'Give Your Children What I Got From My Parents - The Freedom To Follow My Dreams'.
Ritu Kapur is a veteran of broadcast journalist who decided to join new media world and co-founded 'The Quint' with Raghav Bahl, a serial entrepreneur and investor. Prior to beginning her journey with The Quint, Ritu headed programming at History TV18 channel and worked as Features Editor at CNN IBN. Having worked on several news & media projects, she has a knack for content creation.
The initial times of starting 'The Quint' were difficult as she was trying her hand at a new medium. But it was exciting too at the same time as a digital platform gave her the reason to forget everything learnt at Network 18. She is among the women entrepreneurs who are making India proud with their ability to convert the most unique ideas into reality. Learn more about this talented businesswoman in her interview.
Tell us about the entire journey that you have travelled so far?
I think for me; the journey starts with my parents who were completely open to whatever I wanted to do. While several of my friends and my peers were under pressure from their families to be a certain way, or track a certain career- I was free to choose my path.
One thing that I would like to say to all parents even now is : 'Give your children what I got from my parents - the freedom to follow my dreams'.
If I said, I want to do this today, they would say 'In what way can we support you'.
Then if I said that no, actually, I want to do something else – their reaction would be 'okay; so how can we support you'.
“This is where actually you embark on a journey of your own otherwise, there is a path which is charted out to you.” Then of course, I was inclined towards the creative - literature, film making. Also, I was very idealistic during my college days. I used to work in villages in Rajasthan. From there came the desire to become a documentary filmmaker.
When all my three brothers were moving overseas for higher education, I went to Jamia MCRC that exposed me to ways in which one could express, communicate and be creative. But when we stepped out of Jamia MCRC, there were no jobs. There was only Doordarshan. Ana raising money for documentary work. Something had to be done. So, I did several projects which gave me a sense of creative satisfaction, but no money was coming in – not enough to be financially independent. “That was a really bleak environment.”
At that time 3 people – Raghav Bahl, Sanjay Ray Chaudhuri, and C.B Arun Kumar were experimenting with new age television video content. They were looking for people who were willing to experiment with them. On one hand, there was DD and on the other hand was experiment – 'I went with experiment.'
And since then, it's just been an amazing journey. At TV 18 we put out the first Indian shows on Satellite Television – Star and BBC.
For me, the highest point was Bhanwar, a docudrama series, based on real life court cases that we produced for Sony TV. It was a perfect marriage of drama and journalism. WE had a whole host of shows on various channels, but we chose to move from being a a production house to broadcast – CNBC TV 18 launched. And then CNN IBN - where I took the charge as a features editor. . Network 18 had soon grown into a large broadcast empire, so to say.
After we exited from Network 18 – it was a given that we would continue to be in the business of news and content and digital was the new frontier. Nobody was doing video content for digital in India then. So, 'THE QUINT' filled this gap.
How do you summarize 'THE QUINT' ?
'THE QUINT' is sound journalism for the young. It upholds the basic tenets of journalism – the rigor of fact checks and balanced editorial. But is disruptive in vocabulary and formats. It is reaching out to a much younger audience than television – and it is offering innovative content in the palm of the hand – the mobile phone.
What were the challenges that you faced in establishing 'THE QUINT’?
At the time we started out in the new age digital world - there was Firtspost, Scroll, Scoopwhoop, Youth Ki Awaaz. They were all niche. Only Legacy media houses had scale. But legacy media houses were very conventional in what they were offering on digital. So, at The Quint we were actually breaking the template and were carving a new idiom.
“So, it took us a while to convince people who want to slot you. We would often be asked – still do – what is The Quint?.”
The second challenge which we faced was to find the digital talent. So, we decided that we will homegrow this talent. We found some of the brightest young minds and worked with them to evolve the site. This homegrown model has worked very well for us.
How do you manage your personal and professional life?
I think personal life is a bit of a challenge when your kids are young. I completely outsourced my parenting to my mother and mother-in-law. I am very fortunate that I had this support system. But now when I look back, I think that I could have managed it better. I have always been very obsessive about my work, but today I feel that I should have spent little more time with my kids when they were younger.
The flip side though is that my children became independent. So, it all worked out well.
What advice do you have for the young women entrepreneurs who have just started up so that they can have a path of success?
My advice would be that while the idea is driving energy behind your enterprise, remember every good idea needs a business plan and funds. Don’t allow that to hold you back unreasonably but don't keep it secondary to the idea. It has to be neck and neck.
Also, that as a leader you must work with the team in the trenches, while remembering to not lose sight of the bigger picture, the larger vision. Thirdly, you have to keep a track of what is happening globally in the industry or the space you are in.
Do you think that women should have financial knowledge? Why?
Yes, of course. If I was to go back and run my life differently, I would make myself much more familiar with the excel sheet.
Because, eventually money is what drives an idea. If you lose track of that and grow too fast or grow too slow or grow in trajectories where there is no return then along with you, you will bring down your team. You owe a lot to your team. They must get the kind of earnings they deserve.
Always make sure that on your personal end, you are financially sound. Every woman must have her own savings, her own independent bank account. And definitely be a part of family conversation on the finances of the family. “But my better advice is that in some way or the other, if you are educated, you owe it your education and you owe it to your own intellect, to be earning”
There are so many working options – just keep one foot in the working world. I am not in any way demeaning a homemaker and have huge respect and admiration for them, but I just feel you should be a self-earner because you don't know what turn life takes.
SUCCESS MANTRA
To surround yourself with the best talent. 'THE QUINT' wouldn't have been what it is without the team it has. I feel 'you are as good as your team'. The ability to put together a good team and identifying good talent is of utmost importance.