Arjun Bala, Owner, Meta Yage IP Strategy Consulting

Meta Yage derives its name from the Metayage system, which signifies an equal partnership between a landlord and farmer. The consultant-client win-win partnership is intrinsic to Meta Yage, along with placing our client’s business strategy first.

"We strive to make global impact on the way technology companies around the world benefit from their intangible assets. Currently we have 35 clients that include independent inventors from India, US, Israel, technology SMEs from India, European MNCs with a presence in Bangalore, R&D organizations in India, and law firms in the US and UK. Apart from our clients, we have created opportunities for our business partners, consultants and employees to walk on this exciting road along with us. We have helped build awareness on Intellectual Property issues and rescued inventors and organizations from making blunders that would cause them to lose their intangible assets."

"What makes the business unique is that we never stop to think about the worth of the ideas that go towards making the business". Arjun though believes that understanding is the key to success and proceeded to deliver the goods on what makes his company tick. He says " We partner with technology companies and enable them and their stakeholders to maximize return on investment on their Intellectual Property. We provide specific services through different stages of the IP cycle, namely the stages of Identification, Optimization, Protection and Monetization. We also work on a Consulting model where we advise the management team on IP issues that affect their business and help them to take the global IP systems into account into developing and implementing their business strategies"

Our primary differentiators are that we work with management and that we provide end to end IP services across all overlapping verticals. We have strategic alliances with IP service providers in foreign countries to enable our clients to implement a global IP Strategy. Due to our focus on IP services, we have specialized expertise in the technical, legal and business aspects of IP. To sum up, "we provide high value services of high quality at rates that make our services accessible to a majority of creators and owners of Intellectual Property worldwide. We also enable non-creators and non-owners of IP to benefit indirectly from the global IP systems."

Just like any other entrepreneur Arjun also has an end goal in sight...He has been building strategic alliances with partners in various foreign countries and co-sponsored the Global patent congress in Copenhagen held on Sept 08. "This helped us build global visibility and network. We shall continue to actively participate in IP awareness and networking events in India and abroad. We provide the best long term challenging career opportunities in Intellectual Property to attract and retain the best talent. We build long term relationships with our clients and grow with them. Further, our quality of work and value addition means that we constantly get new business through referrals and word of mouth."

How did he get the idea for the company is a question that ran through my mind because the concept is unique by far. Arjun was kind enough to answer "After working in different types of organizations (R&D, LPO, US patent law firm), I observed that the type of organization that can enable reaping maximum benefits from intangible assets did not exist. Hence I chose to go about building it. Most organizations that provide IP services have a very limited view of IP and provide services that target only 1 stage of the cycle (e.g., protection). This does not serve their clients’ interests in the long run."

"The biggest challenge has been due to the global recession that has affected our business, particularly from the US. We have had to take calculated measures to manage our costs without compromising on our growth plans and execution capabilities. We have overcome the challenges by spreading out our client base across industries, verticals and geographies. Due to the exceptional performance of our Coimbatore team and branch office as a whole, we have been able to leverage their skills while keeping costs manageable."

Yourstory asked the intrepid entrepreneur if he ever had a situation where he regretted a decision. Everyone has those moments where a choice goes wrong and Arjun pointed out that he was only human "I had entrusted critical responsibilities to certain senior and qualified persons and we did not achieve the desired results. I learned that in an entrepreneurial organization enthusiasm, eagerness to contribute and make a difference, passion, and desire for growth count for more than paper qualifications. I also learned that even senior persons need to be directed, motivated and managed to help them achieve their goals. At the time, we did not have the management bandwidth but we are now building more management capabilities to manage and motivate even senior employees."

Arjun reminisces "I initially found seed capital from my personal savings and my family. I started with Rs 2 lakhs and was able to sustain due to our ability to generate revenues early on from services. We have received Rs 5 lakhs in angel funding and we hope to raise more angel funding from the same investor and/or other investors by Oct 09 on meeting certain targets."

"In the first year, I started from my residence on my own, along with some others who were still students and worked part time. I was the only full time dedicated person. It was a year of learning and testing the waters as the market for IP services was nascent in India. We managed to make a modest profit in the first year itself and do some exciting work for startups as well one multinational company in our consulting vertical. In the second year, I decided to start the process of scaling up by adding our patent process outsourcing (PPO) vertical and building a team. We were able to achieve over 300% growth due to the increase in revenues from patent process outsourcing. In the third year, we ventured into the European market, started off exceptionally and made aggressive growth plans. We moved to a bigger commercial space in Bangalore, recruited senior persons, started a branch office in Coimbatore, and sponsored international events. We also added a legal services vertical under the leadership of our experienced attorney, Mr Ramanathan and another senior attorney we had hired. However, we had to quickly adapt to go from expansion mode to cost cutting mode as we started seeing the effect of the global recession very prominently from the third quarter onwards. We are now a team of 8 persons and we have 2 offices. We intend to double these numbers by Oct 09."

Among all the strides that the company has taken Arjun considers their biggest achievement to be the success of their Coimbatore branch office that was started in July 2008. Arjun says "Within a short time, our team has developed good execution capabilities. This was made possible due to repeated training sessions and building a collaborative culture of respect, freedom (with responsibility and accountability), and teamwork."

"We have several endorsements and referrals from our clients who have benefited from our work. Due to the nature of our business, our clients derive more recognition than us from the work that we do on their behalf. Some of our clients require us to maintain confidentiality of the nature of our business relationship, which is again very important in our business. We have also kept a low profile so far to focus on execution and customer satisfaction."

When asked if he ever thought of throwing in the towel he succinctly replies "No. Our firm is the best bet to succeed in the long run and I consider myself lucky to be a part of such an organization that I also helped to create and build."

"The excitement and the journey leading to constant growth keep me buckled. I am passionate about the field of Intellectual Property Services. I am also very passionate about the goals, mission, vision and values of our organization. I have the constant support of my family.My wife is ok with me not getting a fixed paycheck every month. She has a great career going for herself, but still she finds time to support me through tough times.My father has taken an active role in our organization as CFO since his retirement. His encouragement and active participation means a lot to me and keeps me going."

He also gave us a sneak peek at his plans by 2010 "To enlist the support of other likeminded entrepreneurs with similar goals to join the management team, to have a presence in major cities in India, make annual revenues of Rs 2.5 crore and raise Rs 5 crore in Venture Capital by March 2011"

When quizzed about what he considers his personal best he really surprised us... He replied "I was the frontman of a rock band that was runners up in the rock competition Livewire at Mood Indigo, IIT Bombay’s cultural fest. It was special because we were just a bunch of students in a competition where there were semi-professionals, and we made it by playing our original compositions (whereas the winners just played crowd favorites)." So its no wonder his business is rocking is it ???

At Yourstory's request Arjun gave us his take on chasing success and achieving it... "Keep learning – whether it is technical or domain knowledge, management, or leadership. Be a good listener and understand the requirements of your customers. Manage your cash flow. Take calculated risks. Execution is more important than ideas. Take opportunities to be mentored by experienced entrepreneurs and learn from other people’s mistakes. Never make the same mistake twice. Most importantly, work with us to leverage your Intellectual Property."