☆~ஓய்வில்லா தேனீ~☆ ™: CEO

Punit Goenka MD & CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.

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<img alt="Punit Goenka" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Punit-Goenka.jpg" width="171" /></div>
<strong> </strong></div>
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“Someday I want people to point to Subhashji and say, 
‘That’s Punit Goenka’s father’. That’s my only goal in life. I want that
 recognition once.”This quote is actually the expression of a secret 
desire by one of the scions of the Essel Group, Punit Goenka, who helms 
the media and entertainment businesses of the group (his younger brother
 Amit Goenka is entrusted with overseeing the group’s non-media 
businesses).</div>
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<br /></div>
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After close to a decade of leading the Zee 
Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) – he took over as CEO in 2008- 
we can safely predict that sooner rather than later, he may well realise
 that goal. Some evidence of the fact that he is moving in the right 
direction towards achieving that secret goal is this – He has lead ZEE 
in achieving a multitude of milestones and prestigious awards that have 
elevated the brand to that of a global player. Some of these include the
 Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Award (2015), IMC Fusion Award for 
Excellence in Media(2013), and Businessworld Infocom ICT Award (2012). 
Always with an eye on the future, and the razor-sharp business acumen 
that he inherited from his father, Zee has achieved global stature in 
the new media domain which is manifested in the expansion of the 
company's international presence across 169 countries, and its reach to 
close to a billion viewers.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong>Education and introduction to the family business</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Punit
 Goenka, the eldest son of the highly successful 
entrepreneur-par-excellence, and chairman of the Essel Group, did his 
Bachelors of Commerce (B.Com.) from the Mumbai University in 
1995.Admittedly, by the time he was ready to be inducted into the family
 business (out of choice, no one – not even his super-imposing father, 
forced him to enter the business), things were not even remotely close 
to being as adverse as they were for his father – who started his grain 
trading business in the Hissar town of Haryana (though he was born in 
Rajasthan, the family had moved to Haryana looking for greener business 
pastures) with a mere Rs.17 in his pocket (that’s less than a quarter 
dollar) and made it big with his shrewdness, superlative acumen, and 
vision.</div>
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<br /></div>
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However, he wasn’t straight-jacketed into a leadership 
role. Punit Goenka was groomed and mentored by his father to, 
eventually, helm the affairs of his media business.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Punit Goenka 
headed Zee Telefilms Ltd (1995 -1997) - a music division of ZEEL 
thatengaged in audio/video music album publication. Then he was tasked 
with running Dish TV (erstwhile ASC Enterprises Ltd.) where he served as
 its Vice President Operations (for 3 years since 1997).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong>ZEEL</strong></div>
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After
 serving Dish TV (was a director there until 2007), he was brought into 
the group’s most successful and flagship company – Zee Entertainment 
Enterprises Ltd., as its Network Operating Officer in 2005  - where he 
also served as the Head of Zee TV & Cinema (part of ZEEL).One cannot
 find fault with anyone for being awestruck as well as feeling a bit 
intimidated by the super-successful Subhash Chandra, even if he is your 
father. So, when Punit realized he needed to take control of Zee TV’s 
day-to-days operations and the decisions thereof, he had to seize them 
from his father – albeit through a request. One can imagine his plight 
when he says how scary it was to go and express his ideas to his father.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It
 took him months to approach his father, after which he mustered enough 
courage to go and ask his father to let him take decisions for taking 
forward the media company. The senior, being the visionary, looked upon 
this as the coming of age of his eldest son and very whole-heartedly 
allowed him the freedom and confidence to take decisions.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Among 
all the things that the scion inherited from his, the one that has stood
 out and has served him and the company well has been his modus-operandi
 of creating consensus and then going with it.That means, apart from 
banking on his own capabilities, he also trusted the core-group that had
 also been with his father through the journey of the company’s journey 
as India’s first non-state-owned television company to becoming the $3 
billion conglomerate that is into myriad of business from online gaming,
 news, television, infrastructure, etc.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong>Success, competition, and diversification</strong></div>
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Punit
 has been able keep the distinction of ZEEL from other media companies 
by exercising a vice-like grip on cost and focus on profits. What it has
 meant is that, inspite of the so many media companies eating into the 
pie of the Indian media business, Punit has been able to ward off 
competition where it matters the company most and keeping it well and 
truly in the race for achieving his father’s goal of taking ZEEL into 
the top-ten of global media houses.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It hasn’t been easy to say the
 least. Amidst sustained competition from both local as well as 
international media players, what would otherwise have spelt doom for so
 many others (as it has indeed been for some), Punit has very 
masterfully orchestrated the diversification of the company’s offerings 
into various other segments and sub-segments, ushering it into the 
