Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies

(For- (MBA programme only)-Defence Personnel and Their

Dependants)
Constituent of Symbiosis International University

Entrepreneurship

Interviwing an Entrepreneur – Ms. Arushi Kaushal

Bullet on Wheels

Submitted to: Mr. Arjun Panchal

Date of Submission: 28th December 2018

Submitted By :

Alisha Kaushal C-05

Sharaneeshwar M. C-41
Vinir Shah C-54
 2

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the act of identifying an opportunity, developing a business plan, hiring the
human resources, acquiring financial and material resources, providing leadership, risk taking
and bring responsible for both the venture’s success and failure. An Entrepreneur’s aim is to
make profit by developing, organising and managing a business. Therefore, an entrepreneur is
seen as an inventor, a designer of new ideas and business processes.

For our project, we interviewed entrepreneurs from Mumbai who have an advertisement
production house called Bullet on Wheels. Mr. Vikalp working with On Air promotion for
brands such as Disney and Ms. Arushi working in television as a writer, on air promotions,
promo production for Star TV, identified the need for better content to be floated on the digital
platform in the advertising field. They both studied together at Symbiosis Institute of Media and
Communication and later on worked at SAB TV as promo producers. In 2013, they got married
and their dream became a reality when they both left their comfortable jobs to start Bullet on
Wheels in 2014.

Following is a summary of the interview taken by our group of Ms. Arushi Kaushal about their
venture and their entrepreneurial journey.

What is your Vision/ Idea/ Concept? What drives you to pursue the same? How did you
come up with this idea?
With the onset of AIB and TVF in early 2010s, the digital was improving, but advertising on
the digital platform had yet to take off. Therefore, in 2014, Bullet on Wheels was set up by
Mr. Vikalp Chhabra and Ms. Arushi Kaushal in order to provide quality content and ad
making services. In this industry, there is a three-hierarchy set up i.e. client, agencies and
production houses. The clients explain their requirements to the agencies who in turn take
care of the whole marketing and advertising for the clients. From billboards, to social media
promotion to ad making etc., the client pays the agency a fixed amount regularly and the
agency becomes their one point of contact for all their marketing requirements. In order to
make an advertisement for the client, the agencies then come up with the ideas as to how to
execute the requirements of the client and contact a production house who make their ideas a
reality. With Bullet on Wheels, they aimed at eliminating the middle man i.e. the agency.
This new model created by Bullet on Wheels is called as Creative Video Agency where
clients directly contact the company and the company creates digital content for them.

Who is your target audience? Why?

When the digital boom started, the client’s budget for the digital platform was very small and
the agencies used to charge a handsome amount to create content. Also, there are clients who
specifically do not want to advertise on television and on other physical platforms. With the
 3

Creative Video Agency Model clients directly contact the company and the company creates
digital content for them. These clients could vary from a big production house like Rajshree
Productions (producers of Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo) to a superfoods manufacturing company
like Rostaa to Hindustaan Times wanting an advertisement to announce their entry into
Mumbai etc. Most of these clients will have a design agency on board who take care of their
social media and other physical platform promotions and a company like Bullet on Wheels to
create digital content. The target audience varies for the entrepreneurs according to the needs
of the clients.

Who are the competitors that worry you the most and why?
As of now, this business model has not been replicated in the industry in totality. Although,
Supari Studios seems to be their biggest competitor. However, Supari Studios works on a profit-
sharing model, i.e. the whoever works on the project in Supari Studio gets part of the profit after
completion of each project. While, Bullet on Wheels having just two permanent employees, the
owners and rest everyone they work with are freelancers. Therefore, in totality, Bullet on Wheels
still enjoys a competitive edge.

That one feature/innovation that differentiates you from your competitors?

Low cost and end to end production right from conceptualisation of the ad, script writing, set
production, direction, shooting the ad, execution of the idea to post production, all the functions
are performed inhouse by Bullet on Wheels through Freelancers.

Relevant questions based on SWOT analysis.

