To run a business and even to know if you are running a successful business, accounting software is required. Accounting software monitors the financial health of a business. Businesses of all sizes make use of accounting software. Typically, it allows entering in all expenses, such as payroll and equipment expenses, as well as income, such as income from sales etc., and generating invoices.
For a small business and a startup, choosing the right accounting software is even more necessary. Taking the approach of ‘a startup can better understand the problems of another startup!’, Mohit Mamoria & Mayank Thapliyal have started Owlgrin. This Gurgaon-based startup is making accounting softwares to solves real problems.
The Startup
Incorporated in April 2013, Owlgrin is the brainchild of two friends – 22 year old Mohit Mamoria and Mayank Thapliyal. Its first product Gaurilla is a cloud-based accounting application to simplify the process of bookkeeping and accounting for businesses.
Currently, they are into premium software that is delivered as services – SaaS products. What makes Owlgrin different is that they do not believe in making Indian replicas of existing softwares. With their first product Gaurilla, they have rather identified the problems faced by accountants and entrepreneurs and aimed to provide real solutions to them. Gaurilla was launched as public beta on November 11, 2013 with around 200 users. Within 2 months, it grew to more than 400 users.
A product at Owlgrin undergoes rigorous stages of ideating, brainstorming, market research and prototyping before it is launched. Apart from Gaurilla, there are several projects at Owlgrin that are under research and will be released as complete products soon.
What’s with the interesting names?
For the startup, Mohit wanted a name that went with web and mobile products, and hence came up with names with Owls. After crossing out unavailable names, they finally chose Owlgrin. Another reason being that Owlgrin was also available that could be used as their own branded URL shortener service. Adding to the Owl-like characteristics is their willingness to work all the time, “9-to-5 is history. We work 24 x 7 to serve users. Night is our time!”. The name Gaurilla came by altering the spellings of animal names.
The Industry and the Market
The web and mobile software is a constantly evolving industry, and with the continuous advent of new technologies to solve business management problems, it comes as no surprise that Owlgrin has a huge market opportunity. As of now, for its product Gaurilla, the company targets startups and small and medium scale business enterprises.
The Revenue model
Owlgrin has a subscription-based business model. For Gaurilla, the company charges a small recurring fee.The service costs $4 per month per business. Also, the developers who will be putting up their modules in the marketplace of the product will be paying 10% of the revenue they will generate. The company is open to pivoting in the future. However, it has no plans to add advertisements on its platform to add another revenue stream.
Investments & Funding
Currently, Owlgrin is self-funded By Mohit Mamoria who has invested around Rs 6 lakhs to bootstrap it. The company is now in the process of expanding the team and is looking to raise funds.
Competition
Most of the competitors for Gaurilla are accounting softwares like Waveapps, Zoho, Freshbooks, Profitbooks, Xero, Zoostr and Quickbooks.
What’s next?
Launching a mobile app in the coming months is now on the cards. Another feature under development at Owlgrinis an app marketplace for the users of Gaurilla called ‘The Jungle’ wherein users can customize their application by adding/removing features.
Going global is also a goal the startup aims to achieve, but that requires a lot of research. If Owlgrin continues to delight its customers like it does, we’re sure it will go a long way!
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