Case StudyRole: Co-founderStatus: CompletedStarted: 2024Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala · Community & Culture Initiative

Live by ONC

A community and cultural initiative bringing people together through experiences, events, creativity and meaningful connections.

Individual Role: Co-founder / Founding Member

Overview

Live by ONC was a community and cultural initiative created around the idea of bringing people together through experiences, events, creativity and meaningful connections. I was one of the founding members involved in shaping the initiative, working alongside the founding team on marketing, direction, event coordination, team building and business structuring. The project gave me an opportunity to experience what it means to build something collaboratively from an early stage — before there is an established audience, structure or operating system.

The Idea

The underlying idea was simple: Create a space where people could discover experiences, connect with others and engage with culture and creativity in a more meaningful way. Rather than building only around conventional events, ONC explored different formats and communities. Its activities included:

Music
Workshops
Creative activities
Art
Nature
Community interaction

The initiative was built around people and experiences, rather than simply selling an event.

My Role

Role: Co-founder / Founding Member

My involvement covered several areas:

Marketing research
Marketing direction
Social media
Event coordination
Team building
Business structuring
Strategy
Collaboration
Supporting the development of the initiative

Because ONC was an early-stage initiative, roles were not always isolated into conventional job descriptions. I was involved in thinking through both how the initiative should operate and how people would discover and engage with it.

Building the Initiative

Detailed breakdown across team building, technology, and project management.

Understanding the Audience

A major part of the early work involved thinking about who ONC was for and what kind of experiences would actually create interest. This meant considering: People → Interests → Experiences → Community rather than treating every event as an independent activity.

Marketing & Social Media

I contributed to the marketing direction and social media presence of ONC. The objective was not simply to announce events, but to communicate the identity and feeling behind the initiative. This involved thinking about:

•Content
•Positioning
•Audience
•Event communication
•Social media presence
•Community engagement

Event Coordination

I was involved in coordinating events and working with the broader team to help turn ideas into actual experiences. Public coverage later documented ONC's activities including music nights, workshops, crochet, nature-inspired art and stone balancing. The initiative had conducted more than seven events by the time of the New Indian Express coverage in February 2026.

Team Building

Building ONC also meant building a team around the idea. I was involved in team development, coordination, delegating and organizing work, supporting collaboration, and helping structure how the initiative operated. This was one of my early experiences of working on something where people, responsibilities and execution systems had to develop alongside the idea itself.

Building Something Without a Finished Blueprint

One of the interesting parts of ONC was that there wasn't a complete blueprint from the beginning. The initiative evolved through experimentation. Different events and formats provided opportunities to understand: • What people responded to • What types of experiences created engagement • How the team worked together • How an idea could become an actual event • How community could develop around repeated experiences This taught me that building something often means creating the system while simultaneously discovering what the system needs to become.

What ONC Explored

Asset types and creative deliverables produced during the tenure.

Music

Music-focused nights and experiences.

Workshops

Creative and participatory workshops.

Art & Creativity

Experiences involving creative expression, including nature-inspired art.

Community Activities

Activities such as crochet and stone balancing that encouraged participation rather than passive attendance.

Skills Developed

Entrepreneurship & Strategy

Opportunity identification
Business structuring
Initiative building
Strategic thinking
Experimentation

Marketing

Marketing research
Social media
Positioning
Audience thinking
Event marketing

Leadership & Operations

Team building
Event coordination
Collaboration
Communication
Execution

Community Building

Experience design
Community thinking
Audience engagement
Building relationships

Tools & Working Methods

Community BuildingEvent CoordinationMarketing DirectionSocial Media StrategyTeam Leadership

What I Learned

Key operational lessons from this experience:

•Building something with people is fundamentally different from simply completing an individual project.
•An idea can be strong, but turning it into something real requires: People → Structure → Communication → Execution → Feedback → Iteration.
•Thinking more about the system surrounding an idea — team, audience, experience, communication, and execution.
•Strengthened interest in building businesses, communities, and initiatives rather than only working within existing structures.

The Bigger Story

ONC represented an important shift in my journey. Planet Jewel taught me how to work inside an operating business. ONC gave me the opportunity to help build something from an early stage. The progression became:

Work Within a Business → Build With a Team → Create an Initiative → Learn Through Execution

That experience strengthened my interest in entrepreneurship and building systems around ideas.

Evidence

Public Press Coverage

Publication: The New Indian ExpressFebruary 27, 2026

Bringing ‘Oru New Culture’ to the city

Publicly identifies Live by ONC as beginning with seven youngsters from Christ Nagar College, including Abhijith S Mohan, and discusses ONC's activities and vision.

Official External Links

Instagram →

Website →

Project Evidence & Public Assets

Selected work will be added as project assets are organized.

Results

What can be stated

•ONC developed into an active community and event initiative.
•Publicly documented evidence shows that the initiative conducted multiple events and experiences across different creative and cultural formats and later received external media coverage.
•The project gave the founding team practical experience in community building, events, marketing and collaboration.

Related Knowledge

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I'm still early in this journey. But the direction is becoming clearer:

Understand problems → Build systems → Create products → Build businesses

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