The CEO and Founder of Beneath Analytics is Naitik Chandak. He graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. Naitik will be a greater leader in the future due to his outstanding team management skills, product innovation, and forward-thinking initiatives for research and development in cutting-edge technologies like AI and machine learning.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Naitik Chandak:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
This question made me do some self-analysis about my personality at work and outside of work. At work, I believe more in discipline and focus on my people, who are working hard to achieve the vision and company’s objective. As a decision maker, I have to be very careful about growth and be ready for the challenges that might come along the road. Having an introverted personality, I am not a party person, so when I am not at work, I can be found around books or tech gadgets doing my research. I like to play chess and like to eat pizza—I am vegetarian and I don’t really drink.
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology in 2017 and started working at a Bangalore-based startup as a Software Engineer. I switched multiple companies, and that also transformed my career from technical roles to business roles. I come from a business family and have motivation from an entrepreneur father who has started a business from scratch, I admire him for who I am today at this stage.
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
It all started during the COVID period. While people were losing their jobs, I quit my job and started with Beneath Analytics. It all began with having an understanding and a clear vision of how technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics can shape various industries. I believe the most inspiring entrepreneur I have ever met is my father, who had knowledge of business without any business or graduate degree. His motivation helped to form the company.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
I don’t really believe I am successful yet; success is not a destination; it is a process in which I believe everyone may have different perspectives. Some may believe getting rich & luxuries are forms of success, while some may believe making an impact on the world in a positive manner is success. I fall into the second category, where I believe being successful is equal to being helpful to society. I believe in simple life and high thinking, which I got to learn from my father only. No matter who you are; what you are; never forget that you are human and never let success be in your head and failure be in your heart.
I value my people more than anything else; I am what I am today because of them. They believed constantly in my vision and supported me in each and every decision, be it easy or difficult.
Which are the major services of the company and how do the company to get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
At Beneath, we are focused on developing products and catering to a wide range of services that include custom AI, cloud, analytics, big data, and consumer and enterprise applications. Our methods are unique in that they develop custom solutions based on the client’s requirements. For services, our business model is quite unique. We partner with companies and help them to achieve the next level by following partnership models—
- Development Partner
- Analytics and Implementation Partner
- Cloud Partner
- Technology Partner
For our products, we offer different subscription-based offers, and sometimes we let customers experiment with the product in order to get the right experience and expectations from it. We have 6 products mentioned on our website at https://beneath.co.in as B-Canny (AI enabled Chatbot), B-SDEA (Smart Data Entry Automation), B-Vision (AI enabled Productivity tool), B-Predict (eCommerce focused customer pattern analysis tool), and B-Senti (AI enabled Customer Sentiment Analysis tool), and some of these products are under research and development. Furthermore, we have strong business partnerships with Fortune 500 companies such as AWS (Consulting), Microsoft Azure (Technology), MixPanel (Certified-1st in Gujarat, 3rd in India), and Snowflake (Analytics), and we are constantly working to expand our relationships with other companies in order to expand our expertise and learn more each day.
Trust is a major factor that helps us stay ahead of the competition. We believe in what we can deliver and we deliver it on time. Sometimes situations might be genuine to get things delayed, but not always!
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
We believe everyone is different, and we all come from unique backgrounds. Our key to success is our people and diversity. We accept ideas open-mindedly and let our people take ownership of their ideas to nurture them with the right set of resources and environment. The fact is, our company is more about having an entrepreneurial mindset than an employee mindset.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
We are living in a world where change is the only constant, and change comes from innovation, trying and failing with ideas. Our strong belief in innovation comes from the people we work with on an everyday basis. One can definitely reach out to me and pitch their idea in order to keep the innovation going-on. We welcome ideas and shape them into people and enterprise-ready products by giving complete ownership to an innovator within the company.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
Well, I hate stereotypical structures that companies used to follow. I believe one can think and deliver as an individual or as a team. Sometimes we have to appreciate the uniqueness and excellent ideas that one can have regardless of what others are thinking. We have seen some projects where one person was able to deliver things on time rather than looking for or waiting for other teammates to believe in their vision or idea. Except for me – for obvious reasons. (In sarcastic tone)
What are your responsibilities as the Founder/CEO of the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
First and foremost, I am not really entitled to call myself Founder/CEO, as I am also one of the team members working with me. I would like to call myself a leader or employee coordinator where one doesn’t really feel awkward or shy about reaching out to me with any of their problems, be they personal, professional, financial or mental. I like to back my people up if they are falling at any given moment in life. I am a decision-maker for sure; considering my people all the time, and yes, that’s the happiest moment for me in my daily routine when I see people are not hating Monday at Beneath to login and work remotely! I am not bragging, but that’s true.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
Leadership can’t be taught by someone; you have to learn it by yourself only. To learn this, you must be willing to take as many calculated risks as possible, because leaders have to make decisions by considering the impact on both people and business—if you are running one or planning to start one. Make mistakes and learn from them. Let the world know you for who you are and what your real potential is.
