Vidya V, Founder and CEO – Faasthelp
Winner of the India’s Best Startup CTO award by Dell EMC, Vidya spent over 2 decades in Information and Technology industry where she worked with various multinationals and on latest technology platforms, progressing from a software engineer to manager.
Her latest venture is “Faasthelp “which is an English translation of the Sanskrit word “Evayadesk” that means very fast in Sanskrit.
Faasthelp is into artificial intelligence products, primarily providing intelligent virtual agents who can talk over voice, chat with customers and respond to customer emails within seconds. It analyzes what the customer is trying to ask the business using natural language processing and machine learning and processes that to give the accurate responses to the customers instantly. It can be used for sales, upsell, support by any business. faasthelp supports multi sectors like Healthcare, Real Estate, Travel & Hospitality, Finance, Insurance, Retail, Automobile, Services, Education and many more.
Vidya holds a Masters degree in Computer Applications and has also attended Entrepreneurship program at IIM-Bangalore, India. She shares some interesting facets from her journey in this interview with ABT below.
Tell us about your passion & initial days
My passion is technology. As a child, I was the fixer of many items and some times a breaker too. My interests revolve around my passion. After my Masters in Computer Applications, I got into an IT Company and worked for over 15 years with various multi-national companies and got first hand experience at varied roles that I handled. I feel the greatest opportunity that I got was my association with esteemed organizations that helped me gain insights into the industry, processes, business & many other areas; giving me a holistic exposure.
What led you to the path of Entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship was very much deep rooted within me, especially in the environment at my home. My Mom is an Entrepreneur. So, the flair for Entrepreneurship came to me rather easily. Moreover, there was no better way to give a meaningful path to all my learning & industry experience, than by starting my own company.
How was the idea of Faasthelp born? What challenges does it address?
Artificial Intelligence can do many things to improvise the human lifestyle. This is the first step towards using AI for smart solutions and improving lifestyle, processes and the way Business is managed.
Faasthelp was born to reduce the routine work done by us and reduce the burden of repetitive tasks, leaving the real intelligent work for the people, who have the niche skills. Our solution is most adept for industries, like, Medical, travel, real estate, finance, Hospitality, Education and any industry that requires sales and customer support.
What’s your business model? Where do most of your customers come from?
Ours is a SAAS, B2B model. Most of our customers are from USA and India.
Do you recall your most cherished milestone?
I have many milestones to cherish, because every small achievement or milestone achieved is a celebration moment in a startup. Having said that, there are two most memorable moments that are close to my heart. One was getting “India’s Best Startup CTO” award by DELL EMC and CIO association and other one was getting selected to be part of Blackbox.
If you were to do one thing differently, what would that be?
I feel I should have ventured into startup much earlier, however I am enjoying this journey. I believe starting is more important.
What would you like to achieve in the coming years?
I would like to build a Conglomerate of Organizations which work with the passion of a startup, have compassion for the society, and address the problems of humanity and eco-system through technology, in unison with environment. I believe there is an opportunity in every idea; to further it to achieve better outcomes; with use of technology, people & smart execution.