1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.
I have always been taught the importance of being independent by my father. He gave me and my brother the best of support, education, and a stress-free life so we could focus on building ourselves rather than being worried about secondary aspects. Attributed to him, I began my journey as an entrepreneur at the early age of 22, and although it might not have had a dream start, it taught me a life lesson to curb the young, free-spirited "I know it all” attitude.
Cut to eight years later and running an organization of 40, today I have learnt the hard way what it takes to make a company survive. For me, my 2nd start-up on a lot of levels was to prove people wrong and to make a mark for myself. Each individual has their own desire for success, and this was mine - To make a mark. Having worked with start-ups, I recognized the pain points and opportunities in the market, to come up with a business solution that helps to solve the problem of effective influential outreach and thus Vavo Digital was conceptualised.
In the short span of 1.5 years, we executed 100+ brand campaigns via influencers as at every point we realised what was the pain point of that brand and how we could resolve it by partnering with agencies to provide a one-stop solution to brands/agencies.
I have always had a mind block of being known as an "agency" and to break that, my attempts have always been to find newer ways to include tech or any aspect that can scale my business. My journey with Volvo Digital has taught me one of the most important things in life which are to ‘listen’ to people. No matter how experienced you are, you can never know it all. Listen and grasp what people have to say because out of 10 spoken sentences, 1-2 will surely be beneficial to you.
2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?
We took the plunge into the digital world at the right time. With India and Indian brands realising the importance of influencers, it was the right time for us to make it more streamlined by providing data and a 360 view of influencer marketing under one agency. We went about not just sharing influencer lists, but backing them with data, conceptualising ideas, and a strategy for how a brand can be represented since it is not necessary that what works as a Data Version Control (DVC) will work via a human promotion as well.
At every stage, from adding a value proposition; be it regional influencers or Augmented Reality (AR) filters, to recently setting up a production team and realising the growth of Influencer Marketing on LinkedIn, we were able to stay a step ahead of the others due to our futuristic approach. Our clutter-breaking concept of creating a platform which helps smoothen the process of facilitating barter partnerships to brands, a recurring requisition of most brands, is also turning to be a defining point for Volvo Digital. Therefore, beyond enabling paid partnerships, our indigenous barter application helps to expand our reach as well as strengthens the brand’s visibility and creates a reliable ecosystem for both the brands as well as influencers.
3. What has been your biggest challenge, and have you overcome that?
The biggest challenge I have encountered, and I am sure a lot of start-ups in the initial stages do, is to find the right resources and retain them. I was the kind who never realised the importance of HR. However, people management was one of the biggest tasks. The reason we were able to grow and retain our staff was simply by looking at them as humans and not robots or employees. Planning their growth chart with them, so they see a clear vision of the company and what their personal growth would be has worked wonders for us. Giving them creative freedom and liberty to voice their opinions is critical for the growth of any organization.
4. What do your most import-essential ties about a successful entrepreneur?
- Avoid giving up just before you strike it rich, but also refrain from continuing to waste precious money on the unnecessary.
- Divide challenging goals into smaller, more manageable ones. The infrequent Losses become less painful the more wins you embrace.
- The past is all that it was. Keep it out of how your present is managed.
5. What are your tips for first-time and aspiring entrepreneurs?
Figure out a work-life balance. Many believe that entrepreneurship is rosy, but they also believe that it is much more important for an entrepreneur to always be working. If I look back on the days as well as at Volvo Digital, I consider one thing I should have learned earlier is how to balance my work and personal life.
If you are going to be drained and mentally fatigued, there is no way one can run an organization or even have the energy to look forward to the next day. Love what you do, give it your 100% but remember that you have a life to live as well. It sounds easier said than done, but if you make a checklist of the daily activities and religiously work towards it, it is all possible. Create a simple daily regimen that works for you and follow it diligently. Rewrite it if you begin to feel like you're being unproductive. Long working hours don't necessarily indicate a hard worker.
6. How can one overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up?
Formulating a 3-month plan to know what you want to achieve and what is required to get there. 1.5 years into the business and I have still not spent a penny on marketing. How did I do this? Well, by finding the best alternative which in my case was person branding. In the service industry where one is not selling a product but an experience, it becomes even more important for people to associate a face to the brand, and that is exactly what I did. By realizing that my clientele is on LinkedIn, I used that medium in the best possible way to build a trust factor for my brand.
- Neha Puri (LinkedIn)
- Interviewed by Manjul Yadav
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