Chetan SuttrawayCo- Founder: Playerify.com Published On: Friday, November 07, 2014 Views 2893

"Never say die - fight till the last breath"

Chetan’s passion for sports made him think of a platform that could give amateur players a chance to explore sports opportunities and find players online. Chetan started justplaycricket, which is now Playerify with his sports-mate & developed it with a shared desire to work for sports. The initiative that started with an idea of connecting players from different localities has 2500+ users as of now.

The beta version was launched last year and till now it has reached among the top sports based websites that are popular specifically for their quality & uniqueness. Initially it was meant for just to search payers in Bangalore but the portal has expanded and now offers users the opportunity to search academies, events and shops too. But the journey as he quotes was not easy. Yo! Success asked about his experience as a founder and entrepreneur & here is what he had to say…

What inspired you to start your Business?

The main finding was Passion for sports. Then experienced ourselves issues around sports domain – particularly finding players, venues in a new place or city. There was a strong need to solve this and so coupled with passion for sports, went ahead and took the plunge.

What is your life mantra?

Keep simple thinking, especially “keep calm and cool” no matter how deep in trouble you are. The idea is that eventually you will hit solution – its only matter of time, several attempts to reach it. Play more as that easily helps to stay fit. A healthy body and mind is crucial to work and eventually success in whatever you do.

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

Building a team of experts. It was very tough to recruit from startup point of view.

How did you overcome those challenges?

Called on friends to find awesome team mates. It’s very difficult to find an UI, UX expert. Surprisingly my wife recalled about her junior friend who had now become an UX expert. He then referred to his UI friend. So the biggest challenge was solved in the easiest way. For development, my friend from last company has come forward. He has a small team and was more than willing to work for playerify without any expectations on monetary gains.

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

Never say die – fight till the last breath
How to come out of depression.
Being Optimistic

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

Give them a sense of ownership. At the same time, manage to keep them aligned with business goals. A very tough line to walk on. Apart from that the simple things – like personal messages on special days, giving them a sense of being a part a closely knit family.

What are your top three getaway destinations ?

Goa, Goa, Goa.

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

Took the startup plunge a little late. Would have definitely loved to take that plunge while I was 5yrs old in corporate. That way I would have extracted best of both worlds.

Which online tools and services do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?

Bitbucket
Aws
Azure
Online image editors, compression tools.
Netbeans IDE
Github

Share any three habits which you think makes you more productive.

Self-Learner
Can code in any language as when the need arises.
Full of ideas and never gets bogged down by any issues.

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

Mood swings, easily gets distracted when working on easy tasks

Which one mobile app would you recommend?

Upcoming – Playerify

Answer in less than 50 words

One tip to success

When you think of quitting, remember why you started in first place.
One tip to be a good learner

Now is the time to learn something new. You will surely get an opportunity to use it later.
One mistake you believe every individual must avoid

Not trying to pivot early by failing in current idea. This pivot can be in totally different area based on the learning from failure.
One most important lesson that you have learnt till now

An idea needs a precise execution and for that a well jelled team is must. Product development is just one piece of jigsaw puzzle. Marketing and promotions is few of other important aspects that we need to focus on.