Strength: The biggest strength that the company has is the competitive edge that they enjoy and
its management. Since the company is managed by only two people, the client acquisition and
relationship building are done by the couple itself. Therefore, for clients they are the only point
of contact. Since the conceptualisation is also done by them, it is easier for them to change the
script as per the client’s requirements.
Weakness: The struggle to become a bigger company but still keeping work manageable by two
people is a constant weakness.
Opportunity: A great opportunity that the company has is making VR compatible films which is
the most upcoming technology.
Threat: The biggest threat that the company faces is the issue of not being able to redo things. If
they are done with a shoot and the client disapproves of an aspect of the shoot, the company will
not be able to redo it.

What would you choose? Brand image with less profits/revenues or more
profits/revenues with low/no branding?
According to Arushi, it will always be brand image over profits. As mentioned earlier, their
vision is to make quality content, therefore, if given an opportunity between making a great
 4

film with less profit margin and making a lousy film with great profit margin, the company
would prefer the former.

What are your major challenges? How do you overcome them?

The company faced three major challenges:
• Initially, the major challenge for the company was to make people believe in this new
model. Since, it is free floating and not as structured as an agency, Arushi and her
husband faced a lot of challenge to make potential clients believe in their work and this
kind of model. However, this has worked to their advantage as well. Since, they enjoy the
flexibility to work anywhere with anyone. Working with different people also helps in
keeping their content new and fresh at all times. Although, this business model has been
accepted in the West very well, but unfortunately, it is taking time to catch up in India
even today.
• Another major challenge that they face is the budget allocation by the clients who still do
not want to shell out big bucks for digital content even though the level of production in
terms of quality of camera, quality of actors, celebrity endorsements etc. is as good as a
TV advertisement.
• Finally, digital is an ever-changing platform. What is good content today will be old a
week later as content is flowing in every minute. So, to keep up the clients with this ever-
changing platform and still maintaining what the client’s brand stands for is a big
challenge.

What are the major costs involved? How do you try to minimize?
Since the company does not have any fixed office or staff except for the owners, there are no
fixed cost involved.
The major costs include mainly the production cost including cost of costumes, actor’s fees,
script writer fees, payment for the Director of Photography, cost of putting up the set while
filming the ad, renting the camera and lights, location cost, post production cost etc. Therefore,
there are only variable costs involved in the business.
The company minimises the cost by working with free lancers. This ensures quality work in
minimum cost according to the budget of the client.

What is your revenue model?

The company follows their client’s payment model. The industry ideally follows a 50-50 revenue
model, i.e. 50% payment during pre-production and 50% post-delivery of the final film. This
gives the entrepreneurs some cushion to start their work with. However, it becomes difficult
when the client’s policies do not allow them to make the payment before a certain date or unless
some approvals aren’t received. In such situations the owners have to make payments from their
own pockets. This requires them to keep some capital aside in case such situation arises.
 5

To keep a streamlined revenue model, the company always had retainer projects from clients like
Disney and Bajaj Allianz where every month these clients would give them assured projects and
budgets.

Any innovative marketing/sales strategy that helped increase the revenues?

The marketing strategy that Bullet on Wheels uses is the flexibility that the company provides to
work. Since the company works with free lancers, they have the ability to work and mould their
work according to the client’s requirements. If the budget of the client is small, then the company
employs people who provide great work at a cheaper price.
Another thing that the company provides is a solution to the loopholes identified by them in their
marketing campaigns. Arushi strongly recommends being prepared before going to a client.
According to her, if you can provide a problem and a logical solution to which the client can
relate to, then the deal is closed right then and there.

Is your start-up in profits from first day? If not, how much time did it take to reach
operational (monthly, not capital) break-even?
Due to their prior professional experience, it was easier for the entrepreneurs to get retainers
like Disney and Bajaj Allianz on board with consistent revenue streams.
Also, from the very beginning, they both made sure that the projects that they take up had
some profit margins for them.
Furthermore, since the venture was self-funded, they made sure to have some capital to fall
back on as a cushion.
To stay profitable, the entrepreneurs had to say vigilant with their overhead expenditure. As
mentioned earlier, since the company has no fixed costs it made it easier for them to stay
profitable.

