Mount Woods Studio: A Global Branding and Consultancy agency

There are so many things that an individual can do today since there is so much information available. With more information, more the likelihood that an individual may discover a new passion or interest, and begin spending time towards whatever caught his or her fancy. It is a golden age to learn new things. It was the best of times or it was the worst of times, depending on one’s outlook towards life.

Fundamentally, everyone wants the same things from life. Peace of mind, a by-product of many things, including one’s socio-cultural environment, increases when one is secure and comfortable in his or her skin and is not afraid to be humble and admit that he or she does not know everything that there is to know. An open, curious mind is the one, single prerequisite to be constantly agile in the world of today.

Brands have to shoulder a lot of responsibility today. In addition to being completely honest and accountable for all their actions, they also need to be an active part of popular culture and influence conversations as responsible members and organizations of wider society. In order to do this, they need to understand what exactly their consumers think of them while making their purchases and seek to showcase themselves as thought leaders genuinely interested to add more value to their lives. 

Today, at Bangalore Insider, we spoke to the founder of Mount Woods Studio, a creative agency based in Himachal Pradesh, engaged in shaping their client brands’ images for the better, in an increasingly complex world. Below are the excerpts from the interaction.   

Give a brief info about your startup?

Mount Woods Studio is a Global Branding and Consultancy agency solving design problems for organizations and helping them grow to become a unique brand identity.

A creative studio that helps in building brands and grow through the power of design. Mount Woods Studio helps organisations shape businesses with our experience and strategies that are tested before implementation.  Assist them to achieve their goals in the market which will build a reputation and trust with their customers.

We provide digital solutions globally which include Web Development, Ux/Ui, Graphic Designing, 2D Animation, Product Photography & Video Production.

 

What made you start your startup and what problem does it solve?

I always dreamed about opening my own business from my childhood but I was not sure which business that would be. Seeing my mom who is a very good businesswoman I was more inclined towards business. From my mother’s side everyone is into business and from my father’s side, all are in govt. Jobs. Govt. Jobs never fascinated me but when it came to any business, I heard stories, how people become billionaires, the kind of personality they have, everything was so good about it and now when I am running my own business I know what it takes to start your own business.

 

Mount Woods Studio Pvt. Ltd. is the result of my 3 years of hard work and dedication which started on 9th July 2019 after rebranding ourselves from Netflux which was our previous company’s Name. Our Clients were getting confused with the name as they pronounced it Netflix which is a video entertainment company. Not being searched in google was also affecting our sales so changing the name and rebranding ourselves was the best solution.

Today Mount Woods Studio is solving design problems for successful CEO’s and helping them achieve their goals in the market. Building a reputable and Iconic brand is not an easy task and 

that’s where we dive in where we build strategies to build an impression and gain trust with their customers. We educate our clients about Designs and how important it is to do branding properly.

 

Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs/ventures? What were you doing before this startup?

I am Ankit Dhadwal, Founder & CEO of Mount Woods Studio Pvt. Ltd. I’m a Techie, who loves to read books, travel to different places, connect with new people and loves being around nature. 

I don’t like those people who are not on time and don’t understand the value. Delays and excuses when it becomes a habit, it turns the person into irresponsible human being. I have seen my struggle and what I have learned from this is the value of time. For me, Time is very precious which I don’t like to waste.

As I have already told above, I wanted to run my own business but at the same time I wanted to become an Engineer. Having the Er. in my name was like a dream come true for me. I was a Software Engineer in MNC Company situated in Chandigarh but worked only for 4 months. I have to leave that job because of corporate politics. Then I tried my luck in the Banking sector but that was not my cup of tea. So applied at multiple companies and got selected in Pune as a Software Engineer. Going to Pune was a life changing moment for me as the world was totally different, people, language and the atmosphere was very good. There was so much to learn over there. I started working as a freelancer as my side job, also there were a lot of opportunities to grow in this City. From there my main entrepreneurial journey started and grew at a very good pace.

 

Where is your startup based out of? Why do you think that is the best place for you?

Our Startup is based in the Beautiful City of Solan which is in Himachal Pradesh. The thing that makes it most favourable for any startup is the Nature and the beauty of this place. This place won’t let you down and keep on inspiring you at hard times. Taking a stroll into the woods will  rejuvenate your senses and you’ll forget all the worries of life. Thus the name Mount Woods suits our current scenario and represents where we belong to. 

 

As a startup founder, what are you paranoid about? What keeps you awake at night?

