This week we spoke to yet another promising young entrepreneur – Samir Tiwari, to understand more about his startup, his vision and his entrepreneurial journey so far. He is the Co-Founder & CEO At Non Lineaar. His startup offers much more than just digital marketing consultancy to all its clients. Let’s read more about his interesting journey and his advice for other aspiring entrepreneurs!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Samir:
Tell us a little bit about your background and your journey, please;
I was professionally introduced to the software and technology sales environment 18 years back. Having worked both off and onsite across 3 continents, I gradually shifted to the marketing world.
In 2006 I stumbled upon Digital Marketing for the first time in the US. While servicing global and national clients like Mediatek, Xoom, Citibank, Microsoft, Cisco and NetApp, Make in India, Startup India, and Patanjali etc. I am fortunate to have learnt the insider of search, social, native, creative content and media planning.
In the last 14 years, I have worked with teams of size varying from 4 to 500 colleagues with intense emphasis on Web and Mobile Publishing, Media Events, Native Content, Programmatic, Affiliate Marketing, Market Research, Media Buying and Media Planning. This journey has leveraged me to develop intrinsic knowledge of the international, national and the vernacular digital space.
In 2017 I took my entrepreneurial plunge and founded Non Lineaar, which is an unconventional digital marketing consultancy that deploys Digital in the forefront of strategy and juggles with other media platforms to derive phenomenal reach and results for partnering brands.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Ever since I graduated from college, I had this dream to be independently creating and leading ideas that would bring an unconventional solution to the marketing challenges business units face seamlessly.
But I wanted to be careful of learning well before I embraced my entrepreneurial venture. Thus after multi-faceted learning of 15 years, I finally called quits to the mundane – and took on the fun trip!
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
To be very upfront with you, I love the ideas of chasing away the “fear of unknown”. Every day we all wake up to new challenges and obstacles, and I strongly believe that real excitement is in finding new skills, technologies and solutions that can help us resolve such issues in smarter ways and not just by blindly following the methods others have already devised. The other thing motivates me is the power of “multitasking” since your real calibre is put to test when you can solve multiple issues in the shortest time intervals without mixing up anything.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Talking generic – each business unit, small or big has faced budget crunch, missed targets, service level issues, workforce challenges, etc. and so have I in many years. However, I must admit that the worst obstacle I have faced are periods when you have a thought-malnutrition and unable to research or innovate solutions to come out of the problem.
In simpler terms, we must train our minds to not arrive at a juncture where we cannot churn new ideas to survive and sustain. That skill comes through persistence and experience of doing things hands-on.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
I firmly concur that both money and emotion are interlinked. Just like you have light for darkness and food for hunger, similarly, if we did not have an emotion that would give birth to an idea that can benefit people and companies, why would they spend money to procure it?
And if you do not have money, you cannot sustain or withstand an emotion or an idea. I would put emotion as the initiator and money as the sustenance force – and for success, they need to coexist.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
You may find it funny, but in my case, I play sport to beat pressure and stress. So whenever pressure is hitting the roof, I push the brake button and just go out and dribble my basketball or swim or walk to get my mind out of the monotony.
And in the process of doing so, ideas flow in from unexpected avenues and enable me to go back and lock horns with the problem, and come up with a solution in most cases.
You have to believe me when I tell you that I came up with the decision of giving up a very stable job and starting Non Lineaar from a scratch, while I was swimming in my club’s pool in August 2017!
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
“Get out of your comfort zone” because unless you do that how would you explore new technology, research new methods for achieving targets or set new standards in any business vertical?
Yes, this strategy gave me the return-gift of uncertainty, fear, sleepless nights and high pulse rate but in the end the game, results have been far more healing and rewarding.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
One, we must stop believing in the idea of “short-cuts” because they will take us nowhere. Two, think and find at least 2 solutions to the same challenge and compare them from all angles before you implement because research and knowledge are the key ingredients and catalysts for success. Three, “stop regretting and get moving again” because regret destroys creativity and moving out to the next solution is the best healer.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
“Start Now, time is ticking too fast!” since if you delay implementation even by a second, there’s someone in the market aspiring to implement the same idea now and you lose the first-mover advantage.
Most importantly, work hard and “grow organically” because when we want to deploy short-cuts or run faster than we can, a breakdown is most evident. Have fun and enjoy the journey, you are sure to make it to the zenith!
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.
