Chiki Sarkar, the ex-publisher of Penguin Random House is now the owner of Juggernaut which is a source to entice new readers by presenting books which will be known as ‘snacks’ on your mobile phones. Chiki Sarkar left her job at Penguin Random House India in April to follow her own aspirations to become an entrepreneur and host a business which she calls as of her own. After having a stable and high-profile job as a publisher at this successful company. She chose to start her own startup by the name Juggernaut.
When she left her company, four of her other colleagues also left and made it pretty clear that she was about to start something of her own. However, she never disclosed the details until the launch. Sarkar at the age of 38 along with her 4 colleagues started a long work table communal in a sparse office which was quite stylish and was located at Delhi’s Khan market along with a tech team which tolled away on a mobile app in the other room at her office. At the age where we feel pretty settles, and Sarkar who herself had a great job, chose to begin with a new aspect, a new page in her life.
Her journey of being an entrepreneur is purely inspirational. It is not so because she is a woman, it is because she had the courage, and the devotion, and her willingness to take a risk and leave her job to set up something on her own. So, she came up with Juggernaut which is a mobile app for a book publisher. Her son for her company is sharply futuristic. In her own words, Chiki Sarkar likes to say about Juggernaut, ‘a fantastic publisher of all kinds of books, serious and commercial” that you can buy in a bookshop, or download as an e-book. the strong and robust physical list that you will see in April next year. If India is going to live on the phone, if we’re going to become a one-device population, then Indians will also read on the phone. The e-book is literally a physical rendering of the book in electronic form, and too static. I’m saying, can we talk to this new mobile audience differently? Can we create a reading experience tailor-made for the phone?’
‘We will get around two with double or treble that money within a year when there is more to show on paper, because there is plenty of interest, At the moment, my investors have put in money only on the basis of the team and the idea. It’s the question of how we can change the game that attracts investors. You can publish many more titles, at a cheaper cost, experiment across genres, collect revenue faster, disburse it faster’
As innovative as her idea is, we are so sure that what she has come with is going to be a huge success. Sarkar is a determined, willing, woman with a fascinating mind that can impress anyone and everyone. She holds within her to reach heights and the best part, even if she does not, she is not scared to fail, only willing to try forever.
