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The Economic Times

March 11, 2008 – Suresh Reddy and his partner started off with an online greeting card business called USAGreetings.com. This was during the short-lived but very dynamic ‘dotcom’ era. Mr Reddy and his partner probably saw what was coming and they gradually transformed their business into a digital marketing network called Ybrant.

Today, as the Chairman and MD of Ybrant Technologies, Mr Reddy says that at that time they were not very sure of how the future would shape up. But they were sure about one thing that motivates every true entrepreneur no matter what – the determination to succeed. “We only believed we would do whatever it takes to make this successful,” he says with nostalgia mixed with pride.

Of course, the beginning is always replete with challenges. “Initial challenges included basic things such as generating revenues and keeping the company profitable – the age-old essentials of business management,” he says. But it was also the time to learn the fundamentals. “We learned the importance of having the right people run the right parts of business to create a fast growing business,” he says further.

The digital media is growing rapidly; it is based in technology and has tremendous potential as a marketing tool. “This is an industry, which brings the right brain and the left brain together. Technical talent is as important as creative talent,” explains Mr Reddy. “That being said, it is one of the fastest growing areas in the marketing and technology areas around the world,” he adds.

Another interesting aspect of digital marketing is that it is a worldwide phenomenon. As Mr Reddy says, “It is fundamentally a global play.” Though this industry is primarily dominated by US and Western European markets, China, India and South America are growing at a much faster rate. Ybrant understands the competitive challenges.

“We are in the process of putting together the right elements to compete on the global scale,” says Mr Reddy. And the core elements that Ybrant plans to leverage on are ‘technology, network and insights’. Mr Reddy’s vision is to create a comprehensive one-stop shop in digital marketing.

“Ybrant’s bottom up approach of starting as a tools/services provider and graduating into a full solution marketing network gives us a solid back-end, which translates into better performance for clients,” he says. Ybrant aims to capture a significant market share in the fast expanding digital marketing industry. The next decade would see an explosion in terms of growth.

“We are geared up to grow with the market and compete for a market share,” Mr Reddy says.

It is often believed that entrepreneurs have to sacrifice their family life to make it big. So what has been Mr Reddy’s experience?

“I have a very supportive family,” he says. Most successful entrepreneurs actually have very strong support from their families and friends.

And they know where to draw the line while keeping the business separate from their family life. “It is important to switch your mind on and off from thinking about business all the time,” remarks Mr Reddy. “I am still behind on that aspect of my life and my wife can vouch for that,” he adds on a lighter note.

Despite having achieved noteworthy success, Mr Reddy feels he still has a long way to go. “I am still working at becoming big,” he states. And his word of advice for budding entrepreneurs is quite simple. He says to them, “Don’t stop dreaming.”

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