digital age.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Along the way he has had to align and re-align the 
business model that had worked so well under his father, to meet the 
dynamics of a nation that has gone increasing digital with the onset of 
multiple service providers making it easy for the country-folk to 
consumer media content in so many ways that could not have been imagined
 during the company’s hey-days when his father helmed it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong>Going digital and international through localization</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While
 diversifying its offerings to meet the demands of anet-savvy audience 
was in-line with the trends, one of the key decisions ZEEL took under 
Punit’s leadership was to go international by offering Indian, 
particularly Bollywood content to the rest of the world – in their 
language. Something that was missed by the other leading industry 
players.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This worked really well and contributed greatly to the 
revenues of the company, so much so that ZEEL now aims to clock a major 
portion of its revenues through its international offerings.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another
 shrewd strategy that Punit Goenka embarked upon that has helped ZEEL 
sustain its position on the domestic front has been to focus on regional
 audience – tying up with locals and creating and offering local content
 as opposed to the other players who seem (so far) to be content playing
 national. On the digital front, there’s a Netflix-like offering called 
Ditto TV – which offers video content (and the like) on a low-cost 
subscription basis – the business seeing some good traction so far.</div>
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<br /></div>
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No
 wonder then that many observers believe Punit to have transformed ZEEL 
it into a well-oiled and profitable business without ever compromising 
on quality. And why would he not - he is known to be an out-and-out 
people person and a go-getter who knows how to get the best out of his 
team. It seems that while the great new business ideas always come from 
Subhash Chandra – who is difficult to approach, it is Punit’s 
responsibility to bring enthusiasm into the business so as to implement 
those wonderful ideas of his father, which have (barring a couple) 
almost always worked.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">
<strong>Other associations</strong></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Independent  Director at Prozone Intu Properties Limited since April 20, 2012</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as a Director of Broadcast Audience Research Council </td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Chairman  of Broadcast Audience Research Council until December 2016</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of Essel Ship Breaking Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of Essel Telecom Holdings Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of Rochan (India) Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of Zee Sports Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of Agrani Wireless Services Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of Agrani Convergence Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of Agrani Satellite Services Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of ASC Mobile Communication Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Serves  as Director of Diligent Media Corporation Ltd.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">
<strong>Affiliations</strong></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">'Business  Today Best CEO award (media and entertainment category) 2016.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Listed  amongst the top 100 CEOs of India, in a study published by Business Today (2015)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Received  the prestigious Economic Times '40 Under Forty' India's Hottest Business  Leaders Award (2014)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">'Young  CEO Award' by CEO India magazine (2015)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">The  IAA Leadership Award 2014 (under the category of 'Media Person of the Year  Award')</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Recognized  as the 'Entrepreneur of the Year' during the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship  Awards (2014)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">Felicitated  as the 'IMPACT Person of the Year' for his contribution to the media and  entertainment industry(2014)</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">
Quotes</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">'<strong>“</strong>In
  the next two or three years, growth from the international market 
should be  consistent at 10 to 12 per cent.”–Around May 2014.</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“We
  want to transform from just a broadcast company into an all-round 
media  company. Broadcast is and will remain the biggest piece in the 
business.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“In
  India if you were to watch half an hour episode on your 3G or 4G 
connection, if  your 4G works for that matter, you will end up paying 
probably couple of  thousand rupees just for the bandwidth cost, forget 
what you paid me for the  episode.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“It
  is clear that we are in the business to make money; we are not here 
for charity  or for building power or influence. My father also taught 
us that this company  is not just ours—we only own part of it. We have 
minority shareholders whose  interests are equally important.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“I
  don’t think of the vision—I let it come from him. Because if he has 
proved  himself for the last 40 years, who am I to question that 
vision?” – Referring  to his father Subhash Chandra’s vision of making 
Zee TV division one of the top  10 media companies in the world by 2020.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

Punit Goenka MD & CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.

