The journey towards success is always preceded by unrelenting hard work and dedication to the craft. According to the joint report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the internet economy’s contribution to India’s technology sector is expected to rise from 48% in 2022 to 62% by 2030. This meteoric rise is aided and pushed forward by blogging. Arun Prabhudesai, the renowned founder of the tech-based YouTube channel Trakin Tech, caught the impact of this system early on through his commitment and interest in technology and the startup ecosystem.
He started his journey with the foundation of Trak.in, a leading business and tech blog. Launched with the small ambition of publishing blogs and insights to a wide audience, it has grown into a portal with millions of readers tuning in regularly.
Beginning a career in media
Arun Prabhudesai is a well-known Indian blogger, YouTuber, and social media influencer. Despite his fame, Prabhudesai experienced an ordinary and humble beginning. He was born and raised in Pune, India. Prabhudesai completed his senior secondary education through Stella Maris High School in 1992. Afterwards, he pursued his bachelor’s degree in computer science from DY Patil University, located in Navi Mumbai.
After his graduation, Prabhudesai worked as the manager of Internet services at Weikfield Mnemonics Info Networks. He was committed to this position for four years and gained invaluable experience. His interest in the field of technology continued to grow as he moved to work in IT consulting in Los Angeles, USA.
According to the Prabhudesai, he felt the urge to work and grow in a sphere of his own. In May 2007, he established Trak.in, a small-scale blogging platform that dealt with news related to startups, business, technology, and much more.
Rising ambitions
The establishment of Trak.in was the primary cause for Prabhudesai’s shift from the USA back to India. Thereupon, Prabhudesai worked on a startup blog and wrote about a wide array of fields, including business, technology, and entrepreneurship, from his home office. With a leap of faith, Prabhudesai started the news portal with a strong conviction that the Indian startup and technological ecosystem would expand and swell to break all records. At the time of its initiation, Trak.in was called one of the top 5 business tech blogs by prominent media outlets.
Since its modest start, the news portal has published more than 20,000 news articles, blogs, opinions, and insights. It generates millions of views and interacts with readers all over the globe. The site provides meticulous coverage and an in-depth view of the biggest news in the business and tech worlds. They cover areas of government policies, the stock market, entrepreneurship, startups, the mobile ecosystem, Indian railways, smartphones, gadgets, innovation, ideas, leadership, and much more.
In the last 16 years, the portal has continued to grow. Currently, it is managed by CEO Mohul Ghosh. Following the success of his blog, Prabhudesai set his sights on video blogging and YouTube to grow his interests further.
A tumultuous Youtube journey
Arun Prabhudesai founded a YouTube channel focused on tech news and reviews called Trakin Tech. Despite the establishment of the channel in 2016, Prabhudesai actually delved into video-making as early as 2011, posting 1-2 videos focused on tech unboxing. Though this stint was short-lived, his focus turned back to blogging.
In 2016, after a brief period of managing his news portal from home, Prabhudesai co-rented an office space with his friend. For a while, Prabhudesai focused on his tech blog and worked from his small office space. He always had an avid interest in video-making and content creation; his main reason for getting the office space was his urge to be part of the YouTube game. He was greatly inspired by the tech videos he had come across and believed he could deliver something even better.
The journey towards YouTube was definitely not an easy one. Starting an entire new verticle from scratch, Prabhudesai was a beginner in terms of quality, content making and video editing. After establishing the office space in August 2016, he connected with his now-friend and Trakin Tech’s production head, Sr. Editor Pratik Thakur.
The team operated on the hard work of just two individuals. Due to a lack of money and equipment, they rented out an editing and operating system. They uploaded 300–400 videos on their channel in the first 6–7 months. Though, even after months of consistent work, the channel only garnered around 200–500 views and a few subscribers per video. Despite the struggle, these videos were their true stepping stones; they were improving at every step.
“There was one thing: with every video, we were improving, and bit by bit, we brought improvement to every new video. Prateek worked on the editing, and I worked on the presentation,” Arun Prabhudesai relayed in a YouTube video.
Mounting success through pure determination
The channel focused on daily videos related to breaking tech news, unboxing and reviewing smartphones, laptops, and a plethora of other digital gadgets.
Cracking the production code and improving with every video, the Trakin Tech team finally saw a breakthrough as one of their videos garnered great engagement. As a Maharashtrian, Prabhudesai was more comfortable with Marathi and English. After acknowledging the potential reach of his platform and the wish to connect to a wider audience, Prabhudesai started learning Hindi. Their first video in Hindi, a review of One plus 5T, reached monumental 10–15,000 views and kickedstart their success.
The channel reached 10,000 subscribers, and the team bought their first digital equipment, a Canon M50 on EMI. Thereafter, the success was steady and gradual; the channel reached 1 lakh subscribers in just a few months. The Trakin Tech team welcomed many talented members into the team who have continued to play an influential role in the channel’s success. Prabhudesai considers every member as part of his family.
Through his expertise in the field and the team’s constant hard work and commitment, the channel currently boasts a subscriber base of over 13 million. It caters to all tech enthusiasts and even beginners in the field and has amassed over 3000 videos. The rising success did not give space for any slacking on Prabhidesai’s behalf. In fact, his determination to produce high-quality, detail-oriented content only keeps increasing.
“We have a Monday meeting, and there’s always one thing that I say in every meeting: ‘we have to improve our videos’,” said Arun Prabhudesai.
Trakin Tech’s continued success
With its innovative content, consistent reporting, and fun and interactive commentary, the channel has continued to grow. Arun Prabhudesai’s contribution to the Indian tech industry has been monumental through his channel and separate ventures. He found the parent company, Armoks Interactive, which has emerged as a leading media company and production house in India with more than 1 crore subscribers and fans.
Through Aromas Interactive, Prabhudesai manages over 6 YouTube channels: Trakin Tech, Trakin Tech English, Trakin Tech Marathi, Trakin Auto, Trakin Shorts, and Trakin Ke Funde. Additionally, his blog is also managed through the parent company. As for 2023, Arun Prabhudesai’s net worth is approx. 20-21 crore.
Through a small beginning in a small, co-rented studio office to a booming channel with 13 million subscribers, Arun Prabhudesai is an inspiration to many. The internet economy continues to play a major role in accelerating India’s tech industry. In this arena, YouTube channels like Trakin Tech have emerged as one of the favourite destinations for tech enthusiasts to review and walkthrough tech products before beginning their buying journeys.