Finding a solution to given problem is what makes life easy. We live in an era where time is money. Investing time in finding the required resources is considered to be a most valuable asset.
What if when someone comes up with an interesting idea so that you will never again have to waste your time in finding an artist for your event? Wouldn’t you be feel relieved with the thought that different kinds of artists, be it Singers, Magicians, Dancers, Photographers, DJs, Speakers, Comedians etc. from all over the country can be found at one place? And not just that but also you can book them as well without dipping your energy into reaching them? Well, this is when an outstanding and fantabulous startup called Talent Cult comes into the picture which does exactly what’s mentioned above and is dedicated to walk further on this road to make it large.
SpeakBindas proudly interviews the versatile trio behind this silky smooth startup –
Vikash Kumar – Event Manager
Aakarsh Bhat – An Artist
Neeraj A – A web developer
– who come from the different areas of expertise and who joined hands together to create a cult of talent in a positive manner to provide the easy booking of talents across the nation. Aakarsh has attended our questions on behalf of all 3 partners of Talent Cult.
And did you know the fun fact that they 3 never met together till the company was formed?
Interview
How was the idea about Talent Cult struck? Why the name Talent Cult?
Aakarsh – I am myself a professional Illusionist. The only thing which kept a performer motivated is a gig…more and more gigs. The more we performed the better we became in our art. But the event business is a rat race. Event organizers will squeeze every penny possible from both the artists and the clients. So, to get quality gigs and make more money, it takes more than just to be a performer. One needs to do self-promotion, branding, social media marketing, manage PR and at the same time work on our art. That’s a lot of balancing to do! So, I came up with the idea of Talentcult, one and a half years ago. A platform for artists to get as many gigs as possible, so that they can focus only on their performance. We will take care of the promotion part.
The name Talentcult was proposed by Vikash, First of all, the name had to be catchy, which it was and secondly, the name should signify something powerful. A cult is basically a belief system, which need not be always bad! We named it Talentcult to show the world that belief in our talent can change the way we live! To live powerfully and joyfully.
L to R: Aakarsh, Neeraj, Vikash
Describe the initial brainstorming process that you all went through and prospective opportunities & possible hurdles that you thought of?
One year ago, as soon as this idea struck my mind, I met my ex-colleague (the second partner) Neeraj, who is a senior software developer now. Neeraj had no idea about events industry, so it took me an hour to explain how the event works and how the artists are hired (That lead to more confusion in his mind!). Then I told him, how I wanted a platform which can bridge the gap between event organizers and artists. He really liked the idea. We first drew a user interface of the website. Functionality of the website was our first priority. User friendliness and look and feel of the website were not a big deal. But initially, the revenue model was very different. We were planning to take subscription fees from the artists to get their profiles on our site. But thanks to Vikash, he changed the revenue model later when he joined us.
The hurdle back when I came up with this idea was – collecting the database of artists and event organizers. Destiny was so strong that Vikash also had the same dream and he worked for event management companies, so he already had the database of artists and I already had the web application to integrate it with!
Investment? Investor?
We definitely have the plans to approach investors. But right now we have so much on our plates that we need to work things out first before approaching any investor. We have already chalked out our plans on what we will be doing with the investment.
How did the core team members meet each other? How was the process of knowing each other and then seeding the concept of Talent Cult?
Neeraj and I were ex-colleagues. I am a software engineer by qualification. Soon after my engineering I worked in a software firm for almost a year. I met Neeraj there. More than business partners we are close buddies. By 2013 we already had dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. Our like mindedness is a pillar to project Talentcult.
Meeting Vikash is what I call the play of destiny. When I first met him, the project was already being developed in bits and pieces. He had actually hired me for a corporate event. Post event, I told him about my idea. He was surprised because even he wanted to do something similar. Vikash is a walking encyclopedia of artists. He is an expert at searching artists and their contact details. This is exactly what was missing in my project. So, he decided to partner with us and things got in place!
We 3 never met together till the company was formed. Everything was discussed over phone and papers were signed via couriers.
The best thing about the partnership in three of us is, we keep our egos and difference of opinions aside and work together as a team. Any issue is usually quickly resolved. That’s a major strength!
What is the revenue model?
We charge anywhere between 10% -15% (of the artist’s quote) for booking each artist, depending on the client’s budget. We don’t charge anything to the artist.
Describe the process of contacting the Talent and listing him/her on the site?
Vikash does the entries of the artists usually from the backend. But the artists can also register with the “Sign Up” option in our website. We will screen their profiles and approve them if we find their performance of good quality.
There are some famous faces as well on site. How was the experience of explaining and listing them on Talent Cult?
Celebrities can’t be reached directly. They have managers. We have contact details of all the managers of most of the celebrities in the industry.
What’s the present and future agenda?
Our present agenda is to see how we can improve our service and the functionalities of the web application.
While our future agenda is kept a secret from our competitors, I can mention a few to the public. Talentcult is planning competitions and live events. The competitions will be online on our blog section and we are still working on live events. Basically the idea is to boost the morale of all the artists by giving them enough exposure and a platform to perform at.
Art is not a job, it’s a gift to enjoy every day. We make sure we give the artists the opportunity to enjoy those gifts they have!
Devang Vibhakar is the Founder and Editor of www.SpeakBindas.com. He has interviewed more than 350 people. His effort was recognized by Limca Book of Records, twice. He has been to Scotland as well as Germany as part of vocational & cultural exchange programs and has compiled five books so far. He's passionate about bringing forth interesting stories & interviews of entrepreneurs to avid readers of SpeakBindas. He can be reached 
wonderful article thanks for sharing the useful one
felt astonished reading interviews………what a thought….
“Wow, what an inspiring journey! It’s amazing how the creators of TalentCult brought their unique skills together to build something impactful without meeting beforehand. Shows the power of shared vision and passion!”