Ruby Pillai: Solving the warranty problem

I’m Ruby Pillai, founder of iWarranty. iWarranty is a technology startup founded in the UK. We are developing a cloud-based solution to eliminate paper-based warranties and manual claim process. So to give a bit of background about myself, I’ve been practicing law in London for the last 13 years. I was a corporate lawyer before embarking on my new career as an entrepreneur.

iWarranty originated from my own personal frustration dealing with a warranty claim and missing out on receiving a free replacement of an item by two weeks. So when looking very deeply into the problem, I found it’s not only a consumer problem, it’s also a manufacturer problem as well as an environmental problem. Globally 40 million tonnes of electronic waste is disposed of every year. Consumers, when they can’t access their warranties for a low-value item, they tend to throw away those items and purchase a new item.

This, in turn, causes significant electronic waste. So I did not know as an entrepreneur, I did not know what pivot means. With the help of Cambridge Judge Business School faculty members, we actually sort of moved away from some of the initial assumptions we made on startup. And we also found attraction in that approach because a number of small to medium-sized manufacturers want to work with us.

They wanted to digitise their paper warranty, and they wanted to show to their consumers the green initiative they are embarking on. But we took a very different approach. Learning from Blue Ocean Strategy, part of the course, it was really a mind opener for us. Because it doesn’t really kind of– I mean, the course allows us to think outside the box in several different ways in different stages of your startup journey.

Because you don’t need to disrupt and you don’t need to take out, you know, go after competition. You could actually work collaboratively with the manufacturers to deliver value to consumers. Again, that kind of thinking wouldn’t have happened without being part of this programme. This programme is extremely valuable for someone from that experience background, or you know, someone coming out of university.

It’s hugely valuable to be part of the programme, to take advantage of this journey, and to make sure that you don’t fail. At least you can actually rescue yourself, and you can navigate to a different direction, and you can survive in this really complex world of entrepreneurship.