An entrepreneur from Ahmedabad described how he managed to overcome a staffing shortfall at his company’s new facility by relying on local WhatsApp groups. Abhilash, the chief executive of Naxatra Labs, said the approach helped him recruit more than 20 employees within a week, enabling the business to meet urgent production commitments.
In a detailed post on X (formerly Twitter), Abhilash explained that the company had recently set up a new factory but faced immediate pressure to complete orders. While machinery and infrastructure had been prepared, the absence of sufficient line technicians created a serious bottleneck.
He wrote, “We opened up our new factory and we had significant orders with a limited time frame to deliver. We shifted everything, set up machinery but the challenge was finding line technicians who help us in assembly line. We followed the typical route to ITIs but they had semesters ongoing. Went to contract agencies, they were not ready to support for 15-20 technicians. We spent 5-6 days figuring out every possible way.”
After exhausting formal channels, Abhilash said he adopted what he described as a “first principles” approach. Instead of relying on training institutes or contractors, he distributed a one-page description of the jobs, written in Gujarati, to shops in nearby villages. Shopkeepers were asked to circulate the notice in their local WhatsApp groups. To encourage participation, he offered a payment of Rs 200 to anyone whose referral resulted in a candidate remaining with the company for at least two weeks.
The method produced results quickly. “We went to every nearby shops in village and shared them job one pager in Gujarati language. Told them forward it in your local groups, if a person joins and stay in our company for 2 weeks, we will pay you INR 200. It worked. We hired 20 people within a week. Sometimes normal routes don’t really work but nothing beats first principals approach,” he wrote.
The post included a picture of his staff and attracted considerable attention online. Many X users expressed appreciation for the initiative, seeing it as an example of practical problem-solving in a difficult situation.
One user observed, “It’s been my experience that WhatsApp works like a charm in many situations. Even when starting up a new product, WhatsApp status gave me more traction than anything.”
Another remarked, “Thinking out of the box is a way of life in an entrepreneurial journey.”
A third added, “Amazing hustle — referral sweeteners ftw.”
Several others commented on the practicality of the approach, noting that community messaging platforms often outperform more conventional recruitment tools when time is short.
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