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- H Sai Sundar, MD at Lara Capital Private Limited
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? H Sai Sundar: Needless to say, I've always been passionate about investing of course, and I had been investing my money for a while but it's been pointed out to me that what I really like is to help people. It started as a small group and we started with investing with a very small seed capital as less as 40,000 rupees and it kind of blew up from there. Very soon, acquaintances were calling me and asking me to handle their investments. Word of mouth at its finest. It got to a point where I would spend my entire day building portfolios for people and one day I snapped. I thought if I'm doing this full time it has to be a business with a full team of hungry people. That was the genesis of Lara. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Lara Capital Private Limited H Sai Sundar: Lara is trying to bring the complete financial landscape under one roof. We provide seamless investment management services. We provide execution and advisory services for retailers and institutions. We are distributors for many financial products including incubation for fintech startups. We are also one of the largest brokers for unlisted shares and pre-IPO shares in the Indian market. Lara also provides Will management, estate planning and end to end compliance services. The only difference being, every inch of it is tech enabled making it cost effective and lucrative for our clients. Great Companies: What makes Lara Capital Private Limited different from hundreds of other Wealth Management Firms? H Sai Sundar : Product innovation of course. We have a gold futures trading strategy that is designed to generate income regardless of the direction of the market. One of our strategies is designed to deliver extra income per month over and above equity or mutual fund returns the client is holding. We allow people to seamlessly invest in companies not yet on the stock markets. Remember the rush for allotment of some Zomato stocks? Our clients have been buying Zomato since 2019. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? H Sai Sundar : Volatility is inherent in any investment business and Lara is no different. I spend a third of my time hiring people and aggregators. This is important. A business is run by people. The other third of my time is with the R&D team to improvise market research and operations. It's an exciting team to be in the markets. Progressive regulations are driving product innovation and more and more people are getting into the markets The other third of my time is thinking with the innovation team. Just thinking. I think about crafting an amazing investing experience for our clients, thinking of investing strategies and more. The thinking never stops. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Lara Capital Private Limited? H Sai Sundar: We're gunning for product integration and a deepening client case in Tier 2 cities. In startup parlance, we're going to be an investing super app. All the investing services a person needs on one platform. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? H Sai Sundar : Do you know what's a common trait between the most successful companies listed on the stock markets? They never gave up. They kept trying and pushing onwards and upwards. Perseverance is the only advice I can give. If we keep pushing ahead, it'll be serendipitous and it'll all come together beautifully. Website : https://laracapital.in/
- Genevieve Anand, Founder at Kutumb Kala LLP
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Genevieve Anand: As a part-time content creator and full-time mother, I have always been connected with her creative side. What began as a project to teach my two rapidly growing girls about Indian art heritage, soon metamorphosed into a deep, thought-provoking journey. I realized that traditional Indian art and its artists are in a dire state. A conversation with my father-in-law, a fond reminiscence of his own mother’s Madhubani painting skills, a vow of support, and many deep-rooted emotions later, a powerful dream of revival was born. Today, that dream is called Kutumb Kala. I have great support from equally great individuals, Ms Deera Shetty and Capt. Satyanand. Everyone’s journey started with the emotion to help and support the struggling tribal artist community in India. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Kutumb Kala LLP Genevieve Anand: We are an e-Art Gallery. All the paintings are done by Indian tribal Artists. We also offer customised paintings to the patrons. If it is traditional Indian art form, we will be there. From Madhubani, Warli, Patachitra, Phad, Tanjore, to any Indian tribal art, we offer all under one roof. While the website has only Madhubani and Warli at this point, we are working towards getting the assets on the other art form and will be ready in the near future. Having said that, if someone approaches me today to get some art done in an art form that is not there on my website, we will be able to get it done for them through our extensive network. Great Companies: What makes Kutumb Kala LLP different from hundreds of other e-Art Gallery platforms? Genevieve Anand: Born out of a desire to make a difference to struggling artist communities, Kutumb Kala is a journey of survival and sustenance, revival and recognition for India’s tribal artists. And generate a steady income for artists with every painting we sell. The answer to your question lies at two levels. From the aspect of artist and art community: Kutumb Kala is aimed at creating a platform for the artist (not a marketplace) and artist community who do not have the knowledge and means to reach out to the global masses To take Indian traditional art form to the global scale To increase the base price for the artist to be able to get a better valuation of their painting