Featuring The Enterprise World’s this issue of Top 5 Successful Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2022 is Anand Mahurkar, CEO and Founder of Findability Sciences.
The Company-
Tell us about the company.
Findability Sciences is a leading Enterprise AI Company that helps traditional enterprises worldwide realize the potential of data. We enable customers across industries and geographies to accelerate their Data-to-AI Journey and allow them to build their IP and data science capabilities besides executing strategically to derive real financial ROI. By harnessing the power of data, cognitive computing and AI, we empower businesses around the world as we solve their most complex and critical business challenges. In simple terms, we drive digital transformation in traditional enterprises by making them data superpowers.
Our robust suite of offerings cuts across industries such as manufacturing, retail, media, and communication. Findability Sciences has five key product offerings that include Findability.AI and Findability. DSL, Findability. Inside, ERP-Max and the recently launched- Findability. Accelerate, a solution providing the necessary tools and framework to equip enterprises to become ‘AI-ready’ and work towards expedient and efficient enterprise AI implementation. Further, our award-winning proprietary platform, Findability.AI, combines Machine Learning, Computer Vision, and Natural Language Processing to help enterprises to amp up their AI readiness.
What were the initial challenges you faced?
During the initial years of starting up Findability Sciences, starting alone and bootstrapping the business was not an easy task. Financial challenges were a huge hurdle, and scaling the operations without external support was also challenging. However, we focused on costs and generating revenue, which helped us create yearly profits. Findability Sciences products and offerings were at least 2 to 3 years ahead of the market, and it took a lot of time & energy to convince customers to use our products.
We kept our consistent focus on demonstrating value to the customers through proof of concepts by continually changing the business model and adding innovative features. In spite of these challenges, we have grown tremendously – from a single-person company to now with 150+ team members, working with world-renowned companies across the globe. Our perseverance has helped us attract the best teams and resources we have today.
Which was that point that triggered the growth of the company?
We began our journey in 2018, propelled by an investment from SoftBank KK that also structured a Joint Venture with us for the Japanese market. In 2019, we built an attractive AI stack and added machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision on top of the data platform. Soon after, we started marketing in India, Japan, and the US. We have a couple of customers in the Middle East and plan to expand in other territories. Our solution is being used by the many leading traditional enterprises- department by department, we are transforming their business using enterprise AI.
What is the reason behind your company’s long-standing success?
Our strong suite of offerings creates value for our clients by reducing costs, speeding execution, reducing complexity, transforming engagement, and providing insight-backed innovation and fortified trust. We are an award-winning Enterprise AI company empowering tomorrow through innovation for every industry.
The Services-
What are the products/services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?
Findability Sciences has a range of solutions that can help a business to become AI-ready. Even our latest tool, Findability. Accelerate is specially built to fast-track companies’ AI journey, building their foundation for enterprise AI and data adoption. We have an expert team of AI engineers and scientists who use the Avante Garde partner offerings from Automation Anywhere, IBM, Snowflake Automation, and other key AI leaders to get you on the fast lane of digital transformation. The other tool we’ve developed is Findability. Inside, that focuses on helping traditional automation solutions powered up with AI that subsequently adds value to the business.
There are a few other tools that we’ve developed, but when talking of differentiation of our solutions, we are delivering the best-in-class AI products that provide an accuracy rate of over 95% forecasted predictions; our ERP-MAX, for example, connects with your ERP software and derives insights that can help you forecast or predict.
Also, our performance doesn’t always come with a hefty price tag. We deliver the maximum value when it comes to cost efficiency; these are something everyone looks for in the market, and we make sure to provide the best.
How do you decide to take the company a step further in terms of your products/services?
The genesis of establishing Findability Sciences was to equip enterprises with ‘the ability to find information.’ As a first-generation entrepreneur and a U.S.A immigrant, I have been determined to build my venture in advanced technology like Artificial Intelligence since my first job. It was a difficult journey to start and invest in the business alone.
