C-Marketplace

C-Marketplace is for Entrepreneurs and Business leaders from IIM-C (as of now). This marketplace is intended to tap into the under-utilized power of Cooperation. Hence, the “C” here stands for ‘Co-Operative’ and is also a quiet tip of the hat to our Joka C.

When the news related to Covid started getting serious, the prospects of my year-old efforts in developing a certain market were grounded like the many airplanes. The initial days were spent in the Denial Stage of self-indulgence including binge watching and gaming. Then slowly the realization came that individually as well as collectively, the threat first to our Economic well being followed by Social and Political security is too high.

That realization prompted me to start assessing how to adapt to the new circumstances which were quite likely to persist for a long time. So, building on my experience in Lead Generation and Community building, I first came up with a Marketplace approach for Entrepreneurs and Business leaders. The initial focus was to help identify business opportunities within the IIM-C network. A simple “Buying” and “Selling” of products and services.

But within two months of getting started on a Google Form, it became quite clear that the opportunities are way more diverse and complex when you start weaving a pattern involving 100+ companies run by IIM-Cians. So instead of only generating leads (Still Very Important), any of the following things can become a viable option for a company in the C-Marketplace network to pursue

1. Audience

You would be surprised to know that just one Insurance Aggregator platform has 2 million “leads” in its database; An HR Training and Consulting company has trained 35,000 HR personnel across India and other South East Asian countries; An Online regional content portal gave 200k Impressions in just two weeks and 800 sign-ups for a webinar; An Online Bonds and Debenture Marketplace has hundreds of HNI’s and thousands of retail clients in its database

Besides, the above there are companies which have access to a very specific set of audience which they have built over years of efforts. This leads to an interesting possibility for other companies trying to access this same set of audience with interesting complimentary offers.

2. Partnerships & Alliances – Resellers/Leads Sourcing/Co-Development/Cross-promotions

Striking up Partnerships is another big possibility for our members. The diversity in the business lines of the C-Marketplace members is truly astonishing considering that the member count is just at 100+, at the moment. Even within companies belonging to a common category like IT Services or Digital Marketing or EdTech or FinTech there are deep differences in capabilities and Market focus. This opens up opportunities for alliances even between “competitors”.

3. Pivots & New Approaches

Due to the Covid shock, some companies have been compelled to reinvent themselves. This is especially true for companies who were anyways struggling with their initial business model. The Lockdown and the downturn just made the choices quite stark.

The “opportunity” here is of a different sort and entirely “made-up” as it is not as apparent and neither is the path to be taken. One will need to think beyond selling groceries and face masks. But the opportunities would definitely be more interesting.

To illustrate, let’s say what can a Travel & Tourism company now do in a post-Covid world? One can of course, think of “Virtual Travels” where someone else goes to the destination and everyone enjoys the video (and of course, pays the actual Traveler for the vicarious experience). Two months back, I would have thought that approach really creative. Now, after studying 100+ companies’ businesses I am beginning to suspect that we are limiting ourselves if we think of solutions only in context of our current business.

So, instead of thinking of only one own self, what happens if the Travel and Tourism company looks at a Cancer Hospital and tries to solve their problem using its toolkit? Or say, it looks at an EdTech company struggling in doing its business with schools/colleges? There was a particular case of an Entertainment company (which is into Escape Rooms and now online adventure games for corporates) which looked quite hopeless to me when I saw it in isolation. Public spaces, especially a closed room would be the last place someone would like to go for a long time. Also, Corporates are not likely to think about entertaining its employees for even longer time.

But what happens if instead of selling entertainment to corporates as end-users, if this company takes its capabilities in Game-Design and goes to other companies struggling to engage its users/customers/clients?

Key of anything new and uncharted happening here is when one starts solving other company’s problem using their unique toolkit and capabilities.

4. Additional Revenue Streams

I have been doing a particular exercise for 2 months now. I have been looking at all the 100+ companies’ businesses and trying to find matches between them. Now instead of doing that kind of Permutation exercise, I would encourage you to do a similar exercise in your company’s context alone.

Carve out 3-4 hours of uninterrupted time (Optional – with your favourite drink and music) and check out the other companies in the Business directory accompanying this magazine. Understand their businesses on a very high level and try figuring out what they will happily pay you for (Not talking about your main bread and butter work). The insights that you will get will be very different from your usual lead qualifying exercise.

Perhaps, you might get ideas to generate some extra revenue from your current assets preferably, without putting corresponding extra effort.

For example, a Social Enterprise which is into Teacher’s Training and Certification was recently connected with an Online Tutorial company for providing trained teachers to work as tutors

An easy monetization approach could be to utilize your existing clients’ communication channel like Newsletters/Online Events/Proprietary Apps etc. for joint offers with other companies

5. Scaling-up/Consultations/Training

Another interesting possibility that I noticed was that among the companies which had signed-up with the C-Marketplace the entire continuum of organizational maturity was represented, from 1 man startup to a 1,000 strong company; from a boot-strapped startup to a multi-million dollars funded company.

The implication being it is possible to get some guidance from companies who are just one or two steps ahead of you in organizational maturity. At least people are available. How to engage busy entrepreneurs/executives to help you needs to be worked out. One possible approach could be holding regular Masterclass on select topics of interest.

Another thing which seems to regularly pop-up in WhatsApp groups is request for consultations on a mind-boggling variety of topics. These consultations open up opportunity for future business deals. So, perhaps a Quora-like platform can be created in some point of time for the C-Marketplace.

6. Funding

Lastly, an interesting development is happening in the space of startups seeking funding. Ranging from seed funding to Series A and above, startups looking for funding are being noted down. Angel Investors and VC Funds connections are also being organically built-up as the C-Marketplace Network grows. A major role is being played by the VC/PE Advisory companies in this regard.

Now, the above possibilities are mostly for growing companies and that too not all points would be equally important. It will be up to you to pick up the relevant threads and weave your own patterns.

For Larger and Established companies, perhaps only the Partnerships and Alliances possibility might be of interest to them. Having said that there may be two other reasons for bigger companies to engage with the C-Marketplace Network. These are:

1. Access to Talent – The capabilities and experience that is available in the Talent Pool of 100+ companies run by

IIM-Cians is a sight to behold. That’s the good part. The better part is that this talent is accessible at hugely cost-effective rates. And the best part is that you get to enjoy it without any overheads in terms of politics or low engagement.

2. Investing in the Future – Engaging with these young companies can keep the larger companies on their toes. Moreover, supporting a promising startup (and it does take very little to support startups, especially through business relationships) can be as good as taking an insurance when the inevitable Change comes.

 So, hopefully some of the above points spark new thoughts and ideas concerning your business and we all get to know of the experiments that you carry out to test your ideas very soon.