Dear Customer,
The new Financial Year has started. But for us at Social Wavelength, it also coincides with our birthday. We got started in early April, 2009. And wow.. the year has zipped by!
Social Media is exciting. And being in the thick of things, as a Social Media agency, we have had year long excitement! And it promises not to stop, and in fact, it only gets zippier.
So here are some highlights of the year that went by:
- The first two months were, well, the first two months! The first two young men I decided to employ left me in 1 day and 2 days respectively.. lol. Then I managed to get a person whom I had worked with earlier, to get started with us. At least she would not run away. Its another thing that she was just not cut out for Social Media, and we had to part few months later!
- There was still the issue of getting a first client. The only way to do it, was to catch a friend. And get his business. Which is what I did with Kartik Shah. And Skyscape Inc., USA remains a client. In the interim, they got bought over! Maybe we brought them good luck!!
- How I got my first partner, in this business, is another story. But suffice it to say, that few coffees, few chats, and meeting of the minds, made this happen. An unlikely combination of a 23 year old Engineer, into his first job after engineering, quitting that job, to become an entrepreneur, by joining a 40-something (yes, 40-something is good enough; don’t ask for precise numbers here!) gray haired veteran of sorts, to help the world figure their way around Social Media! Welcome aboard, Mihir Karkare!
- I did not realize this first. But it sank in soon enough that we were getting into the larger framework of the advertising world! And while I was comfortable about my business understanding, my knowledge on the Internet and Social Media space, but advertising industry was a different world! There was just so much to unlearn and many new things to learn. That khakhis and shirt can often be considered as being overdressed, and that a minimum of one f*** in a sentence was mandatory, were amongst the easier things to learn. Long pre-sales cycles, longer approval cycles, and longest payment cycles were harder to figure out!!
- I learned that what we were preaching actually works! Yes, Social Media works for Social Media business. Doing no specific business development effort, but by being active on offline and online social media (offline social media = your personal network) generated leads, and then by providing reasonable thought leadership, this converted to business. Does this sound like what I talked to you, when I asked for your business? Well, it worked for me anyway!!
- October 1 is the birthday of my friend. This happened to be the momentous day when that friend – also my partner at Homeindia.com – came on board at Social Wavelength as a partner. Bringing all of his bald pate, a symbol of his wisdom and capabilities, with him, and we were now more than ready to take on the world! Welcome, Hareesh Tibrewala. Now we kick ass.. !
- They called us Mr. Keynote. Seeing a virtual deja vu of 1997-98 when we were called to speak all over the place, about the Internet, we now start receiving invitations to talk about Social Media. Hareesh and I need to ration the time we can give for such outings, as “we have to take care of your business too”!
- We have managed simply. We have limited resources which we deployed well. We have spartan premises. We do not have a pool table. We do not have guitars or any other musical instruments. We serve chai or coffee, but there too, many prefer to go down, smoke and grab a cutting from the guy downstairs. But we have a lot of enthusiasm. We have a great team, who always have fun, who have a smile on their faces, no matter what the clock reads. That’s all we need to go to the next leap now.
But all this has happened, thanks to you, dear customer. You reposed your faith in us. You are a leader to embrace this new medium so early. And most importantly – you signed our cheques 
The one year is a milestone for sure. But we know we have many more to come. And we look to have you with us on this journey.
Meanwhile let’s do a beer together. Whenever you are free. Tell us. It will be on us (well ultimately, you pay for it!!).
Very warm regards – Sanjay Mehta