Startup Story #70: SpiderG – Founders Ashwani And Harshal Simplify Accounting

December 11, 2017

A round of post-lunch cricket at the office, the mandatory 5 O’clock team sojourn to their favorite chaiwala and some banter in true ‘Andaaz Apna Apna‘ ishtyle, exemplifies SpiderG as a fun work space.

Co-founder Ashwani Rathore and Harshal Ingale explain how a ‘work hard, play hard’ concept is at the core of SpiderG.

“Taking some time off to have fun during work helps relieve stress and regain focus. Cricket helps develop a team dynamic while having fun. In fact, right through the day, you may find someone strumming guitar in a corner,” Ashwani smiles.

The duo founded SpiderG, to help small and medium businesses manage accounting and finances with a simple mobile and web application.

Start-up Essentials
A professional chat application, SpiderG lets you manage tasks, personal and professional expenses, apply for leave or send professional invoices.
Aiding SMEs suffering a cash crunch, the SpiderG platform will bring lenders and borrowers together.
The new version facilitates task management, expense management and payroll management with a professional chat feature that allows you to manage these things via chat.

“Harshal is a hardcore tech guy with 5 patents under his belt,” Ashwani says of his co-founder. “Yet he contributes majorly to marketing, business and finance. All thanks to his ability to gel his expertise in technology and economics!” he beams walking us through a day in his life at the blossoming startup.

“I usually start my day at 7 O’clock with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. Next, I chalk out my tasks for the day and workout at the gym. Then it’s time to drive my wife and kid to work and school respectively, before heading for the office myself!

SpiderG After Hours
While the majority of team SpiderG are techies, there a few part-time writers, musicians, artists and even a filmmaker. Ashwani explains that most team members love food, fitness and movies.
A self-confessed night owl, Ashwani reads books on psychology on his Kindle. He enjoys cycling when not at the gym or spending time with his family.

“First off, I touch base with teammates on the

necessary updates before I plunge into various activities such as planning the growth of the organization, sending updates to the board and the investors. I review my task list and then usually take an overview of technical, sales and marketing areas.

Believing in complete transparency, SpiderG has a flat hierarchy. “We trust our team to take ownership of their work, allowing them to be creative and flexible in their work. Harshal and I have believed in an open-door policy right from our inception,” expounds Ashwani. “Besides my professional activities, I carve some time out to hang out with teammates and have a casual chat…

“We also have a whiteboard where anyone can write their ideas and include every team member in any major product discussion. It has helped us get different perspectives on the same idea,” says the co-founder speaking of the company culture at SpiderG.

“Our team of over 30 members is essentially close-knit,” reveals the co-founder. “We believe in hiring people who possess good domain knowledge and are a good culture fit. We have a rigorous recruitment process consisting of 7 rounds.

Rathore continues, “Currently, we have 20 chartered accountants and 18 NBFCs on-board, along with two major products in the pipeline.

FramerG is an OCR tool designed to extract data from invoices eliminating manual work. MerchantG on the other hand, is a solution for e-commerce vendors to manage their business online and offline. Both are set to release in early 2018.

“Most weekends Harshal and I work on planning long term vision, future plans of the company and the direction to head towards. We are in a transitionary phase at the moment,” says Ashwani speaking of their product revamp and new products being introduced. “After 2 revisions, we are finally set to release the new version of SpiderG this month,” he completes with a grin.

#Pune365 Wishes Team SpiderG and the Founders much success ahead!