An engineering graduate from University of Kerala college in the city of Thiruvananthapuram Taluk. Looking back, he has the Kerala Government to thank for having funded the students (and even faculty) with bright ideas to make innovative products for which the former was ready even to give ideas.Krishnaunni’s endeavor promises to bring revolutionary changes in the way engineering is viewed with students doing just what they had in mind instead of veering off into fields just to find employment.
The traffic light sure has turned green for Mr Krishnaunni and Trinity College of Engineering, Kerala with their breath-analysers bringing a breath of fresh air to the start-up scenario of Kerala.
An engineering graduate from University of Kerala college in the city of Thiruvananthapuram Taluk. Looking back, he has the Kerala Government to thank for having funded the students (and even faculty) with bright ideas to make innovative products for which the former was ready even to give ideas. As luck would have it, he found in Dr KC Nair his mentor. The founder and 1st CFO of Technopark, the biggest IT hub in Kerala, Dr KC Nair is known in the state for his initiatives to support the youth to come up with bright and saleable ideas.
Even before he cleared his engineering in 2015 Mr. Krishnaunni was an entrepreneur during his college days. As to how their successful breath-analysers came into being, they only have to thank the then Traffic IG of Trivandrum who having smelt alcohol in their garage-office-cum-workshop used to clean ICs and PCBs gave them the idea to produce breath-analyzer for his department. Their present prowess and products aside, the team is still known in police circles for breath-analysers, their first successful product!
Moving beyond products, they are today known to provide education in the most promising engineering fields be it robotics, Industry 4.0 and myriad other technologies. The idea to move into education came when he saw fresh engineering graduates either switch lines completely (into banking, FMCG, retail and so on!) after having spent a good five years in quality education that somehow could not be put to good use or getting paid a pittance while doing menial jobs far removed from the line of their original education. With a dire need to provide quality contemporary, future-ready, much-in-need skills to students (from both schools and colleges), Mr. Krishnaunni has from the year 2016 he started to provide industry-specific courses that has been a hit in the state with students.
With close to 30 colleges and some schools under his belt,Krishnaunni’s endeavor promises to bring revolutionary changes in the way engineering is viewed with students doing just what they had in mind instead of veering off into fields just to find employment. Taking it further, they are into product development training classes where training is so intense and up-to-date that invariably a number of students join them as interns and then full-time employees who get to work with cutting-edge tech projects that come to them from all over the world. As for employment otherwise, Krishnaunni is proud to mention that quite a few of their pass-outs have found employment in MNCs within and outside Kerala.
Despite being around for way longer than most, Krishnaunni still calls his enterprise a start-up, for one reason. He wants those around him (and also those who would care to listen to him) to keep things simple, focused and very productive the way he does. In some time, it would be a decade since they have been in industry, and with their share of success, he advices others in the space to not get carried away with the bells and whistles in the form of great offices and greater cars and all the fancy stuff. Not only do they cost money, they take away the focus into unrelated areas. Another advice he has for start-ups – besides staying in their limits is to not involve a third-party financier (like angle investor who turn devilish with circumstances) right from the word go. In fact, they, despite their operations for close to a decade that seem them being 35 (that’s likely to add another 50 in the near future), have assiduously stayed at safe distances from external financing.
While education essentially provides them a layer of jam, the bread and butter that comes their way is through software, with some being rather niche areas. The eternal tinkerer (Krishnaunni is a mentor for Niti Ayog’s ATL Labs), they have their own script-writing platform, own online radio stations (2 to be precise. One at London and the other in Kerala). Recently they got a software-related work from a group of doctors working for a Reliance-arm hospital in Mumbai.
While business is trickling on them, what is interesting and heartening is the state government’s response. The Kerala-govt grant of Rs 30 lacs for this product ALife is certainly a shot-in-the-arm that he says would go a long way in the state (and by inference the country) reducing its dependence on China for the smallest of thing. In fact, he envisages a day not further than 2025 for the same. Their trail of innovations has even seen them supply drones for the Indian Navy for which he opines that these would be fully “made in India” with the use of local produce. So constructive does he find support from the Kerala Govt that he says he won’t be surprised if the state has its own share of “chip” makers in the next few years. The state, he says even requests seasoned start-ups to hand-hold and mentor newbies besides giving worthy students a grant of Rs 2 lacs for ideas and products they find worthwhile.
Forever a tech-geek, his enthusiasm and energy has seen the enterprise win many awards during the short time of its existence. Among them, the most notable once include:
- Stood 1st in the e-health hackathon, an initiative by the Kerala govt where they showcased a robot for the government’s use.
- They were awarded a research grant for 3 years of Rs 30 lacs, a new initiative that came about in 2022. Of the 200 companies that participated, 5 were shortlisted. They won.
- Hospital project of Rs 30 lacs from a group of Doctors from Reliance Hospital in Mumbai.
- Projects from abroad.
- Designed and produced wearable devices (mostly for the old) that makes tracking easy
- Received order from Germany.
Quiz him on how he is supporting the manufacturing industry, and pat comes the reply: “By training young engineers and freshers on the likes of Industry 4.0 and IoT which in time shall see Indian concerns manufacture for India and reduce dependence on imports, be it from China or other places” And the future? With a likely employee strength that exceeds 500 by 2025, they intend to be at the forefront of Industry 5.0 where machines would be truly smart, if not smarter than humans. They plan to teach the technology besides helping industry build Industry 5.0 compliant (and ready) machines for variety of industries.
Krishnaunni’s words of wisdom and business mantra for start-ups in include:
The best teacher being experience, Krishnaunni has more than his share of it that have brought him immense success even in the face of odds! His thoughts thus sum up as:
- Robotics, automation etc., of 2022 is passe’, old and obsolete. Think like a pass-out of 2025
- Industry 4.0 is no more cutting-edge. That position now goes to Industry 5.1 which shall appear shortly in the form of smart cars, robots and machines. Prepare for Industry 5.0 and don’t look back
- If it’s a start-up that you plan, take a horizon of a decade when it comes to services.
- Discuss ideas with experts, study the market and ONLY then launch a project
- Study future demands and prepare to supply them.
- Approach an angle investor ONLY when you have fully functional and result-giving project
- Dream big but start small. Your office and your dreams have no correlation. A big dream if executed to success invariably gets a big office- but never the other way around.
