Enerjazz 2020 reflection
A quick review for Enerjazz of the year gone by.
What went well:
- 2.2 Million kilometers have been driven on Enerjazz batteries till date. 70% of this was in 2020.
- We have been growing at around 20% weekly for four months.
- We filed patents on our technology.
- We feel like we have found a scalable model that can take us to 100 Million revenue target with good margin.
Challenges we faced:
1. Deal fell through at the last hour. In Feb, I travelled to Bangalore for partnership discussions with another company to solve the affordability problem for the end user. The partnership would have been game changing and a first in the industry. Due to change of priorities induced by COVID, the other party backed out on the deal just a week before we were about to go live.
2. COVID impact. When I returned from Bangalore, things as we knew it had changed completely. There was a nation wide lockdown. Our business then depended significantly on metro/office commute. With the lockdown, Delhi metro ban and work from home, our business suddenly became zero. The future was completely dark.
2a. Impact on our stakeholders/customers. I will be extremely honest here. The time following the lockdown was one of the toughest time for all of us. While talking to one of the e-rickshaw drivers, we learned that he and his family did not have any food to eat and slept hungry for several nights. We talked to all our customers and realized that several of them were going through the same issues. They were strange times. The PM was asking us to bang utensils, the nation was becoming more dharmik by watching Ramayan on TV, my priviledged friends were learning recipes on how to make dalgona coffee, and yet there were these people who did not even have enough to eat.
I shared it with a friend who immediately offered financial help. We raised 3000 USD to support 39 families of e-rickshaw drivers who were badly impacted. Big thanks to my ex-flatmate Michael Reck for joining us in our mission and for everyone who contributed. We provided groceries to these families, provided masks and sanitizers and helped them earn more by creating partition in their e-rickshaw for social distancing.
2b. Impact on us. While we were putting the brave face for all others. We, the founders, were going through a tough time ourselves. My dad was diagnosed with hernia. The doctor told him that he can not remove hernia unless he does another operation to remove prostate (an issue my dad had already). At the age of 70, my dad’s body was not ready to undertake two operations. Amidst all this, I could not visit my family as I would have exposed them to covid. It was easily the toughest time of my life.
2c. Impact on business. Our revenue was impacted severely for many months. It was very easy for us to give up at that stage. We revisited our business strategy and came up with a new business model. We decided to give it another shot. We took a big gamble. On September 1st week, we started with our first battery swapping station. The gamble paid off. We have been growing at around 20% week over week for four months.
On 1st January, I was reflecting on the year we just had during a walk in the park. 2020 has been an year of initiatives. Big thanks to all our investors, advisors, employees, customers and well wishers for their support in our journey. We feel that we have a proven product, a scalable model and a clear plan. The year 2021 will be all about execution. Let’s all fasten our seatbelts.