Despite the challenges, We have grown tremendously – from a single-person company to now with 150+ team members, working with world-renowned companies across the USA, Japan, and India, forging ahead. This has helped us attract the best teams and resources we have today. We are actively developing solutions where we can leverage the power of AI and data in as many industries as possible; we have launched solutions that can help businesses across sectors like manufacturing, financial services, online retail, BPO services, professional services, and others to churn out more revenue using AI.
AI should not be looked at as a monolithic thing. The quality of AI depends upon the data you feed into it, and that’s how the accuracy of AI comes out. We have some of the highest accuracy rates of our AI tools; that the team has worked on over time, constantly improving and learning.
Is there any new addition to the list of products/services? Anything exciting you would like to share?
We have a few things in the pipeline, we will very soon reveal what’s coming next.
We recently introduced Findability.Accelerate, where an expert team of AI and data experts combines the best-in-class partner offerings from IBM, SAP, and Snowflake Automation to build a foundation for enterprise AI and data adoption. This helps the client to fast-track their journey to AI implementation.
Leadership-
Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
I pursued Mechanical Engineering at Government Engineering College, Aurangabad. Right after college, I worked for a company that was a supplier to General Motors and Ford, where I met some German engineers who used to work at a German company called Weingarten and got introduced to computer science and basic software programming.
After working from 1990 to 1999 in manufacturing, I secured a regional manager position in a mid-size banking software company. This was also the time when I completed my executive MBA. Around the late 90s, when computer science and application were witnessing a boom, I found significant opportunities to explore the global market. In 2003, I relocated to the United States to support an acquisition of a small company in Billerica, Massachusetts.
Soon after, I realized that the inability of the customer to “find contextual information” from the structured data reports that his team provided was a significant gap area for many such enterprises. This gave me the vision to build a company of my own with a unique ability to find information that every organization needs, stirred me to quit my job, trademark ‘findability’, and start my journey of being a first-generation entrepreneur with Findability Sciences.
What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?
I am a part of the IBM Watson Ecosystem Partner Advisory Board and Fast Company Executive Board, an invitation-only professional organization of company founders, executives, and leaders who are defining the future of business.
In 2014, IBM Big Data Magazine honored me as the Big Data Hero 2014. I also serve as a member of the Forbes Technology Council – an invitation-only community of leading Tech Visionaries selected for the council based on their deep knowledge and diverse experience in the industry.
Alongside this, I am a Charter Member of TiE – Boston, where I am responsible for mentoring budding entrepreneurs. In December 2021, I was honored with the International Achiever Award at the Indian Achiever’s Forum. Recently, I was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 Award by them as well.
This year, Findability Sciences was named Microenterprise Business of the Year by SBA (US Small Business Administration). In 2021, Financial Times recognized Findability Sciences as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. INC5000 Magazine also recognized the company twice in a row as among the fastest-growing American private companies in 2020 and 2022. Fast Company recognized Findability Sciences for its World-Changing Ideas special mention in 2021.
What does your work culture look like? How do you keep your employees motivated and driven?
At Findability Sciences, we always strive to create a supportive work environment and motivate our team members. Valuing our employees and effectively communicating appreciation whenever one meets and exceeds expectations is one of our core values, and rewarding hard work and talent unbiasedly with incentives is another belief that we follow.
We celebrate diversity in the organization and are proud to say that at Findability Sciences, two of the three C-Level executives are women. 33% of our board consists of women representatives, and four out of seven (70%) delivery heads are women. Our global team includes American, Indian and Japanese citizens. Not just culturally, we are linguistically blessed, too- While English is the language we conduct the business in, our team members speak 25+ distinctively different languages. We embrace talent from all age groups, from 20 to 65.
With the right policies and work environment, there is a greater emphasis on developing a diverse workforce in the current generation. We believe that assuring inclusivity is the first step in encouraging development for the organization and society at large.
