HYDERABAD: Four years ago, ecomZera.com was a tech start-up like any other, started by two friends eager to set out on their own. Being a combination of an MBA and an engineer, e-commerce services is what appealed to them. And once they took to it, the market worked its ways, with the result that they have been their own (sole) client.

Today, it has spun off into two entities – ecomzera.com and giftinginc.com – with a combined turnover of $2.5 million, a development centre in California and a strength of nearly 70 employees located in Hyderabad.

The two friends are Rishi Yadati and Vasant Kamathgi, both graduates of Osmania University College of Engineering in the city. One of them – the cheerful Rishi – spoke about how the company took roots and its growth path at his office with AndhraBusiness.com

Excerpts from the interview:

Tell us about your early steps…

I was always passionate about being an entrepreneur, ever since, perhaps, I was in class X. So naturally after my MBA from the University of South Carolina, Vasant and I decided to start ecomZera.com. We have been good partners. Our initial investment was around Rs. 2 –2.5 lakh.

What are the services your company provides?

Initially, we were a purely B2C [business to consumer] company. Now, we offer the whole range of services needed for an internet retailer, such as traffic or customer acquisition, customer retention, fulfilment, email marketing etc.

How do you charge your clients?

It depends on the project scope, complexity of the project, and other such factors. Our annual revenue this year was $0.5 million from ecomZera.com and $2 million from giftinginc.com.

What are your expansion plans?

Our current headcount is close to 70, including 4 in giftinginc.com. We are planning to scale up our operations to diversify away from gifting to other services. Last one year has been a period of internal change management. We are trying to restructure ourselves to cater to the needs of anybody who comes to us. We have identified our expertise. We aim to double our business by next year.

Who are your major competitors?

GSI Commerce, Escalate Retail – these two are big internet retailers in the US and so are our competition.

What has been the impact of recession?

Oh the recession? We just loved it. As Paul Graham has written somewhere recently, we decided to take it as an opportunity. It was absolutely great.

As a young IT company, how do you see the industry evolving over the next two, three years?

Absolutely great. According to Forrester Research, recession was over by Q3 of 2009. Companies are going to spend more on IT and e-commerce, and the big boom is expected by 2014.