Software Developer Earns Rs 1 Cr By Getting Clients On Social Media

One of the most common conflicts that young Indians go through today is whether to start something of their own and be their boss or work at a company and enjoy the stability and security it brings to the table.

Manoj Ahirwar, an expert tech and software engineer, had the same dilemma.

Building products was something he had always liked. But he wasn’t exactly sure how to do it alone.

Talking to Startup Pedia, Manoj Ahirwar says, “I was in engineering college from 2013-2017. Even with all the academic pressure that is characteristic of engineering colleges, I figured out how to make enough time and build products from scratch. These products would mostly be in tech and would range from websites, applications, college networks, and landing pages for brands. I think most of my entrepreneurial abilities were honed during this period.”

After graduating from the National Institute of Technology in Karnataka, Manoj started his career in 2017 with a multi-national company in Bangalore. Later, he worked in an AI company, a budding startup, and other big and small firms in India.

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THE STARTUP JOURNEY

While continuing his job, Manoj tried starting up in 2020. The idea of having his own company, his products, and his team excited him.

He says, “I built a product where anyone would be able to track their net worth across all bank accounts. I released it in the market and it got up to 6000 users. This was way before RBI introduced account aggregators.”

When Manoj set out to scale the startup, he couldn’t get funding. He was a first-time founder and VCs just weren’t able to place faith in his idea.

After some time, Manoj decided to move out of India and explore the working culture of countries like Singapore. With a strong academic and a 7-year-long professional record in hand, it wasn’t difficult for him to land a job there.

He started working at a European investment bank in November 2022, but in quest of even something bigger and better, he couldn’t help but quit the job in July 2023.

At that time, Manoj was very active on Twitter and LinkedIn. He posted a lot of details, experiences, and pieces of advice in the software development field, gaining 1000+ followers.

But Manoj was now at a crossroads.

“Here I was with an experience letter from an established Singapore company. I could easily get another job in the country with a good hike. But the 2020 version of me resurfaced. I wanted to start up something on my own. And that’s when I decided I would do what I know best - build products,” explains Manoj while talking to Startup Pedia.

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He founded UniqueSide in September 2023.

The software development company struggled to get clients in the beginning. 

According to Manoj, “You are new to the market even if you've worked in the field for years. The difference is now you're representing yourself and need to take 100% ownership of your work. It takes a little time for people to trust you, but it happens.”

Manoj decided to build in public, form a personal brand, and keep sharing his progress on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn. This brought many people to his handle and the traction towards UniqueSide grew as well.

One day, Manoj randomly tweeted that he would build a tech MVP (Minimal Viable Product) for $3000 in just 7 days. 

That tweet went viral for all the right reasons, and Manoj got two clients instantly. One was a Canada-based founder and another was an edtech founder in Singapore.

In one go, Manoj Ahirwar made $6000 (approximately Rs 5 lakhs). He finished the projects, delivered them within the time frame, and incorporated feedback. 

This gave him the necessary credibility in the market and UniqueSide.io began to thrive. 

Manoj says, “There’s this narrative that goes around - that you need exorbitant funds and mentorship from venture capitalists to be able to start up something of your own. But that’s actually not the case. Once I started building on my own, I realized that it is possible, and there are people who start bootstrapped companies and go on to clock millions in revenue.”

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UNIQUESIDE.IO

Uniqueside.io is not a typical software development company. It operates on the mission to help new founders, who are struggling with tech skills, launch a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) in the market.

For the uninitiated, MVP is the most basic version of a product that is released in the market with just enough features to run it by early customers and get critical feedback.

Manoj mentions, “MVPs benefit founders a lot because they have the power to validate their concept, idea, or offering, without spending a lot of money.”

Today UniqueSide works with tech giants as well as small and early-stage startup founders.

From helping them launch the first version of their tech product to developing mobile and web apps, Manoj’s company does it all. Additionally, it provides tech content writing services as well.

In just one year, UniqueSide has garnered more than 15 customers across the world. The company generated a revenue of $120,000 (approximately Rs 1 crore).

Apart from Manoj, there are only two other full-time people on the team. All projects are, therefore, handled by three people.

According to the founder, “We’ve managed to build something that gets repeat business. A lot of the clients that I worked with initially now keep coming back with more projects. I believe this happens when your services surpass expectations and market standards.”

Looking ahead

In the next two to three years, Manoj Ahirwar is planning to develop an end-to-end software solution for organizations.

This will solve the gap of having to constantly hire, fire, and rehire software developers.

Manoj is also working on UniqueSide’s own products which can run on autopilot. The company recently launched a SaaS platform called BoringLead. It helps marketers find leads from LinkedIn.

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