Tarusha Mittal began her career as a writer and later became the co-founder of Koonk Technologies. She has been a part of several startups like raajneeti.org, fanshala.com, hostwiser.com, cloudbells.com, but Koonk became most successful.
After spending nearly a decade in the startup ecosphere, Tarusha started working in the data center services with her most recent startup being Cloudrino, an IaaS platform, which makes cloud deployment much easier.
Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.
Cloudrino is a cloud IaaS platform using which one can set up cloud servers with remote access within 30 seconds. One can use the cloud servers for storage, app/web hosting or make use of the plethora of one click app/software solutions that we provide. We have a graphical user interface and the idea to be an enabler for businesses. We are pushing for data sovereignty by having multiple nodes within a city. The ultimate goal is to make cloud deployment on an enterprise level, easier.
What inspired you to build the above product/ service?
My co-founder and I have been in the startup space for nearly 7 years, now. We founded Koonk in 2011 and have since then worked on several moderately successful to failed startups like raajneeti.org, fanshala.com, hostwiser.com, cloudbells.com. We built an infrastructure during fanshala and when it was shut down due to infringing upon FB’s terms- we started working in the data centre services. During these 3 years, we realized that dedicated servers can be very support intensive; hence, we created a cloud IaaS platform called Cloudrino.
What is your life mantra?
Perseverance.
What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?
The most challenging part of being an entrepreneur is perhaps, motivating and persevering but it is all worth it at the end of the day.
How did you overcome those challenges?
Experience has taught us a lot and having a great co-founder helps. I have had the blessing of having some great mentors and awesome friend. Keep them close, keep the big picture in mind and move fast.
Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.
We have been called rockstars of bootstrapping. We are passively trying to raise funds for Cloudrino, this is a first.
How do you protect yourself from the problem of Brain Drain?
We share the dreams of our employees and that has helped us in retaining the talent. A sense of ownership and a great deal of respect are a few things one should keep in mind to reduce attrition.
According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?
Patience. Common Sense and Logic
Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?
We use Canva, a lot. I’d recommend that startups should and must use the free tools that are available online. A kanban board, and mind mapping tools.
Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.
Putting in a Kanban board has helped tremendously because being a startup co-founder is a lot of work and there is always so much going. Kanban helps in keeping all the strings tied.
Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.
On some days, I wish I could make small talk but that goes by quickly enough.
Answer in less than 50 words
Keep your vision in mind and enjoy the journey.
- One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:
Do not become smug in any aspect of life.
- One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:
It will get better.
What are your plans for next 3 years?
Add multiple nodes to Cloudrino, add over a certain number of customers, grow our team and keep innovating.
If you get a chance to start your career again what would you do differently this time?
Not a thing.
What are your top three getaway destinations?
Kasauli, Mussoorie, Jaipur
Share a quote that inspires you the most.
I love the poems by Rudyard Kipling.