From the customer angle Only originals. No prints. Every painting sold by us is one-of-a-kind unique. So, what you own is only owned by you. Free global shipping. We would not charge anything extra; no matter where you are. Taxes are inclusive. You do not pay anything extra. PERIOD. You will help uplift and sustain the traditional/tribal artist community across the country Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Genevieve Anand: The challenges are at multiple levels. We are a self-funded start-up. And thus, we are playing with very limited cash in hand. Which makes it extremely difficult to experiment. Reaching out to the right TG. Getting the right respect and price for the art pieces. We are seldom told that the paintings are very costly. The fact is that the paintings are priced at the level to ensure that the right respect and recognition comes to the art form and the artist community. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Kutumb Kala LLP? Genevieve Anand: Our plan is very clear. In the next few years, we plan to grow from the current two of Madhubani and Warli to other forms of Indian art forms like Pattachitra, Kalamkari, Tanjore, Phad, etc. And not limit ourselves to paintings but to push ourselves to the other aspect of the tribal creations like home décor, sculptures, etc. In short, we want to be the one-stop-shop for everything that Indian Tribal Art has to offer. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Genevieve Anand: It is very easy to start a business but very difficult to find a business that matches your passion. Find your passion which drives you. And make it your business. Everything else will fall in place. Website: https://kutumbkala.com/ Our Story: https://kutumbkala.com/kutumb-kala-story/ Art Studio: https://kutumbkala.com/art-studio/ Shakuntala-Shyam Foundation: https://kutumbkala.com/shakuntala-shyam-foundation/
- Snehsikt Anand, CoFounder at BrandBall LLP
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Snehsikt Anand: While most companies are born over conversations and cups of premium coffee, BrandBall was true to its essence of being fresh right from inception. We were born over an overzealous discussion and cups of cutting chai at the local tea stall. Bored and bothered by the way the industry was working – cut, copy, paste; we were looking for something different. And right then, it occurred – ‘Why don’t we be the difference?’ That was how it all began. Once we decided, BrandBall immediately came into existence. However, while conceptualizing an organization was relatively simple, the brass tacks needed to be put in place. Sustaining and staying true to philosophy would take effort. BrandBall took about a year and a half to get the right partnerships. Today, we are proud of their ever-increasing clientele that ranges across turnovers as well as industries. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by BrandBall LLP Snehsikt Anand: BrandBall is in every sense an integrated communications agency. We have expertise and solutions for all business requirements. From Brand Management including Brand strategy and architecture, Brand promotion, Brand Engagement, Brand Position, Brand Tagline, Market and TG research; to packaging, logo design, Experiential marketing, Events and Exhibitions, Wholesale and Retails solutions, Field Marketing solutions in rural and urban geographies, Point of Sales merchandise, technology-based display/visibility mediums, wall painting, vehicle branding. We also do create video ads for TV and social media. In digital we offer website and app development, social media marketing, SEO and SEM, Content development and marketing, digital media buying and planning, digital innovation. In short, you name it, we do it. Great Companies: What makes BrandBall LLP different from hundreds of other Advertising Agencies? Snehsikt Anand: Everything we do at BrandBall is driven by our commitment to creating innovative, engaging, thoughtful and inspiring work. And when we say everything', we really mean it. When you partner with us, we offer your brand a variety of services bound together by our signature, holistic approach. What follows below is a comprehensive list of our current services. And, of course, the right opportunities will see us soaring beyond these and more. We are a one-stop-shop for all communications requirements for the brand. What we also observed, was that the brands were getting increasingly distanced from their consumers. Large agencies are trying to solve for their business scale. We wanted to create customized solutions for mid-size clients; so their campaigns can deliver the most effective outreach for their target audience. With BrandBall, our goal is to develop the most efficient communication plan across various media and channels to deliver messages, increase awareness, maximize reach and yield a top-notch return on ad spend for their brand. We focus our efforts on building expertise in brand and business impact areas: Brand identity, Packaging, Digital, Content and Activation. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Snehsikt Anand: Challenges for an entrepreneur is never-ending. It evolves with the life stage of the organization. For a start-up like us, the top challenges we are facing are, Finding the right fit is always a challenge. We are constantly on the lookout for people who think and act like entrepreneurs. And we are very strict about it. Our people are our resources, our biggest assets and the most important carriers of our philosophy. They are basically our extension. At this time, we are building the organization block by block. Secondly, finding the right fit with the clients are always a struggle for a start-up. I will never blame a client for playing safe by going forward with an organization that has been in existence for some time. After all, their money and finances are always a very rare and monitored commodity, especially in the current economic scenario. Getting the clients to believe in our philosophy and backing us up has been an uphill task. We are a new player in the market and we are striving to prove our credentials in this avatar. Thirdly, getting the right tools as well as business and strategy models is crucial. And doing so in a short span of time is a tough task. Just as there is no fixed solution, there is also no fixed model that we can work with all the clients. We have to be sure of which model we are using to create the strategy. Does it apply to the category and the brand? Lastly, there has been business impacts of Covid19. The impact has been more severe on our events and activation business. Revival of the company in the present circumstances is the biggest challenge that we are facing today. