Ekank Technologies: Summit Nayak is Building the Global Infrastructure for Cultural Storytelling
In a digital age where you can get groceries in 10 minutes or trade stocks in milliseconds, Summit Nayak realized that India's most valuable asset—its multi-millennial heritage—was stuck in the analog past. While platforms like Spotify revolutionized music and Goodreads organized book lovers, culture and history remained trapped in dry textbooks or lost in the noise of Instagram. This realization led Summit and his co-founder Chetan Rexwal to launch Ekank Technologies in 2020. Their flagship platform, ThisDay, is more than just an app; it is a "culture company" that uses gamified, vernacular storytelling to turn historical facts into fun, accessible narratives for a global audience.
Today, Ekank Technologies commands a massive presence with over 12 million monthly active users and a repository of thousands of stories. By bridging the language barrier and enabling collaboration between different types of creators, Summit is ensuring that a story from Odisha can be just as accessible to a reader in Punjab or a listener in New York.
The Culture Platform Gap
Summit identifies that while there is a "startup for practically everything," cultural promotion was taking a backseat. "India is such a culturally rich country, yet there wasn't a single startup trying to revolutionize this space," he explains. Ekank aims to be the specific niche for culture, much like Spotify is for music.
Facts vs. Stories: The "Smile" Metric
Summit’s philosophy is simple: nobody is interested in 10 dry facts about a temple’s construction date. But everyone loves a story. "Facts are not something that interests people. Stories are what interest people," Summit says on the ELI Podcast.
Their goal isn't necessarily to be educational in a traditional, school-like sense. Instead, they aim for engagement. "We don't expect to teach you anything. We just want you to smile after reading a story." This focus on "fun" has led to "super-users" spending over 60 minutes per session on the platform, consuming upwards of 20 stories a month.
The Collaboration Engine: Multi-Lingual & Multi-Format
The core innovation of Ekank is its ability to break the language and format barriers through a unique creator collaboration model. A story originally written in Odia doesn't have to stay limited to its native speakers.
The Storytelling Pipeline
- Vernacular Creation: A storyteller writes a cultural piece in their native language (e.g., Odia or Hindi).
- Linguistic Translation: A second creator collaborates to translate and adapt the story into English or another regional language.
- Visual Illustration: A visual storyteller, who may not write well but illustrates beautifully, adds creative visuals to the narrative.
- Audio Adaptation: An audio narrator comes on board to convert the text and visuals into an immersive podcast-style experience.
This process ensures that a single cultural spark can be consumed in the format and language the user prefers, whether they want to read an article, listen to a narration, or scroll through an illustrated story.
Growth Strategy: Being Where the User Is
Achieving 12 million MAU in less than two years didn't happen through traditional ad-spend alone. Summit utilized a "Reach vs. Pull" strategy. Instead of just pulling users to a new app, Ekank partnered with platforms where users were already present.
This "frictionless" consumption model has been the primary driver behind their rapid scale, making cultural content a natural part of a user's daily digital routine.
Ekank by the Numbers
- 12M+ Monthly Active Users (MAU).
- 34M+ Story leads/reads per month.
- 150+ Expert storytellers on an invite-only benchmarked platform.
- 50/50 Revenue share with creators, ensuring a sustainable creator economy.
The Meaning of Entrepreneurship: Ownership of an Idea
Summit, a mechanical engineer from DCE, views entrepreneurship as a lesson in total accountability. "In an early-stage startup, every person takes on multiple responsibilities. You clean the office, you make the tea, and you build the tech," he recalls.
For him, an entrepreneur isn't necessarily someone who owns a legal entity. "An entrepreneur is someone who has taken ownership of an idea or a product and works toward its success. You don't have to work for yourself to be an entrepreneur; you just have to own the vision."
Founder's Wisdom: Handling Criticism
"A lot of people will say that culture and history aren't big enough domains to put money behind. Don't spiral into depression. Ask them 'why,' take the critical input constructively, and inculcate the answers into your product. Humility is the key to incorporating better ideas into your service."
The Journey Ahead
As Ekank Technologies moves toward its target of $700,000 in annual revenue through brand partnerships and ads, Summit Nayak remains focused on the next revolution: Culture. In a world of 10-minute groceries, he is building the infrastructure that ensures our 1,000-year-old stories are never forgotten, making them just as viral and addictive as the latest trending game.