Vineet Bajpai , Magnon Solutions Pvt Ltd

“Building the Best”

Building a company that has the best clients in the market takes a certain kind of ingenuity, dedication and talent. It also requires the attentions of a very dedicated and intrepid entrepreneur with the aforementioned qualities to keep such a client base growing and satisfied. Vineet Bajpai is someone who more than fits the bill and his company has the repute to show for it.

The entrepreneur and author of “Build From Scratch” explained what his company Magnon Solutions does and how they got to where they are saying “Magnon Solutions is one of the most respected and broad based Interactive Media companies in India. Formed in the year 2000 as a pure-play entrepreneurial venture, Magnon has worked with over 1200 client organizations across 15 countries. Magnon has state-of-the-art Digital development centers in both Delhi and Mumbai and employs over 100 people.”

“Some of Magnon’s clients are Hyundai, Bharti, Schneider, HBO, Suzuki, UNO, Haier, Indiatimes, Emaar MGF, Ministry of Finance (GOI), Birlasoft, Mahindra & Mahindra, Daikin and Axis Bank. The company has been appreciated by numerous business magazines, newspapers and TV channels as one of the most vibrant entrepreneurial success stories in India. Magnon is an ISO 9001 certified company and is a member of NASSCOM. Magnon’s group company, Magnon International, is a dominant player in the Web Solutions outsourcing space.”

Vineet Bajpai explained what areas Magnon specializes in and what keeps them ahead of the competition saying “Magnon is a full service Digital Media company with services including Web Consulting, Web Designing, Web based Technology Solutions, Internet Marketing, SEO, SMO, SEM, Rich Media Planning, Multimedia and Hosting Solutions.”

“The company has assisted hundreds of organizations in varied sectors to derive value from the Internet. Our clientele includes Government organizations like the Ministry of Finance, several Fortune 500 and Multinational companies, NGOs like Helpage India, Universities like Jamia Millia and Delhi University, Indian Army and even individual professionals and artists.”

“Our USP lies in the fact that we offer one-stop-shop services to our clients. In the past there were several companies that got their website deigned by one agency, multimedia presentations by another, hired a third agency for search engine optimization and engaged a fourth agency for online advertising. Clearly, that resulted in a fragmented Internet strategy.”

“With Magnon our customers get a single window service provider for all their digital media needs ranging from online retail to e-learning, from robust email solutions to specialized brand sites. This, clubbed with our deep international exposure, allows us to offer world class solutions to our clients from under a single roof.”

Vineet began his career as a MBA success story but soon realized that his talents were of better use elsewhere. He says “Immediately after my MBA I was working with one of the largest companies in the world, General Electric. It was a brilliant experience and the company taught me many things about professional aptitude, international best-practices, integrity based business and team spirit.”

“However, I could not help but feel like a small ball bearing in a huge steel plant. (I have mentioned this in my book on entrepreneurship, Build From Scratch). Being one among hundreds of thousands of employees, I wanted to feel more involved in the organization’s mainstream and make a visible difference. Secondly, I was personally very eager to build a center of excellence in the form of a company that reflected my own spirit and zeal for growth and value creation.”

A great quest is notable by the great threats that the protagonist faces and in his entrepreneurial story Vineet has also faced down a few tigers. He says “It’s hard to name any one challenge as the journey has been dotted with challenges and threats. The biggest challenge in my opinion would be the way we entered the Digital Media business as a 3 member company with rented computers in a generator room, and had to walk into a jungle where we had to compete with the biggest and the best.”

“However, our willingness to stick it out, our core team huddled together, our fanatic customer orientation and our thirst to make a difference enabled us to soon be counted among the largest and most respected Digital Agencies in the country.”

He similarly finds it hard to pinpoint the areas where they slipped up and says “Again, difficult to name any one mistake. But yes, we ignored the international outsourcing space for the first few years of the business. Maybe an earlier foray would have made overcoming entry barriers of that space much easier.”

Vineet was lucky in finding a few believers in his project and despite a humble start soon found powerful backers. He told us how it all came together for Magnon saying “There was hardly any capital worth mentioning as the first couple of months were run by the money I had saved over my previous job. However, a few months down the line we found support and finance from a High Networth business family.”

“Thereafter, Magnon has grown swiftly yet organically with all the new initiatives of opening offices in Mumbai, starting the outsourcing company Magnon International and the venture in online media buying and planning – being funded by the company itself. During the way we have had equity participation interest expressed by various global Digital Media corporations, which encouraged us to further accelerate our growth and scale. The company remains open to discussion with pure-play or strategic financial partners as of today.”

“The company has grown at nearly a 100% year on year since its inception, barring the year 2008-09 which posed global recessionary challenges. However, the company grew by close to 52% even in this year. Magnon Solutions and Magnon International hire over 120 people and have excellent infrastructure in both the major Indian cities of New Delhi and Mumbai. The company is systematically working towards setting up international marketing and developmental offices, starting with London in the year 2010.”

Vineet is proud of all that Magnon has managed to make of itself but singles out an accomplishment that he personally is proud of saying “The biggest achievement has been that Magnon is today perhaps the most broad-based Digital Agency in India. The company is probably the only organization in the country to have extensive domestic and international operations, being present in both Delhi and Mumbai and offering online media services in addition to customized digital solutions – thus making it offer services across the depth and width of the Interactive Media industry. This offers the company a unique amalgam of value creation and strategic positioning, creating huge entry barriers for competition.”

The hard work and sweat that has gone into making Magnon has not been forgotten and despite all the accolades Vineet remains down to earth. He spoke of all the recognition that has come their way saying “With all humility, we have been appreciated by numerous business magazines, television channels and newspapers as a brilliant entrepreneurial story.”

CNBC TV featured Vineet Bajpai, Founder and CEO of Magnon Solutions and Magnon International, in their popular program ‘Young Turks’ and the ‘Week’ magazine lauded Vineet as one of the most vibrant upcoming entrepreneurs of the National Capital Region. Vineet is also author of the management book ‘Build From Scratch’ (an India Research Press publication) which is a bible for budding entrepreneurs. It offers steps, strategies and practical insight into building a successful start-up venture. Magnon, on the other hand, boasts of dual ISO 9001 certifications for both domestic and outsourcing operations, one of the very few companies to have achieved this. Magnon Solutions is also a member of NASSCOM.

Vineet believes that entrepreneurship was his life’s calling and summarized what and who a real entrepreneur is saying “It is nothing but an undying spirit to succeed. The edge of true entrepreneurs is that adversity makes them work harder. Success makes them work harder. Anger makes them work harder. Competition makes them work harder. They are basically driven people who dig in their heels when the others are looking to flee. It is something indescribable – something I have called ‘Antaragni’ (or the fire within) in my book. Hope that answers your question.”

Yourstory is honored to have been able to present Vineet and Magnon’s story to our readers and hopes that their quest to be the very best of their industry is realized in the near future.