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for BrandBall LLP ? Snehsikt Anand : “Digital first” is going to be the mantra for most of the brands in the future and we would want to be a port of call for new brands that would want to join the brand wagon. Ecommerce is also an area that has been growing in leaps and bounds and we would want to partner with brands in that domain. Overall I think we would be leveraging technology a lot in the areas of planning, client management and operations. This would benefit clients as well as us in the bargain. In terms of working model we would be probably having a hybrid working wherein employees would have the freedom to work from anywhere for some days in the week and others they can work from the office. This would ensure that they do not miss their water cooler meeting and ideation as well as are able to take care of their personal requirements. Best of both the worlds without compromising on the output and quality. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Snehsikt Anand : “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” Try to imbibe this in your lives to help sail through the challenges. BrandBall Website: https://brandball.in BrandBall Credentials: https://bit.ly/BB-Credentials
- Abdul Muqheet, CoFounder at Maze Events and Exhibit Solutions Pvt Ltd
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Abdul Muqheet : I had the experience of working in a few event agencies as a start of my career I learnt the trade and one day decided to be on my own and that’s how Maze happened. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Maze events and exhibit solutions private limited Abdul Muqheet : Corporate Events Luxury Weddings Conferences, Product launches and Award Ceremonies are a few of the services which we provide Great Companies: What makes Maze events and exhibit solutions private limited different from hundreds of other Event management Firms? Abdul Muqheet : We create mind blowing experiences for our clients. Every event of ours makes them go wow about it. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Abdul Muqheet : Retaining talent has been our biggest challenge and covid has been the biggest struggle or challenge we have faced Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Maze events and exhibit solutions private limited? Abdul Muqheet : We plan to grow exponentially 5 years down the line we look at ourselves winning accolades and being on the Top 10 event management company’s in India Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Abdul Muqheet : Build a solid business plan, set a marketing budget, and clearly define your mission and goals for your event company. Website : https://www.mazeevents.in/
- Gaurrav Dhar and Monica G Gambhir, CoFounder at CUTAWAYY FILMS PVT LTD
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Gaurrav Dhar & Monica G Gambhir : An Integrated Advertising & Film Production House. This Cutawayy Ninja was originated by Monica G Gambhir, the Co Founder of Cutawayy Films Pvt. Ltd. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by CUTAWAYY FILMS PRIVATE LIMITED Gaurrav Dhar & Monica G Gambhir : We are into Advertising films and Content Creation for Streaming Platforms. Great Companies: What makes CUTAWAYY FILMS PRIVATE LIMITED different from hundreds of other advertisement production houses? Gaurrav Dhar & Monica G Gambhir : We are fortunate enough to live in a day and age in which the words of prolific and eclectic filmmaking talents come readily and often. It's easy to see filmmakers as endless wells of imagination, but stone sharpens stone, and the well needs to be replenished. The Key ? No matter how natural a storyteller or experience, there will always be a need to find that creative spark. The world is fascinating. People and culture inspire us. Recently saw a reality show about reviving struggling restaurants. The premise is that an expert comes in to help save a family business and, in the process, helps the owners rebuild their relationships and their lives. In the beginning, the expert suggested that the family reduce their menu from multiple pages to just one. They created a massive list of selections because they assumed this made more value. In all reality, it was overwhelming. In many instances, less is more. Regardless of the project or dream, "the less is more" philosophy can go a long way in creating value and enabling progress. We may not have abundant resources, but this means your passion and purpose may become our greatest asset, and there's no limit to what we can accomplish when we invest in ourselves in a vision that moves and inspires. