Episode 40: Ashwin Suresh- From Wall Street to India on a one way ticket
About Ashwin Suresh:
My next guest on The One Percent Project is Ashwin Suresh. This is an intriguing conversation where Ashwin talks about how he went from being an investment banker on Wall Street to becoming a New Media entrepreneur and co-founding Pocket Aces and Loco.
Pocket Aces is the production house behind the hugely successful web shows such as Little Things, What the Folks and Please Find Attached.
Listen on:
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In this conversation, he talks about:
His decision to move from Investment banking to building a career in New Media.
How did he navigate through the media industry with no background and network?
His first Angel Investor, Mohan and how he funded the whole seed round and kept himself invested even when Ashwin and his co-founder planned to pivot the business.
Being venture-backed, at what point do you need to think about growth Vs profitability.
How he decided to launch Loco, a gaming platform especially in a competitive ecosystem with multiple well-established players?
Building a community
Why is success your best teacher?
Finding a product-market fit in the content industry
Being decisive as a founder
Some Key Highlights:
Product-market fit is always temporary. The market constantly changes, and therefore, the product always has to change to fit. Especially in the content business, each product stands alone by itself. So for each product, it's both an advantage and a disadvantage. It is a disadvantage because building one successful product doesn't guarantee subsequent success. But it's also an advantage because you get the chance to improve the product based on where the market is.
We have emphasized decision-making frameworks and used that rubric to take calls. Sometimes the riskiest course of action is inaction. And so you have to take action. You have to respond if you're behind and be proactive if you're ahead. So in terms of being decisive, it is the only way for a founder to survive and thrive. One problem I see plaguing many companies is the HIPPOs effect- Highest Paid Person's Opinion-We have tried hard not to be a HIPPO effect company where decisions are taken based on people's seniority. Instead, we have put in place frameworks where we listen to everyone's opinion, but the decision owner takes the final decision, irrespective of seniority. You may disagree with the decision, but you need to commit.
Luck is a huge factor, but I also believe that the harder you work, the luckier you get, so you really have to put yourself in a position to receive luck. I think that it's not possible for someone to be purely unlucky all the time. It means there's something missing in their process.
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