The biggest paranoia is that Will I be able to match the expectations of my clients, my family and my team. Being a founder, there are so many things on my plate for which I am responsible for it. If anything goes wrong, everyone will get affected by it. I think that’s the difference between being an individual and being a founder. I am not saying an individual is not having responsibilities and is not answerable to his duties or responsibilities but a Founder has a lot of things to handle and being a leader he has to think 100 times before taking any decision. So this is my biggest paranoia.

Who are your competitions and how are you better than them?

According to us, everyone who is in the design and tech industry is our competitor. Also, I believe having good and healthy competitions is necessary so that you always strive to do the best. We offer custom designs and aim at providing quality work which makes us better than any other company. We are limited, exclusive and the best company out there. We clearly and loudly convey this message to everyone.

 

How hard is it to have a work-life balance as a startup founder and how do you manage it?

 

It’s not easy to maintain work life and balance but it is not impossible on the other hand. As to maintain this balance I’ve to multitask most of the time. I’m currently living in the beautiful place known as Solan which is in Himachal Pradesh. I’ve an elder brother who left his job to pursue higher studies in music and one day aims to become a music composer. So with him pursuing his own dreams all the responsibilities pretty much fell on me and I have to look forth every responsibility first hand. My day starts by getting up early in the morning and then heading to my Kudo classes (Karate, Judo, Jujutsu, Muay, Thi & Kickboxing) so that I can be fit in every way possible.

I pretty much work everyday but on Sundays I go out with my friends and go on a short hiking and camping trip out in nature to rejuvenate my mind and refresh my soul. Once a year I plan a big trip that helps me escape reality for some time and enjoy this time off with all my heart’s content. The longest journey that I’ve done so far is from Pune to Shimla on a bike and for a fact I’ve done that solo.

According to me, in order to do good in this world you need to be creative, adventurous and social at the same time. I believe in visiting new places, meeting new people and creating magnificent memories in the process.

 

Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If not then please tell us if you are looking to raise.

As of now I haven’t raised any kind of funding and for future funding we are looking forward to raising funds from people who are more interested in working together to make the world a better place and have the same mentality to help needy people. But this year we are planning to build our very own designing tools for non designers, small to medium scale enterprises which will be easy to use reliable at a very affordable price. For this project we’ll definitely be pitching for funding.

 

What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Why do they have that? What’s the reality?

The biggest misconception people have about me is that I am living a very luxurious, stress free life which is not true. Things owned by other people look good but in reality it’s totally opposite.

I have become a work-o-holic over the past few years and sometimes don’t even see what time it is. But To be the best you have to beat the best.

 

What gets you excited about this company?

This company is my life’s work and seeing it grow at this rate makes me feel proud of the work we are doing and motivates me to be better every day. The continuous growth of the company excites me. For me growing with all my team members is somewhat thrilling and proves that no matter what happens we all are standing side by side to reach even greater heights with our hard work and consistency.

 

Tell us what a day in your life looks like? Your schedule for a day right from the time you get up till you hit the bed at night.

My day starts by getting up early in the morning in order to attend my Judo class. After coming back I get ready for the office which begins at 10 A.M and lasts till 6 P.M. for my team members but not for me. After my team members have left, I help freelancers by teaching them ways through which they can pitch to clients and how to work properly and efficiently so that they can also grow.

 

Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?

I am having a very good team who are all-rounders but specialised in their respective fields and I’m blessed to have such team members around me. 

There are 7 team members including me and company Co-Founder Mr. Pankaj Tilara. I have a different team for Development, Graphics, Vfx, Video Production and Animation. 

I have started my journey alone but after some time I got stuck in one project of mine and met Gaurav Pundir who is very close to me. He was my facebook friend and i never thought we would ever get connected like this as we are today. He used to draw logo designs on facebook and had very good knowledge of blogging which was my area of interest too. So when I got stuck I contacted him, he was so welcoming, helpful that we collaborated on multiple projects. He introduced me to Pankaj Tilara who joined as a Project Manager and Developer. We all were looking for opportunities to grow and nurture our skills. With time our team grew and now we have Aarish Jaret who is Digital Marketing Strategist and specialises in Artificial Intelligence.

Shailesh who handles the Video Production and VFx part. There is Shrishti who handles accounts of our dehradun office. Kapil has recently joined as Backend Developer.

 

There is always a connecting dot between us that brought us together and no matter what the situation is we’ll handle it together.

 

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