Many changes happened in the last few years in the technical field. Due to these changes, the world view has also changed. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have completely transformed various business sectors. These techniques have allowed people to have better interactions with technology.
Liminal is one of the leading companies in the AR and VR sector across India. Liminal’s creative approach and comprehensive offerings are the backbones behind its long-standing and unique position in the market.
In a candid talk with Mr. Saketh Bhagavatula, Co-founder and Director at Liminal, he shared his journey throughout and what Liminal offers to their clients.
Brief us about Liminal.
Liminal is building an AR and deep learning-based solution for new-age B2B marketing and business analytics. We’re targeting the Indian manufacturing sector initially to aid them with an easy to use our DIY solution, ‘ExploAR’. We’re a bunch of pragmatic techies, gamers, and designers who got together to create something beautiful.
What were the initial challenges you faced?
The lack of a network in the market was a huge challenge. Often, we weren’t able to convert a lead just because we weren’t talking to the decision-maker. It’s demotivating when things don’t work out only because we weren’t talking to the big picture guy. However, we learned to handle things better with time.
Which was that point that triggered the growth of Liminal?
Growth for me is multi-faceted. First, we grew as a team, we were fortunate to work with some of the smartest minds out there. Things took a good turn when we introduced some new verticals and started offering software as a product to the Indian manufacturing segment.
How are your services different from those in the market?
Our focus is to empower Indian manufacturers and marketers with handy tools that drive a positive impact on crucial business metrics. Liminal recently launched a sales tech product that aids an executive during their pitch using AR to demonstrate and capture real-time behavioral data and machine learning to suggest improvements in the process.
How do you decide to take Liminal a step further in terms of your products/services?
While our product is a sophisticated product demo tool that could be used from marketing, sales to post-sale troubleshooting, it is just the beginning. It was monumentally difficult to measure and track a user’s behavior when they engage with a product before and after purchase. Liminal uses real-time behavioral data to drive positive changes in sales training, maintenance training, new employee induction, and more.
According to you, how has the Covid-19 changed the ways of business processes, and how one should adopt these changes?
Covid-19 has stripped us of many resources, created large gaps that are now tough to fill. However, we know necessity is the mother of innovation. It is time to take risks. Liminal can utilize the abundant new-age solutions at our behest and become better than before. Ironically, our clients see a bigger need for ExploAR now, than ever before. Liminal still needs to ensure that we create a positive impact on the revenue keeping in mind the change in the market.
I think larger businesses should experiment with small-scale digital/automation-driven upgrades in every department possible before zeroing down on anything big. This will support the upcoming Start-up sector as well as pave a path for larger organizations to make a calculated transformation.
Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
After I graduated as a Computer Science Engineer, during my first job was with Amazon, I got a taste of product management. Since then, I have worked with a tech startup and learned a lot about growing an organization from scratch and various other aspects of the business.
What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?
I don’t know if I can call it an achievement, but so far, working with some amazing set of people, right from my co-founders to people who joined us later has been the best thing that happened to me. Apart from that, winning a big project always feels like an achievement.
How do you look after your employees? What makes your team unique?
Liminal treat each other as friends playing a cricket match. No point in being overtly formal and method-centric about running an organization. I think this is one of the key reasons for our survival so far. It might sound generic, but getting every individual to understand their role, define it, and own the outcome has been a constant with us. Apart from that, we focus on understanding an individual rather than defining them by a role/title.
Is there any special experience with your clients you would like to highlight?
Many actually, but very recently at Autoexpo 2020, Dr. Pavan Goenka (MD at Mahindra) was impressed by our work and spent a good 15-20 minutes with us from his super busy itinerary. The funny part was, I asked him for his card and a bunch of very senior executives standing behind him gave me a look I could never forget.
One person who you admire the most?
I think it’s nice to admire someone you know personally as it is way easier to learn from them. For me, it was my grandfather, he has been an inspiration.
Whose business story do you find the most inspiring?
Every story is rich in lessons and leanings, from Infosys to Starbucks to Flipkart, there is always an inspiring choice made at a crucial juncture that made all the difference.
Constant vigilance- a need or a strategy? Please share your views.
It is very important to be aware of what is going on in every department. Only then can you fix something when things go south. Being aware and being in control are two different things. I think control should be distributed and awareness centralized.
It’s a rat race out there. How do you cope with that?
Many of us have chosen to quit the race. We want to be like the rat from the movie ‘Ratatouille’. We get to make our race and decide the rules for it. Makes it easier to win.
