Jobaaj Stories
Sometimes, the most successful ideas are born from the least expected places. For Chirag, the co-founder of Matar Media, a company revolutionizing how brands create content, the idea did not start in a high-tech office or a boardroom. It started with exhaustion, a lack of a 'perfect' name, and the simple declaration: "Matar is just like a joke that went too far." Yet, from this unconventional beginning, a powerful force in the creative industry emerged.
The core of Matar Media's founding story is their desire to start with what they had and make it better. Street vendors constituted the core of a completely different business model that Chirag and his co-founder were investigating early on. "We were trying to build a street vending thing... and we realized that okay we wanted to bootstrap that so we wanted funds um ... we thought okay let's start doing media projects on the side..." The idea was to use this side project that developed into a full-fledged business to further their humanitarian goal rather than to give it up.
A serious lesson was learned in the chaos of having to manage two businesses at once. "24 hours are not enough and no amount of energy is enough," Chirag says. "In the lack of time and for the amount of responsibilities we had picked up... we had dropped out of college in our final year...to maintain that...we realized that now it was serious." The thrill of college life was not going to last, so a tough choice had to be made. Realizing that "we have to like to focus on things that make a lot more business sense and make a lot more, you know, money to fund our dreams," they closed down the first venture and gave their full attention to Matar.
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Today, Matar Media is a thriving creative powerhouse, but Chirag retains the sense of responsibility for himself and his team that came from those early struggles. "Our focus is only on two things," he explains, "One is to get the right people and give the team the right resources for them to function... having enough money and having enough people to always make sure teams are working and the teams are achieving their success well." It's this focus on his people that makes Matar's success truly special.
"Our offering is that we help brands create content... content is the brands' voice." Matar saw that there was a problem with the conventional methods of creating images for brands, such as photos and films. "A lot more visual content is 99% of the time better than let’s say written content... that space overall was super unorganized till date." The creative professionals themselves frequently lacked steady, high-quality employment opportunities, and brands found it difficult to identify, evaluate, and manage the talent they required.
Matar serves as a marketplace and project manager to close this gap. "We remove that hassle with brands," Chirag says. They collaborate with their clients to find the ideal blend of writers, videographers, photographers, and other creatives for any special project. On the other hand, he recognizes that "we are trying to sort of make people more aspirational for creative careers... so that people become more aspirational for creative careers and they know that you know up let’s say photography or video editing or if I become a dop I’ll have enough work in the industry."
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Chirag provides priceless guidance based on his personal experience developing Matar. For aspiring creative people, "What we’ve realized as a thesis is to do good creative work, two things are very important - specialization and freedom." Finding one area in which you truly shine provides more chances in the industry, far from restricting you. He emphasizes the significance of having the freedom to select the projects that will both challenge you and realize your creative vision once you've found your niche.
His advice to founders is straightforward yet demanding, "Don't make a B plan... be obsessed about the problem." Businesses must be quick to react and flexible in the beginning. "Your consumers will inform you of the best course of action to take next. Instead of creating your plans, follow more or less the lead of your clients."
Chirag admits that his company and he are driven by ambition, even though they are always focused on gradual, sustainable growth ("Things take a lot of time"). The need for continuous, small-step progress is highlighted by his observation, "I think magic happens when things compound." Currently serving clients in significant Indian cities and even taking on projects overseas, Matar has started to broaden its scope. But its people will always be at the center of everything. "To do these two things correctly is our main difficulty. The remaining issues are miraculously resolved by the teams."
Chirag concludes by emphasizing his dedication to his clients and staff as Matar Media expands, saying, "I think the only way to build a strong, sustainable business is by always, always obsessing about the problem."
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