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Gaurrav Dhar & Monica G Gambhir :There's far too much clutter, given the low barrier to create a production house. Everything is becoming increasingly commoditized, and that's a big problem. There was a time when as a production company, you could have a conversation with a brand or agency about why you were coming in over budget and make the case for the value that extra cost was bringing. Now, more than ever, with so many media channels to fill and content to create, it feels like brands go into engagements with very set numbers in their head for that content. If certain production companies can't deliver on that price, it means they'll find somebody else who will. To stay relevant, it's essential to cultivate an environment that enables curiosity and restlessness for their hard working talent to execute successful creative irrespective of the platform. Also, the biggest threat to the ad agency model is the democratization of creativity. Overall, the nature of the production company-agency relationship is in the midst of a "sea change". Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for CUTAWAYY FILMS PRIVATE LIMITED? Gaurrav Dhar & Monica G Gambhir : Premium Cinematic Content. The aim is to create binge-worthy content for leading streaming platforms. We are developing two original multi season series. In advertising we have two very promising Advertising Directors - featuring Bhavesh J Kapadia, who has directed over 160 films, his forte lies in the performance driven and likes to explore the quirky and idiosyncratic expressions of emotions in his work. Along with Monica G Gambhir, an upcoming young Ad Filmmaker, her forte lies in the performance-driven, Sports, Hair & Beauty films; likes to keep it subtle and stylish. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting, what would it be? Gaurrav Dhar & Monica G Gambhir : Do the best you can, try to live it down, that's our motto. Just literally give it everything you got and then know it's never going to turn out the way you want it to, let it go and hope that it does not return. Because you want it to be better than it can ever turn out. Most importantly, when we focus on doing less and doing it well, instead of doing more and assuming it's better, we are less scattered, more deliberate, less harried, and more present. And really, isn't that what we want? It's not just the goals and the outcomes we visualize; it's the happiness and satisfaction we imagine we'll experience when we get there. It may be the most significant advantage to doing less; we create more space to enjoy those things now. Website : https://www.cutawayyfilms.com/work.html Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/cutawayyfilmsindia Vimeo : https://vimeopro.com/cutawayyfilms/spotlight Vimeo : https://vimeopro.com/cutawayyfilms/dashboard Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/CUTAWAYYFiLMS/ Vimeo : https://vimeo.com/CUTAWAYYFiLMS Twitter : https://twitter.com/CUTAWAYYFiLMS
- Pinaki Gupta, Founder at Pisarto Online Art Gallery Pvt Ltd
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Pinaki Gupta: The germ of the idea for coming up with an online art gallery goes almost a decade back. Two events/experiences had a huge impact on shaping the way Pisarto has been conceptualized. Firstly, buying my first piece of art – There was a painting I liked and to acquire it had to break the bank. In fact I had to wait for a couple of years to buy it. Secondly, the experience of visiting art galleries – This was such an overwhelming experience and gave an impression of being too elitist. The experiences made me realize that there were many buyers like me who were either first-time buyers or avid art lovers but did not find either the price point attractive or the buying experience very comforting. Pisarto set out to address these two issues for art lovers with a larger goal of democratizing art. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Pisarto Online Art Gallery Pvt. Ltd Pinaki Gupta: Pisarto aims to set up a digital ecosystem to connect artists and art lovers from around the world. Through its platform it offers a great opportunity for artists to showcase their work and reach out to a wider audience and not be restricted to their local markets or cities. Aligned to that Pisarto has taken the digital-first approach. Pisarto aims to fulfil three broad objectives: Bring Global Art to the doorstep of art lovers making it accessible; Encourage & Nurture established and emerging talent; Simplify the Art buying process. Currently, we have Handmade Paintings and Sculptures in our portfolio which we are looking to expand further in the months ahead. We have some very unique artists both in terms of themes and techniques. A lot of our customers are First Time Buyers and this is their first experience of buying art. We understand few of them need some amount of advisory services to help them decide what will suit their taste and look good for their homes. We offer them guidance and suggestions to assist them through their buying lifecyle. Great Companies: What makes Pisarto Online Art Gallery Pvt. Ltd different from hundreds of other online art galleries ? Pinaki Gupta: We do recognize that this market is quite cluttered and also significantly unorganized. That we look as an opportunity for ourselves. We have consciously worked towards having quality artworks on our website that are authentic and original as well as give customers a differentiated buying experience. Some of what we have done makes us unique, like: Curating Panel – We encourage artists who have a distinct style to list their works on our platform. The works are evaluated by a curating panel before we onboard them. There is a strict process of evaluation of artists and selection of their works that finally get listed on Pisarto. “Art on Your Wall” Experience – This feature available on our website allows one to see how the painting would look like on some canned home environments as well as allows one to upload an image of their home and experience how the painting will look like in their actual home. One can move the painting to change its location on the wall as well as resize it to get a better feel. Women Artists - One segment that we are very proud to promote and find quite untapped & encouraged is Women Artists. We consciously promote and encourage them. We have a separate segment on our website for them so that their works gets an opportunity to stand out. Direct Sourcing – We deal directly with artists and avoid working with curators or agents. Quality Check - For every artwork that’s sold on Pisarto, the artist ships it first to our warehouse in Mumbai. We do physical verification of the art from a quality perspective before we ship it to the customer. We believe in providing great quality products and services to our customers. Customer experience is our central focus. