Frustrated Aspring Actor Launches LinkedIn-Style Platform for Entertainment Talent — Targets 20M Users and $55M in Revenue

Every day, thousands of aspiring actors walk into auditions with dreams, only to leave disheartened. Many are ghosted after promising meetings; others fall prey to fake casting calls or fraudsters posing as directors. The hustle is messy, unstructured, and full of dead ends.

In this world, talent isn’t enough—the real challenge is meeting the right people, often like finding a needle in a haystack.

Ajmal Aboobucker, a Chennai-based entrepreneur and founder of LetsFAME, faced this firsthand in 2017. Despite his family’s connections in the film industry, he kept hitting roadblocks.

“In this industry, 90% of the time, people aren’t who they claim to be,” Ajmal says in an exclusive interview with Startup Pedia.

He further adds, “I come from a well-settled background. If not cinema, I had other options. But for many people I met, cinema was all they had.”

In 2019, he returned to India after graduating in MSc Entrepreneurship from USC, Los Angeles with a mission to empower entertainment talent.

Frustrated by the lack of transparency, he decided to build a solution: LetsFAME—a LinkedIn-like platform for the entertainment industry, where actors, influencers, filmmakers, productions, and technicians can connect without middlemen or misleading promises.

For Ajmal, this platform is more than a business—it’s a mission to empower countless artists still waiting to be seen.

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The Spark of an Idea: Turning Pain into Purpose 

Ajmal’s entrepreneurial journey was born out of frustration. In 2017, he set out to become an actor but encountered deception at every step.

“The directors I met weren’t decision-makers. I wasted a whole year,” says the founder of LetsFAME. Even worse, many who claimed to be industry insiders were pretenders.

Disillusioned but driven, he stepped back and enrolled in a Master’s in Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California (USC).

“Everyone I spoke to—producers, actors, distributors—said the same thing: you can’t reach the right person without a long chain of contacts,” Ajmal told Startup Pedia.

Unlike celebrity-led platforms, such as the one announced by Rakul Preet Singh that failed to launch due to tech issues, Ajmal was determined to succeed. Thus, LetsFAME was born.

What is LetsFAME?

A Platform for Dreamers Ideated in 2019 and officially launched in September 2023, LetsFAME is a global peer-to-peer networking platform designed for the entertainment industry.

Whether you're an actor in Chennai or an editor in Los Angeles, you can create a profile, upload your portfolio, and connect directly with professionals—no middlemen.

“Just like LinkedIn doesn’t advocate candidates, we provide a tech platform and let users take it forward,” Ajmal says.

LetsFAME does not mediate projects but empowers users to connect and collaborate. Authenticity is key—users must verify their claims with work credits or behind-the-scenes photos.

Today, the platform serves everyone from budding actors to assistant directors, including leading filmmakers around the world.

Its core values are authenticity, efficiency, and equal access to opportunity.

Services, Features, and Pricing 

LetsFAME is packed with features tailored for entertainment professionals:

• Profile Creation: Showcase skills, experience, and portfolios
  

• Search & Connect: Find people by role or location
  

• Direct Messaging: Communicate without agents
  

• Portfolio Verification: Add proof of work to build credibility
  

• Profile Analytics: View who has visited your profile and track recent visitors
  

• Direct Job Applications: Apply directly to job opportunities posted by agencies, production companies and OTTs in the entertainment industry
  

It runs on a freemium model, where users can access basic features for free and upgrade to a premium plan for ₹1,000 per year or a Premium Pro plan for ₹2,500 per year. These plans unlock enhanced profile visibility, verification, and other valuable benefits.

“No commissions or hidden charges,” Ajmal confirms during the Startup Pedia interview.

With over 135,000 users—70% from India and the rest from the US, Europe, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Thailand, and more—LetsFAME has already earned global traction. Disney’s casting director and leading Hollywood filmmakers are among the users, cementing its credibility.

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Growth Journey: From Chennai to the World

Since launching in September 2023, LetsFAME’s growth has been rapid. Word-of-mouth brings in 8 out of 10 users.

The founder of LetsFAME shared that a musician who had been out of the industry for five years resumed his  career, thanks to the platform.

Actors have landed roles with Vijay, Prabhas, and Arvind Swamy, while directors have built entire teams in weeks—what used to take months.

“We’ve built the kind of experience that earned us the title of India’s Most Innovative App in 2024,” said Ajmal in an interview with Startup Pedia.

Now, LetsFAME has moved it’s base to Dubai, focussing on global market penetration, raising top capital, hiring world class experts for the company.

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Early Life: From Business Legacy to Purpose 

Ajmal was born into Chennai’s successful business family—President Group, a third-generation hotel empire with a global footprint. This structured environment shaped his work ethic, but his passion lay elsewhere: cinema and tech.

“All these apps and platforms excited me,” he shared in the Startup Pedia interview.

He acted in short films during college and realized he wanted to give acting a shot. After finishing school in Chennai, he pursued his B.Com at Loyola College, then went to USC for a Master’s in Entrepreneurship.

In LA’s startup-rich environment, Ajmal began reimagining the entertainment industry’s problems. His painful experiences stayed with him.

In 2019, he returned to India with a mission. “I come from a well-settled background. But for many people I met, cinema was all they had,” he said.

He felt it was deeply unfair that these individuals didn’t even have the opportunity to meet the right people, let alone secure a placement. In an era driven by technology and AI, if ‘A’ cannot even connect with the right ‘B’, he believes it reflects a fundamental flaw within the industry's foundation — one that must be addressed for the overall well-being of everyone in and around the Media & Entertainment industry.

Connectivity is Key, you still need 100s and 1000s of people to come together to make a project. In that case, how effective and efficient these people are getting connected with plays a major role in the success of the industry. 

Inspired by Shah Rukh Khan’s humility and consistency, Ajmal is building LetsFAME with those same values: authenticity, connection, and perseverance.

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Financial Growth: Bootstrapping to Billion-Dollar Dreams 

Ajmal bootstrapped LetsFAME with $500,000—investing $350,000 in tech and $150,000 in marketing. With 135,000 users, the platform has already generated $55,000 in revenue, mainly through subscriptions and ads. Around 5–10% of users opt for paid plans, priced between ₹1,000–2,500 per year. 

“It’s modest, but for a pre-revenue startup, it's a good signal,” Ajmal notes during the Startup Pedia interview.

He further added, “Most of the users join the platform through the recommendation of others who have been benefited on LetsFAME.”

The next step is raising a $2 million pre-Series A round to accelerate growth. The goal is to reach 1 million users by 2026 and $1.6 million in revenue, driven by 10–15% paid subscriptions.

“By 2030, our  vision is to have 20 million users and generate $55 million in revenue,” concludes Ajmal, founder of LetsFAME, during his interview with Startup Pedia.