How We Transformed the B2B Marketplace: From Struggle to Success Mayank Patel July 29, 2024

In today’s digital age, a seamless online experience is crucial, especially for B2B marketplaces where efficiency and user satisfaction can make or break a business. We recently undertook a comprehensive transformation of the B2B marketplace to address some pressing challenges and elevate the user experience. Here’s how we did it and the incredible results we achieved.

Identifying the Pain Points

The marketplace was facing several significant issues:

  • Outdated Design: Our website had a bland design that failed to engage users.
  • Poor Mobile Experience: The site wasn’t responsive, leading to a subpar experience on smartphones and tablets.
  • Feature Deficiencies: Key features were missing or malfunctioning, making navigation and transactions cumbersome.
  • Offline Transactions: Conducting transactions offline led to delays and increased security risks.
  • Manual Processes: Product inspection and shipment were handled manually, causing inefficiencies and errors.

Our Approach to Transformation

To tackle these challenges, we implemented a holistic redesign and introduced new features aimed at improving both functionality and user experience.

Modern and Responsive Design

We completely revamped our site’s design, introducing a clean, modern interface that’s responsive across all devices. Now, whether our users access the site from a desktop, smartphone, or tablet, they enjoy a seamless experience.

Enhancing Functionality

We added several key features to boost functionality:

  • Managed Seller Catalog: Sellers can now easily list and manage their products, simplifying their experience.
  • Auction Center: This new feature allows users to track and place orders effortlessly, providing more visibility and options.

Strengthening Security

To ensure user authenticity and streamline onboarding, we integrated KYC (Know Your Customer) verification through a trusted third-party service provider.

Seamless Transactions

We implemented an integrated payment gateway, enabling users to set up Ewallets. This allows for quick, secure transactions, and sellers can receive payments directly into their wallets with the flexibility to withdraw funds as needed.

Automating Inspections and Shipments

We partnered with service providers to handle product inspections, ensuring quality and compliance. The shipment process was automated, including real-time order tracking, which significantly improved operational efficiency and user satisfaction.

 

The Results: A Thriving Marketplace

The impact of these changes was immediate and profound:

Surge in Registrations: Our new design and features attracted more users, leading to a significant increase in new registrations.

Streamlined Onboarding: The KYC verification process made onboarding new users easier, enhancing trust and security on the platform.

Improved Seller Experience: The managed seller catalog feature made it simpler for sellers to list and manage their products, boosting their satisfaction and engagement.

Better User Experience: Enhanced navigation and search functionality made it easier for users to find and purchase products, resulting in a more enjoyable user experience.

Efficient Transactions: Ewallets streamlined the order placement process, allowing for quick and secure transactions.

Reliable Deliveries: Automated shipment status updates and tracking improved delivery reliability, fostering greater user trust.

Popular Auction Center: Our auction centre quickly became a hit, offering users greater visibility and competitive pricing for their products.

Conclusion

Our comprehensive redesign and feature enhancements have transformed the B2B marketplace. By addressing the initial pain points and strategically improving the platform, we have not only overcome the challenges but also set the stage for sustained growth and success. This transformation exemplifies the power of thoughtful design and strategic innovation in creating a thriving digital marketplace.

Top 5 learnings from implementing machine learning for Startups Amit Jain June 7, 2022

Companies are working on cutting-edge technologies for creating machine-learning models as well as gathering and handling the massive volumes of data required to train them. It hasn’t always been easy, and it will never be. Although there are dangers associated with innovation, we are confident that Machine Learning is here to stay and will alter societies in the same way that the cell phone did.

The top five takeaways if you plan to implement Machine Learning in your Startups are as follows:

1. Ensure Expert Supervision:

The right team is essential for selecting the right machine learning use case and ensuring the project’s success. If all involved parties are engaged in the decision, everyone is more willing to approve, implement, and resolve issues, which will eventually help close cultural gaps.

