From Bihar to SaathiX: the founder journey of Roshan Gupta

Roshan Gupta’s journey from a cyber cafe in Bihar to building SaathiX has been anything but linear. He started by learning graphic design, joined Pay10 as a Graphic Designer, moved into the ERP ecosystem with Marg ERP, launched his own education venture, faced debt and financial pressure, returned to employment as a Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Energie Gym, and eventually left his job again to build SaathiX. Today, the company says its products are being used across 72+ cities by thousands of businesses.

New Delhi: The story of a startup is often told from the moment the product is launched.

For Roshan Gupta, however, the story of SaathiX began much earlier.

It began in a cyber cafe in Bihar.

It continued through graphic design, corporate jobs, ERP software, entrepreneurship, financial setbacks and digital marketing.

And only after years of moving between these different worlds did those experiences come together to form SaathiX.

Gupta, who comes from Atrar village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district, is now building SaathiX as a business technology platform aimed at small and growing businesses.

The journey to this point, however, was far from straightforward.

The journey started at a cyber cafe

Gupta’s professional life began at a cyber cafe.

It was his first close exposure to computers, the internet and the emerging digital environment.

But rather than treating the job as an endpoint, Gupta began looking beyond the routine work of a cyber cafe.

He became increasingly interested in what could be created with a computer.

That interest led him to graphic design.

He started learning design tools and developed his skills in visual communication, eventually turning graphic design into his first professional specialization.

It was a skill that would open the door to his corporate career.

Joining Pay10 as a Graphic Designer

Gupta subsequently joined Pay10 as a Graphic Designer.

For someone who had started at a cyber cafe, moving into a professional corporate environment was a significant transition.

The role exposed him to structured workflows, deadlines, teams, corporate communication and the demands of working inside a growing organisation.

But graphic design was only one part of what Gupta was learning.

He continued exploring digital marketing, technology and other digital skills, gradually developing a broader understanding of how businesses use technology to communicate with customers and operate their businesses.

That willingness to keep learning would become one of the defining characteristics of his career.

From design to ERP at Marg ERP

After Pay10, Gupta moved to Marg ERP.

The transition was important because it took him from the creative side of business technology into the operational side.

Graphic design had taught him how businesses communicate visually.

ERP exposed him to how businesses function behind the scenes.

Billing, inventory, records, accounts and operational workflows are not necessarily visible to customers, but they form the infrastructure through which businesses run every day.

Working around ERP software gave Gupta a closer understanding of the needs of retailers and small and medium businesses.

At the time, there was no SaathiX.

But the knowledge that would later influence its product direction was beginning to accumulate.

The first entrepreneurial leap: Yakeen

Corporate experience did not eliminate Gupta’s desire to build something of his own.

Eventually, he launched Yakeen The Learning Institute.

This was a major shift in his professional life.

As an employee, he had been responsible for a specific function.

As a founder, he had to think about everything.

Students and customers.

Marketing.

Operations.

Revenue.

Expenses.

Team management.

Day-to-day decisions.

Yakeen became Gupta’s first serious experience of what it meant to operate a business from the founder’s seat.

It also brought him face-to-face with one of the less glamorous realities of entrepreneurship: financial pressure.

As the business struggled with financial challenges and debt accumulated, Gupta had to make a difficult decision.

The experience taught him that building a business requires more than ambition. Cash flow, financial discipline and operational sustainability can determine whether a business survives.

Returning to a job after facing financial pressure

With the financial pressure from Yakeen, Gupta decided to return to employment.

It was not simply a retreat from entrepreneurship.

It was a practical decision to stabilise his situation while continuing to build his professional experience.

This time, he returned with a much broader skill set.

He was no longer only a graphic designer.

He had experience in design, digital marketing, business operations and entrepreneurship.

That combination eventually led him to his next major role.

Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Energie Gym

Gupta joined Energie Gym as a Senior Digital Marketing Manager, where he spent roughly two years.

The role gave him an opportunity to work not only on digital marketing but also to observe how a real consumer-facing business operates.

In the fitness industry, marketing is closely connected to operations.

Lead generation has to translate into memberships.

Memberships lead to renewals.

Customer records need to be maintained.

Payments need to be tracked.

Attendance needs to be managed.

Staff and daily operations need to be coordinated.

The closer Gupta got to the business, the more he began to see a recurring problem.

The gym exposed a much bigger software problem

What he initially encountered in the gym industry was not unique to gyms.

Small businesses across India face similar operational challenges.

A gym owner may use one system for memberships, another process for payments and WhatsApp for customer communication.

A retailer may use billing software but maintain other records separately.

A shop owner may rely on spreadsheets.

