T Bala Murugan: The Founder Story Behind Sollabs Tech

Growing up in Madurai

Bala was born in 2004 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, the son of Thandapani and Murugeswari. Madurai — one of Tamil Nadu's oldest cities, and a long-standing centre for trade, textiles and, more recently, IT — is where he still lives and runs both of his companies today.

He did not come from a business family or start with capital. What he had was an interest in how software and websites are actually built, and a willingness to learn it the hard way.

2020: starting Sollabs Tech alone

In 2020, Bala started Sollabs Tech on his own. There was no team and no outside funding — just website and e-commerce projects, taken on one at a time.

Every project doubled as a lesson: how to scope work properly, how to keep a client informed, how to ship on a deadline without cutting corners. In his own words, the difficult projects became stepping stones rather than setbacks.

Growing the work beyond websites

As referrals came in and early clients returned with new work, Sollabs Tech expanded past websites into full software development — custom business tools, admin dashboards and automation for small and mid-sized companies.

Around the same time, Bala moved into computer hardware: sourcing and quality-checking laptops, and building custom PCs to order. To keep up with the demand, he built a small team that shared his standard for doing the work properly the first time.

2024: recognition

In 2024, Bala's work was recognised with an award. More than the trophy itself, it was a signal that the direction was right and that the effort was being noticed outside his own client list.

Where things stand in 2026

Today the business runs as two ventures under one name:

• Sollabs Tech — websites, e-commerce stores and custom software for businesses across India.

• Sollabs Tech Laptop & Custom PC — quality-checked laptops, custom PC builds and related support.

Between the two, close to 40 people now work on Sollabs Tech projects — a long way from one person taking on single website jobs in 2020.

What he credits the growth to

Bala is direct about how the company grew: not overnight, and not because of one lucky break. He credits consistency, a habit of learning from every project, resilience when things went wrong, and the willingness to keep going when progress felt slow.

He treats the current setup as a starting point rather than a finish line. His stated goal is to keep building stronger businesses from Madurai, create more jobs locally, and show other first-time founders that a real company can be built from little more than an idea and the discipline to work at it.