 When data scientists collaborate in silos, the machine learning models they develop are very seldom used. Platforms only serve as collections of tools for data analysis and model development. Startups still require a seasoned data scientist to discover features, figure out the model, and select the best validation method. People who excel at both engineering and mathematics are tough to locate and costlier to employ. The idea of combining a data scientist and a machine learning engineer is brilliant. The data scientist is responsible for feature engineering, model creation, and testing, while the engineer assists with the workflow and extraction algorithms. 

If you’re not sure you have the skills needed to construct a full-fledged machine learning algorithm, you may always seek advice from companies with machine learning expertise and experience.

2. Affordability Analysis is Crucial:

Smart organizations know how important it is to take data-driven decisions. And a lot of data needs a lot of storage. So, how to manage the business model that includes costs of data storage? Thus, cost analysis of the alternatives is essential before making a decision. 

Additionally, if you want to implement machine learning, you’ll need Data Engineers and Machine Learning Engineers with strong technical experience. A full data science staff is out of reach for start-ups. Budgets appear to be a common challenge. When competing with large global corporations, mid-sized groups may not always be able to afford to offer specialized wages. They urgently demand technology, unlike smaller businesses, yet are expected to keep up with larger businesses’ pay Consequently, mid-sized businesses state that budget constraints are holding them back.

3. Patience is the Key:

You can’t tell how long a problem will take to solve or even if it can be solved. Nothing irritates a startup’s business side more than a machine learning engineer who consistently underestimates time needs. Patience will go a long way toward ensuring that your efforts are rewarded. This is especially true in the case of machine learning. Impatience is one of the most typical machine learning issues.

A machine learning project is typically fraught with unknowns. It entails obtaining data, processing it to train algorithms, engineering algorithms, and coaching them to learn from data that is relevant to the goals of your startup. It necessitates a great deal of meticulous planning and execution. However, due to several layers and the inherent uncertainties in algorithm behavior, your team’s statistics for completing the machine learning project is not guaranteed to be accurate. As a result, when working on machine learning projects, patience and an exploratory mindset are essential. Allow plenty of time for your project and team to accomplish desired results when implementing machine learning.

4. Data Availability and Security is a Must:

The gathering, security, and storage of data is a significant barrier in the deployment of machine learning. It’s true that putting in place the correct data collection technique is perhaps the most difficult task you’ll face. 

Users turn to machine learning for predictive analytics, and the first step is to eliminate data fragmentation. Companies must have access to raw data in order to utilize machine learning. To train machine learning algorithms, large amounts of data are required. A few hundred items of data is insufficient to properly train models and execute machine learning. 

However, data collection isn’t the only issue. You must also model and process the data in order for the algorithms to work. One of the most common concerns in machine learning is data security. Security is a critical concern that must be addressed. To execute machine learning accurately and efficiently, it’s critical to distinguish between sensitive and insensitive data. Companies must store sensitive data by encrypting it and storing it on different servers or in a completely safe location.

5. Challenges with Model Deployment:

To implement machine learning effectively, one must be adaptable with their infrastructure and thinking, as well as possess the necessary and applicable skill sets. Startups must have a thorough understanding of data flows, algorithms, and how they may be applied to various operations in order to successfully implement machine learning. 

Machine learning provides a platform for firms with machinery and equipment to predict preventative measures and potential faults in the manufacturing area. To characterize the usual functioning state, the specific algorithm must be observed. If one of the machine learning tactics fails, the organization is able to learn what is required and, as a result, is guided in developing new and more powerful machine learning designs. The ability to adapt to setbacks and learn from them improves a company’s chances of implementing machine learning successfully.

Conclusion: In a word, the entire transition not only takes time, but it is also a bumpy ride. The choice of features employed in a machine learning project can often determine its success. When good representations, or features, of input data are available, machine learning has made significant progress in training classification, regression, and recognition systems. However, a lot of human effort goes into creating good features, which are frequently knowledge-based and developed over years of trial and error by domain experts. 