“Someday I want people to point to Subhashji and say, ‘That’s Punit Goenka’s father’. That’s my only...

மேலும் படிக்க »

Ariel Kaye Founder& CEO Parachute Home

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<img alt="Ariel Kaye" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Ariel-Kaye.jpg" width="171" /></div>
<strong> </strong></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
She is one of the very few entrepreneurs who went solo 
until her company had achieved success in finally getting some 
investment in her idea. In fact, Ariel Kaye recruited the first employee
 of the ecommerce start-up that has already created a stir in the 
bedding essentials sector and expanding with each passing day. She went</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Education</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Daughter
 of a school-teacher, Ariel Kaye completed a masters in media studies 
(focus on social media marketing, digital media, and video production) 
in 2010 from The New School.Before that she completed her bachelors of 
arts (focus on media, power, and persuasion) in 2006 from the Gallatin 
School, New York University, where she was Dean Scholar and graduated 
with honors (Magna Cum Laude).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The decade-long professional career in New York</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
She
 delved into the field of advertising – branding – to be specific, and 
work in that field for around 10 years before the bug of 
entrepreneurship bit her. It was a serendipitous occurring that changed 
what seemed like a content enough career in the field of marketing with 
random indulgence into design and home décor.  She started her career 
with a communications company called ‘i33 Communications LLC’ as 
executive assistant to the President/CEO.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Much as it may seem like
 baptism by fire, as being the CEO’s executive is no easy job, but her 7
 months in that role gave her enough perspective very early in life 
about corporate culture, business handling, and the nitty-gritty of 
entrepreneurship.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Then she followed it up with a job stint of 5 
months with a company called Goldin Solutions as a Senior Digital 
Analyst. Her next job allowed her to ease into a managerial position and
 see the functioning of business from up close. She served as manager 
(Account Planning) for the company called ‘Digitas’ in which role she 
lasted for a close to 3 years.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
By the time she was into her 
promoted position (with Digitas) as Associate Director (Account 
Planning), she had pretty much deliberated upon what’s to be made of her
 life after that particular stint. It was getting into entrepreneurship 
but doing something different – something that would make a difference 
to people lives; what it was she would not know or have an inkling of 
until she went to Italy for six months for studies after moving from 
Digitas in February 2013.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The spark</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There 
were several sparks that lead Ariel Kaye to jump into the 
entrepreneurial world. First and foremost was her 6-month stay in Italy 
which she had visited during her sophomore year; second was her interest
 in the home décor and interior designing (she had a design blog); and 
finally her extensive (almost 10 years) experience in the field of 
advertising and branding where she got to understand the public’s 
new-found propensity to look for quality, craftsmanship, and social 
responsibility in products they bought.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With that as the 
background, she started research on what clicks with customers when they
 buy bedding products and was surprised to find that not many know the 
brand that made them happy in terms of quality bed linen. Having been a 
brander, she knew the value brand loyalty can have for a business and 
thus made up her mind to create a brand that focused on the bedroom 
aspect of the home which would not only put to use her knowledge, 
education, and experience but also serve a hereto un-catered to segment 
in the home furnishing industry.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Initial struggle with funding & the launch</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
By
 end-2013 she drawn the road-map with a detailed plan of actions and a 
sound business plan. But that wasn’t as is as it sounds – she had to put
 in an immense amount of hard-work and thought to get there. First up 
she visited the local vendors providing bedding to vindicate her stance 
of them neglecting the quality aspect of it. Then she visited Europe 
where she went to about 15 factories, mostly in Italy, where she was 
introduced to an altogether different approach to bedding essentials 
from manufacturers. Based on that approach plus the fact that she had 
made their acquaintance, she developed a business plan built around a 
direct-approach revenue model.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
She met many potential investors 
who politely tell her that it’s a good plan but you haven’t started and 
done enough to justify our investment – perhaps they were correct in 
their assessment. Here was someone who was pitching to sell an idea 
venture capitalists – however novel and promising it may been – without 
even having a single inventory on the ecommerce platform. They wouldn’t 
say not directly, so that added to the distress even more as it made her
 as anxious as one can grow under such circumstances.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Being a 
marketing person – she put her PR to great use and joined a Santa-Monica
 based accelerator called, Launchpad LA. This gave her the opportunity 
to interact with many rising entrepreneurs as also the chance to work 
with them and understand how they did it all when it came to sourcing 
