Solving the problem at hand using innovative ideas helps us to define and propagate changes to our existing product lines, lies the success secret of the Founder & CEO, Trukkin, Janardan Dalmia.
Janardan Dalmia, Founder & CEO, Trukkin, initiated the business to connect shippers and transporters for the movement of heavy cargo. Having more than 10 years of experience in Investment Banking, he honed his skills at Bank of America and Barclays in New York and Dubai respectively. Before he started Trukkin, Janardan was a corporate finance professional having worked on several M&A and capital raising transactions globally.
Janardan Dalmia speaks to Business Upside in this interview on his idea behind starting the business, his recipe for success, and entrepreneurial motivation.
Edited Excerpts from the Interview:
Business Upside [BU]: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: As an investment banker, I spent a lot of time traveling in the GCC countries between 2011 and 2015. It was then during a business trip to Saudi, when in a meeting with an industry leader of a conglomerate that I realized that the transportation industry in the Middle East was still waiting for their Industry 4.0 moment—where a technology-driven platform would step in to revolutionize the way transporters and shippers do business. Our extensive groundwork and assessment of the inherent problems led us to the conclusion that lack of transparency and inefficiency were the major causal factors for all the issues faced by the transportation industry in any country. Once the problems were identified, we then moved towards finding innovative ways to solve them. This prompted me to step in and launch Trukkin.
[BU]: How did you come up with the name for your company?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: Trukkin was inspired by the most popular mode of surface transportation – trucks. We wanted to look for a name that was catchy, yet easy to remember. After deliberating on scores of region-specific or domain-specific examples we deduced that the name should be simple, short, and easy to remember. I thought of the name Trukkin and discussed this with my stakeholders who loved the idea of a simple, easy to remember the name and we went with it.
[BU]: Have you ever turned down a client?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: Trukkin is about enablement. As an organization, we are agile and can adapt to most business needs. However, if we ever have to say no to a client, it is mostly about whether or not we can provide them the best possible services and add value to their overall process. We believe that a business should adapt to the client’s requirements as much as possible and not the other way round. We are flexible, adaptable, agile, and we are committed to meet the requirements of our clients, which is the reason for our success.
[BU]: What is unique about your business?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: As Trukkin is an aggregator, we offer a distinct advantage compared to other owner-driven businesses. We put all the stakeholders on an equal pedestal and add value to their business that ends up being beneficial for everyone in the ecosystem. Our business model is highly adaptable and built to encompass changes. With the ever-changing landscape of the way the world does business during these tumultuous times, we stand out of the crowd by ensuring that we can be the change—fast! To put things into perspective, when the world went into lockdown, we changed our business model to ship essential items instead, maintaining business continuity and ensuring timely delivery of essentials to cities around our service region.
[BU]: How do you generate new ideas?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: Our ideas stem from the problems that we encounter. Solving the problem at hand using innovative ideas helps us to define and propagate changes to our existing product lines. This also helps us to enhance our products with customer-centric changes and requirements. Additionally, we constantly take feedback from our clients, stakeholders, partners, and our highly experienced team members to ensure that our product roadmap is aligned with their needs. We also encourage all our team members to think out of the box, be innovative and not shy away from showcasing their ideas to the management.
Watch this Video to Know The Secret Behind The Success of Trukkin
[BU]: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting, what would it be??
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: Find the problem you wish to solve. Once you do, do not back out until you have solved it with passion! Always be open to take feedback from and adapt what your target market needs. Do not try to push a product or service that you think works. That is what we did with Trukkin. We set out to solve problems faced by transporters, shippers, and brokers and ended up becoming an enabler for the entire logistics industry.
[BU]: How do you define success?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: Success is how you make a lasting impact for all your stakeholders. Are you truly able to add value to your customer’s business? Are your customers coming back to you? Are your colleagues and co-workers happy and believe that they have found a platform through which they can achieve their dreams and ambitions in life? Success is creating a model that serves as a win-win for all stakeholders. For me, solving the problems faced by drivers, transporters, shippers and brokers were what I would call success. I had found the problem I wished to solve and made the lives of thousands of people better! If this is not the definition of success, I do not know what is!
[BU]: Do you believe there is some sort of formula or pattern to become a successful Businessman?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: Adaptability, passion, perseverance, and grit. These four capabilities can ensure success in any phase of life. Everyone who starts a business wants to be successful. There is a saying that goes:
“Everyone wants to go heaven, but no one wants to die”. This especially holds true for businesses. Businessmen must be prepared to self-motivate on a daily basis and look for that one high during a challenging day to keep you going. Businesses face unforeseen challenges, problems, and issues daily. Managing to stay motivated and running your business like a marathon instead of a sprint is the real way to stay motivated and be successful in life.
[BU]: How do you market your business, and which method has been most successful?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: A major chunk of our business is marketed through word of mouth. As we change the lives of people for the better, they bring others onto our platform. Additionally, we market our business through digital marketing and traditional methods. Word of mouth has been our most successful model of marketing until now, with our customers and partners is our biggest brand ambassadors.
[BU]: What motivates you to become an Entrepreneur?
Janardan Dalmia [JD]: Problems—and figuring out innovative solutions for them have been the biggest driving factor towards me becoming an entrepreneur. Whenever I saw a problem that needed to be solved, I would try and find the most innovative way to fix the problem with the least effort. I applied the same approach with Trukkin. We solve problems faced by our clients and partners bit-by-bit to enhance and improve the way they do business.
