Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Rangaraj Bhatracharya: I started my career in technical capacity when I was in IT, there were a lot of skills for which there were trainings for non-technical skills that we need to be successful in the corporate world.
In the parallel I was also running a theatre company where the same set for skills were required to be successful as a theatre professional but only the perspective in which the skills were looked at were different.
So, I started do some experiments using theatre for skills like team building, negotiation skills, prioritization, time management etc... At companies we worked in and a few where our friends worked. These experiments were a success and that gave us the confidence to start the company.
Great Companies: What are the various services provided by WeMove Solutions?
Rangaraj Bhatracharya: We work with the HR and L&D teams to work on various learning and employee engagement initiatives. We are work do trainings on technical skills like Data Visualization, .Net, Java, Problem Solving and Programming, Industry 4.0, AI & ML and non-technical skills like Communication, Negotiation Skills, Prioritization, Leadership Skills, First Time manager program, Induction, Campus to Corporate and various skills across the Job Ladder. We also work with Employee Engagement and other HR teams to do customized theatre performances on Culture, Values, and Employee Safety etc.
Great Companies: What makes WeMove Solutions different from hundreds of other similar service providers?
Rangaraj Bhatracharya: While most theatre based companies use theatre as an art form we work on creating experiences both in offline and Online modes.
We have been working with companies in 3 modes offline, online and Hybrid modes.
Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
Rangaraj Bhatracharya: When we started off in 2013, there were not a lot of companies who understood about theatre based learning, so it was difficult to convince companies to try theatre based learning, but using my experience of working in the Technical business, I was able to convince the HR team on how theatre can be useful and help in improving the productivity and improve business.
The second challenge was when COVID hit. When theatre was majorly seen an offline initiative with most of our clients and also with us. We were used to doing theatre experiences offline, but when whole world went online we worked with our closed group did a few experiments using actors and finally rolled it out to the world. This was a great turning point for us as it practically took us outside of India and into 8 different countries across the world.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for WeMove Solutions?
Rangaraj Bhatracharya: Now that we have had some success in changing the way classroom learning can happen and turned into an experience, this idea is in a self-sustained mode.
We are next looking to change the way e-learning is happening and change that into an experience. We have been working with a few of our clients to change their training content into interactive short films this experiment is been a success and it great that people are willing to pay money for it.
We plan to launch our own learning experience platform with interactive web series and short films as learning content.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Rangaraj Bhatracharya: Before starting up never have backup plans, because you will always look at an easy exit when things go bad. So only have some money and live on the bare minimum till the business takes off.
Never fixate with things like fund raising and valuations always focus on adding value to your customers and the money will come through.