What’s in a name—not as much as there is in an idea, bank-rolling it and eventually executing it, at least as far as start-ups go. Yet, the christening exercise often sets the tone of the venture and outlines an entrepreneur’s vision. In the case of Partho Dasgupta’s Aurora Comms, the name signals the arrival of something new, something fresh—a fresh dawn. Aurora is the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Dasgupta points out that it also refers to the first rays of the rising sun. That’s apt enough for Dasgupta, who turned entrepreneur after recently leaving Kishore Biyani’s Future Media, a venture that is seeking to create media properties in the consumption space. Aurora Comms isn’t veering off that path and as far as the idea goes, his start-up isn’t exactly as fresh as dawn. “We are primarily focussing on media in the consumption space as it provides an excellent opportunity to advertisers and clients to market and reach out to target customers,” explains Dasgupta.
To start with, the two-month-young firm will target sectors like Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), financial services, automobiles and telecom. Dasgupta hasn’t set up office. For good reason. Every time he sees an office in the Lower Parel area of central Mumbai—the hub of the advertising industry, which is where Dasgupta wants to be anchored— he discovers that office rentals have plunged yet again! That’s one of the advantages of starting up in a slowdown. An engineer who went on to do his management from IIM Calcutta, Dasgupta is currently in the process of setting up a core team. So far, he’s brought on board Vishakha Singh, who worked with him as Director at Future Media and, before that, at the Times Group. “Partho’s people skills and his speed in decision-making are amazing,” says Singh.
Claim to fame: He was picked up by retail czar Kishore Biyani to head Future Media
Trigger to start up: Moved out last December along with other senior team members after Future Media was restructured
What’s keeping him busy: Sticking to the concept of creating a media platform |
A keen observer of consumer behaviour, Dasgupta will focus on cinema and retail as two broad business segments. He’s also eyeing the ever increasing disposable income in smaller cities and towns of India. He believes consumption is growing in these locations and it presents an untapped opportunity to take brands to such parts of the country. Cinema, for instance, is one segment he feels is massively untapped. As per available statistics, cinema gets only 0.6 per cent of the total media spend of an estimated Rs 20,000 crore.
Dasgupta reckons that today’s environment offers both opportunities and challenges. “It’s an opportunity because it throws up a very different kind of cost structure; it also provides an opportunity to redefine business structures,” he says.
The challenges are basically on the fund-raising front where he is looking at different ways. “We actually want a financial partner who is likeminded and understands the media business,” says Dasgupta, a bit guardedly, reluctant to reveal any more on this front. He does hint that private equity appears to be the most viable option, but he isn’t ruling out other options like debt. Dasgupta says he’s got a dozen clients lined up, but he’s in no hurry to go all out. There is a huge opportunity out there, says this passionate music lover, adding: “I can listen to anything that sounds good to the ear.” Now, he’s awaiting that beautiful sound of ringing cash registers.