From where and how you arranged the initial funds? Have you got the funding?
The company is a self-funded venture. After their marriage, when the entrepreneurs decided to
start Bullet on Wheels, they made sure that they both had enough capital to set up the company
and leave their steady paying jobs. The company has never felt the need to take funding from
external sources.

Do you plan to raise funding in near future? How much?

The company does not believe in taking external funding from financial institutions and relies
heavily on self-funding. Likewise, in the future also Arushi does not plan to raise funds
externally. The reason for this is that the entrepreneurs wants to retain the creative freedom and
as and she believes that when you involve an investor, one needs to cater of their ideas and ROI
aspirations as well.
 6

What is the average profit margin in your company/ industry?

On an average the industry’s profit ranges from 10-15% of the entire budget. This is called as the
production house margin. Along with this margin, the company also charges director’s fees and
writer’s fees.

The best day of your entrepreneurial journey.

The best day that the entrepreneur mentioned is yet to come, i.e. the day they release a feature
film. But till now, the best day was when one of the ad campaigns for their client Rostaa on the
occasion of Ramadan reached 13-14 million views out of which 80-85% was organic.

Your best leisure time/ hobbies/ etc apart from business.

Arushi swear by travelling. The best leisure and get away from their business is travel.
Therefore, once every 2-3 months, she and Vikalp prefer to take a trip together and relax.

What is the story behind the name of your company?

The logo of the company is made up of Pause, Play, Stop and Record signs. When they made the
logo, they realised that it looks like a bullet on wheels and hence, the name was originated.

Where do you see yourself/your start up 10 years down the line?

The entrepreneur aims to release their first feature film soon. So, in the next 10 years, they would
like to have become one of the most acclaimed directors in the industry.

Any advice to up-coming entrepreneurs?

Be original and the best. No matter how much noise you create in the industry but ultimately,
good content and work is what survives and sustains. It is the only thing that will keep you fresh,
alive and relevant.

Suggestion
After interviewing the entrepreneurs, we came up with the following suggestions:
 External Funding: Even though, Arushi and Vikalp believe in self-funding their venture
always, it will get difficult for them after a certain point of time to expand further.
Therefore, for them to grow exponentially, we suggest that they should rely on external
funding as well.
 Taking up more projects: The entrepreneurs do 6-7 films per month in contrast to their
competitors like Supari Studios doing 20 films per month. Therefore, it is necessary that
the company increases the number of projects that they take on.
 Employing permanent staff: The only two permanent employees for the company right
now are the two entrepreneurs. This takes a toll on them when too many projects come in
at the same time. Since the company handles everything from conceptualisation to post
production, the company should hire professionally trained employees to handle each part
of the process.
 7

 Organisational Structure: Since the company has no employees, there is no

organisational structure to it. The company should make departments according to the
whole production process which will help the company in churning our more projects per
month.

Learnings
The following were our key learnings from the interview:
 Building relationships: One of the biggest learnings that we had from this interview is
“Business is all about building relationships”. Disney and Bajaj Allianz being one of their
first clients who trusted Vikalp and Arushi to shift from major agencies like UTV movies
to their venture initially was only due to good relationship.
 Crisis Management: One of the biggest challenges faced by an entrepreneur is how to
manage things in times of crisis. Taking an example given by Arushi, during their shoots,
many a times things do not go as planned. Since they work with free lancers all the time,
they need to manage new people and in times of crisis, they need to take a call in a matter
of seconds. For example, during a shoot, it is possible that the lights what were originally
thought would be needed are not sufficient and there is no budget to increase the cost of
lighting. This requires instant decision making as to how to make it work.
 Importance of freedom to Work: In a creative field, it is necessary to have freedom to
work. Arushi and Vikalp do not want an investor since they feel that their freedom to
work and show results will be taken away. To work on your own terms and at your own
convenience is the best way to be able to roll out quality work.
 Understanding the structure of the ad industry: Without any prior knowledge in the
advertising industry, interviewing Arushi gave us a lot of insight into this industry. We
understood the difference between an agency, production house and a creative video
agency.

Bullet on Wheels

The Team

Arushi Kaushal s Vikalp Chhabra

 8

The Clients

The Interview