Should I have taken up a job?
When I set out to create W.E.-Matter , people felt it was a big mistake. The feedback was that we were bound to fail. Their sound logic was that foreign hashtag#multinationalcompanies dominated this space. Very true! I agreed!
…“Start small, fail early, scale fast”
… Mohanbir Sawhney, Associate Dean, Digital Innovation at Kellogg School of Management
All the large competitors, with high-cost delivery models, were focused on multibillion-dollar transnational companies. Great Place to Work was targeting companies across the spectrum. Clients told us that they went to Great Place to Work for certification only. This was music to our ears.
We decided to expand the market. While the clients had become hashtag#technology savvy, most competitors in India lacked an effective digital platform. We mapped the competition across the world and benchmarked some of the best platforms in the world. Our highly engaged and passionate technology team, who were all hashtag#GenZ, created world’s best AI-driven platform. We leveraged high-quality and well-researched intellectual property. Our pricing was competitive. Clients started signing up.
The next question was branding and visibility for scaling up the business. We introduced an honest award based on quantitative measures. To be truly an honest award we had to ensure it is not a business. This called for significant hashtag#investment. The event for the awards improved our brand visibility significantly. This was possible because of a highly engaged, passionate, and committed Gen Z team.
Soon enough, we were amongst the top 2 in the country and raring to be amongst top 5 in the world in the next few years. Startups innovate without any organizational constraints. An engaged and empowered team is essential for such a feat.
Both large transnational companies and hashtag#startups expand the market. The strategies are very different.
Learning:
‘1. Understand the clients’ needs in an underserved segment, for which they are willing to pay.
Identify the pain points that competitors will find difficult to address.
Create a solution that caters to the needs of the identified segment and delivers value that is difficult to replicate.
Brand, technology, and process are critical for scaling up.
Experiments and innovation are critical to create a dancing startup.
Develop an engaged, passionate, and committed team.
How have you grown your hashtag#business in a hashtag#startup or a large company?