YourStory.in

 When the time came to step up to the next level Prasanta Paul and Suman Das, Founders of ExcoFlare could have been lured into the charms of the big city life. No one would have questioned their motives or raised an eyebrow as translocation to a large business hub is one of the more established routes to success. However, entrepreneurs are more often than not, path breakers, trend setters and

innovators. Hence, the ExcoFlare guys stuck by their hometown Guwahati as they took their venture to the next phase.

Prasanta Paul explains -

 

Suman Das and I started this venture from a rented house. We initially did everything ourselves starting from coding to marketing, etc. As soon as we got the comfort factor we decided to take up our own office space. We had 2 conflicting plans - one to take up the office space either in Bangalore or Delhi where we already had our presence and the second option was to start a development facility in Guwahati, our home town. We decided to go with the second option and now everything is history.

While Guwahati, most certainly, doesn't match up to hustle and bustle of Delhi or Bangalore, there was another factor that swung the tide in favour of this sleepy little town. Having lived in Assam themselves, the duo noticed a steady flow of talented students opting for engineering or computer application degrees. Moreover, as per the trend, these students have gone on to occupy some of the best positions in IT hubs across the country and the world. "This is just like the brain drain", explains Prasanta, "India is losing all the bright guys to the United States."

This is one of the more documented problems that the country is facing. For years the youth has cited the lack of lucrative and exciting employment opportunities as the primary reason for this exodus. India has looked on helplessly as this very 'brain drain' has claimed thousands of highly intelligent professionals, educated in some of the best Indian universities. The better life and the bigger bucks on offer abroad is an offer too good to resist for the average Indian. Unfortunately, as a result, India is still struggling to brush off its third world tag of under-development.

With the birth of ExcoFlare Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd earlier this year, Prasanta Paul feels that they will impact this trend of talent outflow from the local region. After all, this was one of the main reason he quit his job to start up this venture. "We wanted to do something different. This is our contribution - an income generating resource providing employment for the masses", he declared.

They say it is hard to keep a great idea down and it looks like this young entrepreneur has struck upon his at the right time. "We are now well established with an office space full of energetic software professionals", beams Prasanta. With the launch of two new futuristic products the - VoIP Soft Phone for Mobile and 'Secure SMS' - Next gen SMS technology, ExcoFlare is set to establish itself as a formidable contender in the Indian technology market. More importantly, the company has planned expanding its employee count from 15 to over a 100 in a year's time with several new enhanced products and solutions also in the pipeline.

Despite enjoying a significant level of success at such an early stage with this enterprise, Prasanta admits that he does get jittery at times. This entrepreneur has found it hard to deal with failure, especially when success has marginally eluded him. But he looks at all of this philosophically as a learning curve taking each day on its own merit. "The main thing is that I'm really enjoying this phase of transition in my life and I'm now used to this rollercoaster ride!", laughs Prasanta.

In fact, this young entrepreneur goes on to explain that he has learnt to love the struggles and the difficult situations. "As you will go ahead, these are the two things you will find more often and only by crossing these 2 hurdles will you taste the sweetness of success. Instead of giving in to fear, I try to expect these hurdles and overcome them", he grinned. And any entrepreneur will tell you that young Mr.Paul speaks the truth when he imparts these words of advice.

ExcoFlare aims to produce innovative, high quality software products and solutions for mobile communication devices and the internet. The founders believe that this is a sound strategy considering our lives are essentially built around both these commodities. Prasanta elaborates, "Our quest will be to provide better usability on both fronts and to improve the overall experience for the user. We have already launched 2 mobile centric products. The VoIP solution will give us good mileage as we foresee a market driven by Voice on IP networks and other related technologies - which is why we are already on the same track."

YourStory would like to wish Prasanta Paul and Suman Das the very best with their venture ExcoFlare. Our team will track their progress, documenting their journey in the entrepreneurial world in the months to come. Stay tuned to all the latest ExcoFlare developments on YourStory!