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Pinaki Gupta: Paintings and artworks in India generally falls in the aspirational category. For the longest time, paintings and artworks have been confined mostly to the four walls of traditional art galleries. We are trying to find a balance between aspirational and accessibility. One of the biggest challenges we face is changing the buying behavior. Art is at a stage what fashion and clothing industry was maybe a decade back. We want to make the transition to online happen much faster. We are working towards enhancing the customers experience by use of technology, cataloguing, taxonomy of art collection and ease of use of our website so that buyers feel confident to buy art online hassle free. We want to provide our customers unique artworks at reasonable prices with the assurance of quality. Another, challenge we encounter is pricing by the artists. We find that a lot of Indian artists are not well equipped to price their artworks. We guide them so that they get a fair value for their art and invest in promoting them to help build a name for themselves. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Pisarto Online Art Gallery Pvt. Ltd? Pinaki Gupta: We are a fairly new gallery but the progress we have made over the last few quarters has exceeded our own expectations. We are continuously looking out for artists who have potential to bring them on the platform. Apart from that we also keep adding new works of the artists who are already empanelled. Every week on an average we approve and empanel 3-4 artists although we get request from 10-15 artists on an average. We also are increasing our offerings and product portfolio as we are moving ahead. A step in that direction has been adding sculptures. We plan to grow this collection in the days ahead. We are also looking at expanding our portfolio significantly beyond paintings and sculptures. We are experiencing an upward trend in revenue, which is quite encouraging. We hope to be able to sustain this growth and accelerate further once the world comes back to normal. We are very bullish about the future and wish to give a differentiated experience to our customers. We have partnered with institutions like ICICI Bank to give their customers a differentiated offering with a larger goal of popularizing art and reaching out to as many buyers as possible. For us the goal is to make Pisarto an economically successful company along with being socially impactful. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Pinaki Gupta: I feel there are three aspects one needs to have clarity before starting out. Firstly, have a Vision for the business, secondly, have a Passion for the business you are getting into and finally what Innovation you are making in your business that will make you unique. Also, spend significant time in building a solid building block in the early years and not go too fast. Once the foundation is strong, you can accelerate and go full throttle. https:///www.pisarto.com https://www.pisarto.com/collections/canvas-paintings https://www.facebook.com/Pisarto/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/pisarto/ https://www.instagram.com/pisarto_artgallery/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfGFAQzLYXKbBERWSUVqNfQ https://in.pinterest.com/pisarto_artgallery
- Kashyap Dilip Rodge, CoFounder at Rodge Interio
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Kashyap Dilip Rodge : As a teenager in 90's designing / crafting furniture was passion and doing business was always in my mind as I come from a business family background. After working for 14yrs in corporate world and gaining various industry experience. I came at stage where zeal to start my business bursted out and I thought why not start a business which I am fond off that is Interior Design & Furniture. So after a year & half of financial planning and having enough savings for year of personal expenses. We outright bought a small Modular Kitchen & Furniture showroom 2013 and my wife started managing fulltime & myself supporting here on weekends, post 6 months when we were confident that business is growing, I quitted by job in 2014 and joined business fulltime. From there we have grown exponentially in last 8 years, launched experience center and delivered more than 1500+ modular kitchens and 200+ interior design projects in 100kms radius Badlapur, Mumbai & Mumbai Suburbs. We have created very strong online presence over social media, and now 70% customers approach us through these sites like, YouTube Channel, Facebook Page, Instagram, Pinterest. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Rodge Interio Kashyap Dilip Rodge : We provide One Stop Solution/ Turnkey Projects for Residential & Commercial Interior Design Services, Modular Kitchen, Modular Furniture , Kitchen Appliances, Space Saving Furniture and Space Planning services to our clients. Great Companies: What makes Rodge Interio different from hundreds of other Interior Design Firms? Kashyap Dilip Rodge : Rodge Interio provides affordable solutions keeping in mind customers budget and offering utmost quality work with superior finishing and to Top-up that with excellent aftersales service which we extend up to three years without any additional expenses to customers. Above that we also educate each walk-in customer about materials, finishes, its functionality and durability, do and don'ts this helps us in long run as customers keeps furniture neat & tidy and thus, we can reduce service overheads and focus more new business. