Rikki Agarwal: Creating One-Off Business Strategies To Ensure The Sustained Success Of Blink Digital
Rikki Agarwal
Co-founder & CBO
In an exclusive interview with CEO INSIGHTS, Rikki talks more about his professional journey and the successful growth of Blink Digital.
Can you talk more about your educational and professional background and how has it helped you in your journey so far?
Me and my partner are engineers and we passed out in 2009 and we started our company right after graduation itself. Since we were engineers coming from a computer engineering background, we saw a need gap in the industry where in there was a lack of players that can combine creativity and technology while offering services to their clients. This was the reason behind the inception of our firm and we wanted to add value to our clients’ operations through our services. Our technical expertise has also allowed us to be frontrunners in the industry when it comes to innovation and we are known in the market for offering cutting edge solutions.
What were the initial challenges that you faced in the industry and how did you overcome that? Also, what roles have you been playing at blink digital?
Dealing with the marketing aspect of our business operations was a challenge for us initially. But slowly as we grew, we understood how marketing works and now we are experts in it.
I take care of all the various business operations of the company, looking at the P and L interacting with the clients, marketing and formulating and implementing business plans to take the company forward, all come under my watch.
What helped you to achieve success in the industry?
Coming from an engineering background, we were put into a stressful situation from our academic lives itself. So being persistent, agile and determined to continue moving forwards has helped us to develop into successful business leaders. Also, our mentality to learn and improve on a consistent basis has helped us a lot to overcome the challenges that we have come across.
As far as leadership style goes, we have both given ownership to our team and that has really worked for us. This has also helped us to create an inclusive working environment and keep our team motivated. Apart from this, focusing on the right business and being agile has also played a crucial role behind our success.
What helps you to come up with effective business strategies for the company?
We are a service company and we have a tracking mechanism that maps our business to profitability. This helps us to operate in an optimal manner and offer the best services to our clients. We also ensure that we understand the business needs of our clients and then we offer services that are built around those needs. We believe that marketing needs to be transparent and this also helps us to gain the trust of our clients.
I take care of all the various business operations of the company, looking at the P and L interacting with the clients, marketing and formulating and implementing business plans to take the company forward, all come under my watch.
When it comes to awards, we are the only digital agency who has won the WEBBY thrice and we are the only independent digital agency that has won CLIO & One Show
What helped you to achieve success in the industry?
Coming from an engineering background, we were put into a stressful situation from our academic lives itself. So being persistent, agile and determined to continue moving forwards has helped us to develop into successful business leaders. Also, our mentality to learn and improve on a consistent basis has helped us a lot to overcome the challenges that we have come across.
As far as leadership style goes, we have both given ownership to our team and that has really worked for us. This has also helped us to create an inclusive working environment and keep our team motivated. Apart from this, focusing on the right business and being agile has also played a crucial role behind our success.
What helps you to come up with effective business strategies for the company?
We are a service company and we have a tracking mechanism that maps our business to profitability. This helps us to operate in an optimal manner and offer the best services to our clients. We also ensure that we understand the business needs of our clients and then we offer services that are built around those needs. We believe that marketing needs to be transparent and this also helps us to gain the trust of our clients.
What are the business challenges that organizations are facing now and what makes a great business leader in your opinion?
One of the most noticeable challenges that Indian companies face now is that the Indian culture is very demanding and we have to ensure that client’s expectations are met seamlessly. We work with some of the teir-1 Indian and international companies and getting them to work with us in this highly competitive market segment has been a challenge for us personally.
Also, understanding the DNA of the company and being empathetic towards employees is crucial to become an understanding business leader. For us, the DNA is to go for highly profitable businesses and not to over stress our employees. Also, when it comes to hiring employees, we strive to hire freshers and pay them more than what they might get in other companies. This also acts as a motivating factor which helps them to offer the best for the organization.
Can you mention some of the milestones that have bestowed you utmost satisfaction?
Moving to a full-service digital agency model from just being considered as an IT company that offers digital services was a huge turning point for us. Another one is when we lost our biggest client that contributed a lot towards our revenue and coming back from that adverse impact even stronger has given us a sense of achievement. We have been able to clock in impressive growth figures and every alternate year we are growing at 100 percent. Also, our profit growth is 70 percent on a yearly basis and we have now 90 to 100 employees. We have also been able to create a diversified clientele that includes both big and small Indian and international firms. When it comes to awards, we are the only digital agency who has one the WEBBY thrice and we the only independent digital agency that have won CLIO & One Show Rikki Agarwal who holds the office of Chief Business Officer (CBO) and heads media and servicing of the company.
Rikki Agarwal, Co-founder & CBO, Blink Digital
Rikki is responsible for acquisition of new business, overseeing & scaling business operations, and upholding & furthering the mission of Blink Digital and with him at the helm, the company is aiming to strive for sustained success in the industry.
One of the most noticeable challenges that Indian companies face now is that the Indian culture is very demanding and we have to ensure that client’s expectations are met seamlessly. We work with some of the teir-1 Indian and international companies and getting them to work with us in this highly competitive market segment has been a challenge for us personally.
Also, understanding the DNA of the company and being empathetic towards employees is crucial to become an understanding business leader. For us, the DNA is to go for highly profitable businesses and not to over stress our employees. Also, when it comes to hiring employees, we strive to hire freshers and pay them more than what they might get in other companies. This also acts as a motivating factor which helps them to offer the best for the organization.
Can you mention some of the milestones that have bestowed you utmost satisfaction?
Moving to a full-service digital agency model from just being considered as an IT company that offers digital services was a huge turning point for us. Another one is when we lost our biggest client that contributed a lot towards our revenue and coming back from that adverse impact even stronger has given us a sense of achievement. We have been able to clock in impressive growth figures and every alternate year we are growing at 100 percent. Also, our profit growth is 70 percent on a yearly basis and we have now 90 to 100 employees. We have also been able to create a diversified clientele that includes both big and small Indian and international firms. When it comes to awards, we are the only digital agency who has one the WEBBY thrice and we the only independent digital agency that have won CLIO & One Show Rikki Agarwal who holds the office of Chief Business Officer (CBO) and heads media and servicing of the company.
Rikki Agarwal, Co-founder & CBO, Blink Digital
Rikki is responsible for acquisition of new business, overseeing & scaling business operations, and upholding & furthering the mission of Blink Digital and with him at the helm, the company is aiming to strive for sustained success in the industry.