Meet Kashyap Swaroop, the film maker.

What is your story, Kashyap?
Your background and schooling which led you here.

As far back as my memory can take me, I’ve always been an odd-child. I started my first startup when I was 8, where I made business cards on small strips of foolscap papers (hand-drawn) and offered families in Bangalore the service of having a tree planted in their lawns (I was very sensitive towards environmental causes). My second startup was a book-lending service. We lent books from my personal library of over 500 books for 20 bucks a pop to the kids in my complex. This was in the 6^th grade.

Engineering happened by chance. I was supposed to take up architecture since I was inspired by the works of Ar. Dr. Laurie Baker, India’s leading green-buildings expert. But I’m glad I did join engineering school, since it was here that I really got to do the things I loved, including heading editorial committees, publishing magazines, heading film clubs, making our first few promo films, etc. Studies happened on the side, and thankfully I passed with distinction.

How did you get started with films? Anything else you dabbled with?

Before I started making promo videos for startups, I’d write scripts for short films. I’ve been brought up in a film family, with both my parents being respected and decorated filmmakers. Sometimes, they’d share their scripts with me and allow me to comment on them. That was a big deal for me and it gave me the confidence to write my own scripts. Besides films, I’ve dabbled in debating, poetry and music. I love the performing arts.

Why Tilt Shift Media & Lowfundwala?
What do they do and how did they start?

Lowfundwala is an effort to tell stories that need to be told. These are stories from inside the startup ecosystem. We made our first video for Gaurav Munjal’s Flat.To, and I credit him for giving us our first break. He was a college senior when I was a sophomore. We worked in the same committee (The Editorial Board), and he noticed that I had what it takes to tell Flat.to’s story in the form of moving images. The video was made pro-bono, but did fairly well for Gaurav’s startup. While enjoying our post-shoot pizzas (sponsored by Gaurav), I thought to myself – “I hope we don’t end up becoming struggling filmmakers in Lokhandwala. I hope we don’t end up Lowfundwala”. That’s how we came up with the name.

Today, Lowfundwala has produced 40 videos for 20 startups, which means that, on an average, each client of ours is a repeat client. We now offer a bunch of video solutions under the categories of live action and animation videos, including user experience videos, voxpop videos, microvideos, explainer videos, concept videos, promo videos, corporate videos, etc. Our list of awesome clients includes Shopclues.com, Commonfloor.com, Directi, Option Three Consulting, Dineout, Flat.to, Campus diaries, among others.

Tilt shift media is a dream that’s slowly being realized. It is the mother concern of Lowfundwala, besides some other entities that are in the works right now. The idea is to offer startups a one-stop solution for all their digital marketing needs. Lowfundwala in its current form is Tilt Shift Media’s MVP.

How did Ardra inspire you to startup?

Ardra is my elder sister. She’s a filmmaker, having independently produced and directed her first documentary film at the age of 24. I look up to her for her calm approach to getting things done, besides the broadness of her vision while conceptualizing. Lowfundwala was co-founded by Ardra and me. Recently, once Lowfundwala was in a good place, Ardra decided to pursue filmmaking fulltime outside of LFW.

Co-founder equations with Mona?

Mona is an early investor and mentor at Lowfundwala. She’s an engineer by training, from Madras University, and an MBA in Business Strategy from INSEAD, Paris. Mona brings with her deep experience in media consulting. I see exciting things happening at LFW under Mona’s mentorship.

Your memorable experiences with startups?

Working with startups is a unique experience. It is almost always collaborative, since startups feel dearly about the videos that we make for them. Some of our best experiences include our projects for Instamojo, Commonfloor and Directi’s Codechef.

Each project for a startup brings with it a lesson worth learning.

At Instamojo, we learnt that we’re allowed to make mistakes as long as we own up to them. At Commonfloor, we learnt that the best results come when the stories we tell don’t have an agenda behind them. At Codechef, we understood the importance of instincts (the entire video for codechef was conceptualized over a single lunch. It’s viral today).  We also had the opportunity to work with All India Bakchod for a brief while. The comedy startup scene is mad. AIB are hands-down the funniest folks you could work with. I remember Tanmay’s first message to me when I offered to shoot a video for him. He said “Guys, you are pros”.

How has being associated (or being friends) with communities/networks helped?

You can be the most talented person alive, prodigal even, but it’s completely useless if you’re unwilling to put yourself out there and risk getting your toes a little wet. I make a conscious effort to network with and meet the most creative, talented folks in the city.

Networking is EVERYTHING.

They could be filmmakers, storytellers, poets or comedians, but if they have what I need, I make it a point to meet them. I’d imagine this applies to every industry. If not for this mindset, we’d be a vague entity in the startup community today.

Hurdles you have tackled? Key challenges you currently face?

One must come to expect hurdles and challenges while working in the service sector. Some challenges we currently face include keeping up with demand, choosing the right clientele, replenishing our crowd sourced resource pool of talent, staying aware of the pulse of the people that our clients want to connect with, hiring my initial employees and finding the right office for LFW. Folks in the community have reached out to us and been very kind in offering their spaces.

One instance/episode when you realized how your work defines you as a person?

A couple of instances, actually. After chancing upon our Mumbai tribute film poem for Commonfloor, the HOD of Direction of Whistling Woods International reached out to me. She said that the words and images in the video will stay with her for years to come, and thanked me for it. This was a major validation of our work and purpose.

Another infinitely gratifying feeling is when college juniors call or text me saying that I inspire them to do things differently. If my work can inspire the spirit of entrepreneurship in the people around me, I think my job is done.

🙂

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Thanks, Kashyap. I would like to add that the quick coffee we had before Diwali was quite an inspiring one. You are darn young and pretty geared up for the roller coaster, while hitting the right notes. Thank you for your contribution to the eco system! Key takeaways-

• Love what you do and where you stand. Good things can be created everywhere.
• Connect with people, stay connected and add value to their work.
• Seek inspiration and complementary skill sets for your project.
• Learn from your customers and evolve while you learn.
• Network while adding value and being worthwhile.
• Leverage your legacy; tweak it to your advantage.
• Be nice to the world, and it will be nice to you!

Connect with Kashyap on Twitter

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About the Author: @sushrutmunje

I build Hammer and Mop – specializing in marketing, service and operations. I’m a published poet and a writer. Startups excite me. Have been a part of speaker panels and given guest lectures at business schools, been a speaker at Youth to Business Forums (powered by AIESEC) and I sit on Unltd India‘s selection board once in a while. Contributing as a business writer at TheRodinhoods – creating content, interviewing inspiring entrepreneurs / intrapreneurs / professionals and covering events.

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Added by Asha: Other vids by Lowfundwala on trhs

Alok’s entrepreneurial journey (a part of the flat.to videos)

CAS session at trh Open House

The Mumbai Open House in March 2014

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