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Kashyap Dilip Rodge : Covid 19 has pushed down sales, but people are buying new flats and they need their apartments well designed before moving in. Recently rising material cost due to import restrictions and higher import duties, higher GST bracket for furniture & hardware's, skilled labors scarcity and unorganized market where cheap quality products are sold these are few struggle areas, 🙂. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Rodge Interio? Kashyap Dilip Rodge : Presently we are working on a roadmap for next three years, we want to expand business verticals by ecommerce portal on generating online sales, contract manufacturing, backend with machinated production process i.e our own furniture factory this will broadly increase our customer base & sales. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Kashyap Dilip Rodge : More than hard work you need a proper business as well as personal financial plan before diving into business, this will help you stay focused at your work. Start a business which can be easily managed by you, learn your product in-out, launch innovative products which are required in presently and can be affordable to masses.
- Reshma Ahuja, Director at AdWISE Assure Pvt Ltd
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Reshma Ahuja: I realised there is a tremendous scope for process improvements and people engagement in the Industry where I could effectively and efficiently leverage my experience and skills Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by AdWISE ASSURE PRIVATE LIMITED Reshma Ahuja: We provide cost-effective Business Solutions in fields of Operational Excellence, Process Re-engineering, Underwriting Operations, Claims Operations, Complaints/ Risk Management, Vendor Management, Learning & Development and Technology Integration Great Companies: What makes AdWISE ASSURE PRIVATE LIMITED different from hundreds of other business consulting firms? Reshma Ahuja: Our strong domain knowledge to help the client create, stabilize or augment one-above-the-others in the industry in any area or segment. We analyze and understand not just the problem statement, but also the solution adaption capability of the company before making our recommendations. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Reshma Ahuja: Connecting with the stakeholders and the response time thereafter, are the challenges especially during the current pandemic situation. Besides, virtual meetings do have their own set of limitations. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for AdWISE ASSURE PRIVATE LIMITED? Reshma Ahuja: Over the last 18 months, we have established a reputation for ourselves “to deliver beyond the clients’ expectations”. This is helping us create and nurture a stronger client base and expand as well. 5 years down the line- we definitely see ourselves on a global platform working with Offshore Companies- assisting them to Re-engineer their processes and enhancing the knowledge and skills of their workforce. The advantage we have is that, the Indian Insurance Industry is more seasoned and established as compared to some of the International markets. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Reshma Ahuja: Never Give up- Be consistent while approaching the clients’ and always try to deliver beyond the clients’ expectations.
- Abhishek Sharma, Founder at Magnanimous Design Minds Pvt Ltd
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Abhishek Sharma: There are Two Different aspects of the story behind the origin of My Design Minds. The first one was the scarcity of good Designers in the industry as well as the expensive costs of the Design software that don’t allow Small and Medium Scale industries to afford good designers in their teams. Thus We decided to start a company that can help Startups, Small, Medium, and Large Scale Industries with brilliant minds of Amazing Industrial Designers, to Fulfill their design requirements. My Design Minds is helping them developing New Products and supporting their business with our expertise in design software's and Knowledge of Industrial Products Design and Development. The other aspect was to Build a Design Services Provider company that must be recession proof, and should never go out of business in any worldly scenario. The US recession of 2008, did teach us a lesson that we should never rely on One Income stream, so we decided to incorporate all kind of Design Services under one roof with the Brand name of My Design Minds. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Magnanimous Design Minds Private Limited Abhishek Sharma: At My Design Minds, we provide all Kind of Design Services that a Company (Any company) would require at some or all time of business operations. Technically the service which are provided by My Design Minds are as following: Mechanical CAD Design Civil CAD Design Architectural CAD Design Interior CAD Design Electrical CAD Design 3D Printing Graphics Design Website Design Digital Marketing. Great Companies: What makes Magnanimous Design Minds Private Limited different from hundreds of other Design Service providers? Abhishek Sharma: If we compare My Design Minds with Other service provider companies out there, then yes definitely we are not doing anything different from the other companies. But there are few problem areas that we have identified in the Industry while providing design service · Hassle of Finding a Good Designer / Design Company / Agency : Whenever a Company requires a Design service for any of the above mentioned area of business operations, They need to face a great hassle of searching, shortlisting and selecting a Good design company for that particular service. At My Design Minds they can share all the requirements at once and we will take care of all the