This Delhi-based startup helps companies simplify their marketing processes

www.stealeads.com – A venture by ImbibEnglish Services Pvt. Ltd.(www.imbibenglish.com), Launched by Sudhanshu Malik on 28^th March 2018. ImbibEnglish launched with India’s ever increasing network of Content Writers. Current bandwidth is 8900 Content Writers. ImbibEnglish Services Pvt. Ltd. launched on 24^th October 2018. We are publishing an interview with Mr. Sudhanshu Malik:

Q.: What is the problem you are trying to solve? Please share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?

Ans:

Problem – Content is the first line of marketing for any brand, company or individual. Not all the sectors of market have spending capacity to hire content writer on project basis or for small articles or just for website copies. And there are a few writers in the market with very less knowledge and claim to be content writers.

Solution – We have industry-specific content writers and copywriters with both technical and non-technical background. At present, all the sectors such as:

1.  Governmental & Non-governmental Organization
2. Education (from book writing to Article publishing online)
3. E-commerce (B2B, B2C, C2C, Peer to Peer, Mobile e-commerce, Business web government and vice versa)
4. Medical and Healthcare (Hospitals and Medical Sectors, Medicines, Blood Bank, Organ Transplant, Path Labs)
5. Bollywood (Script Writing, Poetry, Laughter Therapy, Web Series)
6. Research and Development (Aeronautics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medical Research)
7. Corporate (IT Sector, Fashion, Tour & Travel, Airline, Automobile, Finance, Banking, CA Firms, Logistics, and Chemical Industry)

All the writers pass through certain quality checks and content parameters that we have decided as per Google’s guidelines and Global Grammatical understanding. We have segmented the writers based on the test results. The compensation is decided according to the points the writers score. Every writer gets the chance to improve its score after every 6 six months.

We charge on per word, per page and on project basis:

1. Per word range starts from ₹.50 to ₹2.50. Depending on the number of checks required by the clients.
2. Per page range starts from ₹ 500 to ₹7500 for a 500 words article. Depending upon the number of checks required by client.
3. Quotation for the content of the project is given after understanding the client’s requirement.

To keep the hold on quality, content with higher quality checks always passes through certain checks like Technical Validation, Functional Validation, Logical Validations, Plagiarism, and SEO Audit using online premium tools and then finally it goes to Content Editor for final approval.

At present, we are running with the largest content writer’s network – close to 9000 writers on Freelance, Part-time and Full-time writers. Not just that,

We have expert hands in Digital Marketing, Video Animation, Video Editing, Graphic Designing, Branding and Identity Designing.

Q.: Please tell us about the founders

Ans: From an Outdoor Catering Waiter to a successful Entrepreneur and a Marketing Consultant. The journey started back in 2010. I started working as a steward with various freelancers and contractors. I also got chance to work in Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi and The Leela Palace, New Delhi. But I had a vision to work on something different and I was very much influenced with Content Writing and Content Marketing. I left my job as hotelier in 2014 end and switched to Content Marketing. It took me 3 months to understand the industry and then I started working as a freelance vendor to various Agencies and Content Writers also. This one year helped me understand the problems occur at different levels in this sector (from both writer’s side and client’s side).

In 2015, I started working as a full-time content writer in Kumar Enterprises and worked with more than 100 clients and small/medium agencies.

2016-2017 was the year of learning and development when I decided to switch my job but I got rejected in 30 interviews back to back in just one year. In 2017, I also got the chance to work as English Language Specialist in HCL. In 2018, I started working in Gurugram based IT company, there I got chance to understand more about Content Writing and how I can start my entrepreneurship journey around it.

I started planning the company formation in January 2018 and the company came into existence in October 2018 with 3 content editors and 150 content writers.

Q.: List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles – How you see them evolving over time. What would be each of their Skill Sets? – Elaborate also if any of the team members has a specific domain expertise.

Ans: Core Team Members

1. Sudhanshu Malik – Director
2. Shreya Malhotra – Chief Marketing Officer
3. Snigdha Patel – Senior Content Strategist
4. Sanjana Yadav – Senior Content Strategist
5. Sagar – Sr. SEO Strategist
6. Adarsh – Video Animator
7. Nakul – Senior Website Developer
8. Arun – Website Developer
9. Gaurav – Content Editor

Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. How did you get your first customer? Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.

Ans:

Service 1: Content Marketing/Content Writing/Copywriting

1. Governmental & Non-governmental Organization
2. Education (from book writing to Article publishing online)
3. E-commerce (B2B, B2C, C2C, Peer to Peer, Mobile e-commerce, Business web government and vice versa)
4. Medical and Healthcare (Hospitals and Medical Sectors, Medicines, Blood Bank, Organ Transplant, Path Labs)
5. Bollywood (Script Writing, Poetry, Laughter Therapy, Web Series)
6. Research and Development (Aeronautics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medical Research)
7. Corporate (IT Sector, Fashion, Tour & Travel, Airline, Automobile, Finance, Banking, CA Firms, Logistics, and Chemical Industry)

Service 2: Website Development

Service 3: Search Engine Optimization

Service 4: Social Media Marketing

Service 5: Branding

Service 6: Graphic Designing and Identity Designing

Q.: What is your USP? * What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.

