From Wabash College to New York City, Simran Sandhu ’20 has made a giant name for himself in the digital media and marketing space.
Three years ago, Simran Sandhu ’20 and his fraternity brother, Darian Phillips ’20, had an idea that took root on the second floor of the Arnold House. “Five Minute Drill” was a daily short-form podcast recorded in one of those second-floor rooms. By the end of that summer, Five Minute Drill had risen to the top 75 of the Apple podcast rankings.
Sandhu graduated and moved to New York City, where he connected with Michael Sikand, a creative partner with similar goals and ideas.
Sandhu shifted his creative medium from podcast to shortform video and began using TikTok as a distribution channel. He and Sikand built the “Our Future” platform, which has earned more than one billion views and captured more than one million subscribers since its launch.
In January, Our Future was purchased by Morning Brew, a multidimensional media operation anchored by the popular newsletter of the same name. The acquisition was a huge opportunity for Our Future.
“168体育平台下载_足球即时比分-注册|官网 are one of the first shortform video companies to ever be acquired,” says Sandhu. “This is really cool. There is value in knowing that few have done this.”
Growth of the company depends on Sandhu’s and Sikand’s ability to capture attention rapidly with a hook and a well-told story.
“You have to hook people in the first three to four seconds and then find a means to convey your point in an engaging way,” Sandhu explains. “In 60 seconds, it’s over. You only have that long to tell your story.”
Beyond their original creative content, Our Future also works with companies like Warby Parker and HubSpot to help well-established brands find success in the everchanging social media space.
Sandhu says he finds the client side of the business fascinating because it’s all a new space. There are plenty of chief marketing officers he works with who have decades of experience, but they look to him as a thought leader, trying to penetrate these platforms and audiences.
“Getting on calls, being that thought leader or subject matter expert is very exciting,” he says. The Morning Brew connection has opened new doors, Sandhu explains. “It’s really a game changer,” he says. “I find joy in actually building and scaling a company. Because if you can truly understand scaling at a fundamental level, you can take that and do it across every industry.”
Some of Sandhu’s knowledge was picked up through trial and error as a member of Wabash’s Center for Innovation, Business, and Entrepreneurship (CIBE). He appreciated the trust, support, and strategic guidance the initiative provided as he went through the initial efforts of building a business.
“Wabash gave me discipline in a way that other schools wouldn’t have,” he says. “The strategic guidance and direction from Wabash provided me the opportunity and the platform to experiment.”