Making The Best Of Digital Diversity

It was his zest for learning how different businesses functioned that encouraged Karan Gupta to enter the field of finance. Currently he is the co-founder and managing director of Zirca Digital, a company that pro­vides cutting-edge digital advertis­ing and branded content solutions to several brands. Gupta also manages Aidem Ventures, a broadcast adver­tising solutions company and Inez Terra, a real estate development company based in Mumbai and Pune.

Gaining knowledge excites and moti­vates Gupta. His experience of managing multiple companies and a background in corporate finance helped him in providing strategic as well as financial direction to Zirca Digital. He believes that decentralis­ing the decisionmaking process and hiring the right people in key positions has al­lowed Zirca to be agile in the rapidly evolv­ing world of digital advertising.

“The strategic decision to invest in pro­grammes and content as the future of digi­tal advertising has had a huge positive im­pact on the company,” says Gupta.

Zirca Digital cur­rently employs 100 people. The com­pany has various programmes that benefit each and ev­ery employee, not only financially but also on a social level. Zirca’s content so­lutions team works with NGOs to provide them with a category of branded content solutions that are usu­ally only afforded to MNCs, to enable their voices to be heard, thus acting as great agents of larger social good.

Gupta believes that the increase in in­ternet penetration as well as constant evo­lution in digital devices has pushed the digital advertising industry to evolve at an exponential rate. “The digital advertising industry is one of the most rapidly evolv­ing industries due to the very fact that it uses the internet as a medium and digital devices as the destination” he adds.

As the industry is growing at a fast pace, it is the constant interactions with indus­try through leaders and entrepreneurs globally that keeps the company updated with changes in the industry. Zirca’s cor­porate value system based on agility and innovation helps them keep pace, and even stay ahead of the curve within the indus­try.

Gupta has two mentors, the company chairman, Ashok Gupta and CEO Neena Dasgupta, who urge the young entrepre­neurs to work outside their comfort zones. Gupta also feels that the young working population should not be afraid of making mistakes. “I believe that surrounding one­self with the right people and those who are smarter is equally important; because at the end of the day, no one can be the best at everything,” says Gupta.

As the industry is evolving at a fast pace, it is important to stay ahead in the industry. It is the culture of innova­tion at Zirca that ac­cording to Gupta has enabled them to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to the digital advertising space. “As we expand internationally and partner with other leaders in the advertising space, we expect to be a critical component of the global advertising ecosystem moving forward,” he adds.

While Gupta has achieved tremendous success in this field, he says that his aspi­rations are much larger than his current accomplishments.

Five years down the line, he expects to grow along with Zirca and continue doing what he does best; finding great business opportunities and creating great.