As part of our quest to get you meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world, we invited another seasoned entrepreneur – Nitin Ahlawat for an exclusive interview with BrilliantRead Media. Nitin is a Business Leader, Mentor, Angel Investor and CEO of Design Mechanics India Pvt. Ltd. Let’s learn more about his incredible journey, his background and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Nitin:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
Before starting as an entrepreneur I started as an illustrator, then became a graphic designer and progressed to being a creative director. I then worked full time with digital companies like rediff.com and Times Internet Limited, and also on assignments basis with some of the top publishers and advertising agencies.”
Starting my own agency was a decision I took as I wanted to use my creative thinking in building a great workplace and quality-driven creative service provider. Design Mechanics started as a digital creative and tech agency later evolved into a 360 degree creative and marketing agency, now also providing project management consulting services to Govt. departments.
As my family background in agriculture and nature always invited and excited me, so I ventured into organic farming too sometime back.”
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
As an entrepreneur, one gets to create solutions which can impact society.”
Entrepreneurship gives multidimensional exposure whereas corporate career was somewhat giving me just one-dimensional exposure and my thought process was also getting institutionalised. For an entrepreneur, every day is a new challenge and an opportunity, which is not the case in a corporate career.
‘Design Mechanics India Pvt. Ltd.’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving with the help of your startup?
Design Mechanics is not a start-up anymore it is a 14-year-old self-sustained business. The name Design Mechanics was given by my art school teacher and implies the functionality of a design.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
We prepared ourselves well in advance, even before COVID entered in India both mentally and with work from home infrastructure.
~ Our business has both online and offline part, the online marketing business boomed during COVID. We also got lucky with some pre-COVID Govt. assignments. One more thing that helped us is our delivery oriented business rather than a sales-driven approach, due to the same we have some long-lasting client relationships, even running over a decade.
~ We have always been conservative in our spends and also saved for the rainy day which helped us sail through the expected payment delays during COVID.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?
I have learnt that –
1 – No one is going to come and rescue you, make your business self-sustained as soon as you can.
2 – Do not compare your success or failure with anyone, everyone has his own time. Just be persistent.
3 – One needs to get hands dirty even in the most menial business tasks to keep things running. Never mind how small or big they are- better to get them done, else, just do them yourself!
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Haha, I am a lazy person by default, challenges are my fuel for life.”
I like to explore new ideas. If things are under a comfort zone, I create a new challenge, that’s what drives me.
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
Taking life as it comes, never have a doubt about your business, it might take some time but eventually, if you are persistent, things will turn all right.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
A leader should be adaptable and also inspirational. It is important not to compete with your own team but to compliment them. You need to give confidence to your team even in difficult times.
An average team can do exceptional work with a good leader. Trust your people to deliver and they will. A good leader should spend a substantial amount of time in research and development to create a niche, which gives an advantage against the competitors.
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
Our customer-centric approach has helped us to create lasting relationships with our clients. I always wanted to create a great place to work, that has really worked wonders for us as people really enjoy working with Design Mechanics
In your opinion – what is more necessary: Idea or a good team for a successful startup?
An idea has no value without a quality execution, which can only be achieved with a quality team.
It is important for the co-founders to be aligned in the thought process and also having defined KRAs, else the ego and conflicts are good enough to kill a great idea.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
As I told that challenges are my driving force. I am a marathoner and keep myself physically fit. I stay alert, energetic and always focus on the solutions rather than the problems.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Work towards solutions. Make profit-making business and not fund hungry monster start-ups.
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.
