3 years and 20,000 employees engaged: A look back at startup NeverGrowUp

The business of employee engagement is tricky. It is after all the people who run an organization and being responsible for them and making relevant engagements which would enhance their performance is a huge responsibility. We had spoken about Mumbai based startup, Never Grow Up™ over a year ago. Here, we catch up with Asif Upadhye, co-founder of Never Grow Up, to know how the business has fared.

The Market

The precursor to growth is a favourable market. Speaking of the which, Asif says, “Organizations are now aware that engaged employees are more productive and they also have a positive impact on attrition. This realization has made employee engagement a priority for many organizations.”

The direct fallout of this change is the company’s ability to provide wider, cost-effective services to a larger audience. Asif says, “We are now able to offer a one stop solution for employees and workplaces, from idea to execution. It’s more than just a training session or an event/off-site.”

The company which took 6 months to bag their first corporate client, back in 2010, has since acquired clients spread across the country, including Shoppers Stop, Crossword, HDFC Limited, Minda NextGen Tech, Tata Telecommunications, Group M, Maxus, IMT & ARM.

The Growth

In June last year, Never Grow Up launched a subsidiary, Yellow Seed, a content development and writing services company with the objective of managing and developing original content for clients in marketing services and media. Speaking of this move, Asif says, “Over the last year, we have worked on a variety of projects from research to web copy, marketing collateral, translation work, editing, newsletters and even creating training manuals and online content for creative projects. Yellow Seed was set up to cater to this work.” The company is also doing writing workshops in association with Costa Coffee & Ayojak to engage audiences and promote content writing. Yellow Seed also enables them to create IP or co-create content/modules for clients.

The company is able to offer the varied services through a team of 7 people who come from varied backgrounds. “Having a diverse set of talent pool also ensures different perspectives, it fosters creativity and there is a constant flow of fresh and innovative solutions,” says Asif, of his team.

Besides the repeat business that strengthens their belief in their work, the company’s awards and accolades contribute to their enthusiasm. In the last couple of years, Never Grow Up has been nominated as one of the top three ‘Professional Service Businesses of 2011’ at the Small Business Awards by Zee Business and Franchise and it has been featured as one of the 100 Top Small Businesses of 2011 in the Small and Medium Entrepreneur Magazine.

Launched in January 2010, Never Grow Up has, in the last three and half years, engaged with over 1000 retail customers through public workshops and over 20,000 employees across various organizations.

Revenue

The revenue model, Asif says is a mixed bag of consulting or agency fees on executing ideas and concepts around the engagement space, internal communications and the merchandise orders. “Most of our work comes from existing clients and word of mouth,”says Asif of his source of revenue.

While the business has, since the first cheque which fueled its operations, generated its own income and even supported the launch of their new division, the Yellow Seed, the startup is now looking for funding, to scale operations and expand their new division.

While one would think that scaling up and funds are the biggest challenge going forward, Asif clarifies that it is actually ‘being in a niche business’ which is their greatest challenge, since it means constantly innovating and convincing clients that they need the services.

Company Website: NeverGrowUp