Motivation is all that creative people need to keep treading on their artistic path. And that’s exactly what Pavan Kumar’s entrepreneurial venture Halla.in is for. Like YoSuccess allows emerging entrepreneurs to share their story with the world, Halla.in is a platform that allows amateur and aspiring artists to share their work with the world as a tool to stay motivated.
On Halla.in, people can share their creative work – art, photos, videos, etc. – and participate in contests to get the much needed motivations. Launched in 2014, today Halla.in not only attracts creative people from India but many other countries from across the world. Halla.in is continuously thriving, and at the same time looking for ways to grow its business by reaching out to more creative people and help them grow at the same time
Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.
Halla.in is a platform to express hidden talent by participating in the photo & video contests. The contests relate to festivals, seasons or social themes that users can easily relate in their daily life. The entries in the contest are voted by fellow users, website visitors, Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram followers, etc. The contest winners get their own photos printed on t-shirts or mugs. These gifts remain as sweet memories and moments reflecting their efforts and willingness to take the plunge.
Mystory.halla.in is a recent addition to share personal experiences to inspire and motivate others. Though recently started, we have good contribution of inspirational stories that are motivating and build confidence in individuals.
What inspired you to build the above product/ service?
There is so much of hidden talent in every individual and very rarely one tries to explore it. Most of the time we are constrained by our convictions, shyness, society, or fear of failure. I wanted to create a platform where individuals of any age can freely come and express their talent. For this reason, I created Halla.in, a place to express YOU!, to attempt, gain visibility and create buzz.
What is your life mantra?
Vision, Focus and Persistence till you win.
What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?
We started this journey around 2.5 years ago with video contests of open themes. Initial response was cold and we realized that users had challenges in capturing videos and uploading them. Also, the concept of uploading anything to express hidden talent was not working. Then we quickly moved onto photo contests with social themes and this change brought the desired results and we could acquire lot of users and running successful contests. Halla.in, today is recognized as a platform for amateurs to try their skills and have fun. Our users range from college students, young professionals, house wives, families, etc.
How did you overcome those challenges?
Very interesting question. Though we started with video, we quickly moved on to photo contests on popular themes like festivals, seasons, locations, travel etc. To encourage users to overcome their inhibitions, we used to reward every participant in the contest. Also, we brought novelty by gifting winners t-shirts and mugs with their own photos. With these changes more and more users felt confident and started participating in the contests. Today, most of our contests get 200+ entries and some of them get entries from countries like Malaysia, Europe, USA, Turkey, etc.
Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.
The startup is bootstrapped. In addition to being the founder of Halla.in, I am also an angel investor with funding in successful startups like NewsbytesApp, PindropMusic.co, Greenz.co, iLenze.com, bookmywash, Vlokal.com etc. I work very closely with most of these founders to share my experience and views as an outsider.
According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?
Belief in your own idea, clarity of vision and working towards the goal.
Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?
The social networks like Facebook, twitter, google plus, Instagram etc., are of great help to gain visibility and build the brand. These channels helped us to grow the customer base and build awareness about our product. Google analytics helps us a great deal to understand the user behavior and align our approach.
Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.
Having a ‘to do’ list and following it meticulously.
Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.
Multi-tasking and trying to spread thin.
Answer in less than 50 words
One tip to success:
Think different, thing big, be bold and take risk. Failure is better than not trying.
One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:
Being emotionally attached to idea and not willing to change.
One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:
There may be numerous opportunities, but stay in a small area, work smart and work hard to make it happen.
What are your plans for next 3 years?
We want to improvise further and grow Halla.in as the preferred platform to showcase individual talent. With increasing mobile penetration in India, we are quite bullish and will soon enhance our android app and introduce its iOS version. We want to reach out to youth in campuses, college fests, etc., to cover events and showcase their talent. We are being approached by businesses to sponsor contests and we hope this will help to expedite our growth.
If you get a chance to start your career again what would you do differently this time?
Start and stay an entrepreneur and never get into a job.
What are your top three getaway destinations?
- Silicon Valley
- Las Vegas
- Goa Beaches
Share a quote that inspires you the most.
“Every Journey begins with the first step”