How I Am Changing The World (by inventing the solution to the age-old chore of making flatbreads)

When Pranoti Nagarkar was 25, she had an engineering job away from home which left her with very little time to cook… and that gave her a big idea. 5 years and quite a few failed prototypes later, she successfully invented and brought to market the world’s first roti-making machine—the Rotimatic—which has since sold more than 60K units and served up more than 66M pieces of flatbread. We grabbed a few minutes with her to find out what she had to do to turn her idea into a revolutionary household product.

Q: Hi Pranoti! Thanks for taking time out of your crazy schedule to do this! First off, can you tell us a little about this machine you invented to make flatbreads. What does it do and how does it work?

A: Rotimatic is the name of the machine and it’s essentially a robot that makes any kind of flat bread automatically. The user just puts in the flour and the water, puts in the preference—how they want it: thickness, roast level and what sort of flour thereby defining the flatbread output—and that’s about it. The machine mixes, measures the flour, kneads the dough with water and oil, makes the dough balls, flattens the dough ball into discs and after that roasts it to dispense puffed and hot flatbreads in 90 seconds.

Can you describe the precise moment at which you got the idea to invent that machine? When was it, where were you and what was going on in your life at that time?

It was the beginning of 2008. By then, I had completed two years of my first job after graduating as a mechanical engineer, I was working as a product designer and all through the two years, I was constantly thinking about a big problem that I was surrounded with and coming up with an idea or product for a solution. I wanted to fix something with a machine. I wanted to build a product and invent a solution that would address a larger problem. That was the time when coincidentally in my personal life too, I experienced a challenge in cooking food after wee hours of working, especially after Rishi and I got married. We started cooking at home and we realised to be healthy you have to eat healthy, and to eat healthy you have to cook at home because that is when you have control over the ingredients. And, as an Indian, roti-making is a staple and yet, so difficult to make. So, there it was. The big problem, an age-old problem nobody had looked into—there were attempts but only on an industrial scale and nobody had done a home appliance in this case. So that was it—the big idea—a roti-making appliance. It was beginning of 2008 when we had this idea and in June 2008, we formed the company.

As a kid, I had this book called ‘Who Invents What’—about who is the inventor of what, the who’s who or the great people in the world who had life-changing inventions. I would read about them and I would get really inspired; I always felt that if I could do something to fix a big problem in the world, I would feel fulfilled. That would be my purpose. So as a kid, that was what I dreamt of and I grew up with the idea of building a future around those aspirations.

How is it you know how to invent a functioning machine? Was it something you learned in school or something you picked up on your own?

Both my parents had a very engineering outlook. My father was a mechanical engineer, my mum was an architect so they both had this hands-on, spatial/physical sense of engineering. I grew up in that environment, building stuff from arts and crafts to engineering stuff so when I went into mechanical engineering, I was always looking out for what I could do too. I worked in the industry also, as a product design engineer, and so I knew how to take a paper concept all the way to manufacturing—because that’s the real world challenge. I learned that, then along the way when this problem was lurking in my head, I realised this is a great and big idea for which a great product can be worked upon, thereby embarking on the journey that would lead to Rotimatic.

How difficult or easy was it for you to invent the Rotimatic? What was the process like and where did you build it?

Inventing a product like Rotimatic, completely new product without any benchmarks to follow was indeed a huge endeavour. I was like this tiny person standing in front of a big mountain when I began designing and conceptualising it—I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The machine had to have so many moving parts—it needed to deal with sticky dough, it’s food, there is chemistry, there’s art, there’s science—all of it had to come together and it had to be a certain price point. There were many complexities to it but I knew this and I was willing to do it, one step at the time because it was such a big problem—if I would be able to crack it, it would be a big one! So, yeah, the process was one step at a time.

How then did you manage to get the finances, resources and support to have your Rotimatic manufactured at an industrial level?

