Introduction:
In the cacophony of digital marketing, where customer opinion could easily spell either success or doom for a business, came three visionaries armed with a solution to lend order to the madness. Vishnu Sharma, Mihir Bhardwaj, and Shobhit Singh were battle-hardened from the many skirmishes that came their way with the launch of a fintech startup. The trio felt there was a critical gap in the market. Their brainchild, Rannkly, would soon turn out to be a game-changer in the domain of online reputation management—providing a lifeline to businesses in the tumultuous seas of customer feedback and social media engagement.
The Catalyst: A Fintech Startup’s Customer Feedback Nightmare
Amid the business of India’s tech scene, Vishnu Sharma was drowning in customer feedback. With every gain his newly launched fintech startup made, the reviews, comments, and messages started pouring in across multiple platforms. “It was like drinking from a fire hose,” Vishnu recalls, his eyes still reminiscent of those chaotic days. The experience was not isolated to him; his colleagues, Mihir Bhardwaj and Shobhit Singh, were equally bombarded with the influx of customer interactions.
That was when the team realized that the problem they were facing was not a one-of-a-kind problem; rather, it was a commonly shared one among businesses. They both understood the potential of building a solution that allowed businesses to not only survive but thrive in a digital world. And that is where Rannkly was born.
From Idea to Reality: How Rannkly Came to Life
With their combined skill set in product development, project management, and business strategy, Vishnu, Mihir, and Shobhit all set out to build a solution that would finally tame this beast of online reputation management. Their vision was to have one single solution through which everything, from review management to social media campaigns, could be driven, but taking that to the cutting edge of AI technology.
The development process was quite intense; the founders almost worked around the clock in order to make the vision a reality. They did a lot of market research, interview potential clients, and so on, leaning quite heavily on their network in the tech industry for insights. “We wanted to create something that wasn’t just a band-aid solution but a comprehensive tool that could revolutionize the way businesses interact with their customers online,” Mihir explains.
Overcoming Obstacles: The Struggle of a Startup
As in many startups, Rannkly has struggled in the early days. The start was difficult because the founders had put their savings into the company, and raising new funds was the biggest problem. “There were times when we wondered if we’d made the right decision,” Shobhit admits. “But our belief in the product kept us going.”
Their persistence finally paid off when they secured angel investment worth ₹25 lakhs, just the injection of capital they needed to press on with the acceleration of development. The situation got pretty serious when the pitching exercise started for the venture capital firms. Many of them were quite skeptical about yet another SaaS platform in an already crowded market. There’s a lot to tell when it comes to differentiation, founders really had to fight hard and let Rannkly be at the front when it comes to an AI-driven approach and a complete set of features.
The Breakthrough: Major Support and Early Adopters
The turning point came when 100x.vc said it could see the potentials the Rannkly founders were seeing and decided to bet on it by investing ₹1.25 crore. Their investment became a game-changer, which brought them far more than capital, but mentorship and network opportunities. This vote of confidence opened the floodgates for a variety of new investors and advocates, including Riziliant Technologies, Microsoft, and AWS.
Using the money it had at its disposal, Rannkly only began picking up the pace in the market. It was the hospitality industry—one which was still struggling with the inconsistencies of spread-out online reviews at that time—that became its first user. Soon, word started getting around, and before long, all kinds of businesses were pitching to be beta testers of the platform.
Innovations and Achievements: Rannkly’s Rise to Prominence
Rannkly’s success came through innovation in online reputation management. AI-enabled review management on one platform opened a business avenue to gain insights, monitor, and respond to multiple customer touchpoints in real time. The social media management with campaign creation and execution processes had turned out to be rather facile, with millisecond-level bulk messaging features enabling businesses to reach out to customers at scale.
Perhaps the greatest of Rannkly’s successes to this day: His team integrated over 100 platforms, making this solution quite complete and realizable for businesses of any size. That, together with the straightforwardness of the interface, was the competitive advantage Rannkly got and the door it opened into quick growth.
Riding Out the Pandemic Storm: Resilience in the Face of a Global Pandemic
Just as Rannkly picked up pace, the COVID-19 pandemic struck and threw the business world out of gear. The clients of Rannkly from the sector of hospitality have taken the worst hit during the crisis. Its founders knew they had to adapt—fast.
Showing superb adaptability, the Rannkly team transitioned to remote work and shifted focus to digital marketing strategies. It also renewed efforts in product development to better position businesses on the new realities of customer engagement in times of global crisis. This resilience not just helped Rannkly weather the storm but also helped upsurge its positioning in the market.
Projections into the Future: Expansion and Innovation
Today, Rannkly is a story of innovation and persistence. With 500+ brands and 1,500+ clients on board, it has clocked more than ₹1 crore in revenue and is growing 10% month on month. But the founders are not resting on their laurels.
There are also already plans to reach out to new verticals – healthcare and education are the top items on the list. The seed capital of $185,000 is being poured into tech development and driving sales operations. As Vishnu puts it aptly, “We’re just getting started. Our goal is to make Rannkly the go-to platform for businesses looking to master their online presence and customer engagement.”
Key Events:
- 2021: Rannkly founded by Vishnu Sharma, Mihir Bhardwaj, and Shobhit Singh
- Early 2022 (estimated): Angel investment of ₹25 lakhs secured
- Mid 2022 (estimated): 100x.vc funds ₹1.25 crore
- Late 2022 –early 2023: Client base to over 500 brands, 1,500 clients
Conclusion:
The story of Rannkly: how a startup born out of personal frustration moved on to become a leading player in managing online reputations, is full of various lessons for budding entrepreneurs. The founders spotting real gaps in the market, being persistently patient under challenges faced, and being committed to continuous innovation were among the key enablers of their success. The need for flexibility and foresight to imagine future situations—ones likely including a global viral pandemic few could have ever guessed—only emphasizes all the more the need for resilience in these critical early days of any new startup. Fundamentally, the Rannkly journey demonstrates that, with the right idea, team, and execution, you can truly build a solution that will solve a problem of importance and change the course of an industry.
