‘The road to success is always under construction.’

-Lily Tomlin

MetroBrava – established to be a conduit of the international to India and vice versa, with a focus on metro markets was started to fill a gap in the booming media and entertainment industry.

The founder of this start-up is a Caucasian lady named Rubia Braun. To see a woman making it big in India with her talent, hard-work and will-power is indeed laudable.

This woman made us wonder how it would have been to establish a foothold in a country where millions of ideas are born every day but then many ideas die a gradual death just because of a lack of opportunity, a lack of required facilities and so many other reasons. When a successful entrepreneur does make it big, he or she might then look back and say that rising up like the Phoenix from the ashes was the best thing that happened in his or her life!

Startoholics interacted with Rubia Braun, Chief Innovations Officer and Mr. Kranthi Varma, co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Metro Brava and got a plethora of their journey that left us with a smile.

Rubia Braun and Kranti Varma.
Image Credits: www.technobitez.com

Metro Brava- Business of Creativity

Metro Brava’s core lies in film/media production and cinemas. From humble beginnings where they started out with one feature film made to prove a point, their company has now expanded into eight different wings namely production, distribution, exhibition, consultation, education, talent, guest speaking and social media.

The wind beneath their wings

They have always been passionate to pursue projects and have loved the freedom and adrenaline only entrepreneurs can experience. 

Professionally, their motivation came from their wish to make a real difference in the ever-changing film industry, to push traditional boundaries and to look to the future of global media.

According to them, the best part was to have a registered company (to be more legitimate) when attending the Cannes Film Festival!  

Some sixth-sense never hurts!

They wish that they had known earlier that the road ahead would be filled with potholes, dishonesty and that success would take time- a long time.

India is a challenging place to be and although people are committed and talented, the business culture (especially for start-ups) is not always very transparent.

• A yes does not always mean a yes.  
• Let’s reschedule probably means no!  
• The ability to read people correctly will become second nature.  

It’s all part of the learning process!

From a Mole-hill to a Mountain

Metro Brava is not a standard startup.  They didn’t start with a massive five-year plan, with funding strategies, or executive summaries. They just wanted to make a film to prove a point and see where they went from there.  

Where they finally went has been a completely wild and unexpectedly fun journey that neither of them could have ever predicted.  

Presently, they are at an exciting point in their company’s growth, where the future seems very bright, and their plans are now falling very much in place.

The film that they started with to prove a point (called ‘The Successor’) actually did end up proving that point and the feedback has been very positive.    

When asked about the biggest hurdle they have faced and are still facing, this is what they had to say-“Having too many opportunities and not knowing which ones to jump on, and which ones to let go of!  The current opportunities in the marketplace are volatile but extremely exciting.  Right now we’re only focusing on very scalable projects, with fast-growth potential.”  

Treading the Path

The biggest lesson that they have learned is that business is all about people dealing with people.  Projects can be solid, but unless you have the right people involved, they might not go ahead.  We still believe we’re yet to find the best people to work with. 

Failures don’t mean endings, rather new beginnings.  They have had many instances where something that didn’t work out, turn into something much better.

For example, they had created a particular website which wasn’t giving them any returns.  But through this website, they met someone who introduced them to someone else, and through this they are now producing a feature documentary which is a case study on fan studies and working with the United Nations.  

Being open-minded and willing to explore new territory always helps and gets us far in life!

Letting their work Speak

As cliché as this sounds, they do believe in letting their work speak for itself.  They hate when people over-promise and under-deliver, so they would rather under-sell and over-deliver if possible. Watch this space!

On asked about their favourite entrepreneurs-

Kranthi: “There is no doubt that Steve Jobs must be included in this list.  As an individual, I can relate to him, his thought process and methodologies.” 

Rubia: “Being an entrepreneur means you’re part of a very unique community.  The entrepreneurs I admire the most are those that remain approachable and helpful, even when busy and successful.  The community is luckily filled with such individuals.  And Kathleen Kennedy is all kinds of awesome too.”   

Metro Brava: 5 years- Fast Forward

Even though they say- ‘Who knows?’ first, they follow it up with –‘A string of films, a chain of cinemas, at least one creative educational brand and its founders as very happy people.’

Watch out aspiring entrepreneurs!

Kranthi: The journey isn’t easy, but if you have true passion and conviction, you will make it. 

Rubia: Nobody really knows anything. So pick and choose what is right for you. 

Now this does give an adrenaline rush. There are feats in life that seem unattainable in the beginning but then keep walking folks! You never know when an apple might fall on your head and you end up being a Newton of the 21^st century!

 Good luck to MetroBrava and we do hope that five years from now, we do see you as very happy, content and successful people (you are already on the path, keep walking!)

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