Varun MundraCo-founder of Rupeevest Published On: Thursday, November 19, 2015 Views 3775

"It’s not who i am underneath but what i do that defines me."

You are working your way up the ladder in your career and have to face certain issue down the line. If you are one of the regular chaps, then you just try to find a service that takes care of that problem. However, that was not the case with Varun Mundra, who built a startup to counter the issue he faced. A B.Tech graduate from IIT Kharagpur, Varun started his career as a software developer. He later changed his line by getting involved in the financial sector as a Commodities associate.

After brushing his skills, he one day, decided to launch his own startup. He used his expertise gained over the years and knack of delivering turnkey solutions to his benefit and started Rupeevest. It aims to be a one-stop solution for any kind of financial product an individual needs.

Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.

From wealth management (Mutual funds, fixed deposits, etc.) to insurance, loans and credit cards Rupeevest aims to bring every product available in the market under one roof and then help the individual make the right choice. We aim to be a super market minus the hassle of product discovery by leveraging technology and our financial expertise. Since the market is so disintegrated and with every financial house spending so much on advertisements to sell their particular product a lot of noise persists in the mind of the end user.

What inspired you to build the above product/ service?

In late 2013 while I was still working for Oracle in Bangalore wanted to invest in Mutual Funds, only to realize that this was no easy task. I had to get in touch with an agent and sign a bunch of papers every time I made a fresh investment or wanted to redeem any investment. Choosing a good fund felt like finding a needle in a haystack. When I consulted my friends I realized that most of them stayed away from investing or ended up locking in their money in a regular bank FD(Highly ineffective if one considers taxation and inflation). Tracking my investments was another problem all together. That’s when it hit me that there is a latent demand for a portal which makes investing easy and simple for everyone.

What is your life mantra?

Be the change you wish to see in the world – Mahatma Gandhi

What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?

Currently we have brought every mutual fund house on our platform which was a herculean task. We aim to use the same model in insurance and loans. We faced hiccups to get the customers to understand online investing as a concept and to get traction on the website. To solve these problems we get in touch with our first time investors and take them through the process. We have minimized the steps involved to keep the process simple for the investors.

Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.

We’re currently bootstrapped. We are focusing on getting our product right and our current priority is to work on optimizing our offerings over scaling up. Alongside, we aim at being a one stop shop and hence are working on increasing our verticals like loans, insurance etc. at the same time.

How do you protect yourself from the problem of Brain Drain?

We follow an open work culture everyone is encouraged to pitch as many ideas as possible.I believe in working with people who work because they find their work interesting and challenging because they are the kind of people who change things. As Navin very aptly said in Pitchers “A company is all about the people in it”

According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?

Hard Work Hard Work Hard Work

Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.

Starting my day early and planning my schedule

Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.

I need to stop borrowing quotes of other people

Answer in less than 50 words

One tip to success:

I will answer this when i become successful. Kahaani abhi baaki hai mere dost.

One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:

Waiting to get your product 100% right before you start marketing it is what i think every one commits and what every one should avoid because your product is always changing.

One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:

Time is the most precious thing an entrepreneur has.

What are your plans for next 3 years?

We are currently only dealing in Mutual Funds online, we intend to bring other investment products like Corporate FD’s, gold, Tax- Free Bonds online. Also we will venture into Insurance, Loans and other Financial Products

If you get a chance to start your career again what would you do differently this time?

I would have started up early

What are your top three getaway destinations?