I was running late and this is what I hate. A Rodinhoods meet-up is like that interesting movie which you don’t want to miss for even a minute. You want to be there from the very start and become a part of it from the very first scene.
On reaching, I saw a closed door, inside which I was informed were the rodinhooders gathered for the evening.
I was amazed at the silence I sensed outside. “Had there been no turn-outs”, I asked myself. But as I pushed the door open and took a gradual look, I was surprised to see a 60+ audience seated on chairs with two presenters in front trying to get the technical aspects right and a few others standing on all sides, waiting for the show to begin. Entrepreneurs, known for denying worldly rules to get their ideas ahead, surprised me with the discipline – as if this is what they had been waiting for – and that nothing should get in between them and the Rodinhooding evening – not even their own whispers!
I looked at the back and managed to spot a seat. I grabbed it and opened my laptop, to take notes. It’s not a class, but I knew that it certainly would leave me with lessons – some real ones.
The theme for the meet-up was “How to utilize PR effectively for your start-up”. And as per the agenda, we would be having 2 start-ups talking about their PR experiences, two start-up demos and a pitch by those who have got this awesome opportunity to present their start-ups in front of other rodinhooders and invite questions from them.
“PR IS AYURVEDIC IN NATURE RATHER THAN ALLOPATHIC!” – Karan Bhujbal, 20:20 Media
It started with Karan Bhujbal giving us some hands on guidelines about how PR works for start-ups. He reinforced the significance of content when it comes to going with any PR activity and believed that like ayurveda, Public Relation demands time and patience with ones efforts before expecting valid results. From Narendra Modi story about touching his forehead before entering the PM office to Rabbit-Tortoise tale, Karan had some really interesting examples to make his point clear to us. Know more about him here.
“A MADE UP STORY PUBLISHED ABOUT US WITHOUT OUR KNOWLEDGE GOT ME PHONE CALLS FOR SURE, BUT NOT ANY RESULTS” – Ramanuj Mukherjee, iPleaders
The next Presenter to put more light on how PR worked w.r.t his start-up was Ramanuj from iPleaders. The highlights of his presentation was some clean points that touched chord with everyone. According to him, PR should never be for vanity, but for some definite purpose that can help your business in some way. Moreover one should never mistake getting media attention synonymous to success for your start-up. It’s a myth. You should also ask whether or not you need PR. In B2B, for example, it’s not about the product but also about how people perceive you as a brand.
As a law firm, it was a pleasure to know that he also runs a portal for Sexual harassment of any kind and shares with his readers some key points, law-wise, to keep in mind.
The Q&A session, the cross questioning and active participation of the rodinhooders made way for added learnings, quite unplanned.
After the heavy weight PR gyan presented so skillfully by these amazing rodinhooders, we were ready for start-up demos and the pitch lined up for the evening!
It’s always good to see rodinhooders open to share their expertise with us. So when Amit Mishra agreed to come with some case studies and twitter tips for us, he did just that in a very casual yet crucial manner. From an interesting video that 
The host for the evening who made his co-working space available for the event was Pranav Bhatia. Spread across four floors and with start-ups working on all, Stirring Minds had the perfect vibes required for a meet-up like this. The hot samosas just added to our experience!
While I met some new faces and missed some old ones, I came back with many ideas for myself that often crop up when you are amidst like-minded souls.
There are always a few people who make this happen. And so this time, we are thankful to Abhik Prasad who was in charge of connecting the dots, Amit Arora who anchored the evening with his evergreen smile and Tarun Jangid for capturing the energy with his camera.
View all the pictures of the evening here.
We learn with each meet-up, and so we also improve. Hope to see you all next time with more and more.
Before I sign off, a rodinhooder mistook me as Asha ji at the meet-up. While I clarified, I also took it as a compliment! 😉
“Under-Promise & Over-Deliver” – Sachin Bansal, Flipkart