BRAND. NEW. MILESTONE

Was watching the 2018 Avengers: Infinity War as revision a few days back before spending a mini fortune on tickets for the grand finale and my distracted mind kept returning to one particular scene. When Thor reaches Nidavellir to build from scratch, a weapon powerful enough to kill Thanos – the Stormbreaker, there are some words of wisdom that the Drawf King Eitri has for him:

Eitri: “Do you understand, boy? You’re about to take the full force of a star. It’ll kill you.”

Thor: “Only if I die.”

___________________________________________

January 2015:

There’s a board meeting in progress and an uncomfortable silence has lingered on for just a second too long. We are due for our next round of funding and have so far failed spectacularly in garnering in any sort of interest from venture capital funds. There are pre-emptive cost-cutting measures already underway. Notice has been given to the landlord of our current office as the rent no longer seems affordable. The 6000 sq. ft. warehouse that we shifted to a few months back will, unfortunately, have to be vacated but only after the ill-planned lock-in period of 6 months. The hunt is on for a 3000 sq. ft. warehouse that we can squeeze in all our operations into... but the situation needs more…

One of our earliest investors abruptly breaks the silence and looking straight at us suddenly says:

“Guys, why don’t we build a brand?”

I still remember the reflex that I almost blurted out at that moment:

“But we don’t know how to build a brand…”

And why not? The annals of consumer brands in India are littered with products that were launched with big budget advertising campaigns and guzzled a ridiculous amount of cash before quietly withdrawing from the market… and here we were contemplating betting out last Fixed Deposit on attempting something that honest-to-God we had never thought of before that moment.

Nobody really said much in the meeting after that. In an hour, we were busy meandering through the Western Expressway traffic back to our nest in Powai. Things were back to normal – except one thing.

Neither of us could get much sleep that night.

___________________________________________

Fast forward to May 2019. I can’t.

...because I remember every one of those months and days – all the plotting and all the scheming, all the fake fearlessness and all the mellifluous rejections,

...because we’re 2 months away from completing 7 full years as a company – and there are 5 of my colleagues who have completed more than 5 years with us... been through every up and down - with a few others pretty close on their heels.

...and lastly, because in the last few days the results of the Cosmopolitan Beauty Awards 2019 were declared and we won not one, not two, not three… but awards in NINE categories!

N-I-N-E!

It’s funny how external validation, though temporary, stalls time just for a little bit where the busy faces and sweaty hands look around – at each other with a smile on the face that spreads as the moment stretches on – there’s only the slightest nod of acknowledgement – a mark of respect for all that the team aspires to be every single day – and….

UNFREEZE – we’re back to work now. There’s a long road ahead and here’s to more such milestones as we soldier ahead towards the future. No matter what’s is in store ahead – I know that I am privileged to work with a team that takes an extraordinary amount of effort and pride in the magic they push out every single day.

Salut! And onwards to the next milestone now...