HyLyt is a secured B2B SAAS platform which sits on the top of all your apps and other data files.
Please introduce yourself and the startup HyLyt to our readers!
My name is Rajat Singhania; I have been in business for 30 years with experience in different verticals. I have experience in the tech space for 35 years and done coding back in the day when the coding languages were BASIC, COBOL & DBase3. In terms of business experience in tech space; I’ve run a BPO for more than 20 years and have experience in the infrastructure space for more than 25 years.
In my startup venture, we are looking to solve the biggest problem all of us experience today – of saving, organizing and managing information, the problem of data overload in today’s digital age. Coming to my product HyLyt – it helps in unified information management and business collaboration on an integrated platform. To elaborate HyLyt is a secured, patent pending B2B SAAS platform which sits on the top of all your apps and other data files. This helps in managing all the information which matter and then converse and collaborate in a controlled environment with all the stakeholders. In addition, HyLyt helps in enhancing productivity, prevent data leakage and have a 360 view of all information that matters.
Why did you decide to start a business?
HyLyt came into being because of a personal pain-point I had. I was attending a meeting, some information popped up on my mobile screen and I swiped it, thinking that I’ll come back later once I was back in the office. Next day I just tried to find it but couldn’t find it. It got lost in all the information. On hindsight I know I could have handled it better, something could have done about it but the thought it triggered and the door it opened was that there has to be better way to manage information which will work for people in this & other similar situations. First I asked people if there was any solution which helps you to manage information in such a situation.
And I realized there was no such solution then I asked people if they need such a solution or was I the only one who thought this was a problem? I realized there were a lot of people who face the same situation and they wanted a solution. That’s how the journey of HyLyt started, to give a simple, easy & unified way for people to manage information from multiple channels and sources of information.
What is the vision behind Hylyt?
Our vision is “We are looking to generate 2.5 billion man-hours of productive time by the year 2025”. The biggest challenge today is that people are spending as much as 25% of their productive time in saving, searching, organizing and managing information and this has been validated by multiple studies done by various leading research agencies. HyLyt is on mission to help one reduce that number significantly and thus help to generate a significant amount of productive man-hours. Leveraging technology to give better solutions to help us excel in what we do and give us the complete view to do that is our mission.
From the idea to the start what have been the biggest challenges so far and how did you finance yourself?
Interestingly, we are solving a problem which everybody faces but they do not realize there is a solution, they have accepted it as a part of their being. So, if you ask me what the biggest challenge is – telling people we know you are facing this problem and we actually have the solution to solve it. To get the word out there, tell people that we have a solution to this problem, make them aware of it, make them believe in it and make them use it. Once they use it, they become our users and they don’t go away but till then that is a challenge.
In terms of finance, I’ve been in business from almost 30 years and I have some well-wishers who are happy to help. As a result, right now I’m bootstrapped with funds coming from my own sources. Family and friends help at times, putting money on this product to take this product to the World and help people at large.
Who are the target group of HyLyt?
Our target customers are “everyone” because we all have information which we need to manage. Let’s categorize it in two ways: (1) Job function and (2) Business Vertical. So, if I talk about Job function – A) Decision makers: could be business owners, ‘C’ level executives or anybody who is in senior management. B) Anybody who is part of a remote team: could be people working from home, it could be sales people on the field, it could be project teams at sites, it could be service people taking care of customers or it could even be satellite/ branch locations, where we have few people taking care of the branch office or businesses who have multiple locations.
C) People where information equals money: now we all know time equals money but for some people information equals money. These could be consultants, advisors, lawyers and research teams. For these three segments HyLyt is something they need and they are losing money and they are harming themselves if they are not using HyLyt.
Let’s get into some industry verticals, where HyLyt is very useful like – pharma companies, people in education because they have too much of information & too many stakeholders and then people in healthcare and government. These are the initial targets.
How do HyLyt work? What are the advantages? What makes you different from other providers?
HyLyt lets you A) get any information in 1-2-3 clicks from any platform whatsoever onto HyLyt, B) inter-connect it with various pieces of information which you have on Hylyt which is not limited to pieces of information in the same folder, C) find it based on multiple criteria when you want it, D) share it with internal and external stakeholders seamlessly, E) control and decide whether they can reshare & forward the information or not and F) pull it back whenever you want without any limitation of time. That in a nutshell is HyLyt.
A go-to product for everything to do with information management because we help you inter-connect your information on multiple parameters which goes beyond the folder structure, information can actually be connected to other information in other folders and works with all commonly used file formats including Microsoft office, multimedia, text note, chats, reminder, calendars etc.
Advantages:
- Single point solution for all different formats of information.
- Easy to get all relevant information at one place
- Possible to interconnect information on multiple parameters – not dependent on folder structure.
- Find the information based on multiple criteria – narrow down what you are looking for.
- Decide whether other people can save or reshare your information – you decide how your business information is used.
- The entire data on your data servers, it does not have to be on HyLyt servers.
What make us different from other providers: some products do some part of what we do but no single product gives a complete solution to information management the way we do. This gives us a unique position and an unfair advantage.
How has your company changed with corona?
Corona is an interesting change for us. On one hand, it is the biggest advertising and marketing tool for us because it created the demand and situation where work from home or remote working has become really big, the accepted norm. People working from home need HyLyt because HyLyt is the easiest and needed solution for people working from home. It has kind of built up the potential and future of our product, but the challenge is to get the word out there. People need to work from home, and all the problems they are facing can be significantly mitigated and they can be in a better and stronger spot once they/ their businesses migrate to use Hylyt as the primary option for information management.
How did you adjust to it and what changes have you made?
We now have a hybrid model where our people are working from home, some people are working from office and our meetings which used to be primarily face to face have become online meetings whether internally or with potential customers and clients. So, it makes life easier to an extent that people don’t need to travel for meetings and lot of things can be done online but it also made it more difficult because there are no timelines and as a result workloads are higher at times and intrudes on the personal space for some people. We are adapting with each day and give all possible support to our clients and well-wishers.
Where do you see the opportunity in the crisis?
HyLyt is the easiest and needed solution for people working from home. It has kind of built up the potential and future of our product, but the challenge is to get the word out there. People need to work from home, and all the problems they are facing can be significantly mitigated and they can be in a better and stronger spot once they and their businesses migrate to use HyLyt as the primary option for information management
HyLyt, where does the road go? Where do you see yourself in five years?
We are definitely in a good spot; the road is quickly taking us towards our destination of huge growth and user acquisition. In five years, we hope to become a known name for information management. If you are looking to stay on top of information you need to be on HyLyt. HyLyt is here to make you powerful, productive & profitable. Is that not what you want in life and in business?
Which 3 tips would you give to future founders?
It’s been an interesting journey, when I started I had 27 years of experience and I would say what I have learnt in the last three years of this journey would be probably more than that I have learnt in last 20 years.
I have many interesting things to share but my top 3 tips are:
- Don’t find a problem for your idea, find an idea for your problem. The biggest mistake most founders do – they find an idea and then try to find a problem which is never a great idea. Always find an idea as a solution to a problem which you experience or someone you know experiences.
- If there is a problem you may have a solution, but can that be commercialized into something that others can use, is that a business or is that temporary solution to something which you faced or somebody else faces.
- It’s not going to be easy but it will be worth it. So, if you decide to get into this journey give it your 200% and trust me you will not regret it; if you give it 99% it will not work.
More information you will find here
Thank you Rajat Singhania for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
