In 2009, Emerson, a US multi-national was looking for architects and contractors who could do office interior design and renovation project in Noida – it was a challenging brief because the high-quality execution was required at breakneck speed.
“It was then we got the reference of Tushar Mittal led-Studiokon Venture (SKV). The real estate understanding, flexibility and finally commitment personally shown by Tushar during the execution of the project, impressed us so much that we roped SKV for another 6 projects, the most recent being done in 2017,” says Sandeep Talwar, CFO, Emerson.
Emerson is not the only firm saying this as most of the SKV’s clients hail its commitment, cost-effectiveness, and time-bound project completion.
“Transparency and flexibility play the pivotal role in winning clients’ confidence,” says Tushar Mittal, who founded SKV in 2009.
SKV specializes in providing end-to-end real estate transformation solutions to corporates, retail, and hospitality spaces.
Early years and SKV’s USP
Just nine years into the business, the journey of the company, where credibility and proven track records typically pose bigger challenges, has more ups than downs. The firm which has a 200-member team regularly been growing at 15 per cent plus annually. “In the initial years, growth was rapid at around 30-35 per cent, now we have become very selective while taking projects which push our limits,” says Tushar.
So far, SKV claims to do interiors for over 125 offices including Amazon, Google, ZS, British council, Adidas, Pepsico, NTT, DLF, Tractebel and Renew power.
Mittal comes from a very humble background and has been through many hardships in the last 9 years to take his company this far. He was born in a small village Rudawal (40 km south of Bharatpur, Rajasthan), where his father used to run a small grocery store. He left home at a very young age to complete his higher studies while continuing to do odd jobs to support himself.
“I completed my engineering from Kota and supported myself while working with architectural firms” adds Tushar.
During his engineering days, he would often dream of founding and running a world-class interior design company and scale it up.
After graduating, Tushar was one of the few people hired by DLF. However, his entrepreneurial bug didn’t die and he left DLF to start his own venture SKV. He never looked back afterward as he always wanted to do something of his own.
“Ther
e was always a burning desire to add value to the design and build eco-system through solving customer’s real pain points. I started SKV with a sole purpose to bridge such gaps,” says Tushar.
SKV’s USP, according to Tushar is the company’s process-driven approach and transparency in sharing cost estimation with clients. He claims that over 70 per cent of the company’s business comes from repeat clients and referrals.
Harvard learning lessons
Tushar recently did an executive leadership program at the prestigious Harvard Business School as he wanted to broaden his horizons and improve understanding of customer behaviour, automation, skill development and role of technology in the real estate business.
“The programme exposed me to the global best practices and emerging trends,” says the 36-year old entrepreneur.
“Understanding the need and psyche of the client is the most important for us. We provide customized solutions as per client needs”, quips Tushar. Presently, SKV is focused mostly on the NCR market estimated to be worth around 7,000 crores.
Mittal says that the corporate interior design market is big but unorganised in the country. Of late, many multinationals firms are entering the space but majority of them failed to find the firm foot.
Use of technology and automation
To scale up SKV, Tushar is working towards maximising use of technology and automation to reduce the delivery time and improve quality even further. Most of his focus now goes into delivering projects through offsite fabrication and on-site installation and building the next line of leaders in his company.
“With help of technology and offsite factory made solution, we can now deliver any size of office in under 30-40 days,” adds Tushar. In future, he plans to start Fitouts on rent and quick project execution for startups to support young entrepreneurs.
Aims to be Rs 300 crore firm in two years
Last fiscal, SKV had crossed the Rs 100 crores in revenue and this year SKV claims to have already done business of Rs 120 Crores. “In 2019, we are aiming to reach Rs 150 crore”, exclaims a confident Tushar.
Tushar, who admires Ratan Tata’s style of working has not raised any external capital.
“We have been profitable since day one. Being bootstrapped taught me frugality and how to manage cash-flows well”, explains Tushar. The company plans to become a Rs 300 crore entity by 2020, Tushar concludes.