First three years was pure R&D, which was completely self-funded with whatever savings we had. Rishi was doing his first start-up as well so when I decided to quit my job and start Rotimatic, we had very little money. That’s another other funny story. But as we had a prototype to show to investors, we started looking for private investment. So, we got our first angel investment which funded us to the next level and we built another level of prototype which got us to another level of funding. Resources wise, we started hiring a team and putting together what was needed from an engineering point of view. Then we decide to manufacture the product in Malaysia through a contract manufacturer. Everything else was done in-house, from the concept to the R&D to the design building.

You always learn on the job. You’ve never done it before but what is it you’re trying to do? You’re trying to tell them: This is my dream, this is a big problem, if we crack it there’s going to be a lot of benefits, not just to the people who use the product but financially also, because nobody has done this before. That’s how I sold the idea to investors. And I did go for a business plan competition. Start-Up@Singapore was like a strategy for me because the thought was that if I win it, I’ll get $40,000—which was quite substantial at that time—and you get some credibility.

It seems not many women aspire to be inventors, and yet you believed you could be, then you got it done. How? Was there something in your upbringing or early experiences that made you that way?

Absolutely. I think growing up, somehow, my parents almost encouraged us to be rebels. Everything was “you can’t assume anything so you must question, you must be curious, you must enquire.” So that was the upbringing my parents gave me. And my brother and I are so blessed to have them because, as kids, we were brewing with questions and we only wanted answers, and my parents entertained all those questions. They never really gave up or told us that those were enough questions. Secondly, as a woman, I never felt like there was some advantage or disadvantage—either way there was none. In fact, mostly I would say there was always an advantage because you get to be the first one to do it.

Did being a woman pose unique challenges in your quest to get the Rotimatic made? How did you overcome those challenges if so?

There were minor challenges and there will be biases people have because there will be their own pre-existing conditions. They wouldn’t think of me as an engineer, they will assume I am the sales and the marketing person, not the engineer who designed the product. Those were some biases I had to fight but once you start talking, once you start talking technical facts, they understood and would think, “This person understands and knows what they are talking about.” Technical know-how is very key. If you’re technically sound, people understand that once you talk.

The other way I broke certain barriers was by a little bit of projection—I rode a motorbike, a really big, heavy cruiser bike, and of course, I enjoyed it and it was very convenient for me, but I very smartly sometimes took it to the meetings when I felt I needed to break the gender biases. This would essentially be to prove a point—‘Don’t assume that I am a fragile little woman or a fragile person.’

What was your routine like when you were inventing the Rotimatic? How did you juggle home life and work life then?

Back then, life was simple. It was all merged—work and life together—because we didn’t have kids, Rishi and I, both dedicated our lives to the start-ups we were working on and that was life for us. The fun part was the engineering of Rotimatic. It’s like when your inventing, you’re working with all these materials, you’re fixated on the small issues everywhere: How am I to move the robot from point A to point B; once that’s done you move on to the next like, now how do I make the Roti puff… Every day you’re fixing these challenges so… life used to be full of sleepless nights. But, great ones.

What about now? What is your routine like? How has the Rotimatic improved your life?

(Laughs) Rotimatic, of course we use it every day—we are the first users of the Rotimatic. But now, I’m a mum of two kids—I just had a baby a few months back—so right now, time spent is all around my older kid and the baby. On a normal day, both Rishi and I have this evil tussle of “Whose idea is better?”—and we enjoy that, constantly talking about different problems—“Okay, so what can we do?”—to this idea and how we should execute it? Still having fun.

How were weekends when you were inventing the Rotimatic and how are they like now?

At that time, weekday, weekend, it was the same thing, there was no real difference because it’s your own baby you’re working on. Now, weekends are dedicated for kids. So we take our son out for different activities, provide him with the exposure and experiences that will enhance his outlook towards life.

What advice do you have for women, and men, hoping to invent machines to improve lives?

