Founder – Anuj Sehgal
Website – Comedy Munch
What made you strike this business idea? What inspired you to start this company?
Anuj Sehgal – It was one evening back in 2015. I went to watch my first comedy show in Delhi. The kind of positivity brought in by the smiling faces around me was so encouraging. The show was a great crowd puller as well. Making people laugh while making money seemed like a win-win idea. We all seek peace in these busy city lives after working 9 to 6, five days a week. I thought what if I could make those days better? That’s how the idea of creating a one-stop destination for comedy originated and initiated as an online platform and later moved horizontally to organise corporate events/comedy shows, and we started spreading happiness amongst the stressful environments of working spaces.
When did you start your business?
Anuj Sehgal – It was right after that evening that vague thoughts around it started growing in my mind. After a lot of courage to leave my ‘safe’ corporate job, I finally initiated this idea and a dream to make it a business in 2015.
Yeah, we are three years old now!
What does success mean to your company?
Anuj Sehgal – Success has a lot to do with numbers but for me, for us at Comedy Munch, it is more about the kind of impact we make is how we measure success. Having a good footfall in shows and online views feel good, but making that audience come back to us every time they think of comic shows and content, is what feels great. Making that kind of impact on our audience and leaving that expression of happiness in their minds is when we feel we did good.
How are you performing currently?
Anuj Sehgal – We are still growing we believe. Each day in numbers and impact as I said, we are attaching more footfall to our platform. With an active community of 600k users, 500M reach across all online platforms, 131K+ YouTube subscribers, 200K+ app subscribers, and 100K Facebook users, we have managed to grow in the business with every passing day. With 50+ Stand-up comedy shows, we have also helped 400+ budding comics to nourish and make a mark by providing their content a platform beyond just ours. Platforms like UC Web, Alt Balaji, Ola Play, etc. help these artists to reach wider audiences.
What is the biggest risk to your company?
Anuj Sehgal – As the technology has been changing at the speed of light and Industrial revolution is in a process, we face a risk to keep up with the time and pace in terms of content preferences and technology demands. However, to keep aligned to our customer needs, we are focusing to expand our reach to multiple geographies beyond Indian market and also expanding to other genres to keep our loyal subscriber base entertained and give them a reason to keep coming back to consume the content. We do not see major risk as an organization, in fact, see huge opportunity to create a platform for the amateur artists to help them create a content, distribute and monetize the content created by them to various large platforms in India and abroad.
What are your plans on funding?
Anuj Sehgal – We are currently focused to create unique content IPs, content distribution, in process of launching entertainment club to improve the value for our customers and partners.
We have achieved breakeven and have been able to control our costs and is the fastest growing platform in entertainment space working closely with brands and corporates spreading happiness.
We shall seek funding to expand our footprint to more markets, expand the team and launch new products. We are very excited to see the huge opportunity in this space and ready to disrupt the market.
What is the biggest challenge you faced during your startup setup?
Anuj Sehgal – The biggest challenge during the setup period was lack of access to quality talent and moving slowly due to lack of the same.
Being a one man army, it took longer to set up the processes and product and convert into monetization.
What does growth mean to you and your business?
Anuj Sehgal – Growth for us is improving the value for our subscribers and spread laughter both online and offline extending to more genres and new geographies and building strong community.
How does your product stand different from others in the market?
Anuj Sehgal – We are the only stand-up comedy platform in the country and unique players who are doing a horizontal play in comedy, from online to offline, i.e. Content creation, distribution, monetization and also proving stage time to the amateur and established talent.
Where are your startup services spread?
Anuj Sehgal – We are operational from Delhi but organise events all over the country and are artists from all parts of the country. We aim to expand all through South East Asia.
What does it feel to be the founder of your start-up? How does it feel getting up every morning and getting on to work?
Anuj Sehgal – The start-up journey has been very exciting, challenging and fun-filled experience. The adrenalin runs through a body thinking about the possibilities and business opportunities which can be spread through humour . As we are in a business of creating happiness, it does not feel, getting to the work.
Where do you see your business standing in the next 5 years?
Anuj Sehgal – I forsee Comedy Munch, as the largest platform in South East Asia and default household name to humour and happiness by our subscribers, partners, and shareholders.
