Looking Back and Moving Forward: The Road Ahead for UnboxingBLR
This year has undoubtedly been UnboxingBLR's "0 to 1" journey. As we head into 2025, Malini Goyal (co-founder & CEO, UnboxingBLR) reflects on the path so far and what lies ahead for the organisation.
“The response has been terrific. Even better than our book.”
It was a Saturday morning. Prashanth and I were exchanging notes over a phone call. The mood was visibly cheery and upbeat. We hadn’t expected such a positive response to our newly launched data report. Our inbox was full of requests for soft copies of Bengaluru Rising. The press coverage couldn’t have been better.
On 19th November, our annual data report - Bengaluru Rising was released as part of Bangalore Tech Summit. Amid all the razzmatazz with ministers, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs on the dais, we had launched Bengaluru Rising - a first of its kind data report, tapping into unique data sources to look at India’s top cities, with sharp focus on Bengaluru.
Just a day prior, you should have seen the madness in the office.
Last minute, we had decided to put together a short film on the report for the Bangalore Tech Summit kickoff ceremony. A strict deadline loomed ahead while we tested our in-house editing chops.
Our data report, the work on which began in August 2023, had a rocky journey. A year back - in December 2023 - when we saw the first draft, my instinctive reaction was to scrap it. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Data was not available. It wasn’t in a format where we could make comparisons between cities. Of the 25+ startups and digital platforms we reached out to for collaboration, the majority did not materialise.
You can say this was a very special project. While working on the book - Unboxing Bengaluru - The City of New Beginnings, we had deeply felt the near-absence of data on Indian cities, especially the tech hub Bengaluru. For Bengaluru Rising, we were hoping to tap into alternative data sources - from startups, digital platforms and satellites (beyond the government sources) - to look at India’s top cities through data. The journey was expectedly difficult. But determined, we persevered. Working with How India Lives proved to be supremely valuable for us, and in hindsight, our hour-long weekly brainstorm was a great decision.
At times, we fussed over the graphic design to make it simpler. At other times we did some blue sky thinking on different city data that could be interesting to explore, including creating composite city indexes. Any new data or report in the newspapers got us excited to go on a chase. We intensely pursued data experts and techies who could help us, or join forces with us. It didn’t yield much. Yet, that day, standing on the dais, I felt emotions and pride welling up .
You could say, our data report is a great window to give you a feel of what 2024 has been like for us. The year 2024 has unequivocally been what startups call a year of “0 - 1” journey for UnboxingBLR. We rolled out many projects. For almost all of them, there was no playbook, no precedent, and almost no prior experience or in-house expertise to do it. And yet, month after month, project after project, we managed to somehow pull it off, albeit stumbling and fumbling, but taking it all on our chin.
First off the block was Hubba in your Park (HYP). The intent for HYP was to do a mini cultural festival of sorts every weekend in a BBMP park to make Bengaluru’s public spaces more vibrant. Each HYP consisted of a set of events - from silent book readings to Zumba classes and nature walks to Yakshagana. The showstopper was a live music performance at the very end to keep everyone entertained. At times, it was the rain, sometimes it was attendance, and as fate would have it - last minute tech glitches. With no fixed template for us to refer to, there were countless reasons for us to worry or for things to go awry. But with time, we got better and fine-tuned our model to make everything run like clockwork. This year, we pulled off 15 HYPs, and the demand for them in other neighbourhoods across the city is steadily growing.
In August, we took on another ambitious project - Freedom Hubba - a live concert organised on the occasion of Independence Day, featuring Ricky Kej. From raising funds to organising tech, branding to marketing, permissions to most importantly, pulling in a crowd across age groups - it was truly a miracle to pull off. Yet, on the evening of the show, we had a packed hall with 1200+ people in the audience.
In October, we launched From Code to Culture, our podcast. While I’d love to dive into my personal journey as a host in front of the camera another time, for now, all I can say is that our podcast journey has been both challenging but also very satisfying. In a little over two months, we have garnered over 5000 subscribers and over 1.3 million views with close to no marketing spend. The team and I are very excited about what awaits us in 2025.
And saving the best for the last - our second edition of BLR Hubba - an annual city wide cultural festival. Its soft launch in 2023, with just three months spent on planning to execution, were marked by challenges and unanticipated hurdles.
This year, we were more in control. We had time, there was better planning, and we were more prepared. Getting generous anchor sponsors like Manipal Foundation, Zerodha, Go Native and Prestige Group helped enormously. There were others like Geetanjali Vikram Kirloskar, Quess Corp and Prosus who came on board as specific event sponsors. A lot of credit goes to advance planning and deft handling of the festival logistics by the festival director V Ravichandar (he prefers to call himself the chief facilitator) and the team he had put together. At the end, we had 500+ performances across 40 venues and performances by 200+ artists across Bengaluru in venues like Freedom Park, Bangalore International Centre, Panchavati and Sabha. Even now, I can feel the city buzzing with excitement for our next edition. We received very good coverage in the mainstream media. Even better was the love we got on our social media handles of UnboxingBLR and BLR Hubba. It was a befitting reward of the hard work and care that we poured into the festival this year.
As I reflect back on 2024, I would like to talk about the “0 - 1” journey. What is it like? And what are our takeaways as an organisation?
Here are the top lessons that come to mind:
Lesson no 1: When you are trying something new with no precedent, and no playbook, stumbles and setbacks are part of the deal. No matter how hard you try and how well you plan, things will go wrong. Just learn to take it on your chin and move on.
Lesson no 2: Determination and grit are important friends to give you company. Keep them close. Grit your teeth and just persevere, dusting off your pants and tending to your bruises. It is easy to give up and abandon projects mid way. I, for one, was tempted to do it many times this year. But the joy of overcoming the odds and pulling off things is incomparable and worth savouring.
Lesson no 3: There are times you will hit a roadblock. No solution or saviour will be in sight. Best is to keep your head down and sleep over the problem. Solutions emerge. Saviours magically and serendipitously appear offering to hold your hand just when you are about to give up.
Lesson no 4: I knew it all along, but in 2024, I saw it play out in full glory. Your network capital is far more powerful than other capital you can think of. Have no shame in seeking help or admitting helplessness. An electrician you befriended at HYP can be the saviour you need when the power supply at a park threatens to derail the evening performance. On countless occasions this year, random conversations opened up doors for us. People both known and unknown stepped forward to hold our hands when we were struggling, and for that, we are grateful.
2024 has been a difficult year, but a remarkable one nevertheless. We are aware 2025 will be a different journey, with its own set of challenges. The 0 - 1 journey is very different from 1 - 10. Hopefully, 2024 has laid a good foundation to build further next year. We are excited for what is to come. See you in 2025!
-Malini Goyal (co-founder & CEO, UnboxingBLR)