Topmate is relying on being really bold to get noticed. A 22 year old employee, only a few days before Loop is launched, asked Vijay Mallya in a public way to rent Kingfisher Villa in Goa for a single night. The founder took that direct request and turned it into a viral challenge to get people to talk about them. Their goal is to get attention in a crowded field of content creators.
A high-stakes growth gamble
Instead of typical advertising or short previews, Topmate is doing a social media experiment that will spread the word. Dinesh Singh, who went to IIT Bombay, liked the employee’s post when he found it online and changed it into a goal the whole community could work towards.
He has announced that as people share things, they reach certain levels and these levels will become getting the building. Basically, how much people are interested is now the person who gets the place.
Here is how the public challenge works:
– At 1,000 shares, he will secure the villa or the closest equivalent
– At 5,000 shares, the growth team gets an international trip
The bold ask that sparked it
Anushka Singh, while planning the Loop launch for May 21st, skipped asking for permission in the normal way and went straight to Mallya with a request. She said the event is for creators first and will include more than 1000 of the most popular people from Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Her request was very direct: “I’m serious, and I’ll pay whatever you want. Or tell me who owns it now and I’ll ask them.” She also described Loop as “a product we are really confident will change how content creators work in India”, and she put the tool before the building in her message.
Why Kingfisher Villa matters
The villa means much more than just the building itself; it’s been associated with Mallya’s lavish lifestyle and the time when Kingfisher was a major brand. This is the whole idea: a building that shows how ambitious you are before you even show what you’ve built.
Some people quickly pointed out that the building has been sold and now belongs to Sachin Joshi and his wife. Singh had thought of this and said he would be happy to be put in touch with the current owners.
Founder backs speed over permission
Dinesh Singh said he hadn’t known about Anushka’s attempt until it was public, but he praised her for doing it. He said, “Truly, this is the sort of team I want to work with,” and described Topmate as a place where people don’t need a lot of approval and are judged on what they achieve.
He also sent a message to Mallya: “Vijay Mallya, if you are reading this, it’s your turn to do something.” By saying this, he changed the story from a risky post by an employee into the founder actively asking for a decision, with the internet watching.
What this signals to competitors
This isn’t simply about where to have a party. It’s a statement of how Topmate intends to succeed in the market for tools for content creators: doing surprising things in real time that get the audience to help spread the word. The company is changing how many people know about them into something valuable, and sharing can get them a great building by May 21st.
This method is also a way of attracting employees. It rewards people for being willing to take a reasonable risk in public, and this appeals to those in Generation Z and those focused on growth.
The internet reacts, and the stakes rise
The post very quickly got a lot of different responses. Some people said it was clever marketing and praised the boldness of it. Others said that the ownership issue meant it was a funny, creative mess to see unfold.
A few of the comments showed the mood with jokes about when things were happening and who to mention, and one person said the move was brave, the sort of thing many founders would tell you not to do.
Here are the key takeaways from the early response:
– Many praised backing a bold employee
– Some flagged the villa ownership change
– Jokes amplified the post’s reach
What comes next
Topmate has until May 21st to turn all the discussion into getting the building and making a statement on launch night. Even if the party isn’t at the real Kingfisher Villa, but at “the closest thing to it”, the campaign has already got people to hear about it without paying for advertising.
For a new company that’s saying Loop will change how content creators work, that is the important result. We’ll have to see the product itself to know if all the attention will mean people will actually use it. Right now, the message is very clear: be bold, keep the score public, and have a deadline that makes you act.
