Saurabh Gupta

Phonethics tells stories. Frankly, there is nothing new about that. From the bard to Bollywood, they all do. The difference is we tell stories which are consumed on evolved mediums. Does that make it really new? Is a book read on the Kindle not a book any more? Does it become something different?

Is a song on your ipod, more or less precious than the LP you inherited from the collector hippie Uncle?

Is playing FIFA on xbox better than watching it on digital TV?

Is it enough to create content for one platform? is it enough? Is it good enough?

These and many more such questions constitute much of what we at Phonethics grapple with daily.

And that is the central vision I have for my company, to continue to ask the most daring, foolish, intelligent, absurd, insightful questions.

Hopefully we'll find the answers to some, hopefully some of those answers will lead us to the right products and services. Hopefully we'll never be (or feel) too big, busy or informed to ask and seek as opposed to ‘know' and ‘cynicise'

Some years ago, after I'd finally finished ‘Ctrl + Alt + Del', a short film that took considerable time and effort to produce, I was sitting with my colleagues and wondering how to find an audience for the film. I wondered (and asked), if it was going to be possible someday for people to be able to watch the film using a small personal device that helped them project it on a surface of choice. A sympathetic audience informed me that I was speaking from the desperate point of view of a ‘creator' who'd like their work to be seen and appreciated. Some openly laughed. Others mocked.

The film finally was distributed on mobile phones and was viewed by more than 40,000 paying consumers ON THEIR PHONES!!

A far cry from the ‘dream' of a device that allowed folks to get one-up on their peers by projecting the content and sharing it with their friends but nevertheless a well-documented and hailed FIRST in India and perhaps the world.

So, another dream, closely linked to the first, is that I would hopefully be able to build a company that is not afraid to dream. The most ambitious, impractical, crazy, heartfelt dreams.

And finally when we're on the subject of vision, here's something that I've tried to implement as a CEO – a flat organization. Hierarchy prevents free flow of information, ideas, Questions and Dreams. This is the most difficult to implement. As we grow older/smarter (hopefully) and richer (well!!), people build walls around themselves that exclude new people simply on the grounds that they are new (to the company/idea/industry/whatever). Beauracracy disguises as meritocracy.

I've begun the implementation of this very difficult vision already because I know it will be the most difficult one to execute – I don't sit in a glass cabin, I don't sit in a corner. I sit and work on the shopfloor. I thrive on the conflict, opportunity and demands of my team. Everyone/anyone can walk up to me or anyone else and share their problem/idea/opportunity/joke!

As we inch closer to making our dreams a reality this is the one thing that I find most people struggling with. A creative guy who's closed to new people and ideas, a business development person who seeks a STANDARD product as opposed to innovation, a producer who looks for excuses instead of talent. I believe that the root of this to some extent is insecurity. I envision an organization that rewards and punishes NOT on the basis of years spent on the bench but for initiative and innovation. At every level.

While dreams (and what else is vision!!) for an organization should be inward looking I cant resist some vision that I have for the market, especially since Phonethics today occupies a small but solid space as an innovator. My vision for the space we operate in is that as content begins to move to digital delivery, a ‘paid content' model as opposed to ‘ad supported' only, will evolve.

Advertising too will begin to move to ‘measured consumption' models where the content and ads would be suitably matched (which they already are in some cases) and advertisers would KNOW (for once, and this time for sure) the consumer and their preferred content.

I could provide here an extension of the convergence argument too as vision for the market. The most relevant part, to Phonethics, would be the demarcation between content and advertising.

A last one – scale, it is my vision to NEVER scale to an unmanageable level or build a company simply to sell it. Look back at folks who've achieved anything today, they didn't build a succession of companies to auction! They went after ideas that they believed in and followed them through. The glory, riches and rewards find you sooner or later, as long as you're committed. My vision is to build an organization that grows, or as the older adage goes, [as if it were a snake] scales! Without artifical support and orchestrations, a company that lives on, beyond me, my vision and goes into every new challenge as a NEW company with fresh ideas and original takes