When my mentor and boss, Venkat Ramana, founder of Valuepitch, introduced me to ERPNext, it was because he had been searching for a solution that combined speed and efficiency in a single, intuitive UI. Traditional tools had become too slow and cumbersome, so he tried several alternatives until ERPNext, built on Frappe Framework, stood out. That’s when he handed me a challenge: learn ERPNext, understand its potential, and make it work for our needs.

At first, getting started with ERPNext was anything but simple. Frappe Framework was new to me, and it took a couple of days to get a basic understanding of how it worked. However, as I progressed, things started to make sense. ERPNext turned out to be far more flexible and powerful than I expected, allowing us to build websites and portals almost effortlessly.

Before long, we realized this was not just another tool; it was a platform with almost endless possibilities, enabling us to create precisely the workflows and solutions we needed.

Venkat’s vision extended beyond using ERPNext for our internal workflows. He saw an opportunity to bring ERPNext to people in rural areas, where access to technology is often limited. Many of these individuals had little to no background in technology or computers—they were familiar only with the basics. So, I took on the challenge of training them, and soon we launched GrowWithCanvas, an ERPNext-based platform that allowed us to create and customize learning management systems and websites for tutors. My colleague Partha began selling these services in Tirupati, and they quickly gained popularity among over 50 clients because they were stable, easy to use, and accessible even to people with limited tech experience.

Once we became comfortable with ERPNext, we began creating solutions to meet the needs of different departments within Valuepitch. Venkat continued strategizing, providing insights into workflows that needed simplification, drawing from his experience as a founder. Together, we executed these ideas, resulting in over 25 projects in the next six months, each customized to solve specific workflow challenges we faced. One of the early projects was an onboarding portal for our internal team to simplify customer onboarding, which reduced manual work and saved a significant amount of time. We also created a centralized time-tracking and project management system for more than 50 employees across five teams, allowing us to monitor availability and productivity in real-time.

For one of our subsidiary clients, we built a tool to automate SEO and social media reporting, making it easier to share key metrics and insights without spending hours on manual reporting. In the finance department, we developed a basic loan management system to streamline loan processing and tracking. Managing content across 20+ social media accounts has always been challenging, so we built an automated social media posting and approval system, simplifying the management, approval, and tracking of content across platforms. Additionally, we designed a portal for tracking petty cash and streamlining financial reporting, as well as custom signal-based marketing tools that allowed each department to target specific needs more effectively.

Every solution, whether for internal use or a client, highlighted the versatility of Frappe Framework, showing that we could create streamlined workflows without overcomplicating things. Recently, I had the opportunity to showcase some of our ERPNext-powered solutions at GITEX, where I also met Rushabh, Frappe’s founder. Presenting our work to other industry professionals was inspiring. We had underscored how much we had accomplished in such a short time.

Thanks to Venkat’s mentorship and guidance, I’ve grown confident in building advanced workflows on ERPNext and training others to use Frappe Framework. Every day with ERPNext brings new learning opportunities, and I’m excited to keep exploring its advanced features and seeing how we can push the platform even further. ERPNext has transformed our workflows, making our processes simpler and more efficient, and I’m grateful to be a part of this journey, discovering just how much ERPNext can achieve. Thank you Rushabh for building such a thoughtful tool.

Dashboard to track hourly slots for 200 individuals on ERPNext

Growth consultant dashboard to track clients, subscriptions and payments

Onboarding dashboard to ease onboarding process