![]() It was driven by my biggest fear when launching, which is that I open the web store and launch to crickets! That fear drove me to action. To build my brand following I did something I really want the Cass community to understand. ![]() So how did you build the brand following? If you want to sell at the price I want in India you need to be well known. It’s likely that by then the markets will have changed, and in addition I’ll have that reputation. So I decided to start in the UK to build my brand and then hopefully in two or three years when the time is right I can bring it over to India and use my distribution network then. So I decided to sell in the UK instead as I’ve already got a foundation there, and know the steps I need to take and an idea of what I can do with it. I did not want to compromise my idea because I could not make a product I was not proud of but realised if I want to sell my rucksack in India I would always be at the fringes of the market. This is where it all failed! I thought I would launch the product in India but then I realised that the product in my head was far too expensive for the Indian market, which is much more price sensitive. So you must have had plenty of customers waiting? ![]() I decided to create this brand to sell through my network, and because of that I moved back to India. But once it did I thought that I’ve got access to 100,000 stores selling stationery and educational stuff, a bit like Paperchase, with lots of school children as customers, so the backpack brand would fit in there. I was then thinking of what I could do and I’m not sure how the idea of a backpack brand came in to my head. So I decided to go back to India and create something there. I was completely disregarding what I already had in India. So when I saw this presentation I realised that there were so many options outside the UK, that the world is so big and I haven’t even realised it. At the time I was trying to launch a social travel app that basically connected an online guide to people who wanted to travel together, but I couldn’t get it to market. They were big numbers and my head was spinning. That’s definitely my favourite memory.ĭuring the South Africa elective I remember a guy from the Standard Chartered conference, a really sharp guy, telling us about the opportunities in Africa. The entire thing was with friends and we had a lot of fun. It sounds like a cliché but there were so many! I definitely think it was the South Africa elective – that was a boatload of fun! The elective happens in Johannesburg and then Cape Town, so me and a few friends who were also on the elective, we reached South Africa a few days in advance and went to a game reserve for a couple of nights, it was amazing! Then we went to Johannesburg and Cape Town and following that also visited Lion’s Head, the Cape of Good Hope and did a trip in to wine country and whale watching. Entrepreneurship was always a part of my Cass experience. We also did some mini entrepreneur projects where you make a business and start to sell a product, for example in the Cass foyer and at events. We did things with City University’s City Sparks, and me and another guy from Cass did an internship at City where we helped with the project. I had to learn how to deal with people at the same level as me, which had not been the case back home.ĭuring my MBA I took part in lots of entrepreneur workshops and entrepreneur projects. So it’s a far flatter organisation to work within, which is definitely something to get used to at the start. At Cass everyone around you has an equal footing, is just as smart and as capable, wants to be heard and can do whatever they set their mind to. I’d been in the family business from a young age, and there in India life has lots of weight to it because of the hierarchy. When I arrived at Cass it was a bit different from my previous life experience. Overall it was a positive experience, especially from a professional perspective. I was looking for a change from I the stuff I was doing, so I decided to do my MBA. Before that I had been working in my family business, which is in stationery and educational products in India. I joined Cass in September 2012 and graduated in January 2014. He tells us how he had 5,000 people waiting for his vegan rucksack brand, Charlie Feist, to launch. Subal Charla studied MBA, 2013 and has always displayed an entrepreneurial spirit.
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