Really challenging work - Mechanical Engineer Driptech Employee Review

4.0
27 June 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I joined Driptech with three reasons; 1) practice my engineering skill, 2) apply Design Thinking/ Lean Startup process to solve real-world problems, and 3) learn more about social entrepreneurship. I got them all while I was at the company. On top of that, being in startup environment, I got to do many different things, which to me, it's a really valuable experience. Seeing Driptech growing from a single-digit number of employees to renting out a huge facility in India, it's unbelievable. Driptech has gone through several phases. But I'm sure its mission/vision hasn't changed.

Cons

At a high level, Driptech's business model is really challenging. Economy of scale is key, for profitability and social impact. In order to scale to that level, it needs tremendous resources. At the same time, if the Mother Nature isn't on its side, that's going to be rough. (Driptech mainly sells drip tapes which are generally used in dry season only.) To add more complexity, at a startup, there's no existing process/system. Employees need to learn and build it, which could be frustrating/confusing sometimes. That said, it's not a generic company that someone can just clock-in, clock-out and wait to climb up a corporate ladder.

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Driptech Response
10y
Thanks for the feedback. We have seen our product dramatically change lives of farmers across the world, and we thank you and our other team members for their contribution to that. All of our team members have great opportunities to learn and have much more independence than they would normally have at a larger company. We have worked to dramatically improve transparency in the past year. Please do continue to share ideas on further improvements there.

Explore other reviews about Driptech

4.0
23 June 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Dear All Job seekers, My decision to join Driptech has been one of the best and honest move in my career path to be working in Agriculture sector. The exposure and experience I gained with Driptech has further deepened my love and passion to work in the Agri sector and start-ups. I learn many things like persistence in work, proactively involve in problem solving and became an good source of all information top any team members, taking an complete ownership of given task and be responsible for it. In Driptech, you will find completely encouraging, forward thinking and friendly environment with amazing co-workers to support and encourage you. I have seen Driptech grow and evolve in the last two years and I should say I am lucky to have witness and been part of this growth phase and I wish I would have really like to be a part of Driptech's journey forward and contribute more.

Cons

In an efforts to prevent extra costs being passed onto the consumer, company hangs onto unreliable and costly source of raw material suppliers and not encouraging company to launch any new variants. Need to avoid excessive spending on unnecessary overheads, which increases the company burden unnecessarily.

4.0
25 June 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

My prime focus during my tenure here was to suggest and implement improvements in Driptech's Sales Operations, including improving dealer appointment and management and Sales Officer Productivity. The experience was extremely challenging considering local language barriers and the need to collaboratively work with people across functions to create, understand and analyse data and identify development opportunities. I would attribute my successful tenure at Driptech to the people, their team spirit and their constant willingness to guide others. Easy accessibility to the senior management allowed me to get feedback on my ideas real-time as well as get constant mentoring from them, which indeed is one of the biggest take aways from my experience here.

Cons

I often witnessed reluctance from the ground force in accepting productive changes/ suggestions in the traditional system. I believe if we can strengthen the connect between the Head Office and the field force by getting greater buy in from the ASMs through trainings and regular company meetings, we will definitely witness significant improvements in response from the ground force. Improving opportunities for the Sales officers might be good idea to keep them motivated and make them more responsive to new ideas.

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Driptech Response
11y
Thank you for sharing your experience. I agree that there is more work to be done to connect the head office in Pune with the field force that are so crucial for dissemination of this technology with farmers. Our new Director of Sales is working hard with our Head of Talent & Training on just this point.
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