The Road To Success: Sachinn J. Laala, Co-Founder And CEO, Liquid Havas Laala shares the story of how he scaled his Dubai-based startup to an acquisition by French communications network Havas.
By Tamara Pupic
You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
"Imagine building a new road, and you're trying to understand whether that road is going to lead to anywhere, or if you will simply end up nowhere." This is how Sachinn J. Laala describes the beginnings of Liquid, a Dubai-born retail ideas company renowned for transforming how brands connect with consumers at retail touchpoints, which he co-founded with fellow advertising professional Colman Sheil. In Laala's case, his road led to his homegrown brand getting acquired by French communications network Havas in May 2024, and, in the process, getting rebranded as Liquid Havas—all of which serves as the ultimate validation of the business idea that he and Sheil pursued when they launched their enterprise in 2016.
"Dubai is a city that thrives on retail, but back then, it didn't have a retail-focused agency," Laala recalls. "So, Colman and I decided to set up an agency purely focused on commerce, whether it was e-commerce or whether it was below the line retail, in-store retail. At that stage, because there were no other agencies doing that, people didn't understand the true potential of it. The truth is that there were bigger fish to fry for bigger agencies, so they were not worried about this part. Also, no other agency had scaled it up enough to show to a big agency that there was money in there."
But by helping clients present their brands across all retail channels in ways that resonated with shoppers, Liquid grew from its humble origins to an enterprise that boasted of a team of over 100 experts that work with some of the world's biggest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) clients like Nestle, PepsiCo, Beiersdorf, and Procter & Gamble. However, Laala credits his enterprise's growth to a handful of clients that gave Liquid a chance in its early days. "The first year, I met 35 clients," Laala recalls. "We started working with five. It was a bit unnerving, because clients were like, 'Who are these two random guys who are showing up? They have no name backing them.' So, it was a bit challenging, but that's why this region has proven that while a name is important, it is not the end of it. If you have the right service and the right offering, they are willing to take the risk to work with an unknown agency as long as its product is good, which a lot of other locations might not allow you."
Over the years, Liquid perfected its offering—which Laala describes as a combination of science, art, and instinct—that entails a strong element of insight and analytics to understand target shoppers' journeys from beginning to end, including their search behaviors, touchpoints, and understanding of categories. Then, as his startup started to enjoy double-digit growth, Laala began contemplating whether Liquid was ready to go global.
Liquid Havas co-founders Sachinn J. Laala and Colman Sheil. Source: Liquid Havas
"I think you can grow on your own, as double-digit growth, for four, five years," he says. "At some point, you will find it harder to grow at the same speed. We had global clients who were ready to work with an agency in the Middle East, even though it was a little further away [from them], but they still found that we could help them scale their businesses. That gave us the confidence that, yes, what we are offering is good on a global scale, and that we should be able to explore this further. Then, I thought that I could go to the UK or to Europe, and find the same level of expertise, but that wasn't the case. In the end, we felt that a global acquisition would help us take our offering further."
Although Laala started having acquisition discussions in 2022, he says that he had been preparing for it since 2019, which was when he brought an experienced Chief Financial Officer on board to organize his business in line with global standards. "Then, we said, 'Okay, who we would like to talk to and see if they would be interested in acquiring us?' And then two, 'would we be able to add the right value to their business?' So, that was the starting point of the discussion," Laala says. "We started having chats externally, and in this regard, my advice to other entrepreneurs would be not to get a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) consultant rightaway, because they promise a lot of things. It's better you reach out to your network, because you need to be in control of the conversation. No one else will be a better salesman of your business than you."
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In 2023, Havas, one of the world's largest global communications networks, reached out to Laala with an aim to add Liquid to its fully integrated model that covers all communication activities for brands and businesses. Havas has three business units, i.e. Havas Creative Network, Havas Media Network, and Havas Health & You, which function through more than 70 offices in over 100 countries around the world. In the e-commerce domain, the French communications giant has created Havas Market, a dedicated partner for e-commerce businesses, which is now available in 30 markets around the globe.
And today, Liquid—in its new avatar as Liquid Havas—is a part of Havas Market, and falls under the umbrella of Havas Media Network.
