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Behind BolsterBiz: Expert Insights – Sanju Stephen

Empowering Businesses Globally (BolsterBiz Expert insight)

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“I always wanted to do business and be successful in life. Whenever I had a business idea, I would write it down and start planning. I will do all the background studies but never work on the ground to get the business started.”- Sanju Stephen (Founder, BolsterBiz)

 
What inspired your entrepreneurial journey, and how did this vision materialize into the creation of BolsterBiz?

Sanju Stephen: While working at Cvent, I noticed they had offices in the United States and India, and having an office in India worked to such an advantage for the US counterparts. The India office saved so many costs for the US-based company and a lot of time. Plus, some of the software for which the US company would pay in dollars could be done by the Indian team in a fraction of the amount. 

Further, another observation was that the Indian team was often looked down on as a mere cost center instead of being recognized for the talent and enthusiasm they brought on board. That is when I grouped with Rajesh to start a firm that works round the clock to help US counterparts grow at reduced costs. We named it BolsterBiz. We aimed to drive a change in mindset that the Indian team should not be considered a mere cost center but also as good as the in-house team members, who will work as passionately and diligently if provided the right opportunities.

 

Can you share a pivotal challenge you encountered while building BolsterBiz and how it shaped the company’s direction?

Sanju Stephen: I cannot think of any particular pivotal challenge. The business environment keeps changing, and having this thought on your mind keeps you from getting comfortable. One learning experience for me was when a client left us, and we realized we must work with the change.

 

What core values have driven BolsterBiz’s growth and success over the years?

Sanju Stephen: For me, the core values that have driven our growth are Being client driven and Making work a fun and secure place for our team members.

 

What market gap did BolsterBiz set out to bridge, and how do your services address critical business challenges?

Sanju Stephen: Many MNCs were able to set up offices in other countries to optimize costs and get good talent. However, this should be democratized and should be easily accessible for smaller companies as well, especially for the ones Who doesn’t have the time and resources to undertake such a strategic shift in their operations without the help of a trusted partner because it involves not only rules and regulations but also changes in culture

 

Why do you believe outsourcing is a game-changer for businesses, and how does BolsterBiz differentiate itself in this space?

Sanju Stephen: This gives companies the ability to do more with less. It can contribute to every company in a many different ways:

  • Some simply don’t have the talent in-house, which can make starting a project inhouse time-consuming and costly, and they can bank on the experience of the outsourcing partner to assist with best practices. 
  • Some companies need to be cost-efficient to outlast the competition and be profitable. It’s not always about survivability, but saving money and reinvesting it in critical business areas are crucial for growth.
  • Some founders may want to focus on business-critical areas and not stretch themselves thin while taking up tasks that can be easily done through an outsourcing partner.

We differentiate ourselves from others by being human-centric, and we try to create a team that lasts and a culture that lasts. We work for the long term, and how does that happen when our teams, working with their US counterparts, are aligned on the same mission and goals as the in-house team members? On top of that, we are trying to build a university of knowledge that learns best practices from each other and uses our knowledge to make our clients successful.

 

BolsterBiz offers services like digital marketing, customer support and data analytics. Which of these areas has seen the most significant growth and why?

Sanju Stephen: We started with customer support, so the maximum ongoing projects are for the same service, our USP. After that, we started with Digital Marketing, Software Engineering teams, and Data Analytics.

 

Outsourcing has evolved rapidly in recent years. What trends do you see reshaping the industry, and how is BolsterBiz staying ahead of the curve?

Sanju Stephen: Usage of AI is the next biggest thing. There is enough space for every type of solution to grow, and each new innovation only adds to the growth of companies and globalization. AI can definitely help free up a lot of repetitive tasks. Many of our internal teams are leveraging ChatGPT and Gemini for varied purposes. We are also researching on the ground to find the best possible way to leverage AI to further improve our services for our clients.

 

How does BolsterBiz leverage technology to provide scalable, efficient, and expert-driven solutions for its clients?

Sanju Stephen: Technology is a great enabler; it has made us capable of doing many things we couldn’t even think of in the past. We bank on different technologies at every level of our organization to stay on top of our game. From using AI to identifying the right candidates by the HR Team, use of technology tools to identify outliers in terms of productivity, and project management. We focus on Knowledge dissemination across teams and leadership, employee monitoring, data security, leveraging generative AI for Customer support tasks, Sales automation for sales outreach, and test automation on the engineering side. 

We are not sacrificing on good talent, just because they want to work from a remote location. Keeping abreast with the latest technologies in different functions is a matter of survival, unless we are ourselves competitive and efficient, how will we ever be able to take our clients ahead of their own competition.”- Sanju Stephen (Founder, BolsterBiz)

 
What’s new at BolsterBiz? Can you share recent innovations, service expansions, or projects that excite you the most?

Sanju Stephen: As I said earlier, we working in that direction concerning the customer support function, you need to stay tuned for more details.

 
What advice would you give to business leaders looking to scale through outsourcing while maintaining quality and control?

Sanju Stephen: If just done from the perspective of cutting costs, you look at the outsourcing partner as a short-term contractor; if done correctly, it will not just deliver results but can be a long-term growth and innovation driver.  We want to be the extended teams of our clients, where multiple thoughts, cultures, values, and ideas are explored to come up with solutions that go above and beyond the limited scope of our partnership.

They should not outsource just because everyone else or big companies do it, or it should not be a decision made to just cut costs, but a strategic decision, it is a strategy that can have multifold effects for the organization.

 

As the founder, what’s your vision for BolsterBiz in the next 5-10 years? What role do you see it playing in shaping the future of outsourcing?

Sanju Stephen: We want to work with many diverse clients and offer services in diverse functions and yet be nimble at our core with a strong network of leaders within our company; aided by internal resources of best practices, strategies, knowledge banks, and processes that can be applied to resolve the ever-changing challenges for our diverse clients, such that we become the innovation drivers for our clients not just a mere service provider.

 

If you had to describe BolsterBiz’s mission in one sentence, what would it be?

Sanju Stephen: Our mission is to bolster businesses; it’s in our name. “BolsterBiz is self-explanatory.”- Sanju Stephen (Founder, BolsterBiz)

 

Summary

Sanju Stephen, Founder of BolsterBiz, turned his passion for entrepreneurship into a thriving business that helps companies scale with managed remote teams. Inspired by his experience at Cvent, he set out to change the narrative around outsourcing, treating remote teams not as cost centers but as valued partners. BolsterBiz focuses on client success, team culture, and innovation, leveraging AI and deep domain knowledge to stay ahead. For Sanju, outsourcing is a strategic growth lever, not just a cost-saving move.

Picture of About Sanju Stephen

About Sanju Stephen

Sanju Stephen is the Founder of BolsterBiz. With over 10 years of experience, he is helping businesses set up managed remote teams and accelerate growth through people-first outsourcing, innovation, and strategic support. To know more, connect with Sanju Stephen on Linkedin.