“People always advise you against doing business with friends, but I don’t agree,” chuckles Ashok Viswanath, CEO and co-founder of Fullfily—a Chennai-based tech company building a comprehensive EV-as-a-service platform. Ashok recollects a late-night light-humoured discussion while at a weekend getaway centered around the concept of fulfilment. That night, the four friends of ten years—Ashok, Balaji Praveen Kumar, Ranjith and Premkumar Kasinathan—realised that destiny was to create an impact in the world together.
Circa 2017, Ashok spent the waning hours of his nine-to-five procuring fresh produce from the farmers and cooperatives to townships, apartments, hotels and resorts. “It was more of a hobbyist project of sorts rather than an actual start-up,” he clarifies. However, the project came to a screeching halt immediately from the overwhelming logistical issues. “Either the delivery partner refused to work at such a small scale, or the transportation costs were through the roof,” he exclaims.
Coincidentally, Ashok’s friends were in the logistics industry. They were unanimous in their thoughts about democratising the situation. In late August 2021, the four friends became co-founders. They recalled their late-night conversation about fulfilment. Fullfily was born as conversation