I must share one of the most amazing experiences I have had that to prove this.
While I was building contests2win in 98, Pepsi Mumbai became a regular client of ours and we did quite a few campaigns with them. A gentleman called Ranga was the head of Pepsi Mumbai and was quite the taskmaster. He was so demanding and detailed in his requirements that my colleague Salil and I ( just a 2 man team) used to literally cry. We couldn’t say no to his business and yet could just about meet his expectations. We used to dread dealing with him just because he always found something more that we should or could have done. The incredible twist to the tale was that all our services to Pepsi were free – our model was getting promoted by Pepsi in their ads, so all this torture did not even earn us any money.
Fast forward 6 months. In my first VC funding meeting with E-ventures (a VC firm), Neeraj Bhargava – one of the partners asked me why I wasn’t making money. I replied that the idea and concept of c2w was literally the first in the world, and that brands would take a lot of time to understand it to pay us. He then asked me who my team was and I said – just 2 people. Neeraj finally asked the question I dreaded the most – who was our most repetitive client and his/her contact number? (This is standard diligence in funding – the VC’s will speak to your regular clients). I mumbled and answered – Pepsi Mumbai headed by Ranga. In my mind I assumed that this discussion was over. Ranga was not going to be kind about us and / or our work.
Neeraj immediately called Ranga in my presence and began an interesting conversation with him – Do you deal with c2w? How is their work? Do you like the team? He then asked – why don’t you pay them? Ranga replied something that made him get up and walk out of the room. A few minutes later he came back.
He looked point blank and said this ‘Alok – Ranga told me that he loves your ideas and work’. On being asked why he doesn’t pay c2w, Ranga said that Alok never asks(!!) and that Pepsi was worried if there was something fraudulent about c2w… coz they (Pepsi) never get anything for free!! Finally Neeraj dropped the atomic bomb on me… He had asked Ranga if he would ever consider working for c2w with Alok, and Ranga has replied – ‘Of course! It sounds very exciting’
That’s the day I understood that value get created without the creator even knowing about it.
Ranga’s positive feedback was one of the reasons for c2w getting funded. He became c2w COO 2 months later and went on to create Mobile2win in China that was acquired by Disney.
Create with your best effort and let the world value your work – you will be pleasantly surprised!
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Hi Alok,
That is indeed an interesting experience. I too had another similar experience and the lesson we learnt was slightly different.
Around the same time (1998-99), I was the Regional Head of an exhibition & promotions company in Delhi and we got a brief for the promotion of Satyam Online (SIFY).
My team invested a lot of efforts in creating a plan for that… numerous brain-storming sessions, sleepless nights, design options etc. The entire team got involved in that one project so much the we almost had a feeling that we were employees of Satyam. It took us a whole one week to put things together (concept, designs, event-flow, budget, ROI Analysis etc etc.) and we were proud of the outcome. The client even mentioned that he had never seen an elaborate plan like ours and that he can clearly visualize what happens when, where and how. But, we lost the deal for reasons that were never disclosed to us and we felt shattered.
It was a friday evening and I took my team out for a drink at TGI Fridays because they had put their best in it. We had another discussion on why did we lose the deal. People suggested various reasons but I was not convinced.
I looked around while I was having my drink and I saw the captain taking an order from another guest. He said “What would you like to have?” The guest replied “Whiskey”. The captain said “Would you like to try a new Scotch brand”? The guest said no and the Captain went ahead asking others if they wanted to try.
And that’s it. We made a list of all possible clients right there at TGIF who would want to “Try” our plan.
By noon on monday, the sales team was ready with the contact details of many of the clients we had listed. By the next friday we had presented the same plan to some who seemed interested and within a week thereafter we sold it to Mantra Online. We did promotions for them in Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow and Chandigarh and the campaign was much appreciated.
So, if you have created something with your best efforts, the world will value your work and it would be a pleasantl surprise for sure!!!
Hello Alok,
Thanks for sharing nice information. It was really inspiring.
Also,
Thanks Prashant to you too!
Dear Alok
this is a wonderful piece and quite insightful. You are absolutely right that the value creation happens even without the knowlege of the creator.
We created lokmat Community Initiative an offline community platform in three verticals. We could realise its value only when we got a client telling us why don’t you guys price it separately rather bundling it just as an add on for your print brands. LCI is a separate profit centre now.
I agree with Prashant that if something has been created by the best efforts it will be valued always.
Thanks for sharing an intimate experience…i dont really see many entreprenuers opening up to their oversights and the small mistakes they make during their initial days…..
Overtime i have also learnt that your toughest clients are the ones who teach you the most and at times force you to be at your best
Hey Alok,
A thought provoking / inspiring post. I am not an entrepreneur but I agree with the general idea. I have seen this work in a lot of different cultures & environments.
As you mentioned, I think sometimes we don’t even realize who the beholder is for a very long time.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Alok,
Thanks for sharing this your experience. I have a web development firm and a couple fo regular clients from middle-east often demands more and my team kind of get irritated.. since i handle communications i try to motivate my team.. i going to share this post with them..
Keep on sharing your million dollar experiences..