Even as an increasing number of television reality shows are providing artistes the opportunity to showcase their talents, just a handful of them really benefit from these shows over the long term. What happens to scores of participants who fail to win the show?This was the question that troubled Radhika Mukherji, wife of Bollywood singer Shaan Mukherji, who has been a judge on several reality TV shows. “In a reality show, there are hundreds of talented performers, but only one winner. Something needed to be done for these artistes,” says Mukherji. So, she teamed up with Amar Pandit, a financial adviser, who was keen on doing something in the field of music and, in April 2016, launched Happydemic.The startup provides customised solutions to corporates and individuals for live performances, builds products such as Songstruck—it’s a 20 minute live music experience that you can gift to anyone—develops fresh content and helps launch music prodigies. “We make it easy for people to engage and experience live music,” says Mukherji, Cofounder and CEO. Happydemic has signed up 30 corporate houses and 14 restaurants and more than 7,000 individuals as clients. Prominent clients include Kotak Mutual fund, La Farge, IDFC Mutual Fund, Phoenix Market City and Mirabella restaurant.One of the initial challenges for this Mumbai-based startup was to develop a feasible business model. It started off as a talent discovery platform, but since Bollywood movies, reality shows and the Internet were already helping discover talent, the founders decided to focus on regular employability of talent. “There was no consistent work for artistes. How many of us remember the winners of Indian Idol 1, 2, 3, 4? We focused on solving this problem,” says Mukherji.The founders attempted to monetise their business through original songs from independent musicians but quickly realized that, being a startup, they were limited in their bandwith and appeal—to get consumers to pay for downloading music was a tall order. So, Happydemic focused on providing on-demand live music shows. “We had very intense discussions on the business model and we stuck with what was right for the firm for the long term. We chose to focus on building a sustainable business and have perfected it over time,” says Mukherji.Founded with an initial investment of Rs 1.4 crore, put in by the cofounders, the startup also raised Rs 5 crore from a clutch of angel investors. “Of the finds raised, we have employed just about Rs 2 crore. We have got more done for less by being very resourceful,” says Mukherji. For the first eight months, Happydemic used the office of My Financial Advisor, a wealth management firm, founded by Mukherji’s partner and Happydemic co-founder Pandit.The startup, which has a staff of 27, now operates out of an office in Vile Parle, Mumbai. Happydemic, which has more than 800 artistes on its platform, generated around Rs 2 crore in revenue in 2016-17 and expects to breakeven by April 2018. It is currently investing on building scale and, based on the visibility in business opportunities, is likely to grow 100% year on year for the next few years, says Mukherji.Even as it focuses on growth, the co-founders have chosen not to seek external funding. “Several VCs have approached us, but we have consciously stayed away from taking in too much capital,” says Mukherji. Besides performing shows across India, Happydemic has performed in Manila and will soon be doing shows in Australia and Italy. “We also plan to start operations in Pune, Bengaluru and Delhi with some channel partners who have several corporate clients,” says Mukherji.