The Power of 21

21 women founders from the IIMs, building together

In an era of media deluge and outsized advertising budgets, can small brands truly stand out? More importantly, can they do it without burning through resources?

We spotlight a remarkable collaboration—one that brought together 21 women founders from the IIM ecosystem to market their brands together.

The idea was sparked by Tamanna Gupta, founder of Umanshi Marketing and an alum of IIM Bangalore. Inspired by the Father’s Day campaign “Appa”—a multi-brand collaboration featuring names like Zomato, Spotify, Uber, and Urban Company—Tamanna posed a simple question in a founders’ group:

“Why can’t we do something like this?”

Twenty-one hands went up—and the journey began.

From Idea to Execution

A core team quickly formed. Through multiple brainstorming sessions, iterations, and last-minute troubleshooting, two distinct brand films took shape—one for B2B audiences and another for B2C.

Each film carried a distinct tone:

• One witty and sharp
• The other emotional and evocative

Both crafted carefully for the audiences they were meant to engage.

The collaboration benefited from in-house expertise. Ankita Jain, founder of Tail Tale Productions and an IIM Kozhikode alum, led the end-to-end production—scripting, casting, shoot, and post-production. Tamanna’s Umanshi Marketing managed coordination, timelines, and execution.

Creativity Under Constraint

The films were produced on a shared budget, split across 10–11 brands per film, making the initiative highly cost-effective.

However, the journey was not without challenges.

Initial production estimates were nearly four times the available budget. The team leaned on industry networks, negotiated extensively, and brought costs down. Even then, last-minute drop-outs from participating brands disrupted the cost-sharing model, requiring quick adjustments and onboarding of new participants.

Another key challenge was creative alignment—bringing together brands across vastly different categories, from robotics engineering to silk sarees, and even overlapping segments like personal care, into a single cohesive narrative.

Built on Collective Effort

A defining aspect of this collaboration was the spirit of contribution.

Both Tail Tale Productions and Umanshi Marketing worked pro bono, investing their time and teams into the project. Several founders also contributed their expertise across marketing and creative functions.

As Shreya Prakash, co-founder, FlexiBees and alum of IIM Bangalore, reflects:

“This collaboration was uncharted territory. No playbooks, no guarantees—and that’s why it was fun. A bit like entrepreneurship.”

Big Impact, Zero Marketing Spend

The films were launched with a carefully planned distribution strategy, leveraging the collective networks of the founders.

The results were striking:

• Over a million combined views
• Strong engagement and shares across platforms
• Achieved with zero marketing spend beyond production costs

A Powerful Example of Collaboration

This initiative stands as a compelling example of what’s possible when founders come together—pooling creativity, networks, and resources—to build something larger than themselves.

At L-Square, we are delighted to share this story of collaboration and ingenuity from our alumni community.

Watch the films here:

• B2B film – Queen’s Dilemma
• B2C film – Celebrating Her

The Founders (Alphabetical Order)

IIM Bangalore:
Ruchira Gupta (beingu.in), Saroj Lata (Sutlej Tribe), Sharda Agarwal (Sepalika Fertility), Shreya Prakash (FlexiBees), Shruti Sharma (Z2O Technologies), Tamanna Gupta (Umanshi Marketing & PR)

IIM Ahmedabad:
Bhargavi Ramachandran (elevio.ai), Geeta Prakash (Parama Naturals), Mukta Dharma (Tootly Music), Shweta Mani (Build My Story), Sowjanya Bonda (AND Business Consulting)

IIM Calcutta:
Meenal Majumdar (The Innovation Story), Pooja Rao (The Snack Company), Sarmila Pande (StepUp9), Soundari Mukherjea (Soundbytes11), Tulika Shankar (Go To Scale)

IIM Kozhikode:
Ankita Jain (Tail Tale Productions), Nidhi Rungta (Invest My Paisa), Shruti Deora (Abhiyaan Wealth)

IIM Lucknow:
Anuja Deshpande (The AftaWay), Kruttika Nadkarni (silkenthread.in)