4 Questions - Meet Lingaraj Mishra
Lingaraj Mishra of Yugma Inc. talks about how he's helping microbusinesses help themselves.
BY JENNY SHERMAN
As large commercial entities reorganize to remain profitable, a new business model seems ready to take off. Microbusinesses- the adaptable mammals of business-are rapidly evolving.These specialty companies, also called nonemployer firms, generally are home-based ventures with no paid employees, and net at least $1,000 in annual revenue.The U.S. Small Business Administration estimates there are 20 million of these enterprises operating today.
New and cheap technologies, such as free collaborative software available on Web platforms, allow microbusiness entrepreneurs to outsource jobs in lieu of hiring and managing employees.We chatted with Lingaraj Mishra,CEO and president of Yugma Inc. (www.yugma.com), an Eden Prairie-based company that lets businesses share and modify documents, videos, and other files via the Internet, about the microbusiness evolution.
1. How do you define a microbusiness?
In my mind, it's something that has been developed with a very small amount of or no capital to start with, taking from the microlending concept. Anything under five or 10 employees- and somewhere under a half-million to $1 million in total revenue in a year-would be a microbusiness.
2. How do microbusinesses take advantage of your technology?
A microbusiness doesn't have funds to send people to sales meetings. Advertising is really impossible with a microbusiness. Reaching out with salespeople is also out of the question.We provide a tool that is free in its basic form. The individual, an entrepreneur, can reach across boundaries and use it to reach a customer that would be otherwise impossible. If you're selling a product, it's possible to show it, you can take a look at it. You can talk on the phone or through a chat feature, or use the teleconferencing we provide. You can extend your desktop with whatever you have done with [a document] online; instantaneously, your [collaborator] has access. All that can happen in an interactive way.
3. What are the limits to this business model?
Actually, in our minds, there aren't any.We have people who have connected with this tool in South America, Hong Kong, and Australia. One of our users was actually using it to manage a project they were executing in Europe in three different countries-Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. The project manager was in Minneapolis, and the project ended up being implemented in Arizona. We've made it all possible in the virtual realm.
There will still be a place for [traditional] manufacturing. Regardless of where the manufacturer is and the customer is, everything is coming onto the same plane.These are the types of tools they'll use. It doesn't matter which industry or which application they're used for.
4. Where does the name "Yugma"come from?
The origin is actually Sanskrit. I am originally from India. We were thinking about the name of the product and our philosophy about bringing together people so they can work together. Suddenly, it just hit me. Yugma: coming together in a sense like twins, merging together, becoming a river. The confluence point of where something happens is yugma.