Startup Interview with Nikhil Jathar, Co-Founder of ZapInventory

Managing inventory can be challenging, especially when it is handled manually. If you are still managing your inventory on a spreadsheet, there are chances that your business might be suffering. Then, it’s high-time you streamline your inventory management processes with advanced software solutions like ZapInventory.

ZapInventory is built to simplify inventory management and help businesses increase their profits. Be it managing the inventory across multiple channels in different currencies or auto-generate purchase orders, ZapInventory has got everything your business needs. Besides, it connects seamlessly with third-party tools and systems to ease the business operations.

Right from helping a friend manage her eCommerce store to building ZapInventory, Nikhil Jathar has come a long way in this domain. Let’s listen to him narrate his journey thoroughly and have a knack of ZapInventory’s offerings in this exclusive interview with SoftwareSuggest.

In conversation with Nikhil Jathar, Co-Founder of ZapInventory:

How did the idea of building ZapInventory come up?

Before starting ZapInventory, I used to help my friend to manage her ecommerce store. During that time – first, we first realized a need for simple accounting software that can help her to manage her physical stock, orders, payments, etc. This is where ZapInventory was born. As we kept getting more and more clients – we kept it improving.

Today, there are multiple Inventory solutions available on the market. How is ZapInventory different from them?

Absolutely. There are multiple inventory solutions, but we are one of the very few that offers both – frontend to sell your products and backend to manage your products. For example, if you want to sell on various channels such as Amazon, Shopify, ETSY, WooCommerce, Flipkart, Paytm, eBay, Alibaba, Walmart, BigCommerce, etc., ZapInventory is for you. This is where we score very high from our old legacy competition. This allows our users to sell everywhere without worrying about inventory itself. Other than this, we also have an intelligent algorithm that helps our sellers to make intelligent decisions about their purchase and sales.

What ideological principles does your company follow to maintain its brand value?

1. Respect

Feelings of commitment and a drive to do even better. Without dedicated employees, a company is nothing. Period.

2. Integrity And Ethics

These fundamentals always help do the right things in a responsible, honest, and fair way. Besides, it is crucial for any business to have an entrusted relationship with its customers, stakeholders, and employees.

3. Innovation (Not Imitation)

Focus on being ahead of our competitors by “innovation, not imitation.” This motivates our workforce to be dynamic and come up with innovative ideas, which can later be transformed into successful products.

4. Drive

With the thirst to constantly improve, we provide our employees with a dynamic platform. Thus, they can work towards enhancing their skills and exploring their creative side; thus, growing as a team and organization.

Define the work culture at ZapInventory.

We are still growing and learning. This implies to our product as well as our work culture. Our first and most important property is to keep learning. Second – we always make sure to stand behind the people we hire, even (or especially) when things get tough, and we empathize with them. We are building a community, not just a company.

What’s the most important thing that your company is working on at present? How are you making it happen?

At the moment, we are working on our new product ZapSeller.com – a portal that allows anyone to sell online. It is great, especially for offline businesses that would like to sell online too.
We are also continuously improving ZapERP Inventory by adding at least 1 new integration every month.

Where do you see ZapInventory in the coming years?

ZapERP Inventory management itself will have all the functions needed to manage any eCommerce store. From the overall product portfolio perspective, we will see more and more products coming from the ZapApps portfolio with a specific aim to help eCommerce companies. We are also planning to release a simple ticketing app for eCommerce as well as shipping management software for eCommerce.

How do you measure success? What are your metrics?

At the moment, we are using the retention rate to measure success. The retention rate is also only for the paid users as we don’t have any free plan for the ZapERP Inventory.

How do you keep yourself updated and motivated?

I am an extremely optimistic person, and I prefer to surround myself with like-minded people. Most important for me, business is not about money, but it is our passion. I believe when you do something you truly love, it’s not hard to find the motivation needed to succeed

If you weren’t building ZapInventory, what would you be doing differently?

I will be working on something related to eCommerce only because I think eCommerce itself still has a lot to offer and can change how the businesses work. It can offer more employment and more opportunities for each and everyone; it doesn’t matter where you are located or how old you are.

Any piece of advice you would give to budding entrepreneurs?

Listen to your users/customers. As much as possible, talk with them. Be relentless. Don’t give up as soon as something “doesn’t work,” “doesn’t fit,” or “isn’t perfect.” You’re not going to make the right decisions all the time; sometimes, you will make a mistake or make a bad decision. So keep moving.