“Restrain yourself from chasing multiple ideas. Focus is the most underrated skill.”
Manas Madhu, along with Jyoti Rajguru and Gautam Raghuraman, founded Beyond Snack in 2020 to bring authentic Kerala-style banana chips to the mainstream snack market. Using Nendran bananas sourced from Kerala, Beyond Snack employs hands-free technology to maintain high hygiene standards and deliver consistent quality.
The brand offers a variety of flavours, including classic salted and spicy masala, aiming to position banana chips as a preferred snack choice across India.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
In 2016, after years of exploring two competing passions of movies and business, he had to decide between the two. Fascinated by storytelling and inspired by the world of entrepreneurship, he realised he was at a standstill, overwhelmed by too many ideas and no clear direction.
What followed next is, an article about the paralysis of having multiple ideas struck a chord with him that led him to list the pros and cons of both pursuits. By the end of the exercise, he realised he needed to do something in business. That moment of clarity set him on the path to entrepreneurship. He reveals his own anecdote,
“One day, I came across an article that discussed how having multiple ideas could be a curse. It explained that having too many ideas can excite you and make you dream, but the immediate gratification of imagining success can prevent you from taking action. That was exactly what was happening to me. So, I decided to put an end to it.”
Founding Beyond Snack
In 2017, he finally decided to give up movies entirely, a passion that had defined much of his identity. Despite the difficulty, he committed to this shift, viewing it as necessary to fully devote himself to building a business.
Over the next five years, he was fully focused on building his own business. He created business plans, quit his job, experimented with multiple ideas, faced repeated failures, and finally found one that worked.
By 2020, his entrepreneurial journey was at a crossroads. He notes,
“Our first product—a mock meat product—didn’t perform well in the market.”
Financially drained, he relied on his father for personal and business expenses while juggling development of new products like jackfruit and banana chips, which were showing promise.
The turning point came during a pitch to 100X.VC in Mumbai. When Sanjay Mehta asked, “Why jackfruit chips?” Manas shares,
“Initially, I was taken aback. We had worked on this product for two years, and his question felt dismissive. But then, something clicked. His question wasn’t about the product itself—it was about focus.”
Acting decisively, he dropped jackfruit chips entirely to concentrate on banana chips. It was a painful choice, but one that aligned with his strategy to focus on perfecting one product before expanding. This is the move that eventually set the foundation for his success with Beyond Snack.
By 2022, the company’s banana chips had gained a foothold, and the product was now available across India. However, success brought its own set of challenges. While the operations began to unravel, the sales became increasingly disorganised. It was clear that growth would only be sustainable if these issues were addressed head-on.
The situation forced Manas to have a reality check. Despite early setbacks, the company had moved past its initial struggles. But with growth came complexity, an issue that Manas realised many businesses face when scaling too quickly. At this point, he realised that focusing on operations and streamlining processes was as crucial as the product itself.
A New Dawn
In late 2022, Beyond Snack decided to launch a marketing campaign, but this time, the approach was different. The focus was singular with no more diversions or trying to juggle multiple ideas. The team was now streamlined, with Jodi Rajguru, former Mondelez executive, handling operations and supply chain, and Gautam Raghuraman, formerly with ITC, overseeing sales.
The decision to bring in these experienced professionals proved to be the right one. After stepping back from those responsibilities, the company saw a remarkable 7x growth. The clarity and focus paid off. By aligning on one goal, with the right leadership in place, Beyond Snack was now in a position to scale efficiently and sustainably. The lessons learned from past mistakes about focus and operations became the foundation of the company’s growth.
As for Manas, there were no regrets. The success of the business under the new leadership affirmed that stepping back had been the right move.
In late 2022, Beyond Snack launched the “24 Karat Taste” campaign, focusing solely on the taste of their products. The campaign was a success, gaining 13 million YouTube views in just three months.
The key to the campaign’s success was a clear focus on one core message. By narrowing their efforts, the company avoided the pitfalls of spreading resources too thin.
Excerpts taken from Manas Madhu’s Tedx Talk.
