LAKSHMI M. KODALI
Chief Executive Officer, OPTIMHIRE
With the great resignation hitting the corporate world like a tornado, and the war of talent at its prime, hiring the right skillset is truly becoming a nightmare for companies. The gap between talent required and talent hired is also alarming, as companies struggle for months to bring in the right set of skillsets. Today's businesses need instant hiring, and Lakshmi Kodali is helping companies hire tech talent instantly through his firm, Optim Hire.
Founded in 2018 as My Remote Developer, Larry (as he is popularly known) rechristened it as OptimHire, which truly reflects the mission of the organization. Larry leverages his fifteen years of professional experience to ensure that his clients get the right skillsets to scale their business. In short, he has created a platform that features top tech talents, helping big companies end their search for intelligent and innovative minds.
TradeFlock spoke to Larry to find out about his entrepreneurial journey and how he is ending the war of talent for his clients.
Please tell us about your journey from LAD Solutions to OptimHire.
My entrepreneurship journey began in 2009 with LAD Solutions, an IT services company. Since then, I've worked with a wide range of companies and have observed how the tech talent gap is becoming a cost crunch for organisations. Businesses were facing recruiting burnout and huge opportunity
10 Best CEOs in India 2022
costs due to delays in finding the right tech talent. Think about the savings that would result from hiring the right candidates instantly, as opposed to having to wait for months to fill the job vacancies in tech roles. We began with a goal of bringing this level of hiring efficiency to businesses, and so we founded 'My Remote Developers Inc' in 2018, which we later named Optim Hire.
We bootstrapped OptimHire with INR 3 crores in capital and merely one landing page. We set out to address the gap we observed in the IT business with a small team of developers. As we persisted, we eventually succeeded in creating a solid HR tech product-our Optim Hire platform-as well as a database of 600K pre-screened candidates and a network of more than 2,000 recruitment partners. In just a few months, we were able to assist tech tycoons like Amazon, Jio, Credijusto, MI, Xiaomi, and many more companies in hiring the best tech talents. We even secured funding of INR 20 crores last year, and with a staff of 500 employees and 120+ clients, our valuation now stands at INR 100 crores.
?
What are some of the important learnings from this journey?
Personal and professional experiences along the way from LAD to OptimHire have helped me better understand the sales and marketing process, and it taught me how to run my own show. I used to only be a developer. LAD helped me become an entrepreneur.
