'If There Is One Person to Support You, There'll Be Ten More to Bring You Down" - Mohammad Tanveer Pasha

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1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.

So it all started off when I attended my first party when I was still in school, it was called NAPZ - non-alcoholic party zone, as cheesy as it sounds! 

Around 2015, when Nucleya came to Bangalore I was working for an entertainment company and I remember selling 3 booklets of passes and I was surprised, myself. 

Soon, I started hosting Holi parties at Taj, NYE parties and everyone always bought their passes from me, I'd already gained a huge crowd just by selling passes. 

Then I worked for a prominent entertainment company for 5 years and I was the main promoter and I pulled huge crowds every Saturday night, Holi party, NYE party, you name it. 

By then I'd already learnt the ropes of the industry and had a huge following of mostly friends and people of my age who liked to party. Trust me, it's not as easy as it sounds because everything I did had its ups and downs. 

There were times when the expected number of passes didn't get sold and I'd be super nervous about the turnout or people would always expect me to give them passes for free because they're my friends and stuff like that but it's all a part of the job and you have to take everything with a pinch of salt.

So after working for 5 years under a company that taught me so much, I felt it was time for me to branch out and start my own. 

This idea was obviously not my own, my bestfriend and partner made me see my potential in this industry and pushed me to start my own and ofcourse I couldn't have done it without him so that's how NXT came into the picture. 

I had the experience, contacts and knew pretty much everything I need to know to start off on my own. And that's exactly what I did. It was hard to leave the company I was previously working for but I knew I had to do something of my own.

2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?

My best friend and partner, Nikshep is the reason. 

He said to me one day "You have the contacts and the experience and the crowd, you can definitely start your own company because it's high time. You need to be independent, I'll support you no matter what, let's do it together" and yeah, just like that we had our first party in April 2019 and it was a massive hit! 

That's when I knew I was on the right path and doing something I was good at. 

My first party went unexpectedly great. We went all out on the promotions and we were so nervous about the turnout because this could either make or break our whole journey, and on the actual night of the party, the support and love we got was overwhelming and it really made me want to go ahead with NXT, as a whole. 

My friends played a huge role in getting the whole thing started off, they made sure they promoted to their best efforts, pulled crowd for me like they literally asked each and every friend of theirs to show up to our first event so NXT wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't for them, so cheers to them.

3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?

A brunch gone wrong, I would say. 

It was our second brunch party after a successful one and unfortunately nobody showed up except my close circle of course. Literally, the place was empty and it was embarrassing and it made me question my whole purpose of working for NXT. 

A party is nothing without the crowd and when there's no crowd, it's disappointing. That was a major turning point for us because we had to pick ourselves back up and push through to get where we are now.

Luckily, I had an amazing support system and they believed in me and told me that one failed party doesn't define the purpose of NXT so I'll be ever so grateful for that.

4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to first believe in yourself and your abilities. Because if there's going to be one person to support you, there'll be ten more to bring you down, so there's no point in taking a risk if you aren't going to believe in yourself and have faith that you'll succeed. 

Persistence and determination will take you a long way because all the rich guys are rich because they worked hard to get where they are, right? 

Trust me, hard work really pays off and I can't say I've done much but I know my hard work will get me where I aim to be. More than anything be true to yourself and to everyone around you, being selfish isn't going to get you anywhere. 

Goodwill shows character and that's way more important than all the hard work that we put in.

5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?

You've asked the wrong person because in my opinion, I don't think we're anywhere as successful as I hope to be one day so ask me this when I finally get there.

But one thing I've learnt in this one year is to be patient and do the best I can and the results will show.

6. What are your tips for first time and aspiring entrepreneurs?

Whatever you do, do it with determination and take it up as a challenge. Moreover, don't do it for anybody but yourself. 

Turn a deaf ear to the ones that aren't supportive, you don't need that kind off negativity. 

Pursue what you're seeking with everything you got, hard work really pays off.

7. How can one overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up?

We started off our company with pretty much nothing, and with what little pocket money we got from our family because we were still college students so we didn't have much on us. 

It depends from situation to situation or on the type of inventory one might need to start off but we didn't require much to start off, luckily. Like I said, all of our promotions were handled by our close friends so in that way things were easier for us, fortunately. 

An early success in the business is what got us our first investor for the Holi party in March. Family and friends can also be options to invest in your ideas.

Mohammad Tanveer Pasha

Nxt_Entertainment_

Instagram Link: https://www.instagram.com/nxt_entertainment_/?hl=en

Interview By - Chaitra B Sriram