I signed up to be MyGate’s first member over three years ago, when there was nothing more than an idea. The opportunity fit what I was looking for — the chance to build an intelligent solution to a real-world problem, to build a tech product from scratch, and to do everything it takes to scale.
Two weeks later, I moved to Bangalore. The founders and I sat out of a single cabin in a co-working space in Koramangala, discussing every tiny aspect of the product. Often, these sessions lasted hours, covering technology, user interactions, implications for the consumer, business consequences and more. Some of these conversations rank among the most fulfilling experiences of my professional life.
Attention to Detail
An outsider may have thought us foolish for not using the time to clumsily rush out newer and newer features every other week. But this isn’t what MyGate was about, even in the early days. We were all obsessed with building something that would scale.
For the first 9 months, we were just focused on building a great product, not acquiring customers. I’m convinced that this early investment in a strong product has paid rich dividends since. For example, much of the infrastructure we put in place in 2016 is still in use today.
Significant Exposure
All of this has come with tremendous learning. I’m an engineer by training, and though I was always confident of my fundamentals, I needed more exposure. I got more than this in the first year alone – working on multiple programming languages, frameworks, DevOps, end-to-end development. It’s a coder’s dream cocktail – and the bonus has been the fact that the product now makes the lives of hundreds of thousands of people much easier every single day.
From a personal standpoint, it makes me most happy to learn that someone I know has begun using something I had a hand in building. It happens more often these days, of course – former classmates or old friends will call to tell me that MyGate is now in their community. It’s a wonderful feeling I’ll never grow tired of.
Same Culture, At Scale
Even when we first moved into our second office, we were just 10 or 12 of us. The culture was ambitious and passionate, but also friendly. Even the youngest coder would walk up to the founders and make a recommendation. Some of these have even been implemented!
Even now at 500+ people, with offices around the country, it’s heartening to see that the same culture exists. Just a week ago, one of the youngest members of our tech team held a knowledge sharing session after building something unique. This is exactly the kind of company I wanted to have a hand in building.
Such chances don’t come along often.
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