‘Indians don’t need to auction their brains per hour anymore’

He moved away from a family-run business to chase his own dreams of being a digital entrepreneur. A move that has led Alok Kejriwal to launching the 2win group of companies. He is also an angel investor who backs new technology innovation in start-ups such as Hover.in. Mr. Kejriwal explains why he chose the path of technology entrepreneurship as a way to escape from the issues faced by family owned businesses.

So what was the 'Push' that helped him begin his entrepreneurial journey?

"I am a hardcore South Mumbai Marwari, educated in Campion School and Sydenham College. In my last avatar, I ran a transport company, traded drums, brokered Letters of Credit (LCs) and made socks for my father. I became an entrepreneur because I was fed up of being a spoilt rich Marwari brat. I became a digital entrepreneur to liberate myself from factory labour issues, having to bribe corrupt officials and being told by my dad and uncles what to do. The Internet arrived in 1998 and was all about intellect, imagination and innovation  not about land, capital and contacts. The Internet gave me my ‘Independence’.", beams Kejriwal.

Initial Challenges

Hard work always pays. To launch contests2win, I made 2000 cold phone calls to clients over 30 days 20 answered the phone and just two met me. Only one of those 2000 clients  Hindustan Lever  gave me my first deal. ICICI called me and educated me how to raise VC capital by helping me write a business plan, and then funding that business plan. The experience taught me that capital chases entrepreneurs  entrepreneurs don’t chase capital. Passion can be magnetic. My first office was 300-sq ft and I crammed 30 people in it. We took turns at sitting on chairs and the bathroom ran out of water at 4 pm. Yet, 50 more people wanted to join me, adds Kejriwal.

Lessons Learned

My firm Mobile2win invented the technology that could handle almost infinite volumes of SMS messaging and phone calls via TV shows. That technology made us win the Indian Idol Business and resulted in Mobile2win China being acquired by Walt Disney. We made a 600% internal rate of return (IRR) on that deal. A bitter lesson I learnt was that VCs can be ‘Vulture Capitalists’. One of them held a (legal) gun to my head, paid me a million dollars and threw me out of one my ventures just because they wanted to control it.

Current operations and future plans

Games2win is among the global top 20 online games business and we are proving to the world that Indian digital entrepreneurs can compete with firms like Disney. We operate from India, but sell our content in 220 countries. Our games now are available on the web, on Android and on all Apple devices. The big leap for me is to prove that Indians don’t need to auction their brains ‘per hour’ anymore. We can create global intellectual property and generate massive wealth by marrying imagination with technology – and move beyond becoming telephone operators for the world (BPO outfits). 

Advice to future techpreneurs

Do something that can scale infinitely. Master one thing really well. While in the factory, I became a global force in black socks. Hire people better than you, who can tell you in the face that you are stupid, and who have the power to fire you. Reward them with as many equity shares as you can. Be a Shylock in managing money. Don’t bribe people with gigantic salaries to work for you. Be very generous in praise and rebuke. Most importantly, learn to say ‘No’, concludes Kejriwal.