge. Murali says TapChief picks up at the point LinkedIn leaves off — helping two parties connect. Does he feel the Microsoft-owned company may prey on his company's model? Murali says it's unlikely — it would mean as large a pivot for LinkedIn as Zomato did when it became a food delivery service from being a food discovery app.

TapChief’s list of clients already includes Fortune 500 companies like Unilever, Deloitte and growth-stage start-ups like Redbus, UpGrad, and Dunzo. The company has plans to expand to foreign markets. Over the next three-four years, however, the aim is to enable a million professionals to earn incomes of Rs 10 lakh a year.