[Matrix Moments] Why two ex-Flipkart executives determined to make use of the business-in-a-box platform Protonn. to discovered

In August last year, Anil Goleti, a key executive at Flipkart who joined the e-commerce giant in 2012, had to step down to continue his entrepreneurial journey. Along with Mausam Bhatt, former head of product management for Google Commerce (Buy on Google) and later part of Flipkart, he founded Protons.

It is a business-in-a-box platform that is aimed at individual professionals and offers services such as video marketing, scheduling, payments and CRM, among other things.

The company has wound up $ 9 million in financing under the direction of Matrix partner India. Talking about what they saw on the team, Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Partner, Matrix Partners India told the founders,

“As I went through these backgrounds, I was reminded how privileged we are to do business with you because I would say that this is probably the highest track record we have invested in. So the expectations are high. But first of all, thank you very much for making this investment possible, and we are very happy about the partnership. “

Anil says the duo first met at the Flipkart office in Ashford. He had just flown in from the USA and had previously worked in a startup.

“We just developed the app and were a pure desktop company. Flipkart had its peak sales earlier at noon and afternoon because people were sitting at their computers, not their cell phones. So this was my first meeting with Mausam. I was really happy to have someone who is mobile focused and who drives much of our growth, ”says Anil.

This was the beginning of the journey. Over the next eight years, the duo met quite often at Flipkart, where they worked on multiple things and went through common challenges together. The duo eventually forged deeper bonds.

“Many share successes, but when you talk about many common challenges – then you get to know each other even more deeply. We probably had the best conversations outside of the office when we went to the juice shop in Koramangala or wherever we went, ”Anil said.

He added: “Indeed, after Mausam withdrew, we stayed in touch and continued to talk. I think we were both would-be entrepreneurs – we talked about how to start, when to start, etc. The last meeting we had was when I was in San Francisco to give a talk at the Google Marketing Lab and Mausam was there too a conversation. ”

He said the duo spent the whole week together meeting at the conference during the day and talking about the future and startups in the evening. Starting up is about who you have a common history with, who thinks similarly when it comes to building the company over the longer term and building an effective company.

Mausam adds that they both wanted to do something that would appeal to millions of users and make them successful.

“Looking back on our Flipkart journey, I think the most satisfying thing has been that we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of salespeople thrive on the platform – people who are unemployed, underemployed and work from home. That was always in the back of our mind, so we looked for spaces where we could influence a lot of people and help them find financial freedom, ”added Mausum.

The duo got into fintech and looked for ideas that can help people communicate better. You have destroyed a lot of ideas and all of this boils down to Protonn.

“This is something we believe will help a lot of people. I think we’ve done enough of chasing companies, careers and titles and we’ve been in a good position. We can now afford to take a step back, have a beginner mindset, and look for challenges that have far-reaching global implications. So that was the starting point, ”said Mausam.

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