Yash Daftary 20BBA is a confident serial entrepreneur on the lookout for innovative ways to tackle everyday problems. His ultimate business goal is straightforward: “I strive to create a product or service that benefits the world through convenience. Apple made it easier to communicate; Amazon made it easier to buy things. Uber made it easy to get from one place to the other. I want to pinpoint something that is currently not serving people well and create a better way—this usually revolves around problems that people face but don’t realize they have.”
For a Goizueta finance and consulting graduate, entrepreneurship and innovation may seem an alternate career path. Daftary has been entrepreneurial since he started high school. He founded FanBasis and launched this latest product in March 2021.
The Digital Experience: Connecting Fans to Creators through a Monetized Ecosystem that Builds Revenue Streams
In the world of growing digital experiences delivered via social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, Daftary understands that creators need flexibility—and convenience— to monetize. FanBasis is a creator monetization ecosystem for such experiences.
Guided by business principles learned at Goizueta, “I imagined a space in which creators can sell digital experiences including live and pre-recorded experiences, lessons, masterclasses, social media promotions, virtual meet & greets, sweepstakes, social media shoutouts, sports lessons, and can get creative by offering other tailored experiences like personalized skincare routines, and one-on-one cooking sessions,” Daftary explains. He cites the influence of lessons taught by Andrea Hershatter, senior associate dean of undergraduate education and senior lecturer of Organization & Management. “Her classes on entrepreneurship really clicked with me.”
While building FanBasis, Daftary also launched The Social Bag LLC, a marketing agency with a focus on crypto/NFTs, where he and his partner “get better results than some of the biggest marketing firms in the world,” he says. “We’ve created proprietary techniques that provide us with a significant advantage, especially in the NFT space, as we are able to produce 2-3 times as many results for the same budget to give clients the best bang for their buck.”
“FanBasis is utilizing its funding to refine our product offerings, expand the team, and most importantly, begin the process of aggressively marketing our platform by forming strategic partnerships with high-level influencers whose presence will incentivize smaller creators to utilize our platform,” he explains. FanBasis has already amassed several hundred creators onto their platform and has over ten thousand fans.
Parlaying One Successful Business Sale into Serial Entrepreneurship with a Solid Marketing Framework
For Daftary, entrepreneurship is a lifestyle he embraces. “I never say no to an opportunity. If someone presents me with an idea or challenge, even if it’s in an area I don’t know much about, I’ll say yes and figure out the best methodology to execute,” he says. “The process is all about hard work and discipline, and I always strive to overdeliver.”
Daftary is gaining traction as an entrepreneur. After founding RentAll, a company he describes as “sort of an Airbnb for your belongings,” he entered Emory and naturally gravitated toward the entrepreneurial experiences offered. He co-founded the Real Estate Club and Catalyst-Business/Life Science Think Tank and worked with the Emory Entrepreneurship & Venture Management Club.
Daftary also enjoyed mentorship by Jagdish Sheth, founder of the renowned Sheth Leadership Academy and Charles H. Kellstadt Chaired Professor of Marketing in Goizueta Business School.
“Professor Sheth is a legend, a marketing genius, and an out-of-the-box thinker. His story is impressive and inspiring,” Daftary says of the globally recognized leader and philanthropist. “He’s able to predict trends before they happen and created a framework for marketing using the 4s of acceptability, affordability, accessibility, and awareness.”
Daftary, though impressed by Sheth’s reputation, wasn’t intimidated to approach him. “As a freshman I walked into his office and told him I would love to work with him and learn. He gave me a few tests and I had the opportunity to work with him for four years. He shared a unique perspective of how marketing is done,” he explains. “These are the frameworks I use in my business practices today.”
Do you have an idea you’d like to develop into a business? Tap into the expertise, events, and resources of The Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
