There comes a talent show, we grow a liking for our favourite contestant, and probably even witness them win, but once the season gets over their talent doesn’t get any direction. This very concern struck renowned singer and talent shows’ judge Shaan, which seeded a fabulous idea into the minds of his wife and a friend. That’s how shaped up Happydemic, a platform that aims to bridge the gap between an artiste and the audiences.

“We would like to position ourselves as “live entertainment experts” and strongly believe that a party is not a party if it’s not live! Shaan has been a part of reality music shows and there was so much talent out there. Happydemic strives to connect exceptional talent with honorable audiences and spreading happiness to our artist and customers has been our aim. ”, says Happydemic Co-Founder Radhika Mukherji.

Happydemic wants to bring live entertainment to everyone’s doorsteps, bust the myths around live entertainment – about it being very elaborate process/space consuming/too expensive, etc, and spread the essence of happiness.

Edited excerpts from an exclusive interaction with Radhika Mukherji of Happydemic:

Background of Promoters

Amar Pandit is the Founder & CFO of Happydemic – a respected entrepreneur & leader with 20+ years of experience in IT & Financial Services. He is the Author of four Personal Finance books and Founder & CEO of My Financial Advisor and Happyness factory.

As of me, I grew up in a typical Punjabi joint family with my 3 sisters (my real sister and 2 cousins). Our parents raised us like boys. I graduated from Narsee Monjee College of Economics. As of Happydemic, I am the Co-Founder and CEO.

The initial period- the challenges & the ecstasy of quick wins!

I have been with Shaan for 20 years and I have seen him host and judge a lot of reality shows. All these shows have a whole lot of rounds and you have over hundred exceptional talents coming in but finally there’s one winner. So the idea behind Happydemic was to actually help the other 99. So the spirit of Happydemic came from there, that we wanted to be that gust of wind beneath their wings to help them get work and to connect their exceptional talent with honourable audiences.

The challenge that I faced as a woman entrepreneur was in maintaining a balance between home and work. But the toughest thing that I’ve probably ever faced is a dilemma within me, whether I’m doing enough for home or enough for office. But I think that will constantly happen and I will have to constantly learn to face it.

Shaan’s goodwill actually made it so much easier. He’s actually made a blueprint for Happydemic’s success. Topped with Amar’s support where the numbers are concerned, he’s been in the financial stream for over 15 years himself, we’ve got a foot in the door rather easily than most other companies have and I can’t deny that.

The journey so far

The journey so far has not been a roller coaster ride, because Amar and I came into Happydemic completely prepared. We really studied. We have a 5 year plan in place. We are in target for that 5 year plan. We should break even in one and a half year and I think for a start-up, this is brilliant news.

I think being an entrepreneur itself means being an inventor. You have to constantly invent new concepts and ideas. So the journey is definitely a creative one. This is something that has not been set out by someone else, so we are paving our own way and that makes the journey even more adventurous.

Strategic Alliances & Partnerships

I think the first time we did a performance and we got a standing ovation, so we were sure of one thing that we are excellent at what we do. You know your balance sheet says it all, you know whether you’re doing good, you’re on target or not and I think our revenue sheet is excellent. So looking at the revenue sheet and knowing I’m on the right track means a lot to me.

The future, as you see, 3 years from now in terms of scope & scale of your business enterprise

3 years from now, I see Happydemic as a globally recognised brand. 3 years from now I know that every party will have live music as their entertainment because we are going to bring it down to affordable prices. We also see ourselves diverging into different performing arts and handling that too. We see ourselves as one of the game changers in the live entertainment space of the country.

Though we launched in Mumbai, we have done our first few performances in Delhi and Bengaluru as well. The goal is to start in Delhi and Bengaluru shortly. These 2 places have phenomenal potential and we are looking at setting up and establishing a base in these 2 cities. In early 2018, we will look at 3 – 5 other cities in India. By that point of time, we would have established a very good presence in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

Key moments of reckoning in business life

I was ecstatic. I think just getting that one big order just gave us the validation that yes what we set out to do we can do.

The feelings on getting the first big order / contract for your company

Today, for any business to grow the crab mentality must stop and having a business partner or a strategic partnership is of prime importance. I just feel like there’s so much business, so why fight and give someone else the advantage? I say we should get together, become an unstoppable force.