Kushal KarwaCo-founder of GoMechanic Published On: Monday, August 08, 2016 Views 8745

"If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead you anywhere."

Automobile sales are on constant rise in India. But in comparison to that, the after-sale automobile service & repair industry seems to be growing at the speed of a snail. Either there are limited numbers of branded service centers that charge a lot, or there are countless street automobile repair shops, a sector that is cheap but highly unorganized and doesn’t ensure quality.

To change this, Kushal Karwa, with the help of his teammates, started GoMechanic. GoMechanic brings together the best of the both worlds to offer customers a relatively seamless car repair & service experience.

Kushal, who is an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus and have worked with several major corporates in past, has big plans for his startup and want to revolutionize the after-sale automobile service & repair industry in India.

Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.

The idea behind GoMechanic was to solve the problem of price and quality discovery in the post sales car repairs and service market. We intend to work with multi brand unauthorized car garages and bring processes and checks in place that help them operate at a level similar to the authorized car service stations. We intend to own the experience of car repairs and services end to end to ensure high quality and price transparency to customers. Use of technology will enable seamless customer experience, highly efficient operations and integration across the entire supply chain.

What inspired you to build the above product/ service?

Our own experiences as first time car buyers and customers’ pain points in Delhi NCR region. In a city where every 8th person owns a car, after sales auto services are of crucial significance. As authorized service centers charge exorbitant prices and offer no personalized customer experience, car owners are left with no choice but to divert themselves to roadside garages and independent shops, which again leave them prone to poor quality or no guaranteed services. GoMechanic offers a consistent, reliable and hassle-free car care solution to customers. We own the entire experience of car repairs and services end to end to ensure high quality and price transparency to customers.

What is your life mantra?

To excel in whatever you do, don’t do anything half-hearted.

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

Team building and finding the right partners. Also, building trust in customer was a major challenge.

How did you overcome those challenges?

By selling the vision of the company to first few employees. You need to show a conviction in what you are doing. Confidence is the key!

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

Right now we are bootstrapped and focusing heavily on the B2B business. We are working with taxi fleet owners on an Annual Maintenance Contract basis. We are also working with Zoomcar, Revv, Roder to develop customized car servicing packages for them as their needs are entirely different than a normally driven car. We will be looking to raise funds soon.

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

Haven’t really faced any till now!

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

Patience, persistence, and pragmatism.

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

We use slack, SHAREit and google mail. For hiring interns we used Intershala and LetsIntern extensively.

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

Time management

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

When you start up a business, it is difficult to switch off from work or stay away from the phone even when you are on a break. Would like to change that.

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