"There are thousands of startup companies in Bombay, if not lakhs,” says Rehan Dadachanji, founder and partner in The Starter Labs (TSL), a digital marketing consultancy company set up by him 14 months ago with school mate Kartik Khanna. "While a lot of these may flounder as they are unable to bring their products to the market, TSL’s strengths come from nurturing them with fresh perspectives on digital marketing… everyone needs an online presence, however small their business may be,” says Dadachanji. The duo works with a small team of outsourced software professionals to build websites and a social media presence for their clients.
Rehan Dadachanji (l) and Kartik Khanna (r)
At their small midtown office ("we operated for many months from home in Colaba”) Dadachanji and Khanna tell Parsiana of their successes, having served 20 clients since inception. These have ranged from building an online presence for First Moms Club, an online community for new mothers and the N. K. Dhabhar Cancer Foundation, to developing a web based management information system for Paperfields, "a boutique paperie” that creates and supplies stationery and luxury paper products. "We have worked with (ticketing platform) bookmyshow.com to provide content by way of film reviews and snippets from movie history,” notes Dadachanji.
The sporting duo (both play football at Bombay Gymkhana) have worked on a sports enabling platform, khelo.club. "It connects tournament organizers, coaching academies and players,” says Dadachanji. The platform aims to replace the largely word-of-mouth information about city tournaments and "offers opportunities for sportspeople to connect with others with similar interest.”
Giving a client that wee bit more than what he has asked for is the key to success in the competitive world of digital marketing. Khanna gives an example: Siete, the Spanish eyewear brand for young people approached them for selecting a new name for their range of products. TSL ended up providing consultations on what the packaging for the eyewear should be. Their suggested packaging manufacturer is what the brand uses now. Based on the duo’s advice, Snackboxwala, a company that delivers healthy snacks to office workers, changed their promotion strategy to include personal sampling of the nutritious snacks, instead of just being an on-line ordering service.
Above from left: Pervin, Rehan, Roshni and Darius Dadachanji, Kartik, Kunal, Alka and Abhshek Khanna
The duo sources their clients largely from word of mouth publicity. Bookmyshow.com approached them as Dadachanji had interned with them after college. "Facebook is a great source of potential clients,” says Khanna. "A big player in the digital marketing space, with a special focus on startups and small and medium entrepreneurs,” is what the duo aims to be in the next three years.
Both 23-year-olds, the duo met at St Mary’s High School. Rehan’s father Darius is a senior executive with World Crane Services and is currently based in Dubai. Mother Pervin is a psychiatrist and consults at The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital among other places. Sister Roshni is interning with a fashion brand. Khanna, a third generation entrepreneur comes from "a textile family,” whose business is run by father Kunal. Mother Alka is a teacher. (Brother Abhishek is a management student.)
"I am more religious than I would have been due to the influence of my mother’s family,” says Rehan, who enjoys going to fire temples "once in a while… It’s not like I pray five times every day,” he smiles.