Pepper Spotlight

The news of death, defeat, and distress is overwhelming for the creative mind. The information around us is ingrained into our minds, and it’s not your fault you feel worried and distracted.

While you do your bit in helping this country see the light and the end of the tunnel, being locked away from the things you enjoy is difficult. It’s like being in a privileged prison, but a prison nonetheless. 

This feeling of anxiousness comes from a lack of knowledge, uncertainty, and information overload. But listen, take a deep breath, and listen to this message.

As the saying goes: “Once you feel like you hit the bottom, the only way out is upwards!”

Want more tips on how to stay creative? Read the full blog here:

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

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Divyanshu Damani, the Founder of TagMango talks about how he is empowering creators. The platform enables creators to monetize their work and build a paying following for all kinds of content. In this episode, we find out what type of content sells, how to make money from creating content, and the overall shift of the content space in the last decade.

Who should be the next guest? DM us your suggestions on Instagram.

Show highlights:

(00:00) - Introduction

(02:49) - How will Divyanshu introduce himself to a group of strangers?

(05:10) - Divyanshu’s journey before starting Tag Mango.

(09:02) - Divyanshu’s start with content-creation.

(10:30) - How have content platforms changed over time?

(16:55) - Divyanshu explains the workings of Tag Mango

(20:21)- Trends with building an audience for member-only content and monetization of content.

(23:55) - What content categories perform better on the Internet?

(26:00) - The advantages of building a closed community for your content?

(28:36) - What is Divyanshu grateful for in his journey as an entrepreneur?

(33:12) - What drives Divyanshu to keep hustling?

(37:12) - 3 Tips for new content creators!

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

Our guest today, Pratik Poddar, is an entrepreneur turned VC. He is the Principal at Nexus Venture Partners. The conversation with him highlights the evolution of platforms and the changing landscape of content creation. His many years of experience as a VC make him the ideal person to describe the entrepreneurs of today.

Whom would you like to see next on our podcast? DM to let us know: https://instagram.com/pepper_content

Show highlights:

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:59) - Understanding Nexus Venture and its focus as Venture Fund.

(03:55) - The system and section criteria behind funding new companies.

(07:57) - What did the year 2020 change in the ecosystem of investing?

(11:25) - The importance of luck with funding.

(13:12) - Pratik’s journey from a trader family to a Principal VC.

(23:55) - The evolution of the content spaces and creators.

(34:31) - The ways of content monetization.

(39:45) - The three qualities of a successful entrepreneur.

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

This week on Pepper Spotlight, Chaitanya Kataria (Co-Founder and Business Head - Gully Gang Entertainment) breaks down the nuances of collaboration, insights of working with niche content, shares stories from the hip-hop industry in India, and a whole lot more.

Who would you like to see on Pepper Spotlight next? DM us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/pepper_content

Show highlights:

(00:00) - Introduction

(02:29) - Who is Chaitanya Kataria, and what does he do?

(03:47) - Gully Gang Entertainment as a content company.

(05:23) - The responsibility of Gully Gang Entertainment as a leader of the hip-hop movement in India.

(11:24) - How does Chaitanya work with multiple artists; who each have their own USPs?

(12:00) - What does Gully Gang Entertainment look for when onboarding new artists?

(17:04) - How can an artist or creator stand out from the clutter in their field?

(21:12) - What analytics or trends do music-creators study before making content?

(27:33) - What is the framework for planning and promoting music content?

(32:02) - How does Gully Gang deal with multiple teams for each project.

(24:47) - The process behind the making of ‘Mirchi by DIVINE.

(40:30) - The Lightning Round

About Pepper Content:

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 30,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:

https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent 

“We can all be creators; it’s not a job; you don’t have to create to get fame; you have to do it because you like doing it!” - Varun Duggirala

This week on Pepper Spotlight, we have Varun give us an hour of gyan, stories, and mind-blowing realizations about the content market. Varun Dugirala is the Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer at The Glitch. His podcast “Advertising is Dead” has created one of the biggest splashes among Indian creators.

Varun talks about his process behind running a consistent podcast, the hidden creativity of engineers, the balancing act between Glitch and his personal brand.

We Discussed: 

(00:22) - Introduction

(03:02) - Being nice, and nothing wrong with being nice

(05:51) - How does Varun manage both a personal brand and run an agency?

(11:57) - Has being an Engineer helped as a content creator?

(23:37) - How did Varun’s family react to him jumping careers?

(27:11) - How does Varun keep consistent with his podcast ‘Advertising Is Dead’?

(29:20) - How Varun started a newsletter on Substack in the middle of all his projects?

(38:12) - How does Varun measure progress and analyze the value from each project?

(42:57) - Does Varun manage getting overwhelmed by screen-time and internet-usage?

(46:55) - Tips and ticks to constantly find creative ideas.

(49:36) - Varun’s one-line-advice to engineers, entrepreneurs, and creators.

Who would you like to listen to in the next episode? DM to let us know: https://instagram.com/pepper_content

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

With the rise of tech and social media, journalism has turned its attention to the web over the years. But this has also given birth to problems like fake news and cancel culture. 

In this episode, Shephali Bhatt talks about the current state of journalism and how it can be more authentic and inclusive.

She covers some interesting topics around the creator economy like influencers turning investors, underrated journalism trends in India, building a personal brand as a writer, and more.

We Discussed: 

(0:00) - Introduction

(2:15) - How did Shephali end up as a journalist?

(4:24) - Shephali's first job.

