Website – Setmycoach.com
Founder – Anirvan Chakravarty
Coaches usually offer bountiful services, and sometimes people start feeling overwhelming to find the right fit for them. The first doubt that comes in our mind is how we can make sure our desired pick is the ideal and efficient one? How can we know that the knowledge and wisdom they bring to our table is aligned with our goals?
Knowing your own requirements
The first step is, of course, knowing your exact requirements and finding the right coach accordingly. What are you looking for? Do you need an excellent business guide who has a specialization in online business tactics? Are you looking for a great life coach who can help you surmount all the impediments of working from home? No matter your requirement, you have to be clear on your goals and then start searching for the best one.
Now the question is how to find the best one?
The foundation stone for India’s first global platform(marketplace) for coaches
Anirvan Chakravarty, the founder of Setmycoach.com, created a unique platform so that both corporate and individual can choose their desired coach according to their sole requirement. They started reaching more and more people when the uniqueness of this platform and the social media began speaking for them.
The Platform has been designed in such a manner that you instantly feel connected once you are on it because of the easy access to your desired coaches starting from executive coaching to business coaching, life coaching, wellness coaching, image and brand coaching, leadership coaching, career coaching, entrepreneur coaching, NLP training, and a lot more.
The story doesn’t end here. This is not a money-making platform. But it can teach you how to make money in the future.
The bond between a Coach and the Client
When the founder started this brand, he never thought the bond of a coach and the clients could go this far. Finding the right coach is just like shoe shopping. Along with unearthing a quality pair, you have to pick the perfect fit. So always try to choose a coach with whom you can feel connected.
The accomplished coaches of Setmycoach.com have a great bonding with their clients. The best part about this brand is they don’t want to tempt their clients with transcendent visualization and exceptional graphics but the quality services.
Why do people trust this platform blindly?
Liking the platform is not enough. The clients must have a rapport with their coaches. A natural flow of conversation is quite important as it allows you to soothe your needs. It will help if you ask questions to comprehend who stands out above the others.
What made you strike this business idea? What inspired you to start this company?
Anirvan – I have seen people struggling at all stages of their life! Right from passing out from their college till the time they get success even after becoming CEOs or thriving business owners or established professionals. People at all levels and every stage of their life want to develop and grow whether they are successful, unsuccessful, stable in life, or unstable, but they don’t know how to do it. My business idea is born from this thought- how to help people in their struggle and make them achieve what they aspire in their life- make them achieve their dreams and goals! A coach is the best person to help you achieve your dreams and goals in life. People are unaware of their hidden or untapped potential of a coach. A coach lets you make you self-aware and ensures that you are on the right path to achieving your dreams and goals through self-transformation.
And like Bill Gates said, “Everyone needs a Coach!”
With these thoughts, we started with a great objective of bringing coaches across niches (categories) on one platform so that it becomes easy for the clients, both individuals and corporate, to engage with a coach as per their specific requirements. The other objective of building this platform is to provide maximum exposure to coaches to reach their targeted audiences far and wide. The last and broader purpose is to promote coaching among people and ensure that it gets its due in the corporate world.
Thus, India’s first global platform (marketplace) for coaches- Setmycoach.com was born!
When did you start your business?
Anirvan – I started working on this idea late last year, sometime in Oct-Nov 2019, and formally launched our start-up venture in June 2020.
What does success mean to your company?
Anirvan – For us, success means to reach out to the maximum number of people across all segments of the society, i.e., from students to corporate executives, from entrepreneurs and business owners to professionals and even home-makers, and help them in transforming themselves to achieve their dreams and goals in their personal and professional life.
How are you performing currently?
Anirvan – We went live sometime around 25th June 2020, and since then, we have been growing continuously, with more and more people showing interest in our platform- both coaches and users. We are targeting corporate in making them utilize our platform for their employees, and we have tested success there too!
The goal is to take it at the global level in the next two to three years.
What is the biggest risk to your company?
Anirvan – We broadly fall into the category of an Edtech company, and education (here behavioral coaching) will never go out of fashion. Rather the demand for coaching is on the rise in India- both at the individual and corporate level. If we can develop our platform with cutting-edge technology to provide maximum benefit to our customers, we can move forward and upward to grow bigger and better.
What are your plans for the funding?
