This week we invited another seasoned entrepreneur Arijit Bhattacharyya for an interview with us to know more about his inspiring entrepreneurial journey and his advice for our community.
Arijit is an Angel Investor, Serial Entrepreneur, Mentor, Tedx Speaker and Founder/Co-founder of the following companies:
Founder & CEO – Virtualinfocom – India’s first game development & VR app development company since 1998
Creator of 43 + Superheroes & 21 Comics characters.
Founder: Cosplayseller – India’s first eCommerce portal for cosplay items.
Founder: Virtualgamedeveloper – India’s one of the first virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality solution studio since 2006.
Founder: Virtual Reality Sol – India’s one of the first game development, animation, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, machine learning (ML) training studio.
Co-Founder: Glamworldface- Media & Entertainment platform for creative people.
Founder: imsuperhero – platform for kids to make their own superheroes and share to the world
Founder: Animgaming – Platform for indie developers to showcase and get funding from global publishers and investors.
Founder: Yogatraining4u- platform to teach good life, yoga, nutrition, MMA, BJJ & rehab
Founder: Animationreviews- portal to share news about movies, VFX, animation
Co-Founder: Entrepreneursface – helps entrepreneurs to start up their business by helping them from the ideation stage to execution
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Arijit:
Tell us a little bit about your inspirational journey, please;
I started virtualinfocom in 1998, as India’s one of the oldest game studio, we make superhero-based games and make celebrities as superheroes in 3D. Very few companies around the world do this. When I was a kid (maybe in class 4) I started making own superhero characters and started making comics out of it. Wrote and drawn multiple comics since childhood, while I was in class 11th standard, I was asking a question about how to bring change in Indian eco-system, I found entrepreneurship is the best way to bring change in country. As a passionate artist, I thought to start a company in animation and game development. It was not easy, as I am not from a business family. In 1998, after my 12th exam, I started a small base to make Indian comics, animation and small games. It was difficult as no one understood what’s animation or game development at least in Kolkata. Hence I started giving training on the said subjects. Along with that, I started giving training on programming to engineering students. Forgot to mention, I left engineering and joined economics as a subject, the reason was, I was all along with a science student, hence I wanted to understand the commerce part to run business. While doing my graduation, I started doing small animation work and was making game arts. I started taking my own student’s as co-workers and started another institute in Sundarbans village area, slowly growing the wings virtualinfo.com getting the shape as a full game training, programming and animation studio. We started doing a couple of small VFX works and making money from customers.
So my timing for the next few days became like this: 7 AM – 11 AM I was teaching, 11:30 AM I am in the café near Sodepur till 2:30 PM I used to understand game programming with internet and books. 4 PM to 11 PM again teaching student’s, 11:30 PM after dinner till 2:30 AM I was making my own game and on Saturday’s 4 AM I used to travel to Sudanban area and return back on Sunday night. I loved it. After 4 days the café owner asked me why I am spending so much of time on learning software while talking we became friends, and slowly I was trying to explain to him what I am doing. He knew my face as a teacher. He said “oh, you are the MAD teacher Arijit Da, you teach animation and programming both. I know your name hence I became Moderate, Accurate and Determined (MAD). We had lots of up and down in company but the never-give-up approach helped us to grow from a small organisation to what we are today. I personally learned VRML in 2006 and used to code a little bit about virtual reality that time, and today we work closely with theme park and amusement parks on games, till date we have done lots of celebrity-based games specially Shaktimaan, Fight of the legends, Ashwathama (India’s first RPG game), several movie-based game as game partner (Bizli Bangladesh’s first superhero movie-based game, Boss2, Bengal’s first movie based game, Nilanjana Bengal’s first thriller game, Nepal’s first 3D racing game, Bhutan’s first 3D game etc.
I’ve made syllabus on virtual reality and game development which has been taken by makaut and few other universities. I’ve been a visiting faculty on new technology, AI, management n game programming and public speaker in more than 1000 plus events.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
When I was in school, I used to watch a lot of cartoons on TV, there was a question about how they do it! I saw a documentary film on TV on how Disney does 2D animation, and I understood the concept of classical animation, the problem was how I can get the light-box. So if you don’t get it you build it. Hence I built a light-box looked like a primitive one and took that to local carpenters to make them understand what I want. One of them really helped me to make it proper, I made 7 with him which became my tool to teach classical animation to the students. I am not sure on those days how many institutes thought to make that instrument in Kolkata, I never had a concept called market study.