funding et al.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some of them pitched in with some money that 
wouldn’t be enough, so she borrowed a loan from her parents to 
kick-start Parachute in January 2014 with an assortment of bedding 
essentials. Viola! It was sold out of inventory in just a couple weeks –
 all because Kaye and team had connected with people as well as provided
 an experience they’d never known or experienced.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>The strategy& guiding principles</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Next
 came the question of how well she would devise her business and 
operational strategies. As before, her brief experience with Launchpad 
and her branding experience helped her come up with people-centric 
strategies. She made sure that Parachute’s product and planning teams 
worked directly with manufacturers so that it is able to maintain 
control, offer the often-so-missing transparency and, above all,be able 
to provide the best products at the best of prices. This has been the 
back-bone from a differentiation point of view.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not only that, 
Kaye has set in place some guiding principles that drive every product 
offerings through Parachute.The most crucial of them is attaching utmost
 importance to ‘Quality.’</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not only that, Kaye and her team have 
been able to deliver premium products at accessible pricing by smartly 
cutting out the middleman and going direct to consumer, while also 
working directly with its manufacturers in order to create and develop 
superior quality products, which the customer can enjoy quickly through 
the last-mile delivery that Parachute offers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Investor confidence…trickling in</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Such
 is the state of affairs that almost always so far, Parachute has run 
out of inventory increasing the GMV to unexpected levels. In fact, it 
has been struggling to keep pace with the demands from customers. They 
beat their monthly projections in two weeks flat. Thus exuding much 
confidence for the investors to put in their money after seeing the 
results. With the much-needed capital infused into the business, Kaye 
expanded the team in order to better coordinate with manufacturers and 
acquired the additional inventory to meet the ever-increasing demand.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Parachute recently finished a round of VC funding reported to the tune of $10M.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Growth</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As
 can be expected, Parachute was so successful in getting established as a
 brand that it has seen a 4x year-to-year growth rate and 40% repeat 
customer rate – which is amazing given the general market trend where 
such rate as well as loyalty are hard to come by. The company plans to 
continue to grow next year through expanded collections in home 
essentials and bathroom, and eventually for other rooms of the house.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not bad for a solo beginner.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Her advice to founders…</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Sit
 up straighter. Look into people’s eyes longer. And bring the intensity 
you feel inside, out. Let them know that you’re a fighter. A person with
 persistence, confidence, and a vision. If they want to be here and go 
with you, do it. If not, move on and find the person who is.”</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><div style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">
Quotes</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle" width="2%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle" width="98%">'“Building  a brand is a process, and I think some people try to do it too fast and grow  too big.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">I
  wanted to establish a brand that enabled people to start and end their
 day,  feeling their very best. It was important to me not only to offer
 premium  quality and accessible pricing but also comfort and sound 
sleep.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“We  want to be where all of our customers are. We’re dreaming big.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Always  be persistent, but also be patient.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">"My
  aesthetic is equally inspired by the landscape of the desert and the 
vibe of my  Venice surroundings.This means earth tones and neutrals. 
From a style standpoint,  I’ve always been drawn to basics. "</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“It’s  hard to make transformative changes. Working on little things adds up to the  big things.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“We  started by rethinking the basics of bedding...now we’re revolutionizing home  textiles.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“I
  couldn’t find a single brand that was high quality, beautiful, 
affordable and  convenient to purchase. They say if you can’t find it, 
create it. And so I did.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“Building
  culture and making sure my employees are happy is what keeps me up at 
night.  It’s what this whole thing is all about; creating a place where 
people love to  work.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“You’re  only as productive at work as you are happy.”</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="middle"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="15" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/nai_img2.png" width="15" /></td><td align="left" style="font-size: 12px;" valign="middle">“You  spend so much time at work that if you’re not having fun and enjoying it what’s  the point?”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>

