Taking digital route to entrepreneurship

Hyderabad: The advent of the digital medium has definitely changed the way we see and perceive things. From film marketing to music band production to promotion of different brands, they have  been revolutionsed with their online presence.

Helping various stakeholders, ranging from production houses — big and small — to musicians to content creators, helping them grow their digital footprint is Silly Monks, a digital media and entertainment firm.

The company was founded by two entertainment and media industry specialists Sanjay Reddy and Anil Pallala in September 2013.

Asked about the interesting and funny name that they have selected for their company, Sanjay says, “It is inspired by a character in Transformers — a movie that embodies evolution with innovation — and part by the fun-quotient of the team, wherein ‘Monks’ is an abbreviation for monkey.”

So how did it all start? “I worked in various channels and wanted to start something of my own. So I went around with a begging bowl for Rs 250 crore but nobody was ready to invest so much. That is when I realised that there are many production houses, which need a team to push their online presence. The result is setting up of Silly Monks, along with Anil.”

However, the entrepreneurial journey was not smooth for them as they had to deal with entrenched mindsets in the film industry and music world, who were not aware of the potential of digital marketing. “It took us over year to make people understand how we can add value to their project,” Sanjay said.

Now the company has Telugu film producer and distributor Sai Korrapati as its major investor. According to Sanjay, the company has seen a phenomenal growth in the last one and a half year. Its revenue grew from Rs 38 lakh in 2013-14 to Rs 2.7 crore in 2014-15. Sanjay and Anil are hoping to close this year with Rs 5 crore.

It makes money through different ways — YouTube advantage share, retainership money — wherein they manage the social media account of the client and get a share from their views and they also have service charge on each advertisement revenue that the client makes online.

The company also works with original music bands through a company called Monkstar Music and provide a platform for independent artists. It is currently present in the whole of south India, Mumbai and even Los Angeles.

Going forward, the company plans to appoint its representatives in other places globally and also try to increase its content in other languages either by translation or by providing a platform for their original content. All those people who have an idea or a music band but don’t know how to market yourself, you know where to head!