Pawan Kumar, Entrepreneur & Co-founder of ShipEase, a Gurugram based bootstrapped aggregator startup

Interview with Pawan Kumar, Entrepreneur & Co-founder of ShipEase, a Gurugram based bootstrapped aggregator startup

Pawan Kumar is a management professional, having experience of more than a decade. Presently, he is serving as Co-founder of Shipease. 

He worked as a logistics manager for several multinational companies, where he gained valuable experience in supply chain management and logistics operations and witnessed the growth of digital commerce from the beginning.

He was responsible for designing various solutions for the Industry and has been associated with the names like Delhivery, Ecom, and XpressBees in the past before venturing his start-up. 

Pawan Kumar is known for his innovative thinking and his ability to anticipate and respond to changes in the industry.

He has spearheaded several key initiatives at Shipease, including the development of new technologies to improve supply chain visibility and increase efficiency. 

Tell us a little about yourself

Pawan Kumar: I was born and brought up in a small town in Gwalior. I have spent my adolescent years mostly in the army cantonment area.

I have completed my schooling from Army school and masters in Business Administration from Delhi. My father is an Army personnel and is part of various defence initiates during his work days.

I’ve witnessed the very basic principles of life such as valor, dedication, persistence, time management and integrity since my childhood.

I am the first generation Entrepreneur in my family and had no business background in my last two generations.

After completion of my masters, I’ve started my career with a real estate firm as a Business Development Representative wherein I learnt the basics about Business and Sales.

Later I joined a company called Delhivery and was part of its core team. I would say that was the game changer movement of my corporate journey which literally infused the passion of Entrepreneurship in my Blood. Before conceptualizing ShipEase, I was also part of the companies like XpreesBees and Ecom Express.

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind starting ShipEase and how you got started?

Pawan Kumar: Very frankly, I’m not a devotee of anyone for inspiration, it’s something which lies within you. All you need to do is, admire your passion and timely act upon it.

That’s how we founded ShipEase. The basic fundamentals were clear from the beginning and I always wanted to build something which would support the ecosystem and reduce the stress levels of the SMEs community.

A small preneurs wanted to create a space for themselves in the digital commerce space but no one was supporting them due to small scale.

That’s where I got the problem statement and rest is history. We have designed our product in such a way where anyone can create an account by themselves and start shipping without any interventions and get the exposure to 15+ courier partners on 30k pin codes across the nation.

Kindly brief us about ShipEase, its specialization, and the services that it offers

Pawan Kumar: ShipEase is helping the small preneurs across the BHART and providing them access to 15+ couriers on a single screen with informative analytics tools which is decoding the future business forecasts. 

The portfolio of the services to address the modern challenges of virtual trade:

• B2C Shipping Services
• B2B Shipping Services
• Cross Border(International) Shipping Services

How has ShipEase managed to bootstrap its operations, and what are your thoughts on raising external funding?

Pawan Kumar: In my opinion, if a business cannot survive without raising the external funds then something is wrong with the business model itself which needs to be revisited.

Primarily external funds are required to perform the R&D for any breakthrough but not to sell the discounts. 

One should not raise external funds to save the identity of the business but to scale its profitability. In ShipEase, from day one our prime focus was on unit economics with positive EBITA and that will always remain in our priority list to commensurate the spend with value additications and that’s how we managed to be profitable being bootstrapped.

How does ShipEase ensure that its logistics providers maintain a consistent level of service quality?

Pawan Kumar: So we have internal performance measurement tools on courier level based on various algos which measure each courier’s performance on a real time basis and escalates in case of performance laps.

These key parameters include Pickup TAT, Delivery TAT, No. of attempts, DL performance in first and subsequent attempts etc.

How does ShipEase plan to stay ahead of the curve in terms of technology and innovation in the logistics industry?

Pawan Kumar: We are continuously striving for innovation & advancement in technology based on the problem statements of our audience.

We also study the future business forecasts and gauge the future challenges and accordingly road map our product to cater those requirements which helps us to always be ahead in competition. 

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to bootstrap their startup?

Pawan Kumar: No amount of Funds raised will make you a successful business man so don’t run after fundraising and don’t admire anyone in your life., just evaluate yourself. 

Make sure you are solving a real problem or fulfilling a need in the market. This will help you attract and retain customers, generate revenue, and grow your business over time.

Stay focused on delivering value, and you’ll be well on your way to building a successful bootstrapped startup.

Stay Hungry. Stay foolish. 

What are your success tips for young and aspiring entrepreneurs?

Pawan Kumar: If you truly believe in something ….Just go for it and don’t rely only on experts’ opinions. Building a successful business takes time, effort, and persistence.

Stay committed to your goals and work hard every day to make progress towards them. You’ll find a lot of people giving USELESS GYAAN, focus on building sustainable & profitable business.

Remember, success is not guaranteed, but by staying true to yourself and your vision, you can increase your chances of achieving your entrepreneurial goals.

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