At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring to our community some of the meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our community. As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another seasoned entrepreneur Amitayu Basu – Co-founder and CEO at Numr for an interview with us this week. Numr is a tech-led market research company that helps other companies attract new customers, delight existing ones, and innovate their product. They do this by using AI and Agile Research. Let’s read about his inspiring journey!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Amitayu:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please.
Well, I’ve been an entrepreneur for almost 15 years now. I started my career outside India and worked in a similar field for around 5 years before I made the plunge. I came back to India because I saw an opportunity here and while there has been several ups and downs, the journey has been extremely exciting.
Why entrepreneurship over a corporate career?
There are 2 main reasons. The first being the exhilaration and the sense of achievement you feel when you build something from the ground up. The second reason is the freedom to experiment and do what you want to do.
How is your product different from traditional products? Tell us more about your product and your start-up’s journey this far?
Numr (pronounced ‘new-mer’) is massively different from the competition. We are a research-focused, tech-led organisation. Unlike old-school, traditional MR companies, we provide results in a matter of hours, not months.
We offer a complete business solution, unlike other CEM companies. In addition to working in the CX space, we also fulfil all research requirements of our clients.
We help companies innovate their products and increase Brand Strength through Concept Testing, Ad Testing, Price Testing, and more, all through instant, real-time Dashboards.
Not only do we work in the Customer Retention space but our solution is also geared towards Customer Acquisition. We use Artificial Intelligence and Agile methodology to perform ‘Content Evaluation’ and ‘Market Space Analysis’ for our clients.
We originally started out as a data analytics company. Which is why we offer way better tech support at a very low cost.
Please share with us some of the challenges you faced in your journey.
Well, I was young when I started my entrepreneurship journey so I wasn’t quite prepared for what the world threw at me. The initial few years were a massive learning curve. At times, there was a temptation to give it all up and go back to the corporate world. However, we stuck it out even though we weren’t really successful at the time, primarily because we were enjoying what we were doing. We persisted. Our journey wasn’t linear. We had to change our strategy, steer our business in a different direction to operate in a pre-start-up scene/market. However, it has all worked out in the end.
What is your Business Mantra: Money or Emotions?
A mix of both. Of course, emotion plays a part but no business can be run sustainably without money. What you essentially strive for in a business is a success, which automatically generates money as a by-product.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Family and friends. In business, much like in life, things go up and down. I’ve gone through 2 major economic depressions since I started- the 2008 economic meltdown and the Covid19 situation now. If you have a strong product, you will ride it out.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I think the biggest key to success is luck. Being in the right place at the right time isn’t something that you can plan carefully. Of course, you have to work hard and be on top of things, but sometimes it’s luck that makes or breaks it. The second most important thing is rigour. While you have no control over luck, you can increase your chances of succeeding by being rigorous and diligent.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Know your domain. Nowadays, we hear these exciting stories about people who dropped out of college like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and built these fantastic things, but it’s important to remember that those are the exceptions, not the norm.
So, I would suggest that instead of jumping in blind-folded, research and know your industry extremely well.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
I believe that leadership is more about the people who bring on board that anything else. Surround yourself with and empower people to think in a way that’s different from yours. Nurture talent. Let them come up with ideas. Broaden the scope of what is possible within your company.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