Looking back on how the acquisition came to be closed, Laala says that it was a long process that brought quite a few lessons with it, especially when it comes to pursuing negotiations with a number of potential acquirers. "Until it's in writing, it's not done," he shares. "Sometimes you might miss the boat while you're waiting for someone, because that person has assured you that it will happen. And it's not like the person doesn't want it to happen, but that, for instance, their global management is not ready for it [acquisition] at that moment. Every acquisition has a lot of people involved, and who might not be ready at what time, you don't know."
Liquid Havas is a part of Havas Market, which falls under the umbrella of Havas Media Network. Source: Liquid Havas
For that reason, Laala decided not to stop any potential acquisition negotiation until receiving a letter of intent from any one of potential acquirers. "Once a letter of intent is in place, then you have to be patient, because the due diligence takes time. There are two touch points of due diligence, legal and financial, and you would think that for a company that's not globally owned, due diligence should be simpler, but it's not. And rightfully so, because if you're a global company, you have a system and process put in place, and when you're acquiring a certain company, you're also acquiring their reputation, you're acquiring their clientele, you're acquiring their people. So, you need to be sure that they're doing the right thing today legally, morally, and so on. Then, you need to allow your lawyers the space and time to function. Overall, if someone tells you there's a year between the start and finish of an acquisition deal, they're being reasonable. Patience is key."
Now, being at the helm of Liquid Havas has opened a new chapter for Laala, but he says that his day-to-day life remains the same. "I think the job is only half done, because commerce still is very under-appreciated, especially in a region where we love retail," he says. "Plus, Dubai is never happy. How many times have you looked at a redevelopment in Dubai and said, 'That was already good. Why do we need to do it better?' But the truth is we indeed can do it better."
Dubai's commitment to constant improvements, Laala adds, is needed in its entrepreneurial ecosystem as well, and he suggests offering more assistance and support to entrepreneurs. "Being an entrepreneur has been a superb journey, but I now know that entrepreneurs really need help," he says. "Anyone who becomes an entrepreneur needs a person saying, 'If you need anything, just call.' It's a very lonely journey, because you can't talk to your employees. You can't really tell them, 'I'm having a bad day.' You have to show a strong front. Because there's no leadership above you, you have to figure it all out on your own, and hope that you're making the right decision. So, helping an entrepreneur to some extent will give me a lot of satisfaction to say, 'Hey, don't worry, you're not alone. Tell us, how can we help you?'"
Sachinn J. Laala is the co-founder and CEO of Liquid, a Dubai-born retail ideas company renowned for transforming how brands connect with consumers at retail touchpoints. Source: Liquid
'Trep Talk: Liquid Havas co-founder and CEO Sachinn J. Laala shares his tips for entrepreneurs
Ambition comes at a price "People love ambition, but they fear the hard work that goes around it, and there's no escaping. The reality is, if you have reached the top, you have made a lot of self-sacrifices, you have spent a lot of weekends, you have missed a lot of birthdays, anniversaries, your personal life has taken a backseat to fulfill that ambition. Be ready to put in the work behind it. You can't run away from the grunt work, hoping that it will fall in place by some miracle, because it won't."
An idea without execution is useless "While a lot of ideas float around, a lot of people have a lot of good ideas on a daily basis, but the execution is not there. They don't focus on how do they bring it to life. They somehow lack that persistence that's need—when it's not working, they drop it, thinking that the business idea is not good enough. But, in fact, it is good enough, and so, can you be persistent enough to make it work? Sooner than later, it will happen. Might not happen tomorrow morning, but in time, it will. You just need to give it enough time to make it work."
Focus on what you are offering "A lot of times entrepreneurs are tempted to move away [from their core offering] a little bit, and try to make additional money rather than keep their eye on the ball. That's the one part that we have learned, and that allowed us to remain true to what we had to offer. We were persistent and consistent with what we offered, so it was very clear that, if a client came to Liquid, then they're coming for these reasons."
Stick to your plan "The moment you start tinkering your journey to reach an end destination, there's a problem, because that destination goal post keeps changing. Follow the journey. The destination will arrive."
