Purple Patch Start-up helps brands to not only become visible but also desirable with highly optimized creative solutions.

• ByStartupStory     |    October 6, 2021

About the founder

Priyanshu Pande, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Purple Patch Management shared his journey with Startup Story about starting his venture Purple Patch Management Group- a new age brand & sports marketing agency that’s helping young as well establish brands in creating a strong presence across platforms. Priyanshu was born and raised in Delhi, though he originally hails from Uttarakhand. After completing his graduation from BIT, he got his first job in Citibank’s Citi Financial. Within three months of his maiden job, he realized that he wasn’t interested in the banking world. Priyanshu was always keen to get into advertising & quit his cushy banking job to pursue his dream. After a while, he finally landed an internship at Rediffusion. After completing his internship, Priyanshu got his first big break at Ogilvy. Interestingly, one of the interviewers & his first boss at Ogilvy- Prashant Singh is now his Co-founder at this venture. Priyanshu worked at Ogilvy for 4 years on prestigious brands like Hutch (now Vodafone), Motorola & Coca-Cola; “That was one of the golden periods in my career, having worked on some of the biggest brands in the country at that time & creating some memorable brand campaigns which even after 10 odd years, still get talked about in marketing discussions” says Priyanshu joyfully.

However, the career-defining opportunity that came his way was when his boss at Ogilvy & now his co-partner Prashant Singh called him up for a sports marketing role at Reebok, where Prashant was heading the sports vertical for the brand. Being a sports enthusiast, working with Reebok was a dream come true and also a turning point for his career. Previously working at an ad agency to now entering into the Sports realm was a total game-changer for Priyanshu. Priyanshu & Prashant during their time at Reebok worked with elite athletes like MS Dhoni, Lewis Hamilton, Chris Gayle, Nicole Vadisova, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh among other big names. They also represented Reebok at various teams & sports organizations like International Cricket Council (ICC), Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Force India Formula1 team etc.  “Professionally, whatever I have achieved in life, I believe my stint at Reebok has a big role to play in it because everything I learnt in sports & about sports marketing was at Reebok,” says Priyanshu proudly.

Post his 5 & a half year-long stint at Reebok, Priyanshu took on a couple of interesting projects. He joined MS Dhoni’s Rhiti Sports as a talent manager as he wanted to understand the sports side of the business from a sports agent perspective. He was always intrigued with the deal-making aspect of this business & becoming a talent manager to names like MS Dhoni & KL Rahul seemed like the perfect beginners’ guide.

After a brief stint with Rhiti Sports, Priyanshu joined the Indian Super League’s (ISL) Delhi outfit- Delhi Dynamos as the head of marketing & sales. Over the course of the next one & a half years, Priyanshu was instrumental in helping the club spread its wings at the grass-root level, opening up multiple academies & hosting multiple tournaments & trials across NCR to reach out to 10000+ aspiring young footballers in the city. Also, the club saw its best sponsorship revenue during that period. Priyanshu parted ways with Delhi Dynamos once the club decided to shift its base to Orissa.
In his last corporate stint, Priyanshu was heading the activation business for Radio Mirchi, Delhi where he led a large 20+ member team to create sustainable IPs for the brand & monetize them thru sponsorship.

Turning Point

When the pandemic hit, Priyanshu was overwhelmed with the workload. Also, a considerable reduction in salary built a strong case for him to take the entrepreneurial road & open up his agency.

Founded in January 2021 by Priyanshu Pande and Prashant Singh. Purple Patch Management is a brand & sports marketing agency that delivers strategic & creative advice to brands. They help brands with devising communication strategies, talent/influencer collaboration & optimizing digital marketing efforts for those who want to narrate their stories in a unique & creative manner. In a short span of 9 months, they have already worked with some big & global brands like DHL Express, Sun Pharma & DS Group

When asked about the peculiar name he has chosen for their startup, Priyanshu explained to Startup Story that he & Prashant wanted a name that was deeply rooted in sports and also had a positive connotation. That’s how Purple Patch came to being. Purple Patch means a prolonged duration of success & is used very frequently in sports.

How Does It Feel To Be Your Own Boss?

On being asked about the feeling of being an entrepreneur, Priyanshu responded, “When you are in a corporate job, sometimes you’ve to push yourself to do things. However, when you have your own set-up, you don’t need that motivation from outside. The entire motivation is within you because every day you’re looking to better your previous day, better your previous work. Of course, it is a lot of hard work but the fact that you are building a legacy, something for posterity, keeps fuelling you”

The team at Purple Patch

Purple Patch Management is the brainchild of two people; Priyanshu Pande and Prashant Singh. Prashant Singh (C0-Founder &CEO) is a seasoned marketing professional with over 20 years in the sports & advertising business in India. Over the 2 decades, Prashant has worked with brands like LG, Coca Cola, Dabur, Hutch (now Vodafone), Reebok to name a few. Prashant has also donned the hat of a marketing consultant & orchestrated the launch of Trusox (An international performance socks brand) and Starpick (Sports Fantasy League Start-up) in India and UK respectively.

Apart from Purple Patch Management, Prashant is also the founder of ‘Khetu Life’, an organic Farm club and café’ in Gurgaon which happens to be his maiden entrepreneurial venture.

Future Plans and Funding

The company’s vision is to become the leading voice at the intersection of brands & sports and be the stewards of the best practices in the industry as a whole. About funding, Purple Patch Management is complete a bootstrapped company.

A Few Words By The Founder

“Some people are entrepreneurs by design. Some people are entrepreneurs by choice. Some like me are by circumstances. And that’s necessarily not a bad thing. The fact that you become an entrepreneur by circumstance ensures that you work thrice as hard to keep up with others who perhaps had the knack of entrepreneurship in their veins. So never say never to becoming an entrepreneur. You may end up surprising yourself, just like I did”

Mantra to live by

“Whether an entrepreneur or a professional or even in your personal life, be honest with yourself. Never start living in the castle you build in your head. Be honest with your work & your own assessment. It is better to let go of a business because of the truth than winning one on false promises” says Priyanshu Pande, Co-Founder, Purple Patch Management
Check out Purple Patch at

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