Savart: A consultancy that guides you in your investment

Savart is a platform for providing consultancy about investment. Savart was founded by Sankarsh Chanda.

 

The core of the product – the research algorithm, employs a combination of human intelligence and machine computing to pick the best mutual funds and stocks in the market. The combination of our web, mobile applications, network of trained agents and a patent-pending ATM-style ‘Automated Investment Machine’ make sure that access to investments is never tough and our efforts on educating our customers make sure our customers are very patient and thus give us a lot of freedom to manage their money with ease..

 

We got an opportunity to talk with Sankarsh, the founder of Savart and see what he has to say? I am sure his interview with us will inspire you.

 

 

Give a brief info about your startup?

Savart is an online-offline equity investment platform that aims at providing uncompromising advice whether the customer is willing to invest INR 1 or a million rupees. We are building customized solutions for urban and rural investors to help make smart, informed investment decisions. The core of the product – the research algorithm, employs a combination of human intelligence and machine computing to pick the best mutual funds and stocks in the market. The combination of our web, mobile applications, network of trained agents and a patent-pending ATM-style ‘Automated Investment Machine’ make sure that access to investments is never tough and our efforts on educating our customers make sure our customers are very patient and thus give us a lot of freedom to manage their money with ease.

While our team personally & collectively manages an AUM close to INR 100 crores, our online platform is fairly new and is growing rapidly.

 

 

What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?

A simple aim to help people spend more time with things that they are passionate about, rather than working to earn money, drove me to establish savart and spend time making critical investment decisions for people. Our mission stated is also a problem in itself. Apart from that, financial inclusion and literacy are also key focus points of our work, especially in the rural areas that our team closely works with.

 

 

Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?

I started investing at 14 and continue to do so. I was building investment strategies for clients on freelancing sites at 15 and published my first book – Financial Nirvana at 16. From then on, I started working on this project which took a reasonable shape only 2 years later. Throughout this period, I was consistently learning and investing into Indian, American & Chinese stock markets.

 

 

 Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?

Savart is based in Hyderabad. I and my team are very comfortable from the cozy independent house from where we work. Since most of us very also born and brought up here, it is easy for us to get our product tested with our friends and families and also achieve the much-needed traction from our networks here. Moreover, the city is now abuzz with a lot of startup networking events and conferences which open up a lot of avenues for us as a whole.

 

 

As a startup founder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?

I am very paranoid about work not getting done by the end of day and the team not performing to its utmost potential. I have an urge to push them to do better continuously. However, I am slowly learning that this does not work and there must be freedom to work at one’s own pace.

 

 

 Who are your competitions and how are you better than them?

We co-exist old-school wealth managers with billions of dollars in AUM and simultaneously with modern tech-based investment platforms. Since the market potential and size of the invest-able funds in India is so huge, it would be a mistake to call them competition. There is a lot to thrive on, for everyone.

 

 

How hard is it to have a work life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?

I hardly spend time for anything else on a daily basis. However, I am completely conscious of it and know that there is nothing better for me to do at this point in time. I am parallelly making efforts to put the organization in an auto-pilot mode so that it can function and grow by itself and not just be dependent on one person.

I maintain a dashboard to track all my works on a daily basis and then keep ticking things off it.

Nevertheless, it is so much fun to drive a company and learn so many things each day. So, I guess work and fun are balanced as it is.

 

 

Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you are looking to raise.

Yes, we have raised an undisclosed amount of funding from seed investors and are looking to raise a little more sometime in the next 3 months. We may also delay that and actually go for a VC round by year end if things turn out well.

 

 

What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?

The biggest misconception that people have about my work is that all startups become billion-dollar companies very quickly. I find it ridiculous and try to clarify to most people that it is a slow and steady journey towards it and valuation does not drive our work.

 

 

What gets you excited about this company?

The fact that we are taking the concept of equity investment to people who have never invested into anything in their lives. Just imagining the way that these investments are going to help achieve their life goals and give them financial freedom gets me excited. Each smile added to our customer’s lives gets us to work harder.

 

 

Tell us how a day in your life looks like? Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.

Wake up at around 4:30 AM (this keeps changing) followed by some mild exercise and breakfast. I reach office by around 5:30 AM and have a look at my inbox and my ‘works to do’ dashboard. I then make some calls and greet my colleagues as they come in. Meetings, calls, making some daily investments and tracking customer funds extend to around 7 PM in the evening with breaks mid-way for lunch. I then go home to continue work and make some late-night calls especially with my marketing guys & designers, who often tend to work in the night.

 

 

Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?

I met my investment and financial experts through my mentors at our incubator hosted by the Times of India group. I met our research head when I was writing an exam to get my Research Analyst certificate. He was the invigilator there ????. The remaining members were referred by these members themselves or were hired among extended circles of my close friends.

 

 

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