Interview With Kashyap Suresh - Founder and CEO of Agrid Scientific Company

                                                               

1. Describe about your business and founders?

I am Kashyap Suresh, CEO of Agrid Scientific Company, a passionate engineer who is focused about making customer-centric products available to all. Having worked with some of the best brains in the country during the early years of my career, I was always having an entrepreneurial mindset towards solving day-to-day problems. I started Agrid Scientific Company in May 2020, despite the ongoing crisis, with the aim to build and develop sustainable products and solutions that the industry had to offer directly to the end-user.

Agrid Scientific is an innovation house where ideas are turned into realities. We are agile in innovating products that incorporate the latest trends in the industry. Currently we are an independent manufacturer of sustainable cleaning solutions for residential and industrial purposes. We are focussed and stepping into business avenues like cosmetics, fragrances and other functional chemicals. 

 

2. What is the biggest challenge of being a CEO and how do you overcome it?

The biggest challenge of being a CEO are the following;

I. To draw motivation from even the smallest thing possible out there and constantly revising my own standards.

II. Transpiring the enthusiasm and communicating the purpose to your team.

III. Taking several functions, from purchase to production to accounts to sales, on top of your head and achieving success.

 

3. Where do you see the company in the next five years and how will you bring about the change?

In 5 years from now, we are looking at a strong team of 15-20 members with 4-5 brands under our belt with 2-3 unique products in each brand out in the market, handling a customer base of 25,000+.

There are two ways to achieve those;

I. By hiring talent and nurturing them.

II. By forging very strong partnerships with clients, customers and other interested parties.

 

4. Did you ever feel like giving up on being a CEO and what motivated you to pull this off?

 

No. I never felt like that. In fact, this entire journey started the moment I realized that I am a motivated individual, regardless of the circumstances around me. This forms the basement of my mental make-up. Life can get overwhelming; and I have my set of distractions to help get over those rough patches. But I always show-up next morning facing my problems with a large smile making problems look smaller.

 

5. Describe your biggest achievement

Biggest achievement for the company currently is in the Automotive segment, where we have developed three formulations that meet the world’s best products. When people who make a living out of cleaning cars(for 20+ years), call us and say that this is the best product they’ve used, that feeling is immeasurable; un-explainable. It puts a lot of faith back into ourself and motivates us to do more.

 

6. From where you get the idea for business?

Having been working as a Consultant in the Chemical Engineering space and visiting 100+ factories in India and abroad, I have this tendency to read behind every single bottle I pick up from the store. One product had 99.5% water in it and was being sold for Rs. 90/- for 500ml. It then took me a couple of months to really dig down to the nuts and bolts of the business model and margins that one could really make.

How motivating it is! The reality is different from what’s on paper. Manufacturing is more about repeatability. Regardless of who makes it or how much they make, the output should be the same.

My passion to make things look easier than they really are, was the driving force for me to setup my own manufacturing unit. Manufacturing is tricky. Many consumer brands fail to take off because they fail to backward integrate to strong manufacturers. Forward integration to marketing and branding is far more easier, when manufacturing is strengthened and mastered.

 

7. What was your aim to start the company?

Aim was simple.

·   Make better quality products, available to all and make it more affordable.

·   Build brands and a loyal customer base and become a person who is known for a particular skill / trait.

·    Engage with other entrepreneurs in the region and munch ideas during lunch.

·    Grow my network with like-minded people who would want to create/catalyse change.

 

8. Tell us some of your failures.

Ohh…too many. Firstly, hiring the wrong people. Too many times we have hired the first one coming in for the interview. So far, we have hired 11 and fired 9.

Failed to communicate ideas in simple terms.

Failed to be consistent at one activity and easily get distracted.

Failed to deliver products on time.

Failed to automate mundane tasks and put systems in place. The list goes on..

But, no mistake is made more than twice. The first time we acknowledge it and try to be cautious. The second time we slap ourselves and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

 

9. What is the role of your family in your successful career?

Coming from academic family, I am a 1st gen entrepreneur who jumped into the fire, when the whole world was burning (May 2020, right in the middle of COVID crisis). The first year in my entrepreneurship journey was perhaps the toughest. At work, I had new challenges every day; at home I had my father fighting with cancer. My son was 18 months old and always wanted to be around with him playing. Too many times I have seen him cry when I leave home for work related stuff. It was hard, but I learned how to brush it off and concentrate on my work. I really don’t know where I pulled the motivation for doing whatever I did back then.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife, my co-founder, for being the biggest pillar of support. I only had one conversation with her for 5 mins, and I told her “Give me 2 years. Allow me to just be myself.”

16 months have passed, and we have one more kid. And she still lives up to my request. We are growing as a family; our maturity levels are increasing and the kind of attitude both of us have developed is just amazing. More than anything, I believe I have helped her develop a “Can Do” attitude and this will make things easier for the both of us in future.

 

10. What is your message to the young generations and to their parents?

Dream. Believe you can. Burn the midnight oil. Experience everything. Face your fears with a smile, it’s a feeling, and that is all it is. Pressurize yourselves so much, that when you blast, the whole world will hear you.