All alone with a passion, I was making one simple racing game, I had no idea how to sell it or where to sell it, I was an unguided person who thought if I can be an awesome programmer and can do amazing graphics and animation, I’ll become a great businessman. I wanted to uplift the people of my birthplace (Agarpara), people used to ask me if that’s Agartala in Tripura! I never realized if I don’t do great, how can I give back to society? It was a dream, as I used to be an artist, and someone told me artists don’t earn a lot of money, I thought to break that myth one day. I am not from a business family, so the knowledge I got from my parents was awesome for an ordinary boy to learn and give back, be a good human being. I used to be an introvert, not so smart person who had limited friends.
I wanted to give back to the community and I feel, entrepreneurship is the best way to bring changes. I’ve started and invested in a few businesses to handhold them and grow and I find love in it.
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
Well, somehow I am a combination of artist and programmer who turned into a great marketing person. I built the skills slowly by reading books and practising in real life.
There is a saying, “market will teach you” I firmly believe in this and usually I jump for any new challenge. The path is created in its own way.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
Well, I always want to do more in life. I feel, each morning comes with a new opportunity and we just need to grab it.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Lack of skilled manpower that’s the only challenge so far in this industry that we faced. You don’t find good resources these days.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
I always believe in value creation. Emotion is great for founders but when I am a CEO, I’ve to take decisions which might look rough, but that’s needed to save the business. Money is always a catalyst, it’s needed to run a venture. just like in the human body, to run the heart (Founder) and brain( CEO), you need blood (Money). So both are equally important.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I do a workout, I do fighter training.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
An open mind to listen, learn and execute.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Have a mirror in mind, watch the reflection if it’s smiling you are successful. At a time leadership is the key differentiator between an organization that wins and those that don’t. In 21st Century leader should work towards solutions that align with larger strategic goals. These leaders know that the world is changing fast; they know that no one person has all the answers. They reach out and constantly learn.
Secondly, this form of leadership balances the requirements of the business (results) with the needs of the people doing the work. This means knowing who the people are and what they care about so that mobilize other people.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Entrepreneurship for me is like riding a “TIGER” when it’s a cub, you need to altimeter properly, grow/ create it well, so that one day you can ride on the top of it. The best part is if you start you can’t stop. You need to learn how to feed it; it’s a journey which is never-ending. If you stop and it’s hungry, it will kill you. If you don’t feed it well, it will be dead, you can’t ride.
To build a successful organisation, you need the following types of people:
Rooster: If you want to build a team, you need a person who acts like a rooster, a rooster never eats alone, if he got some amount of food, it will shout and ask others to join in, it shouts in the morning and call everyone to start the day… find someone like this.
Rhino: In life, while doing business you need this character that should have skin like Rhino, act like the same; strongly needed to grow your venture. He will take things forward in a way, where your “Baby – The Venture” is protected. Remember Rhino is one of the key people; never forget to compensate him/ her Best you can give.
Swan: You know, when we read a book, we don’t gain knowledge, knowledge needs to be extracted, it’s said if you mix water and milk and give that to Swan, she will only extract the best… That’s the reason goddess “Saraswati” do have a symbolic real-life animal as Swan… Listen to everything, but take only knowledge. If you have someone in your team like this, she/he is the best person you have.
Tiger: This is the guy you need to feed-on, he will ask for meat (the money), and will run for you; act for you, sometimes you (The Startup) might be the Tiger, it will bring prey for the organization. This can’t be done by a Lion, understand the strength and risk of taking this gentleman in the team, he will be tough, rough, but he will roar for your “Baby”.
Owl: “Money/ Wealth” is always there in the dark, you need this instinct to find the wealth in the dark, grab it in proper time, it’s the best team-mate who understand how to roll your money and where to get it; this is one of the reason goddess “Lakshmi” do have symbolic real-life animal as owl. He/She should be able to see things from the top and find “Wealth”.
Snake: Snakes are able to adapt to different terrains and the harshest of environments. So as a human being we need to understand how to be adaptive. They will shed their overstretched skins so that they can grow a new one. Life is a series of new beginnings. We must be prepared and forget negative experiences that serve no purpose in our lives to start a new chapter, a new beginning so that we can focus on crafting a meaningful, exciting and fulfilling future. You need this person who relies on gut feelings, sometimes calculation doesn’t work in real life.
Elephant: Well, they are best caring people, who care for the team, have awesome memory, they walk slow but does things in a steady way, unless they become MAD. You need to control this person, they usually give a long term value to the organization.
This is a basic team if you are less than 5 years old businesses, then you are a startup, more than 5 years you should be a success.
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