YouTube Star Tanmay Bhat Talks About AIB's Genesis and Future Plans Bhat hints that AIB will soon start selling products as the quartet are looking to venture into new businesses
By Vanita D'souza •
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When Tanmay Bhat started doing podcast with Gursimran Khamba, their only dream was to perform in front of about 300 people. With time, they grew ambitious and the numbers just increased. Soon, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya joined the duo to start All India Bakchod (AIB). It was not until mid-2015 that the group formalized AIB as a company. Discussing his entrepreneurial experience, Bhat says the journey has been tough especially as he has to identify the fine line of wanting to be an artist and also an entrepreneur.
"I am very lucky that I have three really sharp people - Rohan, Ashish, and Khamba. More importantly, everyone is very democratic and generally on board," the comedian said.
But unlike popular notion, cracking a joke is not an easy job to do. What used be funny five years ago is not funny anymore. In fact, jokes have become the medium and not the product anymore (Read: Memes) and therefore the entrepreneur relies on his employees to see if the sketch will work or fail.
"Our office is people driven and we have a diverse room where everything is so subjective. Our rooms should be the sample of the audience we are catering to. If they laugh then everyone will laugh," he added.
Additionally, AIB, like most of its peers, depends on brand integration for revenue. With a lot of hits and misses, the comedypreneur has realized the value of saying 'no' and the perks of managing the long-term relationship. "I like to understand brand managers as people and not the enemy. So practically, AIB is like a second agency to them," Bhat notes.
Meanwhile, the comedy company is likely to continue avoiding any external investments to enjoy its creative freedom. Additionally, AIB is also planning to expand its scriptwriting initiative to a comedy school and are in talks to start a movie studio.
Bhat also hints that AIB will soon start selling products as the quartet are looking to venture into new businesses, however, he refrained from getting into the nitty-gritty of it.
