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Aditi GandhiBusiness Director at ColourCraft Studio Published On: Thursday, October 15, 2015 Views 4281

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"Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual."

Aditi has a flamboyant yet simplistic approach to problem solving. She has always been driven by ingenuity and has tackled all the tasks with grace. After completing her graduation in business Management from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, she started her career as a consultant at Ernst & Young. After gaining ample experience, she decided to jump in the startup arena.It is interesting to note that she did not have any prior experience in the field, but her confidence and vigor to succeed made it feasible.

ColourCraft Studio was conceptualized as a creative and digital agency. In the last 6 years, Aditi has taken the company to new heights. She possesses the right skill-sets for project execution and builds a solid case as a trustworthy business partner. This is the core reason behind the success of her latest venture.

Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.

ColourCraft Studio (CCS) is a creative and digital agency with offices in Mumbai and Bangalore. I started the company with co-founder and Creative Director, Ankit Jain, as a graphic and brand design studio in 2009, but since then has evolved to include digital design and development encompassing web, mobile, eCommerce and apps, as well as digital marketing across social media platforms. The company’s growth is largely fueled by its focus on user experience design to deliver smart, aesthetic and holistic solutions across media and industries

What inspired you to build the above product/ service?

Ankit and I had zero experience in the design or agency business when we started CCS. But what we had going for us was our consulting experience – Ankit with Deloitte Consulting in Chicago and later with Ernst & Young India, where we worked together.

After three years of consulting work, Ankit was looking to switch over to a profession that allowed him to express his creative side more freely and be closer to his passion for writing and visual arts. I, on the other hand, had picked up valuable experience in the Media & Entertainment division at Ernst & Young where I was on accounts like MTV, Colours and Nickelodeon.

We saw a great opportunity in the creative design business to combine Ankit’s creative mind with my consulting skills to offer services that were both aesthetic as well as functional. This gave birth to ColourCraft Studio.

What is your life mantra?

My life mantra is borrowed from Ernest Hemingway: ‘Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual.’

What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?

During our initial years it was our lack of experience in the agency business. But that turned out to be our greatest strength because we ended up doing things differently, which got noticed by clients and differentiated us from the competition.

Another challenge was finding talent. We decided to focus on hiring young and hungry talent, investing in their training and growth and cultivate our own brand of professionalism, ethics and design sense. As an organization we have always been people and mentorship focused.

Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.

The company has always been Partner-funded along with investments from time-to-time close family and friends who are extremely fond of what we are doing here at CCS. We may raise funds for our expansion to other cities in the future.

How do you protect yourself from the problem of Brain Drain?

By creating and maintaining a culture of integrity, openness and balance.

First of all, we run the business like a family so any employee feels free to express himself or herself. Every employee also has a mentor not only for their work at CCS but also their careers in general. We celebrate every single employee’s achievements whether at work or outside as can be seen on our social media platforms in our #HumansOfCCS series. And we make sure that every single employee is given the opportunities to carve out his or her own niche.

We drive our people to achieve excellence but we also ensure work-life balance. We don’t have late working hours or regularly working weekends like most other agencies. We’d rather hire more people to get the work done than put unnecessary stress on our employees.

According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?

Clarity of thought, hard work and human connections. Whether you are a housewife or the Prime Minister, if you have these three on your side, you’ll be a success in your own right.

Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?

We all swear by Google Apps and its amazing suite of services, which makes business management so much simpler. We also have our own, home-grown management software called Atticus which is customized to our working style and requirements that off-the-shelf software cannot meet.

Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.

Using Google Calendar. It really helps keep the day from running off from you. I am also quite a to-do Nazi :-)

Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.

To-dos are good but they can also stop you from thinking creatively. I want to reduce my dependence on checklists for the day as much as possible.

Answer in less than 50 words

One tip to success:

Be true to who you are.

One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:

To constantly look at what your competition is doing. It limits your creativity.

One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:

To be afraid of making mistakes or being wrong is what keeps you from greatness.

What are your plans for next 3 years?

  1. Expanding our base in Bangalore
  2. Opening an office for the U.S. market where we have a strong foothold
  3. Opening our own Academy to foster talent in the design and digital industry

If you get a chance to start your career again what would you do differently this time?

I would take more risks.

What are your top three getaway destinations?

  • Goa
  • Dharamsala
  • San Francisco

Share a quote that inspires you the most.

“Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual.” By Ernest Hemingway.

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