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The Taboo-Busting D2C Brand | Deep Bajaj @ Sirona Hygiene
199 Plays3 years ago
"Energy is like money—it's a finite resource. When it's gone, we die. When it's there, we're bubbling with energy. So spend it judiciously."
Deep Bajaj shares a powerful perspective on personal energy management, a critical factor often overlooked in the hustle of entrepreneurship. Conserving your energy and avoiding "energy vampires" is just as important as managing your finances.
Deep Bajaj is the Founder & CEO of Sirona Hygiene, a company tackling the often-taboo subject of feminine hygiene in India. From launching India's first stand-and-pee device (PeeBuddy) to building a profitable company with a projected revenue of 40+ crores in FY 21-22, Deep's journey is one of relentless innovation and addressing unmet needs. Sirona has impacted millions of women, with over a million using their menstrual cups.
Key