My friend – Shreyans Jain

Shreyans Jain. Super achiever. Warm hearted. And really nice. I met Shreyans briefly in Kochi but that conversation over lunch at Pepper House was enough to show me insight into a young man who had a firm head on his shoulders and a very savy idea on how to make money and change some lives in the bargain. And I mean that in the nicest way.

I met Shreyans at the Beach House Project in march this year at an idyllic week long residency in Fort Kochi. You can read about that trip here. Late nights over good music and even better conversation can get people to bond pretty fast. And that is exactly what happened. Shreyans is next in my series of Effortless Friendships. Read on to find out more about him.

What did you study in college?

I did my Bachelors in Business Management (BBM) from Christ University, Bangalore.

How did the jump to designing events/experiences happen?

When Anto (my partner) and I began talking about the problems that the youth of our country were facing, as college students we realized that there was no one that took the largest demographic of our country seriously. We wanted to create something for the youth. A platform, a community and a congregation of young creative folks who could speak, showcase and even network.

What is your company called and why? How do you manage a crowd of youngsters so effortlessly?

Our company is called Under 25 and we are media and entertainment company for the youth and the young. We are also popular for organizing India’s largest youth festival, The Under 25 Summit.
Nothing about this was effortless, to be honest with you. It was four years of endless effort from us and our team who worked tirelessly to build the company, the festival and the philosophy of feeling Under 25 ?

What are some of the challenges you face?

Getting brands/organisations to buy into our philosophy and supporting our endeavours has been slightly difficult. But over a period of time, that has gotten better too. We are also a bootstrapped company, which has its own challenges, but we like the advantages of that, so it works out ☺

How do you stay relevant and young in this fast paced/ ever changing world?

Firstly, since we are young, it works out in our favour. Also the average age of our company is 20. We want to continue maintaining that by consistently bringing young folks on board to run Under 25.

Could you share a typical work day with us? What is your process/thinking/philosophy?

No day is the same, which is the only way we’d have it. As a team we also spend a lot of time brainstorming about new ideas, new IPs and ways to increase efficiencies. Our philosophy is simple- run the business like a ‘dhandha’. A business that makes money in the present tense. All our creativity, our events and all efforts are still focused on running Under 25 like a ‘dhandha’.

What is the next step you see for your business? Expansion plans?

We want to become the go-to platform for all things youth around the country in the coming years. Everything from online content to offline experiences, we want to be the voice of everyone under the age of 25. More so, create all of this for this very demographic.

Favourite drink/ movie/book/go to place?

HUGE fan of organic teas. Love ‘Shantaram’. Social is my go-to place ?

Shreyans Jain

www.facebook.com/under25official
hello@under25club