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Total Number of Subscribers: 426 |
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Date: 29 June 2008 |
Compiled by Mr. M. Sathya Kumar |
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A 'Teenager' Company How to become an entrepreneur at a young
age ! ? Samyak Chakrabarty, CEO, Electronic
Youth Media Of the youth, by the youth, for the youth.
That is how a start-up firm by a group of teenagers from Mumbai proudly
describe their company. The brain child of eighteen-year-old Samyak Chakrabarty, Electronic Youth
Media (EYM) offers an array of personalised services. EYM launched a social
networking portal in February 2008. A one-stop destination for the youth,
this portal will also offer online advertising and research services. The
idea is to offer companies with ideas and concepts to market their products.
EYM has received a good response with an average of 1.5 million hits on the
portal every week. "One needs to think differently to
succeed," said Chakrabarty, a first year mass communication student at "Two years ago three of us, myself,
Bhavyash Agarwaal(director, EYM) and Vatsal Thakkar (director, EYM) decided
to start this venture," Chakrabarty sid. His mantra is not to mint
money, but create value, great services and be known the world over. Money
comes secondary for this off-beat, ambitious and cool CEO! "I am not a topper. I don't believe in
rote learning. What we learn from the textbooks for degrees is just for the
resumes, I learn more from the newspapers. Most of our academic courses like
BCom, HSC, SSC are all outdated," says Samyak Chakrabarty in an
interview. So what is it like to become a teenager CEO? Read on. . . Electronic Youth Media. How did it
begin and what is the idea behind such a venture? I always wanted to do something different,
unconventional. There is no fun in following the conventional jobs. I believe
that the media, Internet and the marketing industry is booming now and we
hope to capitalise on this huge opportunity. Initially, I discussed my plans
with two of my friends, Bhavyash Agarwaal and Vatsal Thakkar. Today, we have
a strength of about 104 employees. All are on our payroll. What services would Electronic Youth
Media offer? Electronic Youth Media will have a social
networking site, www.youthportal.in. We are currently studying user's likes
and dislikes and finding out newer and simpler methods to attract youngsters
with exclusive features. We also have an online advertising and
research agency, 'Concrea.' The idea is to offer companies with ideas and
concepts to market their products. We have talked to people across the
industry. We have got a good response. Since we are young, it is easier for
us to understand the market needs better. We will create advertising strategies and
media plan for clients. We will be looking at brands whose customer base
comprise 16 to 28-years-olds. How do you plan to handle
outsourcing of jobs? Ours won't be normal BPO operations. We plan
to handle the whole thing differently. We will give personalised services to
people in the How do you balance ork and studies?
Do you have a brick and mortar office? I am doing my first year Mass Communication
course in How are you as a student? How
important is education for an entrepreneur? I am not a topper. I score 60-70 per cent
marks. I don't believe in rote learning. What we learn from the textbooks is
just for the resumes, I believe more in informal learning, I learn more from
the newspapers. Most of the courses that our academic system
offers like BCom, HSC, SSC are all outdated. I do read a lot to be familiar
with finance, markets, trading, etc. Education is important for an
entrepreneur. But rote learning will not help. It is very important to be
knowledgeable.
How does it feel to be one of the
youngest CEO? Don't you think it is a huge burden to start such an initiative
at such a young age? It feels very good, however, I don't believe
in such titles. My idea was to start early and do things at a young age
rather than wait till I am 50 to start a new venture. So where do you see yourself at 50? I don't want to keep such benchmarks. I want
to do a great jobs and excel in whatever we do. More than revenues, I want my
company to be successful and reputed. I would rather like to be known for our
work, than as a Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) company. What would be your major revenue
generators? We are looking at advertising and
content-based revenues. Stock Talk is a new feature on the portal. In about
six months time we will launch an artificial online share trading platform in
association with Kotak Securities. Youngsters can learn about stock market
strategies. I don't want to disclose more details now. We will also offer
online tutorials. Our market research agency has got a good
response. We have bagged an order from a sports goods company called Orthofit
within two weeks of the launch. How is the portal doing? How many
users have registered? We get about 1.5 million hits every week. We
are getting a good response, with more than 3,000 registered users so far. How many people have you recruited?
