AgTalk | TELiBrahma's Suresh Narasimha Attributes his Success to his Team

His company “TELiBrahma” has been recognized by Red Herring as one of the ‘Best Startups in the world” and the awards that the company has achieved in a short span of time speaks volumes about it. The company began its journey in 2004, starting with zero investment and today TELiBrahma is funded and is a leader in the mobile advertising space, with 120+ employees, growing at 300%+ YOY and is profitable.A leader in contextual mobile solutions, it isthe world’s largest network away from the operators and world’s most powerful and lightest Augmented Reality platformand is currently focusing on helping advertising, media and retail industries. The man in focus is the Founder & CEO of Telibrahma, Mr. Suresh Narasimha.

Suresh is one of the young and successful entrepreneurs of India and the brain behind TeliBrahma’s success.Before establishing TELiBrahma, Suresh handled several responsibilities in companies such as Siemens, Wipro and eCapital. Suresh is an engineering graduate in Electronics & Computers from Bangalore University. He comes with more than 15 years of experience in creating IP (15+ patents), Products and business in Mobility domain.

When I was given the opportunity to interact with Suresh Narasimha on a short notice I was overwhelmed as I was supposed to interview the CEO. The introduction was short and Suresh was a little agitated for not being sent the questions beforehand. However despite the little setback initially Suresh did oblige to answer all my questions. During the course of my conversation with him I realized that Suresh’s success is attributed to his firm grounding and his zeal to work hard. Despite achieving a success in such a short time, Suresh is extremely humble and co-operative. He is much less of a talker and more of a doer for, ultimately action speaks louder than words.

Below are the excerpts of our conversation.

Adgully (AG): TELiBrahma is a unique name. What is the story behind it?

Suresh Narasimha (SN): TEL in TELiBrahma stands for telephony while the ‘i’ stands for internet, integration, innovation, intelligence and industriousness and Brahma for the mythological Hindu god of creation. The idea was to create a space of integration with internet and telephone as the base, for mobile was foreseen as the future of communication. I was confident about this prospect and therefore created an intellectual property based around this idea, this gave birth to TELiBrahma.

AG: 15000 Rs, 2 computers and some engineering unemployed friends brought about the innovation of a software application for the Blood Bank. From that faithful year to the CEO of TELiBrahma in 2013 how would you describe your professional journey? Would you like to go back and change some aspects of the journey?

SN: We always think that we can go back and do things in a better way but somehow we tend to ignore the circumstances, those situations that enabled us to work in a manner and ultimately shaped the course of our journey. Looking back there is nothing I want to change about my journey and I am very happy the way my professional journey has chalked out.

AG: TELiBrahma itself is such a unique and innovative proposition but how innovative do you have to be in your work space to constantly meet the demands of your clients?

SN: You can say that innovation is a constant challenge in our work space. We have to keep innovating things and there is no end to it. I think we have survived in the market because of our ability to create new things and offer them to our clients. Thus we have very successfully turned opportunities to our advantage in terms of the uniqueness that we bring in for our clients. So we moved out of Value Added Services and created the Augmented Reality and Location based services. At the product level we believe that we need to constantly integrate and innovate, this strategy has enabled us to take hold of70% to 80% of the market.

AG: India is still in its nascent stage when it comes to the digital technology. Do you believe the no competition factor is one of the reasons that have allowed you to grow leaps and bounds?

SN: The NO competition factor is the reason that hampers our growth, for the challenges that we face are so complex that there can be no solutions found effortlessly. With AR we are focused to leverage the monetizing opportunity available, however, a little bit of competition would have helped us grow faster. There are some companies abroad but in India a lot of effort needs to be put in to educate people about it.

AG: How difficult was it for you to convince clients in the initial stages to adapt to this new marketing tool?

SN: Initially with Buzz (Location Based Service) it did take us time to convince the brands, but with growing success stories across verticals; today we command the attention of a lot of brand spends in the mobile space. I perceive the challenge was to retain and showcase the power of mobile advertising to our existing clients, ensuring constant business. Also it was difficult to get to more advertisers after an initial bout for which we had to continue doing interesting, out of the box innovations.

AG: Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

SN: We have our own way of measuring success. Our mission is to carry the Indian success across continents effortlessly

AG:In a country where internet penetration is so low and the no of people who own a smart phone or a tablet just a minority, can this technology have a bright future? Can it effectively become a mass medium like the traditional media?

SN: Our solutions do not require a smart phone. Our Augmented Reality platform works across all networks supporting 1,000+ mobile models, eliminating the need for a smartphone or any robust recognition tools. In adverse country as India, location based services are very important to seek real consumer value, discover deals, offers and richer brand experience.Our offering, Buzz enables users to connect with location centric services in real time with rich media experience on mobile. There is great content available in India and the best medium available to distribute is mobile phones.

And let’s accept people who had never handled a transmitter before are using a cellphone today and when you talk about internet penetration, there are 120 million users of internet today in India which is a very small percentage of consumers as compared to the population of India. Thus India has a huge market which is needed to be tapped effectively.

AG: Which sectors have warmed up to the apps of TELiBrahma? Which are the key sectors that you will want to target in 2013?

SN: We have been able to tap the automobile sector successfully; also we have penetrated the lifestyle and real estate sectors. Our main focus in 2013 will be retailers and currently we are in talks with the education sector as well.

AG: Is TELiBrahma planning to utilize this technology for social purposes?

SN: We have been doing that. Each year we have a mandate with the NGOs to reach out to consumers. Also, TELiBrahma had provided a unique solution on Blackberry to Bangalore traffic policemen to better equip them to manage the burgeoning traffic. Our Buzz deployment in bus shelters and Volvo buses in partnership with BMTC helped encourage commuters to take public transport. Our aim now is to reach out with our solutions to the rural artisans.

AG: What are the projects you are working on?

SN: Currently we are integrating with media houses, television and print media helping them reach out and interact with their consumers.

(TELiBrahma has augmented the latest edition of the Stardust magazine where consumers can scan the cover page with POINT – World’s lightest AR browser and get interactive engagements such as video, slideshow, wallpaper, poll, top stories and consumers can also subscribe to the magazine on the go. They have also augmented Savvy and Maxim for the fifth consecutive month.)

AG: You have charted a success story in such a short time. What would you attribute your success to?

SN: The credit goes to my team as they are the ones who matter ultimately. The team has to be humble and always ready to learn new things in challenging times and I have found a team who does exactly that.

AG: What is your message to the young Indians who dream to become entrepreneurs?

SN: I think you need to have a reason beyond the money to become a successful entrepreneur. You should be passionate about the idea that you have and then go on to build a great team who dreams along with you to achieve the goal set by you. People respect those who make a difference in the world and a difference can be created through hard work and by remaining grounded to your roots. Education helps but it does not matter at the end of the day, for people respect those who work. | By Rabab Rupawala [rabab(at)adgully.com]