Know when to leave!

It's been an interesting 60 days and here are some learnings from having run some very successful and failed businesses and then exiting them at will or forcibly.

-I have been a digital native since 2005.Phew!

-We were early entrants in Digital Skills (offline) Training in 2009 and then the world depression happened which put me back into the saddle for a pure play online and mobile business.

-The instinct worked out really well with Everymedia in 2010-A market leader in movie marketing in less than 2 years of being at the helm.A lot of dabbling happened with comic books,real estate,ecommerce and more.

-2012-The writing was on the wall.Movie marketing was now a factory business with diminishing returns on investment.Asked to leave on approach differences and much more.

-2013-Set up an Analytics business and entered the Product space with data crunching and qualitative human insights.Dark House Media did really well.Also set up an Influencer Marketing business and exited as this seemed like a bubble which will burst soon enough.Ah,not sure about this move!

-2014-Created a tool which took your films Direct to Consumer.First experiments had started with release of films on digital before theatres.Again ahead of time.The time is now.

-2017-Relooked at the online retail space and bulk buying of movie tickets and online rewardz and loyalty.Cinerewardz was ahead of its time whose time is now.B2B Ecommerce was at it's infancy.

-2018-Setup an offline Music Event to nurture and identify #sufi music talent.Went completely against everything I knew and failed miserably.Was asked to leave the business.Didnt get out when I could.Went with other people's flow.Lost money for the investors.

-2019-Went back into Digital whole hog and saw success on many fronts.Investing in ideas I believed in.You don't need money to invest in startups btw:).Went closer to money and production and looked at ideas with bottom line focus or which rode the emerging entertainment wave like gaming and esports.A huge learning curve and shift in perspective.Dabbled with Video Production with varying results.An inconsistent attempt at best.

-2020-Started with a focus on B2B ecommerce and working with MSME clients who wanted to grow digitally.A good move in hindsight.Still under development.Working with homegrown Indian Tech companies instead of Global products to localise and then go Global.Parallely the gear is now on US,Kenya and canada as markets.Lateral growth is the only way!

Experimenting with an online festival for emerging digital formats of storytelling be it interactive stories,vertical formats,book to film/series adaptation,animation etc.Also looking at gamification of learning and app design!

It's a journey in progress.A lot of the above is hindsight wisdom!Chart your own path and please trust your instincts.Also take care of your mental and physical health.Change is not for the weak of heart and digital as a medium is constantly chaotic.Also don't speak evil and gossip:)