For any startup, saying goodbye to its first “garage office” is never easy. We had to do that to our first official HQ, after 4 years full of memories and milestones. The office was at a half-basement level in a residential complex, conveniently located in a posh locality of Pune called Bund Garden road. The place was an Administrative office of the automotive industry previously. We began renting this office when we already had some momentum back in 2014 with some paying customers and budding products. I think it was sumHR 1.0 back then, while we’re building sumHR 3.0 now, just to give you some context.
So, on this occasion, let me walk you through the journey leading up to this new phase in our lives at sumHR. Following is a timeline of sumHR since pre-2014 years when we were in our ‘experimental’ mode. Enjoy the snippets and pictures below, it’s something we’ve never done before.
Pre - 2014
We used to work out of co-working space called Mumbai Coworking, renting a handful of desks for our alpha tech team. During those days, we used to have only the “Track” product for sale – basically, Attendance and Leaves. I was the only one facing customers, operating from home in Pune and visiting the tech team in Mumbai, every once in a while. I used to handle sales, billing and support, using generic email IDs with pseudonyms so that we can present a more professional outlook.
Here’s an old picture from one of our Friday parties at the Sutra Lounge – the terrace hangout of SutraHR team which too operated from the same office in Andheri West, Mumbai.
Circa 2014 - 2015
In September 2014, we launched a basic version of our first Payroll Module, after a lot of ups and downs, and some painful lessons learnt along the way. That’s when I had some courage to move into our own dedicated office in around October 2014. After we moved into this Pune office, we began hiring for Sales and Support.
But before inaugurating the office, we had to spruce it up a bit and change the old-office look and feel.
Our first batch of employees were all young energetic boys with the excitement of “working in a startup”. Have some great memories with these boys. Here are some pictures of these guys who joined me on this journey, initially.
Circa 2015 - 2016
Initially, all of us used to have dual roles – selling and supporting, at the same time. The rule was simple, the guy who brings in a customer also provides support to the customer. Of course, this was only a temporary arrangement until we had enough customers to justify hiring dedicated support staff. So, from mid-2015 onward, we began building a support team as well. And in no time, we had a team of 4 feisty girls who took charge of the post-sales experience.
So, our ‘Rocket Singhs’ from Sales team used to bring in customers every month, and the ‘Gulab Gang’ from Customer Success team used to take over from implementation onward.
In 2015, we expanded further! We added more area to our office space to accommodate the bigger sumHR team. Here’s how the office looked after the additions and renovations.
From 2016-2018
Gradually, with every passing month, quarter and year, we grew stronger and bigger.
During this tenure, we added a Demo Room to our space for holding our demos. It matched our theme of the space and looked so pretty!
We went for annual picnics as well..
By mid-2018, we have hundreds of companies relying on sumHR for automating their HR operations. Not only this, tens of thousands of employees are enjoying a simpler, friendlier HR experience on sumHR! 🙂
2018 onward - New sumHR is brewing
Today, as we move to a swanky new launch-pad in upscale Koregaon Park of Pune, our entire team is supercharged and excited as we set sights on our next mission – sumHR 3.0! Having grown to a 30+ strong team of friends-at-work, we’re determined to bring a refreshing change to the HR world with empowering ideas and value-adding products.So, here’s a sneak peek into our new base.
What's for the future?
Moving beyond the operational routine of Attendance, Leaves, Payroll, et al. We envision the future of HR in 3 layers: HR Information>>HR Integration>>HR Intelligence. And all our energies, are now focused on building not just a product, but also a platform. A platform that provides a wide spectrum of value, across the employee’s entire life-cycle in the organization.
From data to decisions, in sumHR, you will find your ‘Real HR Business Partner’!
If you’re interested to know more or would like to join us on this mission, just write to us on careers@sumhr.com
