We have on board an interesting startup called “evam” which proudly acclaims to “make the world happier”, by means of Live Theatre shows, Corporate Workshops, Student interactions and Internal Forums and Discussions. Evam was founded in 2003 and is a Chennai, India based startup.
I got a chance to interview Aparna Narayan, Manager HR & PR at Evam Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, one of the top 30 startups at TATA NEN hottest startup in 2008.
Aparna shares her experiences as an entrepreneur and to have an estimate of how they started, she says,
Sunil and I, Karthik, have very middle class backgrounds with our parents being employed, rather than self driven.
The evam team
What follows is a transcript of the interview;
An out of the box thinking, implemental and plausible according to the need of time. How does the name ‘Evam’ collocate with the functioning?
‘Evam’ is an idea that can be thought of as being Out of the Box – the mere fact that we are reviving the magic of the Live Art form in this era of digital streaming media and multiplex massages. But the approach has been modern, and very competitive with the modern avenues of entertainment. The ‘spirit’ that drives evam is one of entrepreneurship and the fact that ‘you are your dream’ and that can be extended to all young persons who have their own bubbles to blow and grow in strength.
What can you share with us about your background, your team and your growth analysis. How did you bootstrap Evam?
Sunil and I, Karthik, have very middle class backgrounds with our parents being employed, rather than self driven. Entrepreurship is new to our lives and our Graduation degrees and subsequent Post grad from MICA in brand management gave us the impetus to setup a business investing in our passion, Story Telling. Evam was just born with our dream of doing what we love, and building a strong Brand around it.
The team has grown organically and stands now at 8 Full timers and 15 part –timers who are youngsters who are learning Business Branding and Theatre by doing!
Growth can be divided into 3 phases – Survival in years 1 and 2 with un-established and untested Business models and market exploration, Consolidation in Years 3 4 and 5 with new markets annexed along with newer products with an evolving B-model, and the upcoming years of Active Growth.
“Evam’s mission is one of Happiness”. How do you speculate market, competition and profits with Evam’s perspective?
Happiness is recession proof and the Search for happiness is eternal – and that’s the reason why we do what we do – connect people wit their inner giggle! Today we do it with live stage shows, workshops, human resources training, entrepreneurship interactions, merchandise etc.
We just don’t stand for the products we deliver – our brand is more focused on the why we deliver what we deliver!
Is Evam a diplomatic stance which noticed, realized and embraced, the part of human ear which adores the sound of words like ‘stress release’ and hastened the metamorphosis of this idea into a high profit yielding startup?
We live our dream and make a great healthy un-greedy living out of it! We live within our means and we know our lives are not long – so our brand is a testament to what we live, and hence we preach what worked for us.
No major business logic went into positioning ourselves as a Happy Factory – its what we are!
What do you see as Evam’s zenith? In how many years do you plan to achieve that successfulness?
Being national with our Public shows model will remind ourselves and the World that Theatre in India is back and thriving – this will take till end 2010 to achieve. And then progressing from there to being a True production house by annexing Cinema as a medium of Story telling. And also incubating 3 other businesses from Evam’s stables with its own CEOs.
No Zenith here- just a road ahead – long fun one!
In how many states have you maneuvered Evam’s idiosyncrasy; and what are the major cities left un-swayed?
3 Metros right now – and we believe phase II is annexing 9 others like it awaiting Indian English Content.
Tell us about the employees you hire. What growth opportunities your startup provides to these recruits?
We recruit CEOs and incubate them as CEOs – Lead always and grow evam and derive your profits from the fertile ground we provide. Do for yourselves through us what we did for ourselves with the mother brand ‘evam’. Simple!
What kind of revenue model do you stick yourselves to? How good has it been by now?
A combination of Tickets selling, to exploring unconventional avenues for Content delivery – for corporate, Audio storytelling, workshops, has been the means of monetization. Create content and then explore it across Mediums and formats has been the Revenue model.
Who are your major clients and your business alliances? How do you utilize them both?
Largely an end customer business as far as ticket buying is concerned – but loyalty programs and CRM help us monetize them more profitably and provide them better services. Sponsors and Partners are people who we foster regularly and keep making sure associations are win win on equity and revenues.
Suppliers on the content front have become standardized and hence have longer business associations with us across the year.
What are your learning experiences with Evam?
Largely that of keeping a movement going on a daily basis and maintaining the feeling that started it all. And that anything can be done, and everything can get better!
What was the most memorable day for you at Evam?
The day when my organization delivered project when I was out of town and unavailable, and delivered it with all Brand deliverables and spirit and efficiency intact! We had truly grown beyond its founders.
What do you have to share as a part of agenda-2009?
National launch! Making theatre the coolest thing to do amongst youngsters with the launch of the Stage versions of ‘One Night @ the Call center’ and ‘Five Point Someone’ – which will also go international.
What’s the biggest surprise you’ve had in the business recently?
The knowledge that we truly are recession proof – targeting 500% growth in 2009-10.
Shall you have any queries for the evam team, you may want to reach them.
Stay tuned for some more action coming up, this month. We’re about to feature video interviews with few of India’s most promising startups. All this and more!
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