The biggest thing that worked for me was that I personally felt the pain myself. So I knew exactly what I needed as a user. To invent, I went with my gut and my own know-how. I understood the problem really well but what really is the cause and what would I like as a user? Would I want to compromise on health for a convenient product? No. I wanted both. I wanted convenience but I also wanted to make sure the flour I use to make rotis by hand is the same flour I put in there, that it’s the same instant fresh process. So real world experiences are important. Thinking and being the consumer first really helps. I think that would be the advice if you’re going to solve a problem: Make sure you understand the problem. Don’t borrow the problem from someone and then work on it.

Can you map out a recommended plan of action for them to follow? Where should they start and how should they proceed?

I think the number one thing is that for any problem you’re trying to solve, pick a problem that has the requirement of a certain skill set that you can fulfil. For me, it was Rotimatic as a hardware product, because I was a mechanical engineer and knew product design and how to take it all the way to manufacturing and launching. If it were service-based, let’s say I make rotis by hand and deliver it to your house, then it would need a different kind of skill set. So for me, the advice I would give myself is that if you have a certain skill set, you make sure that the problem comes from that skill set. Because then, you are in control. Therefore, you pick the problem accordingly.

What key things/people/situations enabled you to successfully invent the Rotimatic, in your opinion?

I think the key thing would be the equation that Rishi and I share as the inventors of Rotimatic. It was the brainstorming we would both do—he is the software guy and I’m the hardware person—so the amalgamation of the ideas that would come from my end and his end, and the know-how that we had in terms of experience, would always enhance the solution. And of course, the financing is so key—without that, you can’t go anywhere.

How did successfully inventing and bringing the Rotimatic to market change you as a person? Did you learn anything through the process that you didn’t know before?

There were many things we had to pick up on the job. The engineering phase, I was quite confident of—as an inventor, you fail and then you try again; you keep trying until you succeed—I was pretty confident of that phase. But then, once it comes to the launching of the product, the financing, and the operational phase of it, all that had to be picked up and learnt on the job. I had no idea, I had no experience whatsoever. So, the way we launched Rotimatic was completely in Kickstarter style: Online, we used a social media platform, built community around users. Customer support was such a big piece and for such a technical product, it wasn’t easy. So, I think those were the challenges we had to face but we learned along the way, by talking to the right people and by involving the right people.

If you could go back and replay your entire process of inventing the Rotimatic all over again, what would you do differently?

The only thing I can think of is that I wish I knew a better hiring process that would enable us to gather the right people at the right time. I think that’s a challenge—to get the right people—because everybody has to be equally driven and motivated but not just that—that’s not enough for start-ups—you also need a very strong skill set. It’s very hard to find people who have both and that was something that was very difficult. You use your common sense, you put a few tests and case studies and some interviews and everything else is then left to luck. (laughs) Honestly, it’s still a trial and error but we’re hoping that in the next start-up, at least we’ll have a better start. (laughs again)

What were you like as a child? What about as a teenager and young adult? How did you change at every decade? Or did you not change?

I was a very aware child. I was quite aware of a lot of nuances and subtleties of life, aware of the thought process for example, which I remember now, though obviously I don’t know how much of it is accurate. As a kid, I knew—okay this is my thought that is making me do a certain thing. So I would actually work on my thought—“Okay, why am I thinking like that?” I was a very thinking kind of child, quite serious for my age perhaps. But then as a teenager, I knew much more about the mind and you know, you go through a lot of internal turmoil during the teenage years which then makes you think more, makes you more aware, you become more conscious. And I think as a young adult I was a rebel. I was like, okay, nobody knows what’s the right answer in the world, you don’t have to look up at somebody or look down on somebody but just question everything. So I think for me that’s what made me a rebel. That’s also what made me bold and brave because I didn’t have the conditioning that made me think—“Oh no, how do I talk to this person? This person is so senior!” I never had that change at every decade—I think that my consciousness and that awareness just kept getting deeper and deeper.

