For this profitable retail tech startup, early employees trump senior hires

As a startup founder, one big mistake Pavan Panchamukhi made was to bring in senior people from outside the company – and it’s not really about capabilities.

“I realized very early that, as a startup, we need people who believe in the product and solution,” says Panchamukhi, co-founder and CEO of B2B retail tech platform RDEP. These tend to be team members who were with the company from the start.

“Though I knew this, I still made the mistake. As an entrepreneur, I guess the need for speed sometimes clouds up such decisions,” the CEO adds.

RDEP team / Photo credit: RDEP

That doesn’t seem to have slowed RDEP down. The company, whose clients include Kmart in Australia and Levi’s in India, became net profitable in its 2021 financial year and operationally profitable a year later. It registered US$600,000 in revenue for FY 2022, growing 40% year on year.

In the next five years, RDEP plans to not only grow organically but also to partner with or acquire complementary products to expand the suite of solutions it provides. And Panchamukhi intends to do so while staying in the black.

The startup, which previously secured capital from a few angel investors, has just started fundraising now that its “product is stable and capable of handling a large scale and volume,” the CEO says.

Read on for our interview with Panchamukhi, which was edited for clarity.

What’s the elevator pitch for your startup?

RDEP helps retailers provide convenient and personalized in-store customer experiences during and after shopping. The goal is to help increase customer wallet share and retention.

We have two solutions: Smart Checkout and Smart Engage. Smart Checkout consists of two front-end apps: mobile self-checkout and mobile point of sale.

Meanwhile, Smart Engage enables smart e-receipts, which are more than just digital copies of physical receipts. It allows customers to provide feedback, enroll into loyalty programs, and view available points and coupons, among others.

What’s your pitch to customers? Why should they use your solution over alternatives?

Our main philosophy revolves around making tech adoption simpler and understanding that retailers know what’s best for their business.