At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the unique and compelling stories from the start-up ecosystem. As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur – Sanupam Samantray for an exclusive interview with us. He is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Playtonia Esports Pvt Ltd. Playtonia is a platform for E-sports which unites gamers, e-sport event organizers and different businesses. His team is also working on building Game Certifications, Gaming incubation Cells, e-Sport VR academy and building strategies for gaming cafes and E-sports Events. Let’s learn more about his exciting journey as an entrepreneur, his background and his advice for our growing community:
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with her:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I am the Co-founder & Creative Director of Playtonia Esports Pvt Ltd. I come from animation & film making background and have 8 years of work experience and have worked for companies like Techzone (An EROS International company) and Sulekha. I always wanted to build something unique on my own where I can leverage my skills and passion. My love for sports, animation, design and gaming led me to start Playtonia. The journey so far has been full of challenges, amazing milestones and great achievements. I have learnt a lot as an entrepreneur than I could have being in a job and that’s the beauty of entrepreneurship. In fact, I keep learning something new everyday. We have done significantly well within a short span of time at Playtonia and with our strong team of passionate people and we are well poised to scale new highs.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I always had a dream of building a team of my own and working towards a single goal. It’s a fast evolving world, we all have limited time to achieve what we want and there is no better way than entrepreneurship to do something meaningful. The other reason I chose it was my love for sports, design, animation and gaming, I clubbed my passion with my work and it doesn’t feel like work anymore.
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
It’s the best field to jump in for the upcoming 10 years. E-sports is the new era of the sports industry for the upcoming years.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
Passion, creativity and hunger to bring something new to the market is the key factor that keeps me driving the show. I would say my Playtonia family is the source of motivation for me.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Every business has risks and yes with the growing competition the preferences of the market changes. Presenting new factor without any repetition has been a bigger challenge as the competition never leaves any chance to pick the new factor.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
If I get a second and I have to answer within it, it’s EMOTIONS. If you are not driven with emotions you won’t be able to understand the value of money.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I would say without pressure nothing could be managed properly. Each day has a challenge and without passion and right skill-set of the team, it won’t be possible. At playtonia, we ensure the skills are properly aligned and we all have a shared vision to keep moving forward.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
The strategy is very simple, to keep testing my own limits and ideas. It has helped me till date and it always will.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Taking a leap of faith at the time of difficulties is the first step towards your success.
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.
