Varun Kumaraswamy

Building manufacturing teams in India with $4M ARR, 250+ employees. Sharing 5 yrs of my mistakes/successes/ideas on this journey.

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

I launched my newsletter! It's called The Accelerated CEO

Don't wait 4 years like I did to learn the basics of Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations, Procurement and much more!

My hope is that it'll help to speed up others who're a few years behind me.

Link below and in my bio!

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

@Marskhan99 Yeah, true! I guess in my case something went from exciting to a bit more stressful version of "not exciting". :)

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

What's the right word for the opposite of exciting?

Rather than saying "not exciting"

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

Ever had a moment go from exciting to ugly?

Spent $40k this month to ramp up production to supply a large order.

Today the distributor says he miscalculated and that the volume is the annual quantity and not per month. 😞

New challenge. Time to find new opportunity.

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

What would you do?

1. Supply your high quality product at equivalent prices to low quality suppliers to have high demand and get quick customer access (and drive out competition)

2. Supply at higher prices but have lower demand in a price sensitive market

Or something else?

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

Company doing well -> All the banks are knocking to give you money you don't need.

Company going through a rough patch -> They all disappear and your current banker becomes the devil!

Strong Balance Sheet | Good Credit Score | Exciting Projections -> You'll have the upper hand!

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

@AlexHormozi That's exactly what I'm working on with surgical gloves right now.

The product itself is commoditized. Too many brands and prices to compare against.

Currently looking at a way to generate value for Dr's and Hospitals some other way where the gloves can just be a bonus.

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

Are you an entrepreneur running a SME in manufacturing? What do you make?

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

How can I get team members to report problems they see / issues they faced that should not exist or happened?

The goal being that if we tackle problems when they're small and design solutions, we constantly improve.

There's a general hesitation to report.

Can I gamify this?

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

My bank asked me to sign an undertaking with the following:

"Any additional funding to be funded by infusion of additional longterm funds by promotors"

Essentially says they won't give me anymore money 😆

But why should I acknowledge that? They're free to always say no!

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

If you're forced to micromanage someone, you will be better off with someone else.

The energy and time spent to manage that person can be put to better use and isn't required if the person takes their own initiatives and understands the importance of what they're doing.

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

Ok, wait a minute. A government tender can specify which Brand they want!?

Then what's the point of listing all the specifications?

A tender's purpose is to find good quality, best priced supply meeting the required spec. Maybe they don't know that LOL!

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

How do you convert someone to use your product when someone else is the one who pays for it?

We want to convert doctors to use our brand, but they have no incentive to switch from something else. A glove is a glove

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

Your job isn't over once an order leaves the warehouse, it's over when the customer receives everything correctly!

I was explaining this it to my sales team today.

Have to increase customer focus!

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

That's true. I'll test this hypothesis by being more clear when I set the deadlines and see what happens. Need to see if it's a capability issue or just an issue with the deadline being too early.

But either way, I do feel that a heads up or giving an update when you find out something is going to require more time is the easiest solution :)

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

What would you do if this happened to you?

Me: Please get it done by the end of the day for our meeting tomorrow
Them: No problem!

*Tomorrow morning during the meeting*

Them: I couldn't finish it yesterday
Me: Then why didn't you tell me yesterday!?

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

Finally automating our order management system!

Why? I'm getting dreams about my sales guys emailing lower priced quotations to the wrong customer. Must be a sign it's gong to happen soon! :)

Hope I can be faster than that!

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

Have you found a tool that's so awesome and after spending the time to set it up and explain it to others for a few days, people just slowly stop using it?

Any system or tool is useful only if the people using it believe in it.

Or they're lazy which requires a different fix 😄

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

The gloves industry has huge water consumption and heating requirements.

We end up using wood as our fuel for heating and it's currently the cheapest source for us considering alternatives like natural gas.

Any suggestions on how heating can be done better and cost effectively?

[Varun Kumaraswamy @varunpk_]

That's awesome!

I always tell my team to make themselves indispensable. Maybe my choice of words isn't the best, but the idea is that:

1. Work on adding so much value that you're recognized (that in a way ensures you're not let go)
2. By working on something that's meaningful to you (you'll be self-motivated that you don't want to leave also)