“Sometimes you need to push yourself outside your comfort zone to think about simple, yet out-of-the-box ways to solve problems in the way of business success.”
– Darpan Munjal, Founder, Squadhelp.com
Back in 2011, Darpan Munjal founded Squadhelp.com, where startups can connect with a community of creative individuals to come up with great naming ideas for their business. The site launches a contest so that quality names are submitted for the company’s evaluation. The site had a unique premise but soon faced a great challenge.
Rising Above the Challenge with a Community
Pretty soon after launching his startup, Munjal ran into an unforeseen problem of demotivated participants who didn’t win in the naming contests. He elaborates, “When we initially launched the platform, we faced an immediate challenge—how to keep our naming community motivated? The reason was that only one person wins the contest award at the end of the contest, and for the remaining people who participated in the contest, there was no motivation to continue.”
It was a make or break situation for Munjal. He knew if things continued the same way, Squadhelp was doomed. Unmotivated creatives meant a drop in quality of submitted names, something his business could ill-afford. It was more than an uncomfortable situation; he needed to find a solution rather quickly to ensure the creative community is kept engaged and motivated. The platform had to evolve beyond rewarding the contest winners.
Turning Things Around
Munjal needed out-of-the-box ideas, and that’s exactly what he came up with. “I took a step back and thought about possible solutions that would benefit everyone. That’s when I decided to turn the entire platform into a game,” he says.
First up, those who submitted high-quality naming ideas earned points for every submitted idea. This ensured continued engagement of quality contributors. Further, a ranking system recognized best submissions and egged everyone to keep contributing with great ideas to improve their ranking.
The creative community members could track their progress in leaderboards, an early access feature, and other features that kept the competitive spirit going. Finally, Squadhelp also held its own contests so that community members could provide suggestions on how to better improve their experience.
Munjal had finally found the hook to keep the quality contributors engaged.
Striving to Gain Out-of-the-Box Ideas
The new approach showed immediate results. Both creative engagement and the overall quality of the names submitted improved significantly. The platform currently has 70,000 creatives and has helped more than 14,000 businesses find great names for their businesses. Undeterred by early challenges, Munjal persevered to come up with a brilliant idea that ensured his company flourished. He never lost his faith in what he was doing and found a way around to keep pushing ahead.
