Chiiz.com: From Passion to Professional Network

Pursuing passion is everyone's dream. But sometimes its the routine daily life schedule acts as a hindrance between us and our passion. Considering this, a motivated individual created a concept and introduced Chiiz.com - a comprehensive platform for photography lovers. Meet Mr. Mukesh Kumar, founder of Chiiz.com. in an exclusive interaction, he explained his entrepreneurial journey.

Edited excerpts:

How you came up with the idea of creating a photography platform? What is your vision?

Photos of my Kasol trip was shortlisted by a renowned photography magazine. Considering the importance of the news, I delivered my best shots as requested by the magazine. While waiting for the magazine to hit the newsstand, my excitement level was on the top but it was short lived and got changed into disappointment. When I finally received a copy of the magazine, my name was mentioned in smallest fonts possible despite the whole story was based on my photos. This gap gave birth to Chiiz.

During the entire path of my photography journey, I always felt the need of a platform where I can search photographers, good models, the right equipment, some photography enthusiast & a place where I can showcase my talent.

Who would you say is the biggest contributor to making chiiz.com?

Getting 10,000+ users onboard, 10+ Photo Tours, 2 Ramp Walks, 15+ photography exhibitions and trade shows would have never been possible without a staunch team working tirelessly from the past 18 months. Besides a family like team, we are also thankful to all the photography mentors and supporters who have constantly helped and moulded chiiz in the right direction.

What was the eureka moment?

The eureka moment started on the very first day because we believe that everything is important and need full attention. Working regularly with photography enthusiast and curious innovators makes the ecosystem not less than a roller coaster ride. When we were retained by our client we helped them increasing the footfall in Pushkar Mela. We have India’s first onsite Chiiz Photography Contest, Muses - Fine art and figure & Photography workshops. By receiving all the love and appreciation from people nationally and internationally has always worked as a fuel in lighting the spark within us.

How chiiz.com works? What does your platform provide? OR What services do you provide?

In Chiiz.com we have dedicated members and cross-functional team for each department to complete the desired goal. We help each other in completing the tasks so that we have time for a party in the end.

Speaking about our services, it comprises of:

Contest: Several Monthly Contests

Magazine: Monthly Paper and Digital Magazine

Marketing Solution: 360 Degree Photography Market Solutions

Hire photographers & models

Photo Studio Rental Platform

Photo tour

Photography workshop - Muses

Blogs

How are you helping the people associated with photography? What benefit will they get after joining chiiz.com?

We help people with the services which we have. We provide a platform and promote people associated with photography. We have also published blind photographers. Few examples are mentioned below:-

After receiving an honour from chiiz photography contest, Amit Namade entered a new life. He was not only featured in daily chronicles but also got verified in Google & Facebook. Along with this, he got certified in Wikipedia as a photographer.

A professional Fine Art Photographer Jeet Mukherjee and many other photographers in the same profession got a chance to learn and explore more about nude photography through our workshop ‘Muses’

Travel companies also got the right traction and were able to monetize their travel through chiiz.com

Some of our articles have also helped people to plan their trip.

How your platform is different from other photography platforms? OR How is chiiz.com different from other existing players in this field? What is unique about your platform?

I believe that each & every idea and work is unique in its own way. Chiiz.com is unique and different from the existing players because no other platform is bringing the whole photography industry together, all the photography contest organized by us are completely free and we also publish amateur photographers in our magazine. We organize workshops on Fine Art Photography & organize photo travels as well.

What are the recent developments in the website?

Recently we have introduced Photo studio rental platform & Photo tour to the Himalayas.

What are your future plans?

At this point of time, we are working day & night so that we can make our future booming. From the amount of hard work everyone is doing, I can say that our future will be as bright and as high as the Sun. Our main aim is to bring all photography related people under the same sky. Apart from this, we are also planning to launch our Bangla & Tamil version of chiiz magazine and at the same time, we want to connect campuses via photography, introduce wedding photography workshops and hiring system.

Where do you see yourself in the next 2 years?

In the next two years, we want to see chiiz.com as the biggest stock photography industry. Along with this, we are focusing on implementing new features in the portal as we want to see ourselves transfer from a Start-Up to a Photography Company with the expansion of our team with the help of resources and managing sprints.

According to you at what pace is the photography industry growing?

I think the industry is growing at a good pace because nowadays people want their special moments to be captured. People are understanding the importance of a particular moment. They want to keep that moment forever in the form of a photo.  Apart from keeping a moment forever, there are few people who like to see certain things through the camera lens so that they are able to show their creativity. Some of the youths like the attitude of carrying a camera with themselves as well. Along with the society, television is also playing a very important role in spreading the importance of photography. Youths are also seeing photography as a successful career.

If the industry continues to grow at the same pace then just like other fairs and exhibitions we will also witness international/national photography fairs and exhibitions being held in a broad way in the future. If the industry continues to grow at the same pace then just like other fairs and exhibitions we will also witness international/national photography fairs and exhibitions being held in a broad way in the future.

How do you monetize this platform?

The platform is monetized from the services which we provide that is - 360 Photography Market Solution, Royalty from Stock Photography, Magazine Sale, Travels and Workshops & Studios Rental.

What are the key milestones that you have achieved so far?

The key milestones that we have achieved so far are:-

August 2016 - Started Working on Tech

January 2017 - The Team - Started assembling the precious gems under the same roof.

February 2017 - Chiiz.com - A platform for budding photographers Launched.

April 2017 - Chiiz Photography Magazine Launched

June 2017 - Chiiz Photography Contest Launched

October 2016&17  - First Client - Pushkar Photo Fair’16

November 2017 - 1st International Photo Tour

January 2018 - Chiiz Workshop - Muses: Fine Art and Figure study photography workshop.