MAD Influence provides brands with solutions to market their products or services through influencers. It was founded in 2018 by Gautam Madhavan, a commerce graduate by qualification. He worked with various organizations in marketing and business development roles before starting his own venture. Prior to this, he also founded ‘Go Dutch India’, a reward based crowdfunding platform.
“Believe in yourself and most importantly your team. There will be times when you want to quit everything because of work pressure or financial pressure or what not, but just don’t give up. When you feel like quitting just remember why you started and work towards it.”- Gautam Madhavan, Founder & CEO of Mad Influence
In an exclusive interaction with Motiverge, Gautam Madhavan, Founder & CEO of Mad Influence shares more insights about his venture, journey so far, future plans and motivation.
Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Tell us more about Mad Influence.
Mad Influence started with the vision of making Branding simpler and efficient. The name Mad Influence basically means – You are MAD about Influencing. We started our journey on 1st January 2018 as an Influencer Marketing Platform. Since then till now , we have more than 800+ Influencers registered with us from more than 10 cities and it is still growing. Now we have ventured ourselves into Events, Branding, Video Production and even PR related work apart from Influencer Marketing Services. We believe that influencer is the next big thing for marketing and very soon we will be able to add value to more than 10,000+ Influencers across India by the end of this year.
We are currently working closely with Brands like HCL, Cocoberry, Diva Divine and many more. But our main focus is to add value to Influencer’s lives. Mad Influence works closely with all the influencers in terms of getting them campaigns, event invites, product promotions and other promotional activities in turn benefiting the brands who like to promote their brand through word of mouth through the digital space and offline as well.
The biggest strength of Mad Influence is the team. We are a small team of 12 people working from an office in Noida. This is just the beginning, many more to come. Cheers!
What was the biggest turning point in your life that changed your mind to become an entrepreneur?
I always wanted to do something different than others. I really don’t care if I am working in a company or running one, my end objective has always been adding value to people’s lives. This happened when I was working in an organization called AIESEC and someone came to me and told that the way you put your thoughts out there is something different and you should continue doing it. That was a moment for me because no one has ever complimented me ever in that way and it just shook me. If I can add value like this, how about I run a company that can add value to millions very soon and that is what I plan to achieve next!
What motivated you all to launch Mad Influence?
After doing a good number of corporate events, social events and working with various organizations I felt that the next big thing is Marketing and I always wanted to do marketing for others and make them the best in the market. Soon I realised that Influencers are the next epitome of marketing and why not be one. Soon I planned out the basics of Mad Influence and I launched it within 4 months.
“You can always plan the best of the things in life, but the winner is the one who executes it.” – Garyvee
How big is your team?
As I said, we are a small team of 12 people working day and night for our Influencers and clients. We strive to add value in their daily lives day in and day out.
How has been the journey so far in terms of resources, challenges faced, market response, etc.?
The journey so far has been good so far. Yes, I have faced many difficulties, more than I could think of. But those are just hurdles in life that you need to conquer anyways. If there is a problem, you got to solve it! Within 5 months, we have grown with over 800+ influencers and that too from 10+ cities (which is a good growth to me) With good projects in the pipeline we just plan to grow and grow and grow.
Who are major competitors of Mad Influence in India as well as globally? What makes you different from your competition?
There are many competitors in the market and it’s always good to have them. It gives us the energy and the courage to do better everyday haha! A lot of our competitors just focus more on PR work rather than adding real value to influencers, we personally take care of our Influencers by organizing Grooming Sessions, Brand Collaborations, Personal interactions, Networking opportunities etc.
What are the business opportunities in your sector, especially in the APAC region?
We plan to grow to the APAC region very soon as we are already in touch with a few affiliates there and other parts of the world as well. Let’s not reveal everything in one go aha!
Have you raised funds so far? Where do you see Mad Influence in coming 3 to 5 years?
No, we are completely bootstrapped. and we don’t see a reason for fundraising anytime soon unless the investor is really good and can add more value than money. In the coming years, I see Mad Influence being one of the top influential platforms in India.
What keeps you going? How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance?
The only thing that keeps me going is my Family. Make Google do it. Haha, subtle brand insertion there! But I genuinely use Google Utility Apps like Google Calendar, Google Keep, Google Hangouts, Google Work Apps like Sheets, Docs and Slides. They can literally save time and efforts when you plan to work in an efficient way.
What are your messages for aspiring entrepreneurs/young generation?
Believe in yourself and most importantly your team. There will be times when you want to quit everything because of work pressure or financial pressure or what not, but just don’t give up. When you feel like quitting just remember why you started and work towards it.
