Team Goan: How did the idea of PPTSalon come about?
Abhisek Sarda: As I sat throughcountless ugly presentations, I wondered why professionals did not have betterdesigned presentations. They used ugly PowerPoint templates, unreadable andamateurish typefaces and silly clipart. This was the case, right from astart-up to the fortune 500 companies. There was no one to do it.
TG: What makes PPT Salondifferent from other design houses?
AS: The difference is thatwe have people who understand the subject working on presentations. They arecapable of structuring the presentation, writing and editing the content andhave aesthetic sensibilities. The result is a beautiful looking presentation.We do presentations in less than 48 hours and our fees are a fraction of whattraditional agencies charge.
TG: Have you tied up withadvertising agencies?
AS: We don’t have anyformal tie-ups, but we work with several larger advertising agencies in Indiaand abroad, to help create presentations for their clients. We’ve had enquiriesfrom Japan, Brazil, Spain and Turkey for starting branches there. We mightexplore these tie-ups down the line.
TG: What is PPT Salonsrevenue model?
AS: Our fees for apresentation start at $199 / Rs 8,999 and sometimes go up to Rs 70,000depending on the number of slides and complexity. Ours is a typical servicecompany model, where we grow by adding people and increase profitability byimproving revenue productivity per person.
TG: What is your clientbase?
AS: We’ve worked withFortune 500 companies, large Indian business houses, entrepreneurs, collegeprofessors, blue-chip consulting firms, a film producer and a theatre school.We’ve worked with clients from more than 12 countries. About 60 per cent of ourclients are from overseas.
TG: Have you spent anymoney on advertising?
AS: We’ve spent almost nomoney on any kind of advertising. 50 per cent of our business comes from happyclients referring us. The other 50 per cent comes from clients discovering usthrough magazines, newspaper and websites.
TG: As an entrepreneur what are the biggest challenges you face?
AS: I hope this doesn’tsound too pompous, but we haven’t really faced any challenges yet. Business hasdeveloped well, our clients are happy , we have been profitable since the firstweek...In fact, the only problem we have faced is a problem of plenty. When wegot featured in business magazines and websites, we were overwhelmed withrequests for presentations. For a shortperiod we had to decline new projects. It was exhilarating and a littledisappointing at the same time.
TG: Do you think Goa hasthe potential to be a hub of intellectual activity?
AS: I believed that Goa hasthe potential to become the Silicon Valley of India. Goa is the perfect placefor design studios, advertising agencies, perfect for a creative industry. Thegovernment has not even thought about creative industries.
TG: What are your long termplans?
AS: Three years down theline, we have plans to get into education and start a design college.
TG: As a company what areyour expansion plans?
AS: We will be good when wehave a team of 20 people. That’s the farthest I’ve thought of in terms ofphysical expansion. In terms of business, we have more projects every week thanwe can handle, so the focus is on building a high-quality team. The next is toscale up from doing a couple of presentations a week to doing 50-100 presentations a week. We have also started Beard Designs that makes websitesonly for start-up companies.
