Spintly A Startup That Provides Solution To Eliminate More Than 98% Off The Access Control Wiring

Talk with Rohin & Malcolm (Co-founders, Mrinq Technologies, Goa)

You hail from?

Both the co-founders (Rohin Parkar and Malcolm Dsouza)were born and brought up in Shiroda-Ponda, Goa.

What made you start this Startup in Goa?

Rohin was settled in the US with his family and Malcolm was working in the US as well as consultant. They often discussed coming back to Goa and starting something of their own, but things didn’t materialize until 2017 when Rohin took the bold step to move to Goa with his family and took a job opportunity in Goa. Malcolm too,at that time was posted in Goa. 

They began researching ideas that would leverage their skills and knowledge they obtained so far. Although the state boasts of a number of engineering colleges, they noticed a lacuna of good opportunities and career options in Goa and all the talented engineers passing out every year had to move out to other states for employment opportunities 

If you weren’t building your startup in Goa, where would you be located and doing what?

We would probably be located in Silicon Valley building the same start-up there.

What’s your startup about?

Spintly, develops fully wireless cloud-based access control systems which allows users to unlock doors with their smartphones or wearable devices without having to carry a Keys or Keycards. These systems allow users to control doors, gates, locks, elevators, and all types of access barriers through a simple smartphone app. Spintly was founded in 2017 by Rohin Parkar and Malcolm Dsouza. Both the founders come with  nearly two decades of experience each in wireless technology and product development. 

Is your Startup about a Product or a Service?

Spintly is a total solution (hardware and software as a service SaaS).However, most of our  revenue will be obtained from software subscriptions. We started off as a Hardware product, but soon realised that if we develop and design our own software to run on our hardware, we would have more control on the development of the product as a whole, thus providing not just an improved, but a seamless and delightful user experience.

What’s unique about your product/services?

The Spintly solution is designed to eliminate more than 98% of the access control wiring in a building and empowers users by letting them choose the most convenient method of access from various options  like smart phone, NFC card or fingerprint.

IT empowers facility managers to access real-time entry/exit  data and easily generate and download reports in printable formats anytime, anywhere. Conventional systems involve heavy wiring and data cannot be easily accessed.

In a few sentences, what do you offer to whom?

We offer frictionless and hasslefree door access to users

Does your startup also serve International clients from and in Goa itself?

Spintly is a Global product and currently caters to the entire India market and also ships products overseas to US.

Do you and your team head to any beach/waterfall for getting refreshed? Which one Normally?

We used to have an annual Picnic outdoors at a Beach or a Farm. But Could not have it in 2020 due to Covid.

Do you have Happy Hours during the week? When? How does that help?

Friday evenings are usually relaxed when we arrange birthday celebrations, light  team training sessions, game nights etc. It helps in team bonding and taking off some pressure. But since the Covid-19 pandemic, due to social distancing restrictions, we have limited such sessions as much as possible.

What do you love about your team?

Spintly is built upon firm values that foster innovation and continuous improvement. The founders took a special interest in developing local talent from surrounding Goan institutes into world-class engineers. Their team consists of young passionate minds that do not consider what they do as just a job. It is a community where the thirst for knowledge and logical thinking is highly valued.

As both the founders have experience working in world class companies like Nokia, Broadcom and TCS, they have adopted the best practices from these companies. A lot of focus is given to self-improvement and knowledge acquisition. The employees are given freedom to choose their own style of working and no formal titles are used. They have always encouraged the spirit of questioning set rules and continuous learning and improvement.

Do you miss your other office locations while you are in Goa?

We do a lot of travelling back and forth with our other locations and with calls and online meetings a couple of times every day, it is easy to stay connected with our teams outside Goa.

How did you manage uncertainty, if any, in the early stages of business in Goa? 

There is always uncertainty when you are building a start-up. The only way to succeed is to move as fast as possible and fail early so you can fix your mistakes until you hit a product market fit. 

Any challenges that you are facing or faced while building your startup in Goa?

Goa as a market is a small market. So in order to acquire customers we had to set-up a small base in Bangalore with a Sales team operating out of there. Other than that Goa has been a great place for us to run our company mainly because Goa is Home for us and we have access to great Talent from Goan Engineering colleges. Govt of Goa has been supportive of start-ups and that has helped us well.

Anything else that you would like to mention about the ‘startup’ Business in Goa?

Start-up ecosystem in Goa is still evolving, but has the potential to become a global start-up hub if given proper direction and support. We can be the innovation hub of India mainly in the software space. With success stories like “Postman” which is a Unicorn now has some origins in Goa need to be highlighted. 

Office Gallery:

Website:

http://www.spintly.com/

Do you have a Business in Goa?

Click here to list it with us!