Since you all work from home, how to you manage work? We have recruited 104 people in Mumbai. We
have plans to open offices in How difficult was it to start an
initiative like this? It was very difficult to convince people
about our idea and get finance. But once we crossed the first hurdle, it was
easier to get things done. We had several rounds of discussion with senior
people like financial advisors and banking experts before we decided to take
the plunge.
Do you find it difficult to deal with the
older generation, employees or business associates or rivals? Initially, it was hard to get people to have
faith in us and believe in the business model. Since all of us are teenagers
it becomes more difficult to convince people about the feasibility of the
business plans. We do a very good research, because people try to test us.
But since we have a good understanding about the subject, we can prove that
we have a good knowledge base. How has your family supported you? My father, who has a media background has
been very supportive. What kind of investment did you make
while setting up the company? How did you arrange the finance? The initial funding of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200
million) was pooled in by 26 entrepreneurs who came together for the venture.
People who have faith in our business model from the corporate sector have
also helped us with the funding. What kind of revenue/profit do you
foresee in the coming year? The gestation period is about six months.
EYM expects to touch Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) by 2011, this is based on
the business model that we have worked out. We see revenue coming in from the
market research agency. We also plan to offer exclusive services through our
youth networking channel. We have heard many people say that Orkut and
Facebook are a bit complicated. So we are studying the market to offer
simpler and better services. For online transactions how will you
ensure security? We will do a proper background check of all
users. We will convince our clients of efficient service and will work it out
well. What kind of problems do you face? It is very difficult to convince people to
join a venture like ours. Retaining them with us once we have hired them is
another big challenge. But it is exciting to work with a young group. This is
the time when people like to hang out and have fun, so to get work done is
also a big task. Since all of you work from home. How
is the performance evaluated? We evaluate people on the basis of work
done. The tasks assigned are performance based. We also give them deadlines
so that work gets done on time. We have divided people into groups of ten.
Every group convenes a meeting during the weekend.
A passion to work Not many people like to take risks
though they may have great ideas. What drives you? It's a passion to work, work differently.
There is no fun in doing conventional jobs. This is a very exiting time for
the media industry, we see lot of big opportunities and it is great to be a
part of it. What are your views on economic
slowdown, inflation in The economy is going through a recession,
the economy as a whole is suffering. Prices are zooming but this has not
affected the media industry, nor the rich. The rich are getting richer and
spending more. So it is all the more challenging for marketers to sell their
products aggressively. This will turn out to be a great opportunity for us. Internet is also a booming media and I don't
think the recession will have any impact on the Internet or the marketing
sectors. The What do you think about Talent is a very subjective issue. A
commerce student may be more talented than an IIT student. Just because you
score 99% in your exams, you don't become talented. A lot of people in Samyak Chakrabarty, CEO, Electronic Youth
Media And miles to go. . . What are the qualities that an
entrepreneur must have? One must have a good business model. A great
business model or plan is very essential to succeed. One must have excellent
team management skills. Even if it is team of five people, it is difficult to
manage a team so you have to be geared up for that. You must also have people
management skills since you have to deal with lot of people, you have to
impress people and make them believe in what you do. Finance is a major
issue. One must get a good funding. You should have a passion and drive to
get you going. What is your success mantra? You make
it sound very easy? Work is a passion for me rather than a
compulsion. There is no formula for success, you have to put in a lot of hard
work, believe in yourself, have faith in whatever you do. I make it sound
easy because if you think it's difficult it makes things tougher. It's better
to believe that we can do it and works towards achieving our goal. Advice to budding entrepreneurs? There is a general belief that young people
can't do anything. You must go against this and prove what you can go. The initial
steps will be difficult but never give up. You have to break the barriers and
strive for excellence. What are your future plans? We plan to set up a film production house
and a football league for youngsters. What are your interests? How to you
spend your spare time? Now it's just work, work and more work.
However, I like reading, music and going for long walks. Samyak Chakrabarty, CEO, Electronic Youth
Media Article by Shobha Warrier, earlier
article appeared in rediff |
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