- Are you thinking of quitting your job and starting a business outside of your CA degree?
- Then you have to meet Abhay Saboo. He became a CA in 2015, quit his job in 2018, and with 3 friends started an ‘Out-of-Home’ media and marketing company – 360 Ad Venture Media targeting a 52.4 billion rupees market.
- It has been more than a year now. The business is running smoothly, it is making profits already and has a team of 10 people. Some of its top clients include – Dream11, Samsung, etc.
- Want to know how? Read on… You wouldn’t wanna miss these amazing tips!
How Did I Land Into CA?
I belong from Pali Marwar, Rajasthan (India). I was good in academics and was even the Head Boy of my batch. Leadership skills, right from the start 🙂
While growing up, I always wanted to become a Pilot, so Science was my clear choice. But later, my eyesight weakened, I got spectacles and my pilot dream never actualized. The only option left for me was Commerce.
I wasn’t fully aware of the opportunities that the Commerce field offered but a couple of my friends had decided on pursuing Chartered Accountancy (CA). I did the same. Thus, started my CA journey.
Quitting My Job To Pursue An MBA
I did my articles and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2015.
Soon after, I started working with CEAT Tyres, Mumbai. Initially, I got an opportunity in the Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) wing. This gave me the opportunity to interact with many business heads, product managers, and plant people and it also allowed me to be familiar with the business side of the company. I loved my work.
But later, I was moved to the Accounts department. There, I felt I wasn’t doing justice to my capabilities as my role was restricted to the desk and it was all about working in Excel and ERP – which, to be honest, wasn’t as exciting.
That’s when I realized that I want to be on the front end of any business and be the face of it. So, I quit my job at CEAT to pursue an MBA degree.
I started studying for my MBA entrance exams. But, things didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to. So, I started looking for a job thinking that I would work and study for my MBA simultaneously.
But, as they say: “If it happens according to your wish, it is good. If it doesn’t, it’s even better. Because it is God’s wish.”
And… I got a call from GVK (Mumbai International Airport) for an interview and luckily, I cracked it. The job profile was unique and I got the opportunity to work with senior Supreme Court lawyers (Delhi). I took the job.
I loved it all and it dawned on me that marketing was the field that I wanted to be in. I could see my career in this field.
So, initially, the plan was to do an MBA in marketing from a reputed college – and that meant taking hefty loans to pay my fees, do the course, and then labor for another 2 years to pay it back.
Nope. That wasn’t aligning with my Marwari mindset. So, the MBA idea was dropped.
Quitting My Job (Again) To Start An Outdoor Advertising Co
What next? I continued working at my current job and soon realized that I wanted to be the one running my own business.
The business was on my mind. Marketing was on my mind. So, I started following the marketing trends.
I discovered – Out-of-home (OOH) Advertising (which comprises billboards, ads at bus stands, etc) which was fading, and on the other hand Digital marketing was expanding. But, digital marketing too was limited to just mobile screens.
There had to be something else. What MORE could I do? What could I do differently?
And one day, when traveling by local train to my office, an idea struck – ‘On the go’ Marketing. And the medium that came to my mind was cabs. With the advent of mobile apps, cabs were everywhere and everyone used them regularly.
As I reached the office, I started searching more about it and discussed it with my brother and friends.
According to Statista, the out-of-home advertising industry across India had a market size of around 33.6 billion Indian rupees in the financial year 2019, up from about 22.3 billion Indian rupees in the financial year 2015. This was projected to go up to 52.4 billion rupees by the financial year 2024.
Exciting right? I decided to research more on OOH advertising.
In the next month, I did all the research and studied as much as I could. But, it was getting really difficult to balance the work and also do the research for my BIG idea.
So, I quit my job.
Building The Business – One Step At A Time
After quitting my job, for the next 4-5 months, I studied the market and did a lot of groundwork about the number of cabs, frequency of trips for each cab, distance traveled, localities covered, finances, operations, viability and other aspects of ‘on-the-go’ marketing.
To understand the basics, I was required to meet drivers, printing houses, RTO offices, agents, etc. My friends and I also visited airports, petrol pumps, taxi stands, and any other place where we could find those cabs and drivers.
We also educated the cab drivers on how they could make money from Car Wrapping or Advertising their cabs!
The biggest personal challenge for me was – to keep aside the fact that I am a CA – a White Collar Professional and go out to interact with everyone with due respect and understand what they had to share.
Despite everything, we made it. On 7th September 2018, my friends and I started 360 AD VENTURE MEDIA – to help brands advertise on cars that act as moving billboards.
Fast-forward to the present: Just within a year since inception, we have built 4 different marketing verticals, with each one of us leading a vertical.
Wrapping Up…
For me, any business is about a sound revenue model and strong numbers. The most difficult part is to work out the numbers and study them thoroughly – which most start-ups miss out on.
So, being a CA, I laid the foundation of my business with a sound revenue model. Everything was worked out on paper. This helped us make money from the beginning.
Also running a business and CA, both are a process. In both cases, you can reach the ultimate goal only when you pass through the funnel of patience, sacrifice, and commitment.
So, for me, as a Chartered Accountant, starting a venture was relatively easy as I had already lived the process of CA – which taught me all the functionalities of business beforehand.
Being a CA was a blessing for me. And we, Accountants, can sure be successful businesspeople.
Now, It’s Your Turn!
Do you have an idea that can become an amazing business? Yes? Then, what are we waiting for? Start, people. Now.
Let us know in the comments what inspires you the most from Abhay’s story. And don’t forget to share it with your friends.
