Qulp is a collaborative product innovation company that develops your ideas into real products. Founded by Vinay Degavath in the year 2013, the Qulp team develops customer's amazing ideas into real physical consumer products. Vinay is a student entrepreneur at IIT Kharagpur and he will be graduating next year.

In an exclusive interview with CrazyEngineers.com, we got Vinay to talk about his experiences at his first entrepreneurial venture - Qulp, his co-founders Aarsh and Aditya, his experiences at IIT Kharagpur that helped him shape as an entrepreneur, his biggest source of inspiration, what he looks forward to and a lot more. Vinay also discusses about his biggest fault and what he learnt from it.

 Vinay Degavath

CE:  Hello Vinay. Could you give our readers a brief overview of Qulp?
Vinay: My name is Vinay Degavath, a student entrepreneur from IIT Kharagpur.

My start-up Qulp is a new kind of company, the one which involves people like you and me, in the process of developing new products for our day to day use.

In layman terms, Qulp brings the power of innovation into the hands of the end consumers by letting them conceptualize the products they truly want, through its online web platform. - Qulp.in

CE:  How did you get in touch with Aarsh and Aditya, your co-founders at Qulp?

Vinay: In the very early days of conceptualization of Qulp, as a founder I realized the essence of having additional core team members, and so was in search of the right people who can accelerate things at Qulp. It is in this process I came across Aarsh - an entrepreneurship enthusiast. I set up a meeting with him through a common friend and by the end he was in. It was probably one of my first pitches ever, and it felt real good to having convinced someone to believe in my idea.

A month or so later Aditya, who was already a product engineering consultant at Qulp, joined the team as a tech lead, thus completing the core team.

The Co-Founders

CE:  Could you tell us about your days at IIT Kharagpur? What did you learn there that helped you the most at Qulp?

Vinay: Aarsh is a recent pass out. Me and Aditya are yet to finish our studies. I think, starting a company at a student stage is the best thing any entrepreneur could do. For us, as students at IIT Kharagpur, we got to learn a lot from the journey of other in-house start-ups, got to meet many industry bigwigs and got their insights on several critical aspects, and of course an exposure to abundant resources the institute has to provide, plus segments of potential target user groups to pilot test our products.

CE:  Who is your biggest inspiration? What led to the start-up Qulp?

Vinay: People I meet/work/hangout with have always inspired me in a way or another. When it comes to Qulp, TIME and HARD WORK have been my two biggest inspirations. All other adjectives are mere subsets of these two. For those who look out for sure shot to success, this is it. Work hard and know the importance of time. Sooner or later, your dreams will become a reality. I didn't start working on Qulp with the intention of starting something. I just wanted to solve a problem - ' Tapping into the potential of usually overlooked ideas', and I knew I was onto something remarkable. The only rule I had in the beginning was, to persevere no matter what, and I think that was one of the best thoughts I have ever had, concerning Qulp.

CE:  What do you think is your biggest fault? What have you learnt from it?

Vinay: I am a first time entrepreneur. So, naturally I have committed lot of mistakes. Taking a cue from the methodology of other entrepreneurs I know of, I try to resolve the mistakes committed, on a priority basis. And this now, is beginning to become a part of our culture.

Make mistakes fast, but resolve faster.

CE:  What is the one thing that makes you happy despite any mood?

Vinay: I am an avid movie watcher. Whenever I am in a bad mood or distressed/worried, I watch a movie and everything begins to seem normal.

Now-a-days most of my thoughts are associated with Qulp. And when I find people appreciate what we are doing and back us; that is something that acts as an instant boosting factor and motivates us to work even harder.

CE: What is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning?

Vinay: I have this piece of paper taped on my wall, for over a year now.

“What am I going to do today? Be efficient or procrastinate”

I know whatever I choose would definitely impact the future of Qulp in one way or another, so naturally I strive to be efficient. Though procrastination has been my favourite thing in the recent past.

CE:  Thank you for your time. Any message for our readers?

Vinay: We, the team behind Qulp never thought of building something as remarkable as Qulp. If we can do it, so can you.

All you need is a pinch of hard work, and a pinch of extra push every single day, and by the time you realize, you already are there. Good Luck.

P.S. Please do visit our web platform at Qulp.in, and tell us what you think at myfeedback@Qulp.in. If you have any personal queries, reach me out at Vinay@Qulp.in