Ariel Kaye Founder& CEO Parachute Home

She is one of the very few entrepreneurs who went solo until her company had achieved success in fin...

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Shashank ND Co-Founder & CEO Practo Technologies

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<img alt="Shashank ND" height="181" src="https://www.wisdomimg.com/india/s/socphotos/Shashank-ND.jpg" width="171" /></div>
<strong> </strong></div>
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Shashank ND,the founder and CEO of Practo Technologies, 
India’s leading healthcare management app devised the application quotes
 by accident it is strange how certain incidents of occurrences in our 
lives figured that Spark or thought of innovation to come up with 
something really new and impactful for the society as a whole. It so 
happened that Shashank father had to undergo funny replacement surgery 
back in 2008 but Shashank wanted to get second opinion from a surgeon in
 the United States.<br />
<br />
However there were no medical records online 
that could be shared with the US surgeon. This one incident that 
happened with Shashank sparked a new thought basically a view that how 
many others in this country faced this problem of not having online 
medical records. Then he started working on figuring out the solution 
for this and he realized it could be an online repository or an app or 
something which the doctors had to help themselves with and not be 
binding on the patience to do it because it would then be that much more
 cumbersome. So he came up with this idea and floated it around a few 
doctors in Bangalore the city where he was born and brought up.  His 
takeaway from his father situation was that the world could use was 
digitized, accessible and shareable medical records.<br />
<br />
But most of 
them did not approve of the idea saying it is not a plausible one. 
Shashank continued with his quest nonetheless. To make good of the idea,
 he needed hands for which he sought involvement from his college mate 
Abhinav Lal. When Shashank sounded him out, Lal was reluctant initially 
as they were still in the 3rd year of graduation and as also his parents
 did not approve of this proposition.<br />
<br />
<strong>Partner & the initial team</strong><br />
However
 Shashank cajoled and convinced him to eventually join the effort of 
creating something very new, exciting, and useful for the society. They 
started collected few lakhs from and started off coding at Shashank’s 
grand-parents’ house (unused) in JP Nagar (Bengaluru).But something like
 that required additional hands; so they invited coders who shared their
 vision, passion, and also had the ability to build applications on 
cloud. Within just a few days they were about 10 of them working to get 
this Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform ready – they initially called
 in turb-doc.in- which they did in just a matter of 14 days from 
starting coding.<br />
<br />
<strong>Dissemination, adoption, and the early challenges</strong><br />
Monetization
 wasn’t on their minds when they started out, as the primary motive 
behind creating this platform was to serve the community, make sure they
 had easy access to healthcare information - all of it that they ever 
wanted to have before taking an informed decision.<br />
<br />
For that to 
happen, it was the medicos i.e. the doctors and practitioners who needed
 to be equipped with the application – a solution that can store all the
 medical records on the history of patient’s medication, reports in 
anything and everything that related to the patients so this was a hard 
sell for the young engineers as the doctors whom they met were not so 
optimistic about something like that.<br />
<br />
Then there were other 
operational and business challenges as well in the adoption of the 
platforms. The biggest one of them was that internet was in its nascent 
stages back then besides the fact that doctors were not very inclined on
 going to the web, much less about using smart phones in delivering care
 to their patients and recording the proceedings.<br />
<br />
Slowly and 
surely, never pegged back by any limitation whatsoever and fueled by 
their desire and commitment towards the society, Shashank and Lal and 
the team of 10 geeks went about their job creating applications that 
helped the businesses - that is the medical centers, hospitals, doctors,
 diagnostic centers and, importantly, the patients. The software which 
was built to address the problems of patients in India, helped doctors 
upload and store medical records and prescriptions and manage billing 
and appointment details.<br />
<br />
<strong>Investor interest</strong><br />
When
 they started off they never ever thought of how or why somebody should 
invest into their business. All they were worried about was how to make 
people use their platform effectively. They sold the products to doctors
 only on a referral basis which lead the business to just grow 
organically and they did not invest any major capital into it. It went 
on like that for a couple of years until 2010/11 when the Managing 
Director of a venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, ever so 
inadvertently, stumbles upon this service.<br />
<br />
The gentleman had had a
 shoulder surgery and through the course of his post-surgical 
medication, realized that there was this app called Practo that was 
called into action a great number of times all through his recovery. 
This, kind of, amazed him a great deal and that very moment he could see
 that here was an application platform as a service that held great 
promise for both his venture capital firm as well as the community at 
large.<br />
<br />
But he didn’t jump in with an investment blindly; he waited
 for another few months before finally getting in with a capital of 
$500,000 which was which was a very small investment compared with 
anything else the company had invested in its history.<br />
<br />
With such 
