Its good to join a startup . But it’s best to Startup

Ex CMO Lookup,Previously build & sold Flamingos Media,5+ years expertise in Digital Media Strategy, Worked with over 150+ clients in India & UAE.

Anup MohanSerial Entrepreneur

I first started-up way back in 2008, while I was in college. I built Cazpo - a portal to connect all college campuses in Kerala. Although it didn't take o� as expected, there were a good amount of learning's from my maiden venture.

THE BEGINNING

I happened to meet Deepak Ravindran when he was running Innoz (The World's largest o�line search engine). Deepak was quite impressed with my execution w.r.t Cazpo and has invited me to join the team of Innoz as Manager - VAS.

TURNING POINT

At Innoz, I had learnt the skills of building the business right from the scratch and also acquired a good deal of expertise in marketing and sales. A�er a 1 year stint, I quit Innoz to start-up again.

INSPIRATION

I then returned to my hometown in Kerala to start-up Flamingos Media, a digital marketing agency specialized in developing Facebook and mobile apps. Flamingos Media was incubated at the Startup Village, Kerala.

Flamingos developed successful mobile apps like Trial Room and viral Facebook apps like "The Golden Moment" and "The Wedding Saree" for Industry leaders like Josalukkas and Pulimoottil Silks.

THE GOLDEN MOMENT

With the above successful apps , we expanded our client base , services & it helped us in bagging clients like Asianet.

CLIENTELE

Our success with the apps and clients made us a well-known name in the domain. And at the same time, Kreata Global, A Facebook Preferred marketing developer based in UAE got in touch because of the accolades. Mr Deepan Parameswaran, the Executive Director of Kreata Global was impressed by the team and the client-base which we built and o�ered to acquire Flamingos.

BREAKTHROUGH

Announcing the Acquisition news during the community gathering at Startup Village .

ANNOUNCING ACQUISITION

MEDIA COVERAGE

With respect to the acquisition of flamingos , one of my media friend asked me to define success. I told this - Back in 2009, when I was in my 7th semester, my academic performance was not good enough to even attend a placement drive conducted by Infosys . But now Kris Gopalakrishnan(Executive Vice Chairman – Infosys & Chief of advisory board - Startup Village ) has recognised me & the company which I cofounded. So “Recognition” is all that matters & it defines your success !

RECOGNITION

Post acquisition and upon completion of my lock-in period at Kreata Global, incidentally Deepak approached me to join in building Lookup as it's Head of Marketing. I joined hands with Deepak & in October 2014, we launched Lookup which was backed by Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan.

TEAM LOOKUP WITH KRIS GOPALAKRISHNAN

RAISED A TOTAL OF INR 2.3 Cr

MAKE SOMETHING PEOPLE LOVE

During my tenure at lookup I was able to provide valuable marketing thoughts & contribution towards Product & Growth . Within eight months , we achieved the following benchmarks.

200k downloadsListed as an Essential App list in Google Play and as a Top free app in the communication category on Google Play. Onboarding of over 10,000 verified merchantsOver 3 million messages exchanged per month

ACHIEVEMENTS

" Mr. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, joining lookup , as one of the Series A investors and advisors "

SERIES A FUNDING

Being with a high growth startup like Lookup once again ignited me to start-up again. Upon discussing the decision with Deepak, he backed me and mentioned ,

" Its good to join a startup . But it’s best to Startup "

A�er that there was no turning back. I have built a passionate team and started working on the startup. Styl - An app to book spas and salons was thus launched. We are now a team of 7 people across technology, marketing and sales. We are up and running in Bangalore.

I LOOKUPTO STYL