Like everything at Knowlens, our origins start with a story. It all started as one of those coffee house discussions, between 2 IIT-IIM batchmates, after attending a particularly long day of common external training – the morning introductions, the interminable presentation, the mandatory interaction, a short switch off in that terrible post lunch hour and finally a summary and a pretty set of handouts with neat little bullet points to carry away. And certainly some useful learnings. But one thing somehow stayed with us - a clip from one of those old Hollywood classics emphasising one of the learning points in the program.
Over coffee, the conversation started around the film – strangely both of us had the same uncanny urge to discuss that part of the program. One thing led to another like so many conversations, and soon we were discussing this abstract thought that could we actually train through films.
We wondered about this particular training for our respective organizations - the cost, the logistics, the time spent getting so many of us "senior resources" together and finally will we remember these behaviors a year from now? The conversation extended with lots of questions, embellished by some sumptuous coffee. How many people could such a training cover? Can we take these to our respective team members – who could also benefit? What if the trainer was not upto the mark? How do I actually see a real situation instead of talking about it in a conference room? What can I do to improve the learning experience? How can I track the training roll-out?
All these questions - add a couple of years of intense brainstorming and germination of the original thoughts and finally the blueprint of the business was ready – the product concept, the content roadmap, the business plan.And then came the next question – we needed to execute this? How do we actually deliver this experience? Then came the realisation that yes - there was a key missing element – our user experience derives from a strong and innovative technological core to the product – end result a relentless search for the technology man?
Another heated discussion – this time cropping up again over dinner at a friend’s place. Instead of coffee, we were sipping our drinks and appetisers. This time the conversation had a different flavour - a technology perspective – the friend – a technology geek, gorging on technology, travel and photography – was sold on the concept and wanted to do it - and suddenly we had our way forward – the resolution to our search. We were now ready with the end of the beginning raring to go.