Which event in your life made you who you are? Why do you think so?

That’s a very deep question. There is one event I remember. As a kid, I was in grade 2 or 3, around 10-years-old, when I had a major argument with my teacher. According to me, as a kid back then, my memory tells me, she was a very unfair teacher. She was very partial, she was rude, she would punish us, so I actually confronted her in front of the entire class and I actually questioned her like why are you like this and why are you doing this… And she cried. Literally. I made her cry, basically. Whatever I said made her cry. And that was a big event for me because I was like why is she crying? What did I say? What was so wrong? She’s crying? Obviously, I didn’t know then that your personality has many layers to it and there’s the ego… It actually brought this to the forefront of my mind and I became aware of those issues at that age—that okay, that’s what ego is and that’s why she felt bad, that’s why she cried. And maybe she’s going through something else in her own personal life which is why she’s being so bad with the kids. It made me think of all these things that made me, at a very young age, become very aware of these things.

Which 3 objects/people in your life can you presently not live without and why?

I think people are easier to name. I think my kids and Rishi and Violet—who is our caretaker/helper/guard. I think it’s this small unit of family that I have here which I can’t live without. And of course the next layer which is parents and siblings.

Of all the objects you bought in the past year, which has been most useful? Why?

My laptop, my phone. A breast pump. The first week, my baby wasn’t latching properly and getting enough milk by himself so the doctor said we needed to supplement his diet but I didn’t want to give him formula so I started expressing to feed him. So I’m here because of that. Because there is milk in the fridge and I don’t have to worry.

Which place in Singapore is your favourite? Why?

I like MacRitchie a lot. The feel of nature, its unruliness, that it’s not really manicured. Home and office too. I think my office is beautiful and the people here are beautiful so home, office, and MacRitchie.

Which person do you wish LUCK-IT would interview for you to learn from? Why?

Razor Inc. CEO, Min-Liang Tan. He has built a big company and I think it will be interesting to know how he hired the right people at the right time. And Elon Musk and, if you could go back in time by building a time machine, Steve Jobs. It’s very intriguing to see how these people think and how they operate. Marissa Meyer, former Yahoo CEO and currently co-founder of Lumi Labs. She has kids and I don’t know how she juggles everything. And Ho Ching. She seems like a very, very intriguing person, she’s done a lot of work and handled a lot of big problems. I would love to hear from Ho Ching too.

What’s the worst advice you’ve been given, or have heard people giving? And what’s the best?

Rishi had finished his first company, got acquired, and I was persuading him to join Zimplistic because it needed a software brain, and around that time a lot of people were telling us—“Don’t do it! Don’t do it! You know, you’re married, it’s going to complicate your life…” I don’t know if it was good or bad advice but it was an advice we didn’t really pay heed to because for us, Rotimatic was such a huge problem, we were like, anything for it! So we decided we’ll figure it out along the way, and we ended up having kids along the way, going through a lot of complications… When going through it, there were times where I felt maybe I should have waited a few more years, not done this, but those were only momentary. Now that I’m out of it and have the privilege of looking back and connecting the dots, I feel there’s no better way to grow as a person than to go through certain hardships. I think we’ve only grown stronger and become better people.

Lastly, will you be inventing anything else? Or is it a secret?

Currently, because I’m using the breast pump so much, I feel there is so much more we can do about it and that it can be designed in a much, much better way, so maybe something along those lines. But with Zimplistic, I think it will be a secret. What is on top of my head right now is—the breast pump. Because I’m facing that problem personally and my own advice to myself would be to solve your own problems! (laughs)

Pranoti is presently working on improving the Rotimatic and on entering the Indian market and expanding there. You can find her at the Zimplistic office where she is co-CEO or follow the latest in Rotimatic’s technology at rotimatic.com.

Photographs courtesy and copyright of Pranoti Nagarkar. Interviewer: Sy
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