- Hi, I am Raunaq Doshi, Chartered Accountant & Lawyer and the co-founder of RNK Finvisors LLP, based in Mumbai, India.
- Throughout my career, I have always been ambitious and wanted to make a difference in my field in terms of growth and development.
- With such ambition and drive, in 2017, at the of 25, I took the entrepreneurial leap to establish the firm, RNK Finvisors LLP – a one-stop solution for all the financial needs to help our clients.
- Young entrepreneurship seemed exciting, but it wasn’t easy. Many rejected our ideas, thought we were too young, etc….Overcoming all of this today we help 300 plus businesses and have a team of 21.
The decision to pursue CA
This might seem unbelievable, but I knew from 6th grade that I wanted to be a CA. I have always been fascinated by business management and finance from the very beginning.
But it was my maternal Uncle, CA Shailesh Nahar who compelled me to choose this career. I understood the flexibility of this profession and how a CA can help an organization work through finance, accounts, and taxation while being equipped with management and technical skills.
So inspired by him, I started my CA journey and completed my Articles at a reputed CA firm, Chajjed & Doshi Co., where I gained a lot of experience in the field of Tax & Audit.
The turning point was when things did not go as per my plan
I qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2015 and I wanted to work at a Big 4 or MNC but that, unfortunately, didn’t happen.
Instead around the same time, I got the opportunity to work with Hardcore Financial Engineers & Syndicators Pvt. Ltd. in the field of Debt Syndication. This proved to be a turning point as I acquired extensive knowledge to work with banks and financial institutions.
After my stint in debt syndication, I decided to take up a role at a Start-up. So, at the end of 2015, I accepted a work offer from Probiz Advisors owned by industry veterans Mr. Anand Rathi, Mr. Adesh Gupta, and Mr. Sanjeev Bafna.
Here, I got abundant experience in the field of Finance and Investment Advisory and it turned out to be an important element in shaping my career.
All these experiences paved the pathway and compelled me to follow the entrepreneurial route.
In 2017, at the age of 25, I finally took a leap of faith and co-founded the firm, RNK Finvisors LLP.
As the saying goes, “what happens is for the best” turned out to be true in my case.
Building a solid team of 21 & providing a one-stop solution for Financial & Taxation needs
When starting from scratch, a lot of things didn’t unfold as per my plan but the undying enthusiasm to conquer and achieve kept us motivated to follow our dream.
I knew that to effectuate my vision I needed a team with the same inspiration and ambition. So, I started looking for expertise in all the fields to manifest my ‘Dream Team’.
Shortly, within three months, I assembled the 3 very important partners of my dream − CA Rishabh Mehta, CA Niraj Jain, and Mr. Kaushik Jain.
Once the team was organized, we rented an office and employed 4 other people. We formulated a financial model and business plan which was our roadmap for growth.
Various clients found it difficult to keep their books organized with taxation, finance, and investment. And, this discovery played a crucial role in reinforcing our idea of a one-stop solution for all the financial needs to help our clients.
We wanted to create a loop for unorganized businesses to manage their books of accounts in such a way that they can show their incredible growth in the financial statements. As an outcome of this, finance became easily available even for an unorganized sector.
Gradually, over the years, at RNK Finvisors LLP, we grew from a team of 7 to a team of 21.
Facing Challenges
Young entrepreneurship seemed exciting, but it brought challenges that we had to deal with on our pathway to success.
We faced age-based stereotypes given how generational values can affect the way a community perceives one as a young entrepreneur.
Some people instinctively judged us as lazy or irresponsible people, refusing to give us a chance to earn their trust.
As young entrepreneurs, we heard people criticize our ideas or second-guess our plans due to our newness in the market.
Another difficult challenge was many clientele prospects turned away when they found out that our business had little experience and for the initial three months, no clients turned up. So for a long time, we were shelved, when we tried approaching bigger companies. But we didn’t let our underdog status discourage us.
Despite a lot of refutation, we still stuck to our plan of a one-stop solution and didn’t let our age or stereotypes about our age prevent us from pursuing our goals.
We overcame every obstacle in our way through perseverance, enthusiasm, and optimism.
Timeline of our Firm’s growth journey: 2017 to date
2017
- This year was tougher than we had imagined. It was a year full of easy rejections and hard acceptances.
- We held meetings with clients to approach them with our working model only to be scraped away.
2018
- This was a year where our business plan was the same but we revisited the financial models for an upgrade so that we could come up with customized plans to meet the needs of our clients.
2019
- This year was comparatively more giving to us than when we started.
- Gradually, one by one, the clients understood our perspective and started accepting our working model once they realized that it was to help them with their finance & books.
- It was a promising year for us as we landed three majorly important clients.
2020
- During the time of the pandemic, when people changed their business strategies to get more organized, we started receiving more online consultations. This is when we were able to communicate our working model to our clients better.
- The clients also realized the importance of keeping their books organized and how it would benefit them if all their financial needs were served to them under one roof with their required customizations.
- In a way, there was no looking back from here on, our motto was out there and the clients acknowledged that.
Operating during the COVID-19 pandemic
The pandemic has been a blessing in disguise to us. Before the pandemic, nobody seriously understood the difference between a one-stop solution and a traditional firm.
But during the first lockdown, we were offering online consultations that caught the attention of businessmen. Soon, we started getting calls from big manufacturers to set up internal processes and audits even during the lockdown.
We started providing the business owners the financial backing they would require for their businesses to go large scale. We helped our clients with cash flow problems, managed books of accounts of all the previous years, arranged working capital for all, and planned their investments.
Also, we started working for corporates and industrialists which helped us grow during the pandemic.
Wrapping Up…
As the saying goes, “we don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges.”
Even when things weren’t going our way, we didn’t give up on seeking opportunities and kept pushing our limits which helped us conquer our first step.
Although we have conquered our first step, we hope to continue a fulfilling journey ahead with continuous upgradation of our services.
(RNK Finvisors LLP is a one-stop solution providing all the financial services under one roof. They provide a handholding approach to their clients with expertise in Finance, Taxation & Investment.)
Now It’s Your Turn…
Have you started your own firm? What are the challenges you have faced? Comment below and let us know.
