Alumni Ventures: Prolish – Ashish Chawla, EGMP 2015

We have yet to recover from the pandemic that was upon us all, and we were all forced to introspect and retrospect on what life should look like post-pandemic. While some worked on their personal selves, others did so professionally. Ashish Chawla used this time to devote his efforts to a lifelong desire of launching a firm based on a concept near to his heart. Thus, Prolish was formed, an idea that benefits everyone and is very relevant to the times we live in.

In this exclusive interview, Ashish discusses his transition from a corporate professional to a full-time entrepreneur, as well as his other interests and more..

Please tell us something about yourself.

Hi, I’m Ashish Chawla, founder, and CEO of Prolish. We are a digital persona management company catering to personal branding for individuals and professionals. Prolish started off as a passion project for me and Prachi Jaruhar who is the Co-founder and Creative director of the company.

At Prolish we believe that ‘relationships move the world.’ We assist leaders and brands in nurturing their connections and expanding their businesses by presenting their best selves online. We are a team of 17 members with 50+ clients across 8 countries. Our office can proudly boast of being a true representation of an inclusive workplace, having people from all walks of life. Our journey so far has been an exciting one. We started as a team of 2 and have now grown and progressed while getting the opportunity to focus on individual growth. I can proudly say that we have been able to foster an environment that largely focuses on learning and development while delivering organic and unique content to our clients.

Having spent 14 years with various consulting firms, I chose to take the path less travelled.  After completing my EGMP course from IIMB, I collaborated with my peers to start a niche digital firm with a vision to change the way how history is written on the internet. With a holistic approach and disruptive marketing principles, I am ought to make a difference. I am also an adjunct faculty with Christ University. I am a regular panelist at various business and education forums for my innovative marketing approach and impeccable consultancy acumen. I am a father of 2 and practice yoga.

Can you please tell us about your latest venture – Prolish?

We are a digital persona management and organic content creation company for professionals. We propose to help professionals in curating a digital persona that not only aligns with their stupendous personality but also gets reflected in their online profile- eventually helping them reach out to their audiences and tell the ‘real story of them-personal as well as professional’. Many of the great business stories and insights have been left unsaid because either the person in question doesn’t have time for it or they do not have the right talent to word up their thoughts and ideas and steer their career and business in the right direction due to the lack of this crucial ability. This trend has led to a dearth of quality information and content for people to consume and get insights and findings. Content marketing is one of the most important aspects of individuals and businesses, but finding the time to create quality content can be challenging. 

What is the unique offering by Prolish and how is it different from its competition?

We are an early entrant in promoting thought leadership of business leaders which is a niche in itself. It gives us an advantage that is unique to early entrants. Content marketing is one of the most important aspects of individuals and businesses, but finding the time to create quality content can be challenging. We found a sheer lack of talent and technology that can bridge the gap and perform this task – somewhat automated but with human creative precision. This will enable our clients to create robust and organic content that will get distributed on various online channels giving them a competitive advantage over others in thought leadership as well as reach and connectivity to their target audiences. We’re working on an in-house framework that will handle content creation, execution, and monitoring on blogs and social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora, Medium, ResearchGate, and others.

What kind of audience stands to benefit most from the offerings at Prolish?

We work with CXOs, lawyers, chartered accountants, educators, consultants, financial advisors and healthcare professionals to improve their digital presence. Thought leaders and business heads are looking out to get help in managing their digital assets – by creating content that’s a true reflection of their ideas and thought processes and with minimal help from a third party. Eventually, building this effort will not only help them in creating a robust digital identity for themselves but also will be a wonderful opportunity for the larger audience to get insights and experience-backed points of view from industry leaders.

From a corporate to an entrepreneur, how has this journey been for you? Any learnings from your entrepreneurial journey that you would like to share?

The journey from corporate to entrepreneurship is one filled with a lot of challenges and needs faith in ones expertise and an untiring urge to learn more. You’re thrown into a whole new world filled with unpredictability. You learn that the rewards for hard work are great and the risks are even greater. Corporate life has taught me a lot of things, both from a business and personal point of view. Along the way, however, I have learned a great deal more about myself while being an entrepreneur and what I want in regard to my career.

Any advice/suggestions for those aspiring Startups?

My experience as an entrepreneur has taught me a lot and I am still on the learning curve, but if I can put in points they would be –

a. Stay focussed on your objectives.

b. Be patient while walking the startup path.

c. Be sanguine to the voice of your customer.

What role has IIMB played in your personal/ professional journey?

I am a graduate of one of the top three colleges in India and I can tell you that it has played a very big role in shaping my career. It gave me a headstart over the competition and gave me the inspiration to become an entrepreneur in life as well as an employee. The exposure was priceless and opened many doors for me at IIMB. The faculty at IIMB with their sheer knowledge and experience open so many new lines of thoughts and conversations. And the peer learning opportunity in an institute like IIMB cannot be emphasised enough.

Please visit Prolish to know more..