A cafe may have a digital presence but no connected system for managing its business information.

The technology exists, but the experience can still be fragmented.

For Gupta, that became the opportunity.

The question was no longer simply how to market a business.

It became:

How can technology make it easier for a small business owner to run the business itself?

Leaving the job again to build SaathiX

After roughly two years at Energie Gym, Gupta made another major career decision.

He left his job and began working on SaathiX.

This time, the decision was backed by years of accumulated experience.

The cyber cafe had introduced him to technology.

Graphic design had taught him visual communication.

Pay10 had given him corporate exposure.

Marg ERP had introduced him to business software and ERP.

Yakeen had taught him entrepreneurship and the financial realities of running a business.

Energie Gym had exposed him to digital marketing and the operational challenges of a real business.

SaathiX brought these experiences together.

Building SaathiX around everyday business problems

SaathiX was built with a focus on making digital business tools more accessible to small and growing businesses.

Its ecosystem now spans multiple use cases, including QR-based digital solutions, gym management software, ERP, billing and POS solutions.

The company says its QR solutions are currently being used by 4,500+ stores, shops and cafes.

More than 200 gyms are using SaathiX’s gym management software, according to the company.

SaathiX also says its ERP solutions are being used by retail and other business owners.

Its billing, invoicing and POS solutions, meanwhile, are being used by 11,000+ retail businesses, according to the company.

The company says its products now have a presence across 72+ cities.

These figures indicate a business that has moved beyond a single industry and is attempting to build a wider footprint across India’s small-business market.

From QR codes to ERP and POS

One of the interesting aspects of SaathiX is the range of problems it is attempting to address.

A local shop may need a digital business presence.

A gym needs membership and attendance management.

A retailer needs billing and POS.

A growing business needs customer records and operational visibility.

Different businesses have different workflows, but the underlying requirement is similar:

They need technology that helps them run their businesses rather than technology that becomes another problem to manage.

That is the space SaathiX is attempting to occupy.

The designer who became a SaaS founder

Gupta’s background in graphic design remains an interesting part of the SaathiX story.

His career began with design before moving into ERP, digital marketing and entrepreneurship.

That progression has given him exposure to different sides of technology.

Design taught him how people interact with visual information.

Digital marketing taught him how businesses acquire customers.

ERP taught him how businesses manage operations.

Entrepreneurship taught him about risk, revenue and financial discipline.

Those experiences now converge in the company he is building.

The story behind the numbers

It would be easy to look at SaathiX’s reported numbers, 4,500+ stores, shops and cafes using its QR solutions, 200+ gyms using its software, 11,000+ retail businesses using its billing and POS solutions, and presence across 72+ cities, and assume that the company’s story began with those numbers.

It did not.

The story began much earlier.

In a cyber cafe.

While learning graphic design.

During his first corporate role.

While working around ERP software.

When he tried entrepreneurship through Yakeen.

When financial pressure and debt forced him to reconsider his path.

When he returned to employment.

And finally, when he decided to take the risk of building again.

Today, Roshan Gupta is building SaathiX full-time

Gupta is now focused on running and expanding SaathiX, with a broader ambition of building a business technology ecosystem for India’s small and medium businesses.

The goal is not simply to create another software product.

It is to make business technology easier to adopt for entrepreneurs who may not have dedicated technology teams or extensive technical knowledge.

That market is significant.

India’s business ecosystem includes millions of retailers, shop owners, gyms, cafes, service providers and local entrepreneurs.

As these businesses continue to move towards digital operations, the demand for affordable and easy-to-use business software is likely to grow.

For SaathiX, that creates both an opportunity and a challenge.

The opportunity is scale.

The challenge is building technology that remains simple while serving increasingly diverse businesses.

From Atrar to building for India’s small businesses

Roshan Gupta’s career cannot easily be described as a conventional success story.

There was no straight line from his first job to his startup.

There was a cyber cafe.

Then graphic design.

Then Pay10.

Then Marg ERP.

Then Yakeen.

Then debt and financial pressure.

Then a return to employment as a Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Energie Gym.

Then roughly two years of working again.

And finally, SaathiX.

What makes the journey notable is not that every step worked perfectly.

It is that every step added another layer of understanding.

Technology.

Design.

Corporate systems.

ERP.

Marketing.

Business operations.

Entrepreneurship.

Financial realities.

All of those experiences eventually became part of the founder he is today.

Roshan Gupta is now building SaathiX with the ambition of making business technology more accessible to India’s small businesses.

The journey that began at a cyber cafe in Bihar has now moved into the SaaS space.

And the next chapter is no longer about finding the problem.

It is about how far SaathiX can scale the solution.