Why this Mumbai-based startup gifted cars to its employees

Financial analytics startup Heckyl Technologies gifted cars to each of its four top performers in a one-of-a-kind event yesterday. The early employees, Ashish Mandavkar, Ashish Saharia, Yogesh Bagle and Madhusudhan Muthoji, made a significant difference to bring Heckyl to where it is today since its inception, and were rewarded for their efforts with this gesture. The event was also graced by the families of the four employees, for whom it was a pleasant surprise and a proud moment.

Usually adopted by large corporations and businesses, such a gesture is not a common phenomena among startups.

CEO and Co-founder Mukund Mudras also announced that Heckyl has taken up extra office space and plans to expand and grow further.

Heckyl Technologies, our TechSparks winners from 2011, has reposed the market’s confidence in its product. Started in 2011, Heckyl offers a number of products that can help the stock trading community make informed decisions about their investments in the stock market. Their system is very inclusive and helps build a retail base and reduces the gap between brokerage and retail. The company had raised $3.5M from IDG Ventures and others in Dec 2013.

Heckyl has suits of product for institutional and retail traders. They created the first Big Data Trading terminal for banks in London, the institutional product is only marketed in Europe and the company has large base of users in Switzerland too. They soon plan to go live with an interesting trading product. Today, Heckyl has offices in India, the UK and Australia with growth plans to expand to New York and other geographies, as well as create new products.

Mukund says,

Heckyl has reached where it is today with an awesome group of people without whose efforts it would not have been possible. The right kind of people in a team makes a lot of difference in the growth of a company. Ashish M, Ashish S, Yogesh and Madhu have worked a lot and contributed immensely since the inception of Heckyl. Hence the co-founders and the Board decided to reward and appreciate them for their efforts.

Winner talk

Madhusudhan, an IIT Guwahati graduate, takes care of UI development at Heckyl and will complete three years in Heckyl in September this year. Madhu, as he is called, joined Heckyl because he was not happy with the corporate setup he was in earlier. However, at Heckyl he says life is more play than work. He gets a free hand to implement what he likes, he likes the variety of work he gets to do at the startup and he considers his colleagues as an extended family, which helps. “I can do what I want, when I want to, here. There is a lot of work and sometimes we stay up till 4 am. But at the same time, there is a lot of bonhomie and companionship within the team as well. I am happy to get such recognition for my efforts,” says Madhu.

Ashish Saharia joined Heckyl in February 2012 and helps the startup with data mining. Ashish has always worked with startups because he likes the challenge they offer to do something new. “I was in my previous job for almost 10 years and when the Heckyl opportunity came by, I was not very sure I wanted to move. But then the opportunity to create something new from scratch is a big attraction,” says Ashish, who crossed over to join Heckyl. About being rewarded, he says,

I thought it was an April Fools prank since the announcement was made in April. But it turned out to be real. It is an excellent gesture to show appreciation. It means a lot. Being software developers, I like the feeling when people use something which we build together as a team at Heckyl with a vision in sync.

Ashish Mandavkar is one of the oldest members of the Heckyl team, who joined them in June 2011. Ashish M was earlier in Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and now helps Heckyl manage the database design and development. He was glad that his work and efforts were appreciated far more than his previous work experiences.

Yogesh Bagle, a senior financial analyst at Heckyl, was planning to buy a car when this happened. It was a pleasant surprise for him when he got to know of his award. He says,

I gave my mom a surprise and she is happy and proud. I am very fortunate to be a part of Heckyl and see the difference in the last three years in terms of the growth of the company and even my personal growth.

The right kind of people makes a huge difference in the startup to grow in the right direction. And rewarding them with noteworthy contributions makes the employees feel a part of the startup team and gain trust in it, thus motivating them to work harder to achieve the goal. Heckyl has shown that it values its employees through this gesture. Such moves help the company and the employees in a mutually beneficial way, growing together to achieve the broader objective.