{"id":2037,"date":"2025-05-23T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/?p=2037"},"modified":"2025-05-23T04:56:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T04:56:26","slug":"008-hustle-memo-how-a-250-fix-sparked-a-million-dollar-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/008-hustle-memo-how-a-250-fix-sparked-a-million-dollar-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"#008 HUSTLE MEMO -“How a $250 Fix Sparked a Million-Dollar Journey\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“How a $250 Fix Sparked a Million-Dollar Journey\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Six months into my hustle journey, I had gone from making $30 per house call to around $2K\u2013$3K a month fixing computers and servers. Respectable progress, but still less than what I used to make in my job before I quit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No complaints\u2014just truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was averaging around $2,500 a month, which was enough to keep the hope alive. But this wasn’t a fairytale startup story. My Network engineering skill did get me to our first 5 digit deal from a government body, will keep this for some other day do not want to side track from $250 to million journey for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok lets get back \u2026. 6 months into the business, one evening one of close friends Jiten Mehta a gold merchant came to visit me he was one of the roommates when I lived as bachelors. We chatted about life, dreams, the grind, and how Singapore had become our common launchpad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he casually brought up a problem one of his clients was facing\u2014a jeweler in Little India called Arthesdam<\/strong>. ( Chinese owner Jack, The name “Arthesdam” is inspired by the Tamil word for “lucky” and reflects the belief that wearing gold jewelry brings good luck and fortune.) The name has to do with the story so giving some context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Arthesdam was dealing with a very annoying issue: Wrong cheques. The cheques that were issued by his team had mistakes Typos in vendor names. Mismatched numbers and words. Every error cost $30 in bank fees and importantly 3 to 5 days delay. Every time. resulting in unhappy vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, remember\u2014this was 20 years ago. Cheques ruled the world of payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jiten asked, \u201cCan you build something to help him?\u201d I didn\u2019t ask how to solve it. My first question was\u2014\u201cHow much is he willing to pay?\u201d Jiten said: \u201cHe won\u2019t mind $250.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That $250 felt like a big deal. I was 27. A solopreneur with no employees. No product. Just willpower. I said yes without having a clue how I\u2019d deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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THE SOLUTION \u2013 BUILT FOR $125<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I called Waqar\u2014my ex-colleague. A sharp guy with Visual Basic skills. His first question: \u201cHow much do I get?\u201d Typical life. I offered him half\u2014$125. He agreed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a week, we had it: a Visual Basic app with two forms. It saved vendor names, converted digits into written amounts (e.g., 3500 \u2192 \u201cThree thousand five hundred only\u201d), and had a basic login screen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Install at one of the computers at Artesdam office and he was super excited with the solution and we got our $250 with 10 minutes UAT (user acceptance Test) the fastest in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOOM.<\/strong> We had just delivered our first software product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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THE ACCIDENTAL BRANDING MOVE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While building our first company website (anbgroup.com<\/a>), we didn\u2019t have much to showcase. So, we added a \u201cProduct\u201d section and gave this little app a name: ChequePRO –<\/strong> Cheque Printing, Professional-sounding. Two forms with a fancy label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, we forgot about it. Moved on. Back to the grind in our 5×5 office that could barely fit two people and two tiny desks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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THE CALL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Phone rings. I pick up. The lady on the line says she\u2019s from Deloitte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me: \u201cSorry\u2026 who?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her: \u201cDeloitte. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re a global audit firm.\u201d Another call the same day. Singtel, Singapore\u2019s largest telco. Both wanted a demo of ChequePRO, the cheque printing solution. I froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhich product?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They both said: \u201cChequePRO. It\u2019s on your website.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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LIGHTBULB MOMENT<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I played it cool: \u201cYes, of course. How can I help?\u201d They wanted an onsite demo. I hung up and scrambled to check what we had written about ChequePro on the website and Googled these companies to understand who they were (yes, this was before LinkedIn!). As I stared at my tiny office space and thought about these massive corporations wanting demos of our product, I didn\u2019t know whether to feel excited or terrified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was this an opportunity or a disaster waiting to happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could we deliver something worthy of their expectations? Or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would we embarrass ourselves? My mind raced with questions as I tried to process what had just happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow this was a crazy day unfolding for me \u2026\u2026 have you ever had that mixed feeling and not sure which way to go\u2026 exactly there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me continue this in another memo as this has become too long, more craziness ahead in the next memo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“How a $250 Fix Sparked a Million-Dollar Journey\u201d Six months into my hustle journey, I had gone from making $30 per house call to around $2K\u2013$3K a month fixing computers and servers. Respectable progress, but still less than what I used to make in my job before I quit. No complaints\u2014just truth. I was averaging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-hustle-memo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2037"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2068,"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2037\/revisions\/2068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prabjeetsinghanand.com\/thehustlememo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}