(5:12) - The freelance journey

(7:00) - Influencers as Investors.

(10:34) - How Shephali is up-to-date with trends.

(13:27) - Underrated trends/ topics in India.

(19:00) - Major trends in journalism in 2021.

(22:50) - How does Shephali make sure the news is accurate?

(24:23) - How can a writer build a personal brand online?

(29:22) - Shephali's favourite writing genre.

(31:22) - Lightning Round

(38:54) - 3 things writers should NOT do

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

We have never had the kind of entrenched, highly distributed vernacular content platforms that we do today, spanning cities and districts from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

In a country where 65% of internet users are on mobile for an average of 2.5 hours a day, local content from your city in your language is king. 

Join us in a delightful conversation with Ranjeet Singh (Co-Founder and CEO, Pratilipi) as he shares his learnings about building a successful vernacular content platform in Bharat for Bharat.

Who do you want to see on Pepper Spotlight's next episode? DM us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/pepper_content

Show notes:

(0:00) - Welcome Note

(1:30) - Pepper Social Announcement

(2:30) - Pratilipi Introduction

(4:43) - What is 'Building For Bharat'?

(6:17) - How Did Pratilipi Start?

(7:45) - Pratilipi's Growth Story

(10:30) - How do you decide which language to launch?

(11:45) - How does a writer sign up on Pratilipi?

(14:00) - How to create podcasts or comics with Pratilipi?

(16:00) - How are users reacting to new comics and podcasts?

(17:20) - Where do the first set of writers stand today?

(19:32) - The shift from paperback to e-book and audiobooks.

(22:00) - How did the team manage to grow during a pandemic?

(24:11) - Lightning round

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

This week, Sahil Vaidya (Co-Founder - The Minimalist, Forbes 30 Under 30, Linkedin Top Voices 2021) joins Pawan Rochwani to discuss minimalism. Subtle and sleek, minimalism in branding and marketing has gained traction as one of the most popular schemas today. Minimalism is more than just a trend. It's about finding your core and aligning your brand with it. When all the clutter is removed, what remains?

From prominent names like Apple, Uber, Airbnb, Nike to small brick-and-mortar operations, minimalism has made its mark and grows in popularity. It’s echoed across social media, print ads, landing page design layouts, bringing the physical and the digital together and how!

Watch/ listen to the episode now to learn from the best in the biz! (Audio version available on all podcast platforms)

Tell us who our next guest should be by reaching out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pepper_content​

What we discussed:

(0.00) Intro theme

(2.28) How do you usually introduce yourself to people?

(3.48) How did The Minimalist start as a Facebook page to now one of India's top creative solutions agency?

(6.40) How to rationally think about your passion project?

(8.30) How do engineers turned creative folks convince their parents?

(10.00) What are some things to keep in mind while Bootstrapping a company?

(13.48) is it a necessity to have a mentor in the early days of your organization?

(15.30) Simplicity is Contagious and Life is Sales, Sales is Life.

(18.01) How can you stand out on the internet?

(20.30) How do you convince brands to be experimental?

(23.00) How do you manage to practice creativity while managing the operations at The Minimalist?

(27.35) How do you manage the left brain and right brain tasks effectively?

(29.50) Does being in a diverse set of work help you be better?

(31.25) Your top three book recommendations

(37.20) What advice would you want to give to aspiring folks out there?

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

“It’s just like how a meme spreads and becomes viral, right? A B2B business follows the same path towards becoming viral, simply through word of mouth. We sincerely believe that human insight works best. If your campaign has human insight driven into it, then it will go the farthest.”

-Abhishek Asthana - Founder, Ginger Monkey (@gabbbarsingh on Twitter)

On this week’s Pepper Spotlight episode, we sit down with Abhishek Asthana, the Founder of Ginger Monkey. This young digital agency has constantly pushed creative limits to the sky. 

Join us as we embark on a journey, where we’ll take you to the inception and BTS of the massively successful stories of Durex and Schindler campaigns and talk about all things social media with the famous Twitterati ‘Gabbbar Singh’ himself.

Learn how one man decided to change the advertising industry's norms forever with his unconventional approach towards making ads for some of the biggest brands across the country. Listen to the brand new Pepper Spotlight podcast today!

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

From designing and selling unique skins for scientific calculators to running his design academy. Listen to our latest episode with Abhinav Chikkara (Founder, 10k designers), where we cover everything from design inspiration, its future, freelancing, building communities, and more.

Abhinav Chhikara is the Founder and CEO of 10k designers, a master class and a course to help people successfully transition into a design career. He was previously the Head of Design at Unacademy - India’s Largest Learning platform. Being a designer and creator himself, Abhinav is incredibly passionate about the future of education and wants to help students build a successful network and kickstart their career in the UI/UX field.

In this podcast we discussed:

- How design has evolved from enterprises

- The jump from desktop applications to mobile apps

- How the entire content market has become global

- Design is not a luxury but a necessity

- No Design is also a Design!

- Negative things always stand out more than the positives

- There’s a market for every skill level

- Hacking into the freelancing network

- How to never run out of leads

- Why having a social media presence is crucial

- Building the 10k Community

- Defining the design problem

About Pepper Content

Pepper is a managed content creation service platform helping brands create high-quality content, fast with a vetted & fully managed network of 40,000+ creators across 200+ business categories.

➡️ Follow Pepper Content:https://linktr.ee/peppercontent

➡️ Subscribe to Pepper Shots, our free newsletter, and your gateway to all things content: https://linktr.ee/peppercontent