(A unique selling proposition (USP) is a factor that differentiates a product from its competitors, such as the lowest cost, the highest quality or the first-ever product of its kind.)

Ans:

1. Quality Content Assurance.
2. On-time Delivery (Generally, it starts in 24 hours and depending on the requirement)
3. Written from Industry-specific Content Writers/Copywriters.
4. Rates to cater to every sector of industry.

Q.: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have at least one of them signed up?

Ans: Understanding – Back in 2014, Content Writing is one of the fastest growing industry in the market.

Learning – There are still various loop holes that need to be filled. We entered the market to fill those gaps. On both Writer’s side and Client’s side. We also ensure that only quality content and services are delivered.

Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??

Ans:

1. Failure – www.englishadhyapak.com (Had to close in 6 months)
2. Failure – www.ekbaaraaja.com and App (Had to close due to lack of funds)
3. Failure – www.businessbonfire.com (Had to close due to lack of understanding and process)

Failure leads to growth. As an entrepreneur, we either do something or we learn from something. From all the failures that came during the journey of entrepreneurship, we learnt:

1. How to fill uncovered gaps
2. How to create a system around your business
3. How to build strategies and make them work
4. Business building and team building

Q.: How are you pricing the Product? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium etc.? Explain your thought process.

Ans:

We charge on per word, per page and on project basis: (For content Writing and Copywriting)

1. Per word range starts from ₹.50 to ₹2.50. Depending on the number of checks required by the clients.
2. Per page range starts from ₹ 500 to ₹7500 for a 500 words article. Depending upon the number of checks required by client.
3. Quotation for the content of the project is given after understanding the client’s requirement.

For Website Designing and Development

Please find the attached rate card

Content writing and copywriting samples are available at half the above-mentioned price. No freemium is available.

The logic behind removing freemium from our kitty is to segregate genuine clients from those who try to get 1-2 page content in the name of sample content. Since we work with premium writers only. We don’t want that their efforts go unpaid. That’s why we have kept freemium services away from our kitty.

Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)

Ans: None

Q.: Is there any interesting success story of your startup? If yes, please write about it. ?

Ans: When I planned to move ahead and shifted from small size projects to medium size projects in 2015. My first client put me in the loss of ₹1,50,000/- loss. It was a project worth ₹1,00,000/- And the client had a requirement to complete the whole project in 7 days. I deployed 40 writers and 2 editors on the project. With the advance payment of 30,000, we completed the project in record 7 days. The 160 articles delivered in 7 days and 40 to be delivered in 2 days.

After the delivery of all the articles, the client turned his number off. And it’s still in the same status. But we never let the writer’s efforts go in vain. We paid them from our pocket just to keep the ball rolling. These situation helped us understand and build a process where we don’t let:

1. The Writers’ efforts go waste
2. The Writer compromise with the quality of services
3. The client get unsatisfactory services
4. The client go without paying the said amount.

Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in detail. (e.g., What is the current turnover? From Launching till date total no. of visitors on website/persons registered/enquiries and enrollment etc.)

Ans: Alone in 2020, the company earned the profit of 50 lacs. Our main source attracting clients are LinkedIn, Google Ads, References and Facebook Ads (very less).

The total footfall per month on both www.ImbibEnglish.com and www.Stealeads.com is approx. 500-550 organically. Via Ads – 1000-1200

Total Enquiries we receive every month – 300-450 from Google Ads

LinkedIn – 9-12 leads Every Month

Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product/service leading to something bigger? If so, how?

Ans: We are on the mission to build a network of writers where every client gets services with utmost standards. We are on the mission to employ every genuine content writer and make them work on top projects of the world.

Not just that, we are building an ecosystem where client gets end-to-end services under one roof.

1. Website Development
2. Social Media Marketing
3. Content Marketing
4. Search Engine Optimization
5. Branding
6. Graphic Designing
7. Video Animation
8. Identity Designing

Along with this, we also provide consultation on Digital Marketing and Content Marketing, following which helps our clients grow their business at faster rate.

Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?

Ans: Pepper content and Freelancer.in. But our focus is to let the content pass manually at the final check along with premium checks. This helps us maintain transparency.

Also, we start delivery of content in 24 hours where others take up to 120 hours or on the availability of writer. We also provide express services where the client gets content in 6 hours.

Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? Any other information you would like to share?

Ans: In next 6 months, we are on the mission to connect 1000 more content writers to our network. Our goal is to mark our presence to other parts of world such as UAE, UK and so on. We have already marked our presence in USA, Canada and Australia. We have also worked as vendors for agencies in UAE.

Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs? 

Ans:  Innovation and Patience are the keys to Success. No matter what business you are in. If you are good at innovating things, you will succeed.

Always remember, it’s the mind only that understand no boundaries. So, think beyond restrictions. And you will get the energy to make a move.