Designs with the quality that the customer needs. · Hassle of Co-ordinating with Multiple Design Vendors: As finding Great designers or Design service provider companies is a Hassle, Coordinating and working with all different vendors for different design services is another hassle to keep a track on overall projects and delivery timelines. At My design Minds We are the One stop solution to all their design needs, hense they need to share and coordinate with only one person that removes the difficulties of sharing the information and the project management, by saving their time and hassle. · Cost Effectiveness: Considering Profits of all different vendors the customer pays comparatively higher cost than the actual cost of the services. We at My Design Minds keeps our profit margins lower with commutative orders and hence the customer pays a lot less then the amount he was paying in the earlier case. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Abhishek Sharma: Being a Bootstrapped Startup, Scaling and finding a right team are always the biggest challenges that we are facing. Usually a Designer or Design Engineer chooses one Industry and tries to stick to that particular Industry for their career lifetime, that restricts them to learn and work on different manufacturing and innovative engineering technologies which somehow slows down their subject knowledge. This is the one reason why most of the designers working in small and medium scale industries lack the creativity and the broad perspective of seeing things for an innovative design that functions exactly that it is supposed to. To overcome these challenges we decided to hire designers with basic design Knowledge and train them with expertise in all areas. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What do 5 years down the line look like for Magnanimous Design Minds Private Limited? Abhishek Sharma: Considering Business today, we started with limited Design services to serve to our clients. Being a Bootstrapped startup, it was our first priority to launch an MVP to the market to start with the revenues. We are planning to incorporate all other services to be fully functional by mid of 2022. 5 Year down the line we are looking forward to build a headquarter for all our Designers with an Innovation hub. We are also exploring the possibilities of creating a franchisee model to the same. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting, what would it be? Abhishek Sharma: My advice for anyone who is starting up or thinking about starting up with his/ her business would be, only one. “Don’t rush into Startups, just to get out of your boring corporate job, or just to look cool among your friends or colleagues or to create a better image of yourself. If you are passionate about solving problems, and you have actually find out a problem that you can solve better than most of the people out there and willing to do whatever it takes to bring that change into the society by solving a particular problem, then and then only you should think about starting up. Do your research, plan your business and revenue models and then create a viable product or service that the customer would buy”
- Roshni Merchant and Pritpal Singh, CoFounder at Button Curry
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Roshni Merchant and Pritpal Singh: We always had an inclination towards making things with our own hands. The fascination of clay, understanding the material- what makes it malleable and magical; building an intimate familiarity between maker and material. Ceramic clay - An alchemy of earth + water + fire + space + air to make something that we use every day, but when things are taken for granted, we stop realizing and appreciating the values hidden in simple objects. What good is a bowl or a plate with nothing to put in it? We think a lot about food—We think about the joy it brings us. We think about the food we ate as children and we think about the food we get to feed ourselves. Celebrating the simple pleasures of shared meals, rituals and conversations with loves ones. Eating together is something that makes us human. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Button Curry Roshni Merchant and Pritpal Singh: Button Curry is a multi-disciplinary manufacturing and product design studio that creates functional lifestyle objects and encourage mindful living. Tailor made for the way we eat, live and connect. Great Companies: What makes Button Curry different from hundreds of other similar services providers? Roshni Merchant and Pritpal Singh: The emotion and connection with the object is much more than just its function. A lot of thought goes into every aspect of design, translating them into something that holds more value in the experience/interaction and memory rather than just the physical aspect of it. At its very core, the way in which the product uplifts/interacts with its immediate surrounding is crucial as well. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Roshni Merchant and Pritpal Singh: We are a team of two, husband and wife. We play to our strengths. It’s a balancing act we perform every day, right from conceiving the thought/idea, to making it into a tangible functional object, and everything that lies in-between. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Button Curry? Roshni Merchant and Pritpal Singh: In 2020 we launched Button Curry just before Covid hit. If anything COVID-19 pandemic have reminded us all of the importance of home: As a sanctuary from the outside world, as somewhere to share moments with friends and family. We are working on expanding our home collection, exploring and celebrating various materials/substrates, with the focus on ‘back to purity and simplicity’. In terms of expansion the business we want to take the brand globally. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Roshni Merchant and Pritpal Singh: Question and verify everything you do.
