House of Experts Ep1: Vibha Kagzi in conversation with CEO, Dream11

House of Experts is a show that ReachIvy.com kick-started with a view to help those who are confused about their career choices. We hope that through these sessions with some very successful people who pursued their dreams and made a name for themselves in the industry, we can shed light on a new career path every week. House of Experts plans to make a cumulative collection of interactive sessions with experts from various domains.
Vibha Kagzi, the host, is the Founder and CEO of ReachIvy.com, a premium study abroad and career consultancy organization. Vibha, a Harvard alumnus, is a successful entrepreneur herself and believes in helping others chalk out their future careers.
In Episode 1 of House of Experts on 10th April 2020, we had Mr Harsh Jain, the CEO of Dream11, which is an online fantasy sports platform with over 8 crore users. This unicorn, founded by the guest Harsh Jain, has become a source of inspiration for millions out there. Harsh worked with ReachIvy.com to secure his admission to the MBA program at Columbia Business School.

Key takeaways from the Instagram Live session between Harsh Jain and Vibha Kagzi:

1. How did you end up starting a business like Dream11 in the sports sector?
I started playing fantasy sports when I went to the UK for my studies in 2001. Fantasy football caught my attention and it made me wonder why India did not have a similar platform for cricket since that was the sport of the masses. I was troubled about how our market had not even heard of the concept of fantasy cricket. When the IPL started in 2008, I started seeing a need for such a platform among the Indian audience. That was how I came to founding Dream11 and making it what it is today.

2. What according to you goes into becoming a successful entrepreneur?
I think that firstly, a person has to be passionate and driven enough to bring their plan into action. They should be driven by the absolute need to solve the problem that made them come up with an idea in the first place. Secondly, they should have the commitment and perseverance to go through a thousand rejections before anything positive happens. From my personal experience, I believe that it can easily take almost five years before any real breakthrough. Thirdly, focus on the execution. We are often mistaken that the idea is the most important of all, but it is the execution that really requires skill. Great ideas plummet because of poor execution skills. I also believe that a supportive family and good friends also help make this journey smooth.

3. How did you know there was a market for fantasy cricket?
Very few people start a business thinking it will be a Unicorn. Making a business into a Unicorn is not just about the market, but also about the revenue that the idea brings in. The idea is only practical and sustainable when it brings in money, right? Essentially, when we started off, I realized that there was a company that tried their shot in the fantasy cricket industry and failed quite terribly. If you ask me, we did not know if there is a market for the idea at all. I was put down for my idea when I talked to successful entrepreneurs about it. When we released a sample app and failed for four years, I had only 1 lakh of revenue to show for it. We found the present model only in 2012 after four years of failure. So, it takes time but it will happen if you are passionate enough.

4. What are the three metrics that helped Dream11 to be a business unicorn?
I would say that firstly, it is the customer acquisition cost – what is the cost of acquiring one customer. Secondly, customer lifetime value – how quickly does a customer pay you back and thirdly, the operational costs. Take the relevance of the third metric in light of the COVID-19 in terms of the difference between fixed and variable costs and the impact they had on companies out there. Companies that have huge fixed costs are suffering in these times because they cannot cut costs anywhere except shutting down temporarily. Luckily, we are not facing that problem as much.

5. Do you need to know how to code / program if you want to run a tech-oriented or software company?
No. The tricky job is to hire the important skill sets that will help your company to achieve the goals you have set. Execution is the primary talent. Knowing the basics is enough to channelize the desired results. As someone who is heading the company, you don’t need to know everything to be successful. Your ability lies in recruiting the best in the skills that are needed to make your ideas gain momentum and become a reality.

6. How is COVID 19 affecting your company and do you have any message for students and youngsters out there right now?
We are an asset-light company. We shut down things that were not necessary for the time being, like marketing for example when the lockdown was announced. Essentially, anything of the large external impact that incurs huge costs goes away temporarily.
As for students, this is the best time to go for an MBA and pursue entrepreneurship there, as colleges will teach you several business models that will suit the present market. You can take up courses on strategizing your business venture and planning your finances properly to run a successful business. One thing that business schools have also taught me is the way to address different venture capitals and how to pitch ideas to investors. The present time is all about keeping your job and so investing in an education which will bring you to the market when the economy is better. You will be job-ready and have a great skill set too. Markets are always cyclical and this present glitch will hopefully get better soon.

There is no such thing as too early or too late to start your entrepreneurial journey. After your academic journey, if you have a dream that you want to pursue and are sure you can make a career out of it, remember that there are several examples to show you how to go about it. Have hope!

Please stay tuned for the next blog on our episode with Kaneez Surka, the improv artist!

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