From Mathematics graduate to social media expert: Interview

Priyanka Dalal, founder of Digiwhirl, talks about how her journey from being a Mathematics graduate to a social media expert...

Tell us about yourself. Where did you go to college?

I am a science enthusiast did my under graduation in Electronics and then post grad in Bsc Maths from St Xavier's College, Mumbai. I loved the Postgrad Mathematics but none of the career options interested me. I was a little surprised when I found myself into social media. 

When did you start blogging? When did you start seeing it as a career option? 

I started blogging right from college. Lot of my friends also blogged. I liked to write about stuff and generally play around with the HTML code in Blogger. 

It was only quite a bit later (about 5 years back) when I was helping my brother out with his business connecting with bloggers and so on that I got into it professionally. 

I only took it seriously after working for a year or so in the field. At the time social was still very nascent in India. 

Success stories kept filtering from the west but not much happening in India. 

What were you doing when the idea of starting Digiwhirl come about?

I had been working in various startups - Inkfruit, DeskAway, WatBlog and doing some freelance projects when I thought of starting up. 

I thought of taking it up as a learning activity. I didn't have any idea of whether it would work or would be just a short term stint. 

How did friends and family react when you formed your own firm?

Overall they were quite supportive and enthusiastic. As I mentioned my brother already had a business so he helped with some initial tips. 

I had worked for couple of years in startup environments so I could always ask queries from other start-up founders who I knew. Also my company is entirely virtual (even now) so there wasn't much risk in terms of investment.  

What changes have there been in the social media from when you started?

A lot of changes! Five years ago everything was organic. All the social networks were for people and not so much for the marketers. Now there are tonnes of features for marketers thus making a lot of stuff simpler for us but more cluttered for the people. 

For eg: Facebook ads, free analytical tools, contest apps. None of these were there before. Building a community was a purely organic endeavour. 

Now there are so many different networks and each network is evolving with new features all the time! It is tough to keep track of what all is happening in this space. 

Is there anything else you want to add?

Just would like to say that it has been a very big learning experience and entrepreneurship is something I would recommend to everyone. Start something on your own - could even be something on the side with your corporate job or just a summer holiday venture. 
 

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