Mayur Patil – The Small Spark Motopreneur

February 29, 2020 Off By The Editor

Mayur Patil – The Small Spark Motopreneur started his venture on a passing thought. Today it is recognized by various organizations and won him many an accolade. This is his story.

Tell us about yourself – education, automotive related skills, car/motorcycling experience.

I am Mayur Patil, active Director and Founder of Small Spark Concepts®. A mechanical engineer by degree. I further studied chemical and textile engineering to give life to my passion project. Also, I’ve worked with different companies to learn the business insights.

Automotive Acquaintance – how did you become an automotive enthusiast?

I came to Pune in 2008 to pursue mechanical engineering in VIIT (Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology). Like others, I too wanted to pursue my dream to become a product designer someday. Motorcycles, automotive design and styling fascinated me from childhood. This planted the seed of sketching and designing. To further my skills and improve knowledge of automobile engineering, I started as a trainee technician. At a Pune based superbikes garage – Motobyte (formerly known as Xtreme Machines), while still in second year of engineering.

Life before turning a Motopreneur (work/ employment)

I switched to work as a senior mechanical designer in a Robotic startup SI Electronics. They raised INR 5 Crore through an undisclosed group of investors in 2010. However, it did not fulfill my dream of working in the automotive sector. After graduation and liquidating from SI Electronics, I joined a Go-Kart manufacturing company as a floor supervisor. This, in order to learn and experience the geometry of track vehicles. Within few months of my employment, I was appointed to work on production of performance engines for Go-Karts. Then, I joined Harley Davidson dealership as a chrome consultant to customize every Harley Davidson motorcycle that rolled out of the showroom.

The All Spark inspiration – origin story to your venture

However, my childhood dream of owning a company and the passion project remained a dream. A year and half later, I was now seeking opportunities to launch my company and commercialize the product. The opportunity presented itself to me. I participated in a Pan India startup competition – The Power of Ideas at ciie, IIM-Ahmedabad.

The idea of an Intake Air Filter to increase the vehicular fuel efficiency and diminish pollution with my proprietary invention got shortlisted. Among 19,000 applications, I made it to the TOP 75 in 2015. Post 15 days residential program at IIM Ahmedabad, I was mentored from many IIM professors and diverse industry experts. The program focused on how to start a startup and scale it to a technology and innovation driven company. The idea won its first award of INR 5 Lakh which established Small Spark Concepts®. Thus, the dream of owning a company on paper came true. Now, the next step being a sustainable business model for the upcoming years.

Spanner in the works – challenges faced and (how you overcame them)

The biggest challenge for an auto-tech startup is getting heard by the automotive companies and the government. Auto-tech startups are young. Hence, they are not well recognized in the industry. A lot of startups fail in first couple of years. This, despite having state of the art technology. Ideally, we wanted to have a strong B2B presence and to cater to end users. This failed due to the paradigm of the industry. Thus, we realized the technology lease and licensing model is further away from the finish line. This led us to change the business model to focus on B2C aftermarket retail. Here we are able to address the pain points of the motorcyclists on some scale.

Beast Mode – A memorable feat/ achievement /anecdote of your venture

The idea won various awards after POI’15. 2018 indeed is a memorable year for the venture. Royal Academy of Engineering London invited Small Spark Concepts to participate. We showcased the technology under the “Leaders in innovation Fellowship Program. In the third quarter of the year Schörl Filters bagged a Better Bus Challenge award from WRI & FedEx. This assisted Small Spark Concepts to commercialize the product for Heavy Commercial Vehicles.

View this post on Instagram

Thank you #Autonebula #hindustantimes on spreading awareness about the product and importance of carbon emissions. #SmallSparkConcepts #airfilter #ridermania17 #royalenfield #performance #performanceparts #performanceairfilter #mileage #efficiency #fuelefficient #fuelefficiency #carbonfootprint #carbonemissions

A post shared by Schorl by Small Spark Concepts (@schorl_bysmallspark) on Nov 10, 2017 at 7:31pm PST

Small Spark Concepts has won more than 12 awards in 3 years

Also, we got covered in the local newspapers (Daily Hindustan Times – Startup Saturday & Daily Lokmat) and

A Radio Interview (Radio One – “Hatkar Punekar”)

My way to the highway Future plans for Mayur Patil – The Small Spark Motopreneur

We have commercialized the product for Royal Enfield 350 & 500 models.
In heavy commercial vehicles segment for Ashok Leyland and Eicher.
We will be launching products for RE 650 twins by February ’20
This will expand to tourist cars and taxi segment post March’20.

Products for performance motorcycles in the 400cc segment and above is made from scrap filters procured from dealerships/garages. The idea is to recycle and reuse the plastic frames. Once made, the custom SCHÖRL filters will last for 100,000 kms. Thus, ten plastic filters less per bike in the landfills. SCHÖRL is an eco-friendly product that reduces air pollution. With this approach we are contributing on a small level towards go-green.

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Patent pending product for better mileage & improved performance! #ktm390duke #ktm390rc #ktm #performancefilters @motobyte.in

A post shared by Schorl by Small Spark Concepts (@schorl_bysmallspark) on Sep 16, 2019 at 1:59am PDT

Mayur Patil – The Small Spark Motopreneur’s advice to Budding Motopreneurs

There are many opportunities to scale up. If one path takes longer to reach the destination, you can always look out for a different approach. There is no destination in business. There are only milestones and the way. Sometimes you go uphill, sometimes you cruise or even crash. However, you never stop riding your favorite motorcycle, do you? That’s just the way the business is. Have fun at work, enjoy the journey!