Top 10 Reasons Why Investors Give Up on Startups Marketing May 28, 2021

As a startup, you need money and expertise to start your business. You find investors who believe in you and invest in your business. You cannot start a business only with your money. You have to find an investor who can help fuel growth for your startup. Startups can earn good money shortly with their new and innovative ideas; However, there can be a few reasons why investors might hesitate to invest or pull out from your startup.

Following are the Top 10 reasons why investors are not investing in your startup.

1. No Niche

The most obvious and common reason for not investing in your startup is risk. While investors are willing to take this risk they would never do it if the risk ratio is too high. They would closely evaluate your product/service offering and associate a success/failure risk ratio to it. The higher the probability of your product is similar to others in the market, the higher are the chances of investors starting to lose hope in you.

2. Inexperienced team

Investors will reject your startup if they do not find your team capable of handling your business. It is essential for you to put a disciplined team together. The team needs to be one that is aligned with you and your companies’ objectives. In addition, your team should have appropriate skills, qualifications, knowledge, and experience. A holistic team make a good prospect towards attracting investors. 

3. Improper business plan

If you are not able to express your business to the investor, they will lose interest in your startup. You should be able to sell future prospects to investors and how committed you are to achieve it. If they don’t understand your plans and don’t believe in your commitment, they will not invest in your startup. Additionally, remember to prepare a good and impressive business plan that comprises the structure of the business, your target, projections, documentation, sales plans, etc.

4. Diluted Focus

If you are spending too much on developing your product or developing too many products investors will question your ability to take them to the market. Spreading yourself across too many things reduces your chance of success and that is the last thing you want. As a start-up entrepreneur, you want to identify that one thing you believe in strongly and go after it. It’s a classic reversal of “Too many cooks spoil the broth”. In this case, it‘s too many avenues that lead to spoiling your chances.

5. You approach the wrong investor

The major mistake done by the startup is that they approach the wrong investor. Investors are not defined as someone with money. They invest because of their interest and knowledge in the space. It is like approaching someone with an interest in real estate with an offer to implement in a social networking startup. You should ensure that the investors should have the same interest and genres. As close an investor can be to the field, the higher are the chances of them investing. It is because they understand the space and it is easy for you to convince them.

6. Lack of focus

If you are not committed and focused on your startup, no investor will pay any heed to you. You need to have a proper track record and a focused approach towards your main goal. You want to be completely invested in your idea/startup. Split responsibilities is a complete NO and investors would not show any interest in partnering with you

7. Lack of marketing techniques

A good business plan, strong product, and dependent team does not necessarily result in being successful. In today’s world, you need to know the ways of capturing the audience’s mindset through innovative marketing techniques. You should know the right ways of hitting the sweet spot and rhyming it with the buyer’s thought process. A structured and well-articulated marketing plan will boost up your sales and increase your brand value.

8. Lack of trust

Trust is the costliest thing in the world. Once you lose it you can’t get it back easily. You need to have trust in your team and your investors. The same applies to them while working with you. It takes time to build it and happens only once you spend time together. Make sure you build a team you can depend upon without any micro-managerial approach. The moment you have to go this route there will be friction and the team will start losing trust in each other. 

9. Lack of market knowledge

You are entering the market, but you know nothing about it. You don’t have information about your competitors, customers, regulations, documentation, and other key information. If you are not familiar with market regulations, this will discourage the investors. That is why make sure that you conduct proper market research before starting a startup. If you don’t have proper statistics and information about the market investors will stay away from you.

10. Poor projections

A smart entrepreneur is one who always has an eye on what’s coming next. If you are completely focused on the future you may lose sight of what is coming next and won’t be able to plan accordingly. This will lead to a lack of foresightedness and you would not be able to show a bright future to your investors. Always, prepare a plan with future goals.

Conclusion

These are some reasons because of which investors may not invest in your business. That is why make sure to keep all the essential components in your startup. You can convince your investors by presenting your business’s bright side to them.

