It is often said that people have the tendency to take their close ones for granted. For entrepreneur Aman Gupta, Co-Founder & CMO at boAt, an audio & wearables brand, it has become a part of the reality.
“Ghar Ki Murgi Daal Barabar. People often take for granted the things that are familiar to them. The same may be the case with ISB (Indian School of Business), where I studied. Harvard Business School invited me. They call me every year.
They wrote a case study on us, but ISB ignored me. Looks like Indian business schools don’t value their own people,” said Gupta of Shark Tank India fame, while addressing 200 plus members on ‘Ride on the Waves of Success with The Great Indian Shark with Aman Gupta’ in Hyderabad. The talk was organised by FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO).
Further adding, he says, “Hyderabad is lucky for me. I have so many memories of this place. Many firsts have happened here. boAt, the company I co-founded, created history. It has become the second-biggest wearable brand in the world. We placed India on the global wearables map, homegrown brand achieving it is a matter of great pride. boAt has also solidified its position in the Indian market by capturing significant market share. I worked with JBL, an American audio equipment manufacturer.
Now I am the biggest competitor to them. I had six failures before boAt happened. I never looked back. In a short span, we have reached the 1 crore units mark. Nearly 5,000 people work in our company. The valuation of our company is Rs 10,000 crore. I hold a 25% share. Our sales revenues stand at Rs 4,000 crore.
We were profitable on day one. I don’t have to work for money. I have sufficient money. I no longer run my business. It is now run by professionals. What drives me most is people, their energy and enthusiasm. I invest in people. I love being busy. I like to inspire people. Now I am being invited to deliver guest lectures and I am paid for it. The additional money now I make by way of speaking assignments I give to charity.”
Gupta admitted that he was never a technocrat. But, JBL where he worked had made some good learning. And some of the people who were his colleagues joined him to build boAt, technically superior products. When asked between idea and execution, what he prefers, he said, “The idea is good, but the execution is great. Success comes sometimes out of hard work, luck, ideas, execution and what have you.”