- Sweta Baheti, CoFounder at Smartgear Technologies Pvt Ltd
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Sweta Baheti: It was my digital expertise background and my co-founder's sourcing expertise that led me to come up with the concept for high quality trendy vegan bags for women. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Smartgear Technologies Pvt Ltd Sweta Baheti: We sell online and offline Bags & Accessories for Women, We source for stylists, curated boxes brands & many more requirements. Great Companies: What makes Smartgear Technologies Pvt Ltd different from hundreds of other Fashion and E-commerce firms? Sweta Baheti: My co-founder Vikas Bafna has decades of experience sourcing internationally & nationally for various brands like Shoppers Stop, PayTM, W. We are currently working with the best high quality vendors has given us the edge and we keep evolving. The other huge advantage we have is in audience understanding and performance marketing that enables us to create super relevant offers & messaging coupled with effective targeting strategies that enable us to get high intent buyer traffic and better ROAS. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Sweta Baheti: The Market is very competitive & the commissions on E-commerce sites are heavy hence the time to build the brand of high quality vegan bags while creating a good P&L book becomes tough. So we try to talk to every customer to learn their feedback & do live exhibitions to showcase the quality. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Smartgear Technologies Pvt Ltd? Sweta Baheti: D2C businesses are booming at the moment. We intend to ride the wave, but we have an advantage, since we started earlier. We want to a mix of online and high contact offline interactions, so that we are always close to our customers and can deliver delight to them. Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Sweta Baheti: Be patient but also evolve! Do not lose hope, it is tough out there but you can go on knowing that you make your customers happy.
- Nandury V.L.Narasimha Rao, CEO at EGEE PALLET PRIVATE LIMITED
Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? Nandury V.L.Narasimha Rao: There is a huge opportunity in this area of the business. The pallet industry is a $10,000,000,000 industry. That means the pallets used to carry around consumer goods are worth more to the economy than most people can even comprehend. Palletization will definitely improve OPEX of the customer. Customers operating expenditure that include Turnaround Time of vehicle and labor cost will increase by moving goods individually. Pallets are used to stack, store, protect, and transport materials in bulk during the course of being handled by materials handling equipment such as forklifts, pallet jacks or conveyors, being stored in racking or bulk storage or being positioned in transport vehicles. Palletization makes them a low-cost, effective way to get goods from point A to point B. Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by EGEE PALLET PRIVATE LIMITED Nandury V.L.Narasimha Rao: We provide a cost effective solution to our clients. Using our pallets for storage and movement, our clients has saved nearly 50% of their operating cost and 25-30% on the turnaround time (TAT) of their transport vehicles. Along with Wooden pallets we are trying to introduce a new concept – WPC Pallets (without nails) which are fabricated from the wood waste and plastic waste. When the client leases our pallets for their ware house instead of purchasing, it allows them to concentrate on their core business with the saved opportunity cost Great Companies: What makes EGEE PALLET PRIVATE LIMITED different from hundreds of other Manufacturing firms? Nandury V.L.Narasimha Rao: We try to avoid all middlemen in process of manufacturing & leasing of pallets. We have our own in-house technical team to timely respond to the client’s needs. Quality is the mantra EGPL is religiously follows while selling or leasing the pallets. EGEE pallets offer good structural rigidity and maintain product reliability. Pallets life will be extended by strict quality control and maintenance standards. All the fabricated pallets will undergo stringent quality process. At EGPL, staff is readily available to the customers for any service/maintenance at short notice of 48-72 Hrs. Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face? Nandury V.L.Narasimha Rao: Biggest struggle is to get right Funding at the right time as pallet manufacturing requires huge capital. Challenge is to meet customer expectations with low cost for leased pallets. Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for EGEE PALLET PRIVATE LIMITED? Nandury V.L.Narasimha Rao: Would like to have 10 WPC pallet lines with a capacity to produce 75000 pallets a month from the present proposed capacity of 7500 pallets a month. With a huge opportunity in the logistic industry, we are very much optimistic about our vision of making 1Mln pallets available for the clients by 2023-24 Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? Nandury V.L.Narasimha Rao: Perseverance. Always remember the words from Dr. Robert Schuller – “Tough times do not last but tough people do”












