Going Back To The Whiteboard

Hacker Earth helped companies hire better developers, grew at $1 million run rate, employed over 100 people and had no trouble in sight. But after four years doing so, its CEO Sachin Gupta knew that he has completely messed it up.

- Sandeep Soni​​​​​​​Sandeep SoniSandeep Soni

January 2017, HackerEarth was among the largest developer communities in Southeast Asia – with around 1.2 million developers. It boasted of helping over 1,000 companies including the likes of Amazon, Adobe, McAfee etc., hire developers uniquely: hosting hackathons instead of listing job vacancies based on companies’ requirements. But right at the start of 2017 came his day of reckoning when during an investor interaction he was asked - how do you plan to reach $10 million run rate? “That’s when it struck me that it is not going to happen,” he adds. Two major reasons he quote for seeing the dead end – first, in recruiting business Indian companies nickel-and-dime for few lakh rupees. Second, community business growth needs time and patience but the market conditions in India are not conducive to it. “I didn’t know whether I should invest in building developer community or should I monetize it. You cannot do both together,” he further adds.

DO OR DIE