capital infused into the business, the engineer duo went ahead expanding
 their areas of service first expanding to Chennai and then subsequently
 to other major cities of the country such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, 
Kolkata, and Pune.<br />
<br />
The team that had started with 10 people in a 
matter of 5 years grew to 500 and then the subsequent year and a half 
later grew to more than 2000. Practo is today India’s leading healthcare
 management platform besides being the world’s fourth largest subscribed
 health management application, next only to leading competitors such as
 Zocdoc and Guahao. The app was voted the best app at Google Think 
Mobile Conference 2014.<br />
<br />
<strong>Where it stands today</strong><br />
Thanks
 to Shashank and his team’s relentless zest to serve humanity, the 
company is today valued at USD $500 million with further rounds of 
investment flowing in – in fact, chasing it from various quarters.  
Apart from Sequoia Capital which increased its investment, Practo 
secured funding from others funders that included Matrix Partners, 
Tencent Holdings, Sofina, Google Capital and Yuri Milner taking the 
total investment from various rounds of funding to about USD$125 
million.<br />
<br />
Not only that, the company’s operations areas of business
 today has2,500 employees working across 35 cities and six countries 
serving in more than 100 cities across 8 countries, with was about 
230000 medical practitioners registered for IT services serving a 
patient base of about 4 million visitors every month. Experts and 
industry-watchers opine that Practo’s advantage over its competition 
lies in the fact that it is present in the B2B (management software) and
 B2C (doctor discovery platform) space, covering both ends of the health
 care ecosystem. Shashank says it has become the world’s largest 
appointment-booking platform with over 40 million appointments annually.
 It is present in four other countries too—Singapore, Brazil, Indonesia 
and Philippines—and is exploring entering newer markets in Latin 
America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.<br />
<br />
The quest to 
continuously improve and conform to their founding ideals, Shashank 
makes sure the company is still run like a start-up – which is hard to 
achieve after 7 years into operations and a valuation of half a billion 
dollars. So, what he says is, along with organic growth, they have 
embarked on an acquisition path that has seen them equip themselves with
 start-ups with complementary capabilities that add variety to their 
offerings – thus, helping them to function as start-ups.  The app is now
 also available in 10 vernacular language of the country so as to 
support seamless communication for even non-English speaking patients.<br />
<br />
<strong>Education and family</strong><br />
Born
 to erudite parents who were employed with government departments and 
there was a set pattern for his life that they wanted him to achieve – 
so well in school, pursue engineering, and then get a good job. All of 
which he did: had his schooling from the National Public School, 
Rajajinagar and then completed his engineering from the National 
Institute of Technology (NIT), Surathkal, Karnataka.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" colspan="2" height="35" valign="middle"><span style="color: #a6201f; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; line-height: 30px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;">Quotes</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“When we get more capital, when we add more people, it is multiplicative and not divisive in anyway.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Like
 you have your professional life on LinkedIn, social life on Facebook, 
we aim to be the go to platform for your health and well-being.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“If
 someone has stomach pain, we are helping that person go to the right 
doctor nearby. A common man doesn’t understand medical jargon,”says 
Shashank. “We are trying to increase the trust between doctors, 
hospitals and patients by making the process transparent and eliminating
 the barrier of lack of information. We want to help consumers make a 
more informed decision.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />"We
 don’t follow any model or company. Getting influenced and starting 
something is not sustainable in the long run,” he says. " Original ideas
 are always ahead in the race.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Under
 Practo, we have different business units and many of them are turning 
profitable this year. We as a company will turn profitable mid of next 
year [2017], including our international operations. The software 
business is already running in a profitable manner.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“The idea of Practo didn’t come from anywhere else. It originated from India and the problems we face.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Absence of digital health records is a common problem all over the world.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“The long-term plan is to help improve human longevity by simplifying health care.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="4%"> </td><td style="font-size: 12px;" width="96%"><img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq_icn.png" width="10" />“Just like you know Mountain View because of Google, or Menlo Park because of Facebook, I want people to know JP Nagar.”<img alt="" class="soc-quotes" height="10" src="https://www.wisdomjobs.com/spark_images/fq2_icn.png" width="10" /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Shashank ND Co-Founder & CEO Practo Technologies

Shashank ND,the founder and CEO of Practo Technologies, India’s leading healthcare management app dev...

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Shashank ND Co-Founder & CEO Practo Technologies

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