Intelligent People. Uncommon Ideas.
Directi, the Yesteryears
by, Bhavin Turakhia
CEO, Directi
(http://directi.com)
1989 – 1994
1989 - 1994
Pointer 1
“Read … a LOT!!”
1994 - 1996
Pointer 2
“Read a LOT of biographies”
Pointer 3
“Build your Business / Career in something
you would gladly do for FREE!!”
Pointer 4
“If you are gonna spend time thinking, you
might as well Think BIG!!”
1994 - 1996
The Internet Revolution
1996
• Faced considerable resistance from
Parents concerning career choice,
especially post 12th results 
Pointer 5
“If you can or you think you can’t, you are
Right”
Pointer 6
“Don’t keep thinking … Just Do it!!”
Pointer 7
“Have conviction in yourself”
1996 - 1997
1. Started Bits and
PCs - Failed
2. Started The Web
Spinners - Failed
Pointer 8
“What you learn on your own is as/more
important than what you learn at school”
1996-1997
• The Birth of Directi
• Registered the domain name
• Wrote a humongous piece of software
that noone wanted !!!
Pointer 9
“Being ahead of your time is not always an
advantage”
Pointer 10
“Success is a bad Teacher”
“Failures are Stepping stones to Success”
Pointer 11
“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”
1997
• Fundamental Tenets of Directi’s vision




Products and not Outsourced Services
Volume based products
Internet related products
Global focus
Pointer 12
“Establish a base set of guiding principles”
1998
•
•
•
•
Borrowed 25k from Dad
Bought my first server at Alabanza
Got 40 clients in the first month
Repaid loan and continued growing
Pointer 13
“Become cash flow positive as soon as
possible”
1999
• First employee – Kunal Sheth
• Played Peon to President
• Automated tons of initial processes –
•
•
mainly collection
Introduced bulk packages for the first time
First yr turnover – 4 lacs
Pointer 14
“Credit and Collections can kill you”
Pointer 15
“Do unto others what you would have them
do to you”
1999
• Divided time between marketing and
•
development
Grew team
Pointer 16
“Spend time on the field actually selling your
products”
2000
• Continued to grow team and clientele
• Promoted ourselves in tons of
conferences
Pointer 17
“Continue adding people”
2001
Pointer 18
“Vertical Integration is a common growth
strategy”
Pointer 19
“It can be easier to sell new stuff to existing
Customers than to sell existing stuff to new
Customers”
2001-2002
• Continued to grow rapidly
• Brought on several elite clients /
•
•
•
•
•
•
Multiplied clientele
Adopted a Reseller focused model
Moved to a new office
First inflection point – 5 people to 30
Functional departments – dev / support /
sales / sysad / finance etc
Launched dedicated servers, newer
control panels
Launched Transecute – 1st PG
2001-2002
Pointer 20
“Get things done!!”
Pointer 21
“Focus on your strengths”
2003
• Moved to newer offices – 100 seater
• First layer of Managers and Functional
•
•
heads
Crossed 100,000 Customers, despite
dotcom crash
Penchant for Automation
 Automated everything – stuff that didn’t need
automation 
 Billing, HRIS, Knowledge Management,
Support Desk, Sales Automation, Reporting
etc
2003
Pointer 22
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”
Pointer 23
“Processify, Automate, Processify, Automate,
Processify, Automate, Processify,
Automate”
Pointer 24
“Invest in Knowledge Management Software”
2003+
• Kept buying addtl Real Estate
 100 -> 200 -> Automated everything – stuff
that didn’t need automation 
 Billing, HRIS, Knowledge Management,
Support Desk, Sales Automation, Reporting
etc
• Culture percolation, Values etc became
challenges
Pointer 25
“Don’t underestimate the importance of
information percolation”
Pointer 26
“Don’t tell them what to do. Tell them what we
stand for, what we believe in, what are our
values”
Pointer 27
“Negotiate great Real Estate deals”
2003+
• Kept launching additional products and
•
•
•
•
•
Business Units
Email, Web hosting, Ded servers,
Reseller interfaces, Digicerts, PG,
Sitebuilder, Antispam / Antivirus etc
Reseller Automation Suite
Registrar Automation Suite
LogicBoxes
WebHosting.info
Pointer 28
“Many of our Products were built for our own
use”
Pointer 29
“Eat your own Dog Food”
Pointer 30
“The more services they buy from you the
lesser the chance that they will leave”
2004+
• Skenzo Parking – Initial Stage
• Grew offices (had to lease space) – 300+
• Crossed 200,000 Customers
2004+
2005+
• Launching a new business unit every 2
•
years
Mid Management layer for each unit /
team
Pointer 31
“If you are not going to be a market leader
there is no point in spending time on it”
Directi Today
•
A $300 million tech enterprise
•
500+ employees and growing
•
Ranked amongst Fastest Growing technology
companies in Asia and India
(Deloitte and Touche ‘05, ‘06, ‘07 & ‘08)
•
Doubled our employee strength every year over the last
3 years, with a CAGR of over 30%
Directi Today
•
6+ businesses; all amongst the Top 5
or 10 worldwide in their respective
industry
•
25+ indigenously developed Web
Products, Properties and Services
•
All businesses are exponentially
profitable and funded only through
internal accruals since inception
Directi Today
•
Offices in 4 countries
• Mumbai, Bangalore &
Delhi – India
•
•
•
Dubai – UAE
Xiamen – China
San Francisco – USA
Directi Today
•
•
Millions of Customers in 240+ countries
Over 53,000 Global Channel Partners
“Dream it, Achieve it!!”
Intelligent People. Uncommon Ideas.
Building a multi-billion dollar enterprise
Email me: bhavin.t@directi.com
Follow me: http://twitter.com/bhavintu
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bhavin.t
Blog: http://bhavin.directi.com
Website: http://directi.com
Download Slides: http://wiki.directi.com