Anirvan – As you are aware, we are a bootstrapped start-up and have been sustaining on our own, but now we are looking for external funding to scale up to increase our reach to people and develop the second phase of our platform. We need funds for marketing and team building as well. Few potential investors have already shown interest in joining hands with us. Just to let you know that our start-up venture has been recognized as Start-up by DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India).
What was the biggest challenge you faced during your start-up setup?
Anirvan – Since I don’t have a technology background, working on the platform from a technical aspect was the first big challenge. I had the vision and wanted it to be exactly laid out in the same manner on our platform. I drew the architecture, keeping in mind that it should be user friendly while providing all the details. I must say my corporate background, where I closely interacted with the technology teams, helped me design the platform. The other big challenge was to market it to the right audiences. Since we are self-funded, having a big marketing budget was completely out of scope. So, we have to find innovative ways to create brand awareness and also get people on board. We have covered quite a bit in that direction but still a long way to go.
What does growth mean to you and your business?
Anirvan – As I mentioned earlier, growth means making our clients grow and ensuring that they achieve growth and development in their personal and professional life by fulfilling their dreams and goals. And we are not leaving any stone unturned! We aim to reach out to the maximum number of people and help them realize that they don’t have to struggle alone in their pursuit of achieving a happier, purposeful, and a fulfilled life. Setmycoach.com is there for you!
How does your product stand different from others in the market?
Anirvan – In India, ours is a unique offering as only our platform has accomplished coaches in all categories. On one side, you will find Executive coaches, and on the other side, there are Wellness and Meditation coaches. Plus, all these coaches are certified ones with good experience. Secondly, we promote our coaches to the targeted audiences to not have to spend their time and effort in marketing themselves. They can concentrate on their craft, which is primarily coaching.
Where are your start-up services spread?
Anirvan – We are providing services pan India. And ours is a platform-based service so anyone having internet accessibility can avail of our services. Also, coaching can be done virtually using various audio/video applications. So, location barriers are not of botheration to us.
And as I mentioned earlier, in the next coming years, we would spread ourselves globally.
What does it feel to be the founder of your start-up? How does it feel to get up every morning and getting on to work?
Anirvan – Exciting!! I must say there is no better feeling than the feeling of having your own baby! Seeing it taking birth till the time it takes baby steps is just like raising your own kid. You just want the best for it! I am an early riser and for me getting up every morning seems like jumping from the bed every day to plan, strategize, and looking forward to a productive day! But let me tell you other facts as well. Not all days are productive! Many days when you wind up late in the evening and leave the office, you wonder if the day was well spent in terms of doing constructive work or something better could have been done or achieved. As they say- some days are diamond, and some days are stone! And entrepreneurship is a lonesome journey…well, most of the time.
Where do you see your business standing in the next five years?
Anirvan – We have plans for the next three years in terms of our platform development, product and service offerings, and expanding our reach at a larger scale so that we can survive by then. We will win! I am sure our efforts and hard work will not go waste. It will bear fruits sooner or later. In the next five years, Indian people will be well informed and much aware of coaching, and Setmycoach.com would be the synonym for it.
Who supports you to stand this business, and how?
Anirvan – Our coaches and our clients are both individual and corporate. Their continuous support and motivation help me perform at my best, and of course, the network that I have created while spending more than two decades in the corporate world has helped me a lot in tiding many challenges. And lastly, how can I forget the blessings of my parents! This journey has not been a smooth one but a bumpy one. But that is the beauty of this journey!
Some of the feedback from Coaches:
Ramnan Nanda, Leadership Coach– Setmycoach.com brings a lot of value to the coaches and the prospective coaches. Coaches now have a wider range of prospective clients that they can reach and can reach far and wide, and clients have a greater degree of choices in terms of coaches to meet their niche requirements.
Amitabha Sinha, Executive Coach– Setmycoach.com is here to stay for long, and the spirit with which Anirvan is running it in a multidimensional way is so very appreciative.
Sreedevi Raghavan, Business Coach – Thanks to Setmycoach.com, the spotlight has now been put on coaches delivering their best. It has also sowed the seed where the Indian corporate world started taking coaching on a serious note for implementing the complete transformation of an individual as an employee.
Suramani Sarode, Meditation Coach– I am very proud to be associated with Setmycoach.com. People have the wrong notion that coaching is required when there is some issue or trouble with an individual. Still, the fact is, everyone needs hand holding all the time, and people normally don’t know where to go and what to seek. With this wonderful platform’s setting, Mr. Anirvan has provided great help to people where they can seek help in finding a coach as per their specific requirements.
