Pradeep Somu
Class of 2013
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Herotalkies


 

Previous Occupation: AVP, Management Consultant
Present Occupation: Co-Founder and CEO, Herotalkies
Sector: Ecommerce and Media
Work Experience: 5 years

Can you tell us a little about your family background/ history?
I was born in a middle-class family in Erode, Tamil Nadu. My father was an entrepreneur, strongly believing that it was preferable to run his own business than work for others, irrespective of his financial situation. My mother is also an entrepreneur. I was deeply inspired by them and always wanted to be an entrepreneur myself. Moreover, I get a lot of support from my brother — we have discussed countless business ideas since we were children. Thus, even after I had qualified as a Chartered Accountant, I took a different route and became a Management Consultant to learn about business. Yet, this wasn’t providing me with a complete picture of entrepreneurship and this gave me the impetus to join ISB. I married my wife a few months before joining ISB in April 2012. After ISB, I co-founded Herotalkies.com, an online movie streaming website for regional movies. My wife has been unfailingly supportive, and I sometimes think of my marriage itself as a “lean startup,” considering our frugal lifestyle.

Briefly describe your personal and professional achievements (including recent awards/ special projects).
At ISB, one of the biggest decisions I took was to sit out of the placement process, fully believing that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. While I was at ISB, I got the idea for my business. I immediately spoke to my brother, my go-to guy, about my business idea. Two years have passed since that day and we have transformed the idea into a working business model.

Tell us about your profile pre-ISB, and recap your professional life after ISB, including your career progression.
Pre-ISB, I was AVP- Management Consultant and I used to believe that this experience would help me in my future startup. Post-ISB I co-founded the startup Herotalkies.com with my brother. Being a co-founder, I was exposed to a lot of new areas such as building the team, marketing, technology and content acquisition. Sometimes a lack of cross-domain experiences translates into wrong decisions, but we learn along the way. So far the journey has been twice or thrice the roller coaster ride that ISB was.

Describe your fondest memory of ISB.
Thinking retrospectively, life on the ISB campus was pure bliss. Some of my fondest memories lie in the volleyball court. The ISL was more than an excuse to enjoy the game.

In your personal life, how have you changed post-ISB? Do you see yourself doing something differently because you went to ISB? What has left a lasting impression?
ISB gave me the opportunity to take a step back from my life as it was then and look at life from the larger perspective of what I was doing currently and what I wanted to do. ISB gave me the time, launchpad and final push required to co-found a business.

How do you think ISB has contributed to your career growth?
When I had the idea for a startup, I met quite a few professors, Professor Arun Pereira in particular, to discuss topics ranging from the validity of the business idea and strategy to be adopted to marketing, organisational structure, etc. At the end of each such meeting, I was left with more questions to ponder over than answers.

If you have to sum up ISB in one word:
Experience.

What was the main highlight of your programme at the ISB?
The main highlight of the programme is the portfolio faculty model, thanks to which I had at least one star professor in every term. Sometimes the professor teaching a course is the driving factor in choosing a course rather than the content.

Word of advice for the current class?
In my first term at ISB, I had a GPA of more than 3.8. But after a couple of terms, I felt that I was reading too many topics too quickly and the learnings were just going out of my head. So I decided to slow down and focus on some of the core areas I found interesting, such as entrepreneurship, marketing, raising funds, etc.

What was your favourite course/ class at ISB and why?
My two favourite courses were:
Marketing by Professor Jagmohan Raju – I like his approach to case studies and his ability to focus on the basics.
Entrepreneurial Decision Making by Professor Arun Pereira – We could directly apply the learnings from this course, such as segmentation, identifying price points etc. The practical nature of the course was impressive.

Was there anyone during your time at ISB who acted as a mentor for you? Tell us a little about this relationship and why it was valuable.
I had quite a few discussions with Professor Arun Periera while at ISB and even on a couple of occasions after I had graduated. He was able to connect the theory with practical experience during our discussions. His inputs have been very valuable and have also partly defined the future direction of the business.

What are the areas in which you can contribute to ISB?
Though I don’t have the exact statistics, I have always felt that there should be more students who become entrepreneurs after ISB considering the talent pool. With my startup experience, I would like to provide guidance to wannabe entrepreneurs to help make their ideas a reality.

What do you enjoy most about your current career position?
Being a Co-founder and CEO gives me the opportunity move beyond my comfort zone and navigate through unexplored areas. I still vividly remember negotiating and signing my first agreement with a movie producer. Small accomplishments such as these give me a great sense of satisfaction.

What is the next new thing in the industry or vertical you are working in? Any trends that you can see?
Herotalkies.com is an online movie streaming website that provides content legally over the Internet. We aim to bridge the gap in last mile connectivity for regional movies and believe that the Internet is the right medium for this. These trends are starting to show an upward movement and we want to be the company that took this forward.
 

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