5 Things To Do Before Running Your Business Out Of An Incubator Marketing May 21, 2021

Introduction

Let us first understand the meaning of the word incubator in any business. An incubator is a kind of organization that helps startups to set up their business. It is a catalyst tool for national economic development. They provide them various facilities at free or low cost

  • Workspace
  • Mentorship
  • Expertise
  • Access to investors
  • Loan for working capital

The NBIA (National Business Incubators Association) categorizes incubators into 5 types

  • Academic institutions
  • Non-profit development corporations
  • Venture capital firms
  • Profit property development ventures
  • A combination of all four.

These incubators help to plan, launch, manage and grow your business. They assist you with marketing, networking, accounting, financial, legal, and research activities.

Some benefits of an Incubator

They can give a powerful start to your business. Let us study incubators’ pros:

  • They offer you several services for free or at minimal cost. It helps you preserve your cash and utilize it judiciously
  • Incubators usually help with access to subject matter experts who provide a great deal of guidance and advice for your business
  • Proper direction helps you to stay focused on your goals
  • A sound base of investor network gives you access to probable opportunities to raise funds along with the right level of inputs to allocate them wisely in varied avenues of business.
  • With the opportunity to be able to use the latest/advanced technologies & infrastructure they provide appropriate support from a self-sustainability standpoint

Starting a business on your own is always a monumental task with ample challenges that will beat you to the ground. There are several factors that you should consider before starting your own initiative. However, it is not possible to take care of every single detail and that is why we take help from incubators. They help in the above-stated ways while helping you expand the business. That is why it is critical to find a perfect incubator for your startup. Here are a few tips to be on top of during your incubator search:

Know your incubator

Just like a bank knows you better than you do, you should know every aspect that you may need from the incubator. Start with a list of services, investor and mentoring network, expertise, location, infrastructure and compare incubators vis-a-vis each other. Select the most suitable incubator for your startup and that can help you leverage its strengths and help your business and empower it to grow and flourish.

Prepare a proper pitch

Before applying to any incubator, prepare a proper pitch deck about your startup. Define your goals for the incubator so that they can help you accordingly. Focus on technical details, business model, and future projections. Sell the idea of being unique from others and what inputs would lead you to be successful.

Build a winning team

A proper team is the biggest asset of your company. The team will decide the future of the startup. The more efficiently they work, the more are the chances of the company to succeed. In the initial stages, you may depend on the incubators, employees but that can’t happen in the longer term. As stated by Jim Collins in “Good to Great” it is critical to get the right people on the bus if you want to enjoy the journey. You want to build a team that can continue the business without any hassles. Make sure that your team members have appropriate skills and have a good experience. They can bring new ideas for the growth and development of business. A great team increases your chances to get a great incubator for your startup.

Determine what you want to give to your incubator

That means developing a proper plan about how much you want to invest in the incubator. Sometimes incubators are costly according to your company’s needs. That is to choose how much you are willing to give to your incubator. Also, check that they are satisfying your needs or not at that cost. You can consult with your legal advisor or any other advisor. They will guide you about this matter and tell you whether to invest in that particular incubator or not.

Time is Money

Do not depend on the incubator to create your plans and associated timelines. Make a plan for your business and choose your incubation period. It will help you manage the company after exiting from the incubator. Make a proper exit plan for your startup.

Conclusion

This is all about incubators and how they help to grow a startup. They also lend you money for your startup. They also build MVPs for your company. That is why you can contact incubators for your startup. You should consider all the above points before starting your business. This will ensure that you are going in the right direction at the right time. Because your business depends on the incubators’ advice. I hope this article is helpful for you and you got everything you need.

