Driven by Passion on the Road to Success

Earlier I was working with Einstix Technologies which made some applications for clients in the US. I believed in the potential for such apps in the Indian market for both the consumer and I and my partner ran ‘Node’ as a division of Einstix then, trying to explore this space as a digital agency for the mobile medium. The agency idea didn’t work but we hit upon an opportunity to build an app for the IBM STG partner sales teams in India. We’re one of the few companies to have strong sales organizations buying-in into the product at the early stage. Such clients have actually helped co-develop SalesGo into what it is today. IBM and Apple are examples work but we took an opportunity to build an app for the IBM STG partner sales teams in India,” said Tito Vatapilly, CEO and co-founder, who shared his success story with DQ Channels.

Tito was born in Belgaum and completed his schooling from St.Paul’s. He is a graduate in business and commerce. He has done his MBA in marketing from ‘Times Center of Media Studies’ and started his career with ‘The Times of India’, New Delhi. Tito worked with advertising agencies like Lintas and J Walter Thompson. He has worked in the account planning and client servicing roles in advertising.

Career take-off

“I never imagined being an entrepreneur in my college days,” says Tito. Tito worked with so many clients in JWT and implemented different innovative ideas. In his advertising career he was forced to think differently but execution was the client’s prerogative. That time he felt he could also run a company on his own and he quit JWT to step into entrepreneurship in 2007. He came down to Bengaluru and founded Node with a friend/Colleague.

“Initially we started with ‘Digital signages’ and a ‘Digital Agency’ for mobile as a medium. Digital Agency idea did not work but we got an opportunity to build an app for the IBM STG partner sales teams in India. We established Node as a product company to target salesforce enablement in India,” added Tito.

Achievements

‘SalesGo’— our flagship product is currently focused on India as a market and caters to large, medium, small and micro segments in relevant industries pan India. It is built on the ‘Salespeople First’ philosophy making it a preferred favorite by sales people on the field, unlike most CRMs and SFAs. Adoption on SalesGo is 100% by users as opposed to the conventional 40% to 50% by most sales force CRMs.

Tito says, “My success mantra has been very simple, be good with everyone and try to make others happy and that too genuinely, be it clients, employees or any other person as I believe sincerity is the simplest thing one can do to get things moving swiftly. Always give best of services to the customers and they will not have problems. Whatever you want to do, just do it and do not think over it for long. You have to start from somewhere and automatically things will start working. Tito completely believes in hard work and practice. “Passion for work and hard work is my cup of tea,” he says.

When asked about advice which Tito would like to give to the young entrepreneurs, he said, “I don’t think I’m advice-giving worthy yet but yes one must initiate and always give a start to your career and be passionate of whatever you do and love your work. We all need to motivate others and need to bring that happy feel in them.”

Threats and Dare

“I think the most difficult task is to hire people and this is really a dare for me. People with required skills are hard to find and you may call it a threat for me. But in my initial days, I did not face any major challenges with funding and setting up this company. Since IBM was already on the board with its first project, we managed to grow without the need for extra investment and funds. My Dad always encouraged and supported me to be an entrepreneur. I got all the support from family and friends,” said Tito.

Personal life

“Work hard and just do whatever you want”, I love to work,” says Tito when queried about his hobbies and likings. Tito loves to travel and likes to work alot. He enjoys every moment of life and loves spending time with his family. Tony knows how to balance his personal and professional life and he gets all his support from his wife. “Family support is always important and My wife has been my support all through both in good time and in bad,” Tito said proudly.

Future Plans

“We aim to be among the top 10 CRM companies in the world in the next 10 years. We will lead our product focused on the India market. I will continue to grow the company globally and enter new markets. Globalization is happening very rapidly and companies like Node need to stay ahead of it and go where the client opportunities are,” Tito concluded.