Rajesh Krishnan, Founder and CEO, MITHRON
Could you introduce yourself to our audience?
I'm Rajesh Krishnan, Founder and CEO of MITHRON. With a strong
educational foundation in Automobile Engineering from MIT and an Executive
Program from IIM Calcutta, I bring 15 years of industry experience from
Japanese MNCs.
Prior to MITHRON, I was part of another successful startup,
founded by friends, which secured INR 60 crore in funding and achieved a
valuation of INR 600 crore. These past experiences paved the way for my
entrepreneurial journey with MITHRON.
What inspired you to start MITHRON (Me &
Drone), and what does it do as one of India's top 10 promising drone tech
startups?
As a farmer's son turned corporate leader, I'm driven to
revolutionize agriculture with cutting-edge technology. At MITHRON, we're
transforming the way farmers manage pests, fertilize, and sow seeds with our
innovative drone solutions. Certainly, we want to lead the mission journey
taken by Indian govt to become Global drone economy hub by 2030.
Our holistic Drone Ecosystem seamlessly integrates
technology, expertise, and accessibility. For our Agri Drone services, we offer
a user-friendly booking system. Meanwhile, our City Drone and Drone Expert
platforms are accessible via a dedicated mobile app.
To further empower farmers, we're establishing a network of
Drone Stores across districts. These hubs ensure swift action against pest
attacks, paired with effortless booking solutions. At MITHRON, we're committed
to making drone technology accessible, efficient, and user-friendly.
What are your key roles and responsibilities as
the Founder & CEO of MITHRON, and what leadership principles do you follow
to drive innovation and growth?
To propel our startup's growth, I'm spearheading the
implementation of lean management principles to run this startup model without
much loss and foster a customer-centric mindset, leveraging continuous feedback
to inform improvements and ensure seamless user journeys. Also, working on
improving the operation efficiency to reduce the operation time and drone
battery life management.
What key skills have driven your success in
building MITHRON, and how has quality management expertise helped maintain high
standards?
Business model planning, Lean management and customer
centric strategy are the key skills that aided me in taking this business to
the next level. Control over process data and monitoring leads to continuous
improvement in business, which helps to maintain good quality management
practices.
What are some of the significant achievements
you have accomplished throughout your professional journey?
While working in Japanese MNC, I developed a new team to
strategically work on customer issues to reduce them by 70% and got awarded as
QMS Excellence & Best Continuous Improvement Team Leader.
Designated as Director of operation in the last startup
business , we had developed a very new business model concept that got funded
by a leading US investor to expand it to a pan-India operation.
In current business, we got the partnership deal with one
of the leading drone manufacturers to setup 100 Drone stores in South India,
which is the first time and a large step to align with India’s mission to
become a global drone economy hub by 2030. We have also strategically signed a
deal with a Malaysian drone company as a sole partner to launch our model in
Malaysia and other SEA countries.
Could you share the certifications you have
earned and how they have contributed to your career growth?
ISO 9001 Auditor, ISO 14001, and ISO 27001 implementation
certifications have given a clear foundation to run the business with a strong
process approach. Having gotten 2 months of training in Japan for the new
factory establishment, I got the opportunity to be part of a 12-member team to
set up the world’s largest factory of that Japanese MNC company.
Finally, what advice would you give to young
innovators looking to build a startup in the drone tech industry?
Currently many Indian drone companies are still dependent
on few hardware & software from other countries. There is a big scope in
this area where we could do indigenous development to sell locally for bigger
profit. This will speed up our make in India effort and achieve India’s mission
to become a global economy hub by 2030.
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