Enterprise Software – What stack should I choose? Marketing March 19, 2021

 

Enterprise Software Development and the Importance of Selecting the Correct One

Enterprise software development is developed to meet the needs of the entire enterprise. It does not focus on an individual’s goals and needs. It is also referred to as Custom Software Development. The reason behind this name is that we can customize this software as per our needs. Its main aim is to design context. Enterprise software development is a little complex. We have to understand the problem of the whole enterprise, which is a difficult task. It is necessary to choose the right technological stack for a company. Choosing a stack depends on the needs of the business. It is important to choose the right stack for our project. Every stack has a distinct set of features. So we must choose the one that is compatible with our needs. Also, it will affect the cost to the company as well. The stack we choose must be quite popular. It will help an enterprise to find experienced developers without any hassle.

Tech Stack

A tech stack or Technology stack is a set of tools that developers use to make a web application. It is a combination of programming languages, libraries, patterns, servers, software & tools. All of these help developers develop an application. It has various layers of components and servers. A tech stack is also known as a data ecosystem for storing and analyzing technologies. We must choose a tech stack after knowing its pros and cons. It is because our project depends on the Tech stack which we will choose. Tech Stack consists of two components called frontend and backend. These are also known as client-side and server-side.

Popular used Technology Stacks for Enterprise Software Development

The most common and popular stacks for enterprise development are-

  1. .NET stack
  2.  MEAN stack
  3.  ROR stack
  4. LAMP stack

FACTORS TO CONSIDER FOR ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

1. Type of project 

We must consider the type of project. Our choice depends on the complexity of our project. 

  • If the project is small, then we need a stack that is simple and faster. For example- Drupal or WordPress.
  •  If the project is medium-sized, then we need a high technological stack. The stack should be sophisticated. It has various combinations of tools and features to support the project.
  •  If the project size is large or complex, then we need a program with many features. We need a stack with complex and more sophisticated features.

2. Scalability 

We must choose a scalable stack. The stack must have room for new changes. Our stack must handle the growth with an increase in app users. The stack must consist of provisions of vertical as well as horizontal scalability.

3. Maintenance 

The maintenance of the web app depends on the codebase of the app. It is necessary to choose a language that uses a manageable coding style. This will help developers to change and transit the app code easily. If the coding style is verbose, then it is a little difficult to change them. 

4. Cost of development

Nowadays, almost all the stacks are open-source. But a tech stack with complex features may charge you a certain license fee for that. You must analyze all the in-built and premium features before buying any stack. You must see whether it will fall under your budget or not. Also, some tech stack developers demand a high salary. The cost of maintenance should also be taken into consideration. 

5. Team expertise and Knowledge

The knowledge and expertise of developers affect the decision. We must choose a stack that our team can handle. Also, you can train your employees to handle certain stacks. 

Back End Tech Stack for Enterprise Software Development

Backend Tech stack also refers to server-side stack. This is not visible to the end user. It involves business logic, databases & management. It ensures the proper functioning of all the features and components together. It is the inner working of the website which is not visible to its end-user. A back-end stack consists following elements –

1. Programming languages – They create logic for apps and websites

2. Frameworks – They provide support to applications

3. Servers – They manage client requests

4. Databases – They store data, documents, web pages, etc.

Some famous Back-end technologies are NodeJS, PHP, .NET, Python, etc. It uses its tools to create a web application with its well-structured code. 

Front-End Tech Stack for Enterprise Software Development

Front-end Tech stack also refers to the Client-server stack. It is a user-side software. It enables a user to interact with the program. It is employed with both mobile and web development. It handles the user-facing code of a website.

  •  For the web, we use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript languages. HTML is used to build and place content. CSS is for the styling of content materials. JavaScript is its scripting language.
  •  For mobile, native and hybrid technologies can be used. Hybrid is based on languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Native on Java, Kotlin, Xamarian, etc.

Some of the Front-end Tech Stack are ReactNative, AngularJS, Vue.js, etc.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, we must keep every factor in our mind while choosing a stack for your project. The stack must support and fulfil the needs of business goals. The success of our project depends on the stack only. You must check the pros and cons of every stack and then choose one from them. You must have an experienced and skilled set of people. Cross-check all the aspects of every stack. If you choose the right tech stack, then it will save you cost as well as time.