Abhisek Sarda, PPT Salon: Creating customized presentations within 48 hours

As a startup, there are a number of presentations that have to be made to suit varying purposes and audiences. And if it’s a funding call or investor pitch, the presentation can make or break the deal. So, when the stakes are so high, who do you turn to? Abhisek Sarda, a serial entrepreneur and the founder of PPT Salon, offers a solution. His startup creates personalized presentations within two days, at a cost that’s lesser than a flight ticket. Interested? Do read on to know more about this business idea.If someone asked you to tell them about PPT Salon in about three sentences, what would you say?

We design beautiful presentations, at short notice and affordable fees. There, it took just ONE sentence!

How did the business idea for PPT Salon come about?

Having attended many conferences and sat through countless ugly presentations, I wondered why professionals and executives couldn’t have presentations that were designed better. They used ugly PowerPoint templates, unreadable and amateurish typefaces, silly ClipArt and this was the case with everyone, right from a two-person startup to the largest companies. I found the answer rather easily - there was simply no one to do it for them.

How is PPT Salon different from other design agencies?

Traditional design agencies don’t have the understanding or capabilities to create presentations. They are geared to create graphic-intensive brochures, websites and pamphlets. So when a design agency tries to create a presentation, the client usually ends up with an un-editable ‘white elephant’ and pays an astronomical fee for it. Most clients are sensible and avoid this. But if they don't take this route, they end up having badly structured, lousy-looking presentations.

The difference lies in our model. Traditional agencies have several people working on any design project. One guy talks to the client, another does the ideation, someone else does the visualization and the writing and the design is done by a completely different set of people. This means very long turnaround times and much higher costs.

We have one person (or at the most, two people) working on a presentation. They understand the subject (or learn about it very quickly), are capable of structuring the presentation, writing and editing the content and have aesthetic sensibilities that result in beautiful looking presentations. This means we can do presentations from start to finish in less than 48 hours and our fees are a fraction of what traditional agencies charge.

Another big difference is that our presentations are completely editable in PowerPoint, by the client. Traditional agencies usually design the slides in design software like Adobe Photoshop and then import them as images to PowerPoint. So, to edit anything, you have to go back to the design software. We build the presentation completely in PowerPoint. Our clients can edit every part of the slide (text, layout, images etc.) easily.

Tell us about your background.

I always knew I’d start my own venture. In fact, I started my first company when I was in school and did some research projects for clients that I found online.

I went to college for a couple of days and realized that I’d rather start working. I found a very interesting company in Goa and started working there when I was 19.

I worked there for almost 6 years and did many interesting things. I managed marketing communication projects, wrote advertisements, dabbled in design, helped launch a business incubation venture, a niche brand of handmade soaps and even a cafe. I earned very little. But what I learnt during those 6 years was invaluable, much more than what I would have learnt at any business school.

I started my first venture in January 2009, when I was 25. It was a consulting firm to help service companies design services that are better, easier-to-use and more engaging.

My second and more well-known venture is PPT Salon. I started it in September 2010 and it has grown well in its first 6 months.

Let us know about the tie-ups that you have. Is there acceptance for your concept?

Absolutely! We get about a dozen requests for presentations every week. And we’ve worked with clients from India, USA, Europe, Japan, Australia, Singapore, UK and several other countries (though I’m still waiting for our first client from China!).

We don’t have any formal tie-ups. But we work with several large advertising agencies in India and abroad, to help create presentations for their clients.

We’ve had enquiries from Japan, Brazil, Spain and Turkey for starting branches there or tie-ups with domestic design agencies. We might explore these tie-ups a year down the line.

Where do you see customized presentation design services and PPT Salon five years from now?

As business becomes increasingly sophisticated, the demand for good design in every aspect of business will go up. A well-designed presentation will become a minimum requirement for investor presentations, funding pitches, sales calls, product launches, etc.

Even right now, we are seeing situations where a good quality presentation can make or break the deal. We will continue to build a strong delivery team that is in a position to fulfil the increasing demand for well-designed presentations.

In a best-case scenario, PPT Salon will be a globally recognized Presentation Design firm in five years (which we already are at a small scale!).

Personally, what is more important for me is that PPT Salon is a proof of concept for a new kind of high-value, design-centred outsourcing model. Companies will increasingly outsource work that was traditionally done in-house, not just because it is cheaper, but also because the quality is simply not replicable in-house.

Another trend we see is that design will become increasingly specialized, with clients preferring to go to the best firm for a particular project rather than going to their advertising agency for everything.

What is PPT Salon's revenue model?

Our fees for a presentation start at $199/Rs.8,999 and sometimes go up to Rs.70,000 depending on the number of slides and complexity. Ours is a typical service company model, where we grow by adding people and increase profitability by improving revenue productivity per person.

As an entrepreneur, what are your joys? What are the challenges?

For me, the greatest joy of entrepreneurship is in building something beautiful. Whether it’s a great presentation or a company, the pride in having built it drives me.

I hope this doesn’t sound too pompous. But we haven’t really faced any challenges yet. The business has developed well, our clients are extremely happy and keep coming back to us, and we’ve been profitable since the first week. In fact, the only problem we’ve faced is the problem of plenty. During the first two months of the business, we got featured in business magazines and on some websites. We were overwhelmed with requests for presentations and for a short period, we had to decline new projects. It was exhilarating and a little disappointing at the same time.

How big is the PPT Salon team? Are you looking at hiring?

We have a small team. All of us have either formal training or a keen interest in design. We are definitely looking at hiring, let’s say, 4 to 5 people in the next 6 months. We’re looking for “T-shaped” people, i.e., people who are very good at one thing (probably design or writing) but are curious to know more about many things (probably business, marketing, art or photography). These types aren’t easy to find!

How has the journey been so far?

In the 6 months since our inception, we’ve created presentations for more than 70 clients. This includes Fortune 500 Companies, large Indian business houses, entrepreneurs, college professors, VCs, blue-chip consulting firms, a film producer and a theatre school. Some of our more famous clients are Johnson & Johnson USA, PepsiCo, Deloitte, Saregama, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory, Godfrey Phillips, Bloomberg UTV.

We’ve worked with clients from more than 12 countries. About 60% of our clients are from outside the country. And 50% of our business comes from happy clients referring us to others. The other 50% comes from clients discovering us through magazines, newspapers and websites. We’ve spent almost no money on any kind of advertising activity.

Let us know about your expansion plans.

We’re about to finalize the lease on a beautiful, river-side bungalow. Once we move there, we’ll be sorted till we have a team of about 20 people. That’s the farthest I’ve thought of in terms of physical expansion.

In terms of business, we have more projects than we can handle, every week. So, the focus is on building a high-quality team. Our delivery model is in place and our productivity is increasing. The next phase is to scale is from doing a couple of presentations a week to doing 50-100 presentation a week.

Another direction for expansion that I am exploring is other niche design services where traditional design agencies don’t have strong capabilities. You’ll see at least one more venture with a similar model from me, but in a completely different area, within the next 3 months.

We at YourStory wish Abhisek and PPT Salon all the very best. Considering that he’s looking at launching another venture very soon, we’re going to keep an eye on this story. So, do watch this space. Also, please do share with us your thoughts and comments. You can write to us at [email protected].

Sriram Mohan | YourStory | 28^th February 2011 | Bangalore