We are starting this series about Startups in Ahmedabad to feature some of the most promising startups from Ahmedabad.

Here's the first interview with Vaibhav Jain, Co-Founder, Hubilo.

How would you describe Hubilo in 1 Sentence?

The perfect event technology tool-kit for event planners.

What was the eureka moment? When did you get started with your venture? How did you acquire the early customers for Hubilo?

Belonging to a family with a strong business background, I always had the entrepreneurial streak within. Even after qualifying for some of the best B-Schools in India and London, I always wanted to start-up even after completing MBA. 

And that was the plan until one day I happened to be at an event where I accidentally met one of my seniors from college who had started his own venture a few months back. 

Being at that event and talking to him, understood two things- 1. That I was ready to start-up and 2. The idea – Events.

Since this event marked such a huge difference in my life, I wanted to dig deeper and explore this space. That’s when Hubilo started to take its shape in my mind.

We are an iCreate incubated company. Hence, our first client was iCreate itself. We facilitated the event tech for iCreate’s Whatnext 2015. It was one of the most exciting events for us and a moment to prove ourselves.

How did you meet your co-founder and/or the first employee?

After joining the college my co-founder Mayank Agarwal and I, we came in contact with each other – same class but different interests. 

While one had a mind for business, the other one was a computer geek, still, we gelled on common grounds with a lot of things in common like football, poker, and above all that entrepreneurial itch! Mayank is a DAIICT graduate, just like me. 

Before Hubilo, he worked in ecoliribium energy for 2 years. 

He joined Hubilo in July 2015 and has been in a serious relationship with his laptop and the product ever since. His current role in the company is to look after the product, manage the entire tech team and develop critical modules. 

We were a team of 5 as an iCreate incubation. We converted interns into permanent employees and building from that single team, we are now a team of more than 50 people.

What is your traction? What are the interesting numbers about Hubilo that you would want to share with the community?

So far, we have powered more than 500 events across 17 countries. With a current team size of 53 our projected growth rate is 110%.

Which is the most recent challenge you faced and how did you overcome that?

One of our most recent challenges has been retaining talent within the team. 

Firstly, there is a dearth of talent in Ahmedabad in terms of marketing and sales profiles. 

Secondly, as a start-up, hiring freshers and training them is a challenge as freshers often leave for further studies. 

We are overcoming the challenge by preparing a growth strategy for team expansion where we hire trained talent who have the potential to grow within the company.

What are your growth plans for the next 1 year?

My goal for the next 1 year is to establish Hubilo in the global market and grow our team accordingly.

What was that key moment of Hubilo's journey that put Hubilo in a high growth trajectory?

The key moment that defined Hubilo's upward journey in the events industry would be the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 project.

It was through iCreate, which was then an official partner for the Vibrant Gujarat Start-up Summit 2016, that Hubilo received its big break. 

Hubilo received the chance to power the Vibrant Gujarat Start-up Summit 2016. The organizers of the mega Vibrant Gujarat event were present at the Vibrant Gujarat Start-up Summit on the day Hubilo was exhibiting at the event. 

We were able to get them interested in the product and within a day, landed the opportunity to collaborate on the official event app for the mega Vibrant Gujarat event. Post the successfully delivery of the entire solution which took the previous vendor approximately three months, within a week, we used the event as a success story, building upon that. 

Using its success story as a case study, Hubilo successfully catapulted into the event tech space.

You can ask more questions to Vaibhav in the comments section.
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