A Founder’s Story with The Founder and CEO of Kovai.co, Saravana Kumar

Saravana Kumar is the Founder & CEO of Kovai.co a company that is into the Enterprise Software and Knowledge Management Space. He has grown the company from a single-person entity to 240+ employees with 5 revenue-generating products contributing an ARR of over $10MN. Their latest product- Document360 is the fastest growing in the company with 1000+ customers since its inception. Under his dynamic leadership, the company has won several awards from renowned bodies like SaaSBoomi, The Economic Times NASSCOM, and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India for Export Excellence.  

Tell us about your childhood and where you grew up?  

I was born and raised in Coimbatore; a city located in the Southern part of India. When I was 12, I started working with my father. My dad used to take me to his shop frequently. I used to observe and experience what it is to be like running a business then. Now, when I look at it, I see the only difference is in the magnitude, everything else is the same. I was always passionate about computers—I used to develop small programs for training centers, gas agencies, etc. Being an average student in academics, I managed to score well on computers. In the year 2000, I completed my Master’s and soon got an opportunity to work in London. I still remember — I boarded a flight to London, the very same day I gave my finals, to pursue my career.  

How did you get started as an entrepreneur?  

I was 22 when I first came to London. Initially, I was consulting for Microsoft, Accenture, Fidelity Investments, etc. During that time, I specialized in a technology from Microsoft called BizTalk Server, a middleware product. While working with the technology, I identified the major pain points of large enterprise customers who use the product. Slowly, I started developing a solution around it. At first, I didn’t have any intention of making it a business. I requested my manager at Fidelity that I work part-time to focus on my passion for developing this product. I even spent my weekends working on it as I understood the potential and kept doing it for a year. Later, when I demonstrated it to a few industry influencers at a conference, I received a lot of positive feedback that motivated me to further develop the product. Somewhere, during the activity, I understood the potential of the product and officially launched it as a business. I always feel it’s those small things that I keenly observed as a kid along with my passion that organically paved the way towards my entrepreneurial success.   

What is one business lesson you would tell a startup founder?  

Persistence is the most fundamental aspect of entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, it is the one quality that is scarce these days, especially with this generation — they want things to happen fast. Believe me, when I say this, there is no overnight success story unless you win a lottery. Good things may take time to happen, but as long as you stay consistent with your efforts, they are achievable. There might be a lot of roadblocks as you progress in the journey, but eventually, you see the results you wished for.