The startup world is a lucrative dimension for every ambitious person in India, but it does not
accept and reward every aspiring entrepreneur with the same enthusiasm. In recent years India
has emerged as the biggest “Startup-Hub” around the globe. With lots of ideas and passion to
provide solutions to the problems being faced by people, India has seen some remarkable
startups and individuals who have brought digital transformation to the Indian market. One such
inspiring journey is of Mr. Rohit Verma an inspiring entrepreneur who aspires to unify and
connect the complete Indian marketplace with his startup. His journey from being an intern to
being the CEO of a unicorn potential startup is truly inspiring for the youth of India.
Born and brought up in a Marwari Business Family in Indore, Rohit had a privileged childhood
as his family had a successful construction business led by his Lt. Grandfather. From the very
beginning, he had a keen interest in understanding the world of business and joining the
corporate ladder in the UK. So, to pursue his desire to work abroad, he decided to drop out of
college and prepare for I.E.L.T.S. He was all sorted to pursue his career in the UK but some last
moment changes led him to withdraw his plans, making him a college dropout with no work
experience and no future plans. This phase was rock bottom for him as he could not fathom
what he should do further, leaving him in despair and hopelessness for months.
Rohit soon realized that he can’t stay like this forever and decided to pull himself out of this
phase. So, after months of despair, he appeared for an interview and luckily got an internship in
a mobile app development company. It was his life’s first and last interview and a life-changing
turn for him. He was flabbergasted in this world of tech and innovation, from losing himself in
hopelessness to losing himself in the world of ideas, startups, innovation, and technology his life
took a new turn.
There he tried learning everything where he could get his hands on. Starting from doing Google
search, data entry as an intern to managing the complete project as the Business Development
Manager, he worked and got experience in every job role in the company. During his corporate
tenure, he worked with more than 500 startups of multifarious industries and from different parts
of the world.
Rohit describes his days in the corporate world as the days that built him and enabled him in
doing and discovering the best he could ever possibly do.
Working with international startups in his internship and corporate tenure gave him a lot of
knowledge and experience of the business world and why other countries were ahead of India
in the digital domain, laying down the foundations for him to change the course of the Indian
Marketplace commerce model in India.
While working he realized where India lacked as a digital community and what problems he
could solve with the help of technology. And, that realization was the beginning of his
entrepreneurial journey.
Finally, with the visionary goal to make India a "Digitally Advanced Community", he started
working on the idea of building a suite of solutions focusing on that particular segment which
comprises the major contributors of the nation’s growth - The Indian Market.
In his own words, Rohit revealed that the idea was simple, it was to follow the 80/20 rule,
targeting that 20% of the Indian market which will bring the 80% transformation in making India
a digitally advanced nation.
A survey conducted by the Facebook group revealed that there are more than 42.50 million
SMBs in the market and only 1.5 million are using online marketing and advertising tools. And
there are 330 million Indians using social media platforms, relying on foreign platforms to
explore the marketplace and the offers. So, to solve this problem Rohit came up with the idea of
making Byloapp India an exclusive platform for the millennials and GenZ community of
customers and merchants. Since this community is the future of India and the early change
acceptors as compared to their previous generations. With this community, Byloapp India is
redefining e-commerce brought by foreign companies in India to iCommerce - The Indian
Commerce way.
According to Rohit, the advent of technology in Indian commerce is unprecedented but Indians
are dynamic and need an Indian way to enhance their shopping experience. And that’s where
Byloapp India comes as their savior with its iCommerce business model which works to promote
the Indian behavior of commerce i.e, SOSO which stands for Search Online Shop Offline.
The iCommerce (Indian Commerce) model has seen a lot of appreciation from the merchant
and customer community. It is a commission-free platform and helps them in discovering each
other’s presence in the marketplace. Rohit successfully managed to bring the Millennials & Gen
Z community of merchants and customers under a single roof. This became particularly useful
during the pandemic. During the lockdown, the merchants took the hit with shops being shut
down. In such times of despair, anxiety, and hopelessness Byloapp proved to be their savior.
With its online mode of marketing, Byloapp played an important role in bridging the gap between
the merchants and the customers.
To honor and recognize the real celebrities of the Indian Marketplace Byloapp India has
organized city-specific hyperlocal business awards, and is planning to host a talk show and
digital magazine. The initiative has seen an overwhelming response from the merchant
community.
Currently, Byloapp India has successfully covered 41 Cities, 8 States, and 14k+ businesses of
India. And that too in a time span of 2 years that saw the nation’s two major lockdowns. Steering
its way through the hurdles in its way, this startup seems unstoppable in its mission of making
India a digitally advanced community.
As the CEO of this unicorn potential startup, Rohit wants to change the perspective of the youth
of India and encourage them to idolize and get influenced by real-life change-makers like
entrepreneurs and founders rather than reel-life celebrities. Rohit is trying to do that too with his
platform by acknowledging the local businesses as the supporting pillars of the local economy.
From the rock bottom to the top, Rohit’s journey is a truly inspiring story for the youth and every
budding entrepreneur of India. Proving that life is a lot like running a Startup, you need to
bootstrap yourself, innovate, and keep moving even when the winds are not in your favor.
