Every business faces a major challenge in its initial stages, the challenge of operating from an affordable and viable working space. It is of paramount importance that the working environment for any kind or nature of business should facilitate necessities, amenities, and resources to ensure the smooth flowing of the operations.
Gemini New Media Ventures (GNMV) founded by Mr. Deep Malhotra is striving to fill the gap of affordable and flexible working spaces in the country. As the Founder of the company, let’s read how he plans to achieve the same through his exclusive Interview with Insights Success:
Kindly brief us about the company, its inception, and the overall journey to date.
The need gap of affordable & flexible office space was identified back in the year 2005, when our founder Mr. Deep Malhotra, who was back then in the early founding team for Google India and was struggling to find the right space for a small core team in Mumbai. There were no options and the team had to resort to operating out of a high priced business center. It was then that he felt the need for a flexible, economical and yet well maintained/operated space in the city.
After the corporate stint, he started Gemini New Media Ventures (www.imgemini.com) started in a small bungalow in Chembur, Mumbai in the year 2012 as an incubation for startups and helping international companies to set up operations in India by giving solutions in go to market strategies, real estate, and recruitment. After tying up with various technical institutes and helping young founders to get off the ground, we realized that there is a need for a hassle-free working environment for companies.
That’s when the company graduated to becoming one of the early co-working spaces in 2015 with GNMV Spaces having 20 seats. First-year was a big challenge as not many knew about the concept and wasn’t open to sharing space with other companies under one roof. We only managed 60% occupancy in the first year. Currently, we have 300+ seats which run at 100% capacity.
What are the values, vision, and mission of your company?
We follow a simple value for our customers that while you focus on building your business let us help you give the best environment to work so that you can grow faster. In India, the quality of the working environment isn’t great unless you are working in a big corporate and also the real estate cost in cities like Mumbai is unaffordable, we have the vision to provide an economical and effective working environment to the smaller companies. Ultimately the mission is to be the number one office provider for SMEs and MMEs in Mumbai.
Please tell us about the Founder/CEO along with describing their overall professional journey.
A veteran in the entrepreneurial and startup domain with over 15 years of experience, Deep Malhotra is the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Gemini New Media Ventures. After finishing my Master’s in Mass Media and Commerce, Deep went on to pursue an MBA degree in Advertising Communication from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune. While he started his career simultaneously with his studies in the Marketing Communication team at Jasubhai Digital Media, he soon founded his venture – Onmag.com when he was 20 years old. After his MBA, he switched to the digital advertising domain during the early days of digital advertising in India. He started his corporate stint in Rediff.com.
One of the major turning points in Deep’s career came in the year 2005 when he joined the founding team for Google India responsible for setting up the company’s direct sales operations in India. The business center that they were operating out was very high on cost and used to switch off ACs at 6:00 pm while the team used to work late due to calls with international offices. That’s when it struck him that there is a dire need for a good office environment in high on real estate cost cities like Mumbai.
Before setting up GNMV Spaces, he was the Senior Director for MySpace.com India & South East Asia, as part of MySpace India’s founding team which was responsible for setting up the business, sales operations, and strategic partnerships. He also is the co-founder of Beckfriends.com a traveler delivery marketplace that enables users to send anything anywhere in the world and helps travelers to monetize their unused luggage space by carrying verified packages.
Kindly describe the types of facilities you offer within your coworking space?
Amenities & facilities that are provided:
– Dedicated seats
– Independent storage
– Housekeeping
– Internet
– Meeting room
– Pantry
– Open breakout area
– Ample parking
– Printing, Xerox, Scanning facility
– Periphery services like CA, lawyer, Ad agency, etc.
– Consultation on making a business plan, marketing, funding requirements, and partnerships.
How has your company sustained its market competency? What are the characteristics that set it apart?
At GNMV Spaces we have a great mix of the startup, SME teams ranging from 1 founder team to 50+ member teams. The mix creates a lot of collaboration and learning within the members. We encourage the flow of experiences between the teams and many times startups have come together to address each other’s area of requirement. On one hand, the GNMV Management team ensures to provide a hassle-free, affordable, flexible and startup conducive environment and on the other hand, the great mix of startups/entrepreneurs creates a naturally free-flowing, collaborative and growth-oriented community. The community at GNMV Spaces today is self-enriching, collaborative and strong in a manner that most of the startups have already seen various stages of growth while being part of our facility. These are the key characteristics of GNMV Spaces that sets us apart from others.
Share your views on the latest trends in the Co-working space industry. How are you keeping up with its dynamics?
75% of the time people begin the hunt for office space after operating from their homes for 6-8 months and testing the waters with their new venture. And that is when they usually land at a co-working space, mostly as an answer to their need for a flexible, economic, collaborative and hassle-free workspace. Apart from this, startups unsure of their manpower growth also prefer co-working space for the flexibility of increasing or downsizing their human resource.
Hence the co-working spaces are also very popular with companies that take up time-bound projects with varying manpower requirements. Co-working spaces are also very popular with women who get back to entrepreneurship after a break while raising a family. At GNMV Spaces we have seats reserved for women entrepreneurs who are getting back to their careers or setting on the journey of entrepreneurship. The hassle-free and flexible set up works well for them to focus on what they do best and forget about the rest.
Describe the experiences, achievements or lessons learned, that have influenced the journey of the company.
Members often talk about the flexibility and economical space options that GNMV provides. The hassle-free environment and the mix of startups and like-minded people make it a great place for the members to connect, collaborate and constantly learn from the other teams/individuals working out of the space. But the one thing that makes it hard for them to leave is the sense of belongingness that space provides and the personal attention each member is given. The support staff at GNMV Spaces is always involved with the members yet never overbearing and that sets the space apart. The fact that more than 50% of our new members come through recommendations of the existing members is something that keeps us motivated and going.
What are your plans for the company? Where do you see the company in the years to come?
We are running a profitable business at GNMV Spaces and reached the break-even point in the 2nd year of our operation. We are currently in a growth stage in revenues and expanding in new locations in Mumbai. Within the next 24 months, we plan to expand to further 50,000 sq. ft. in our own space and partnering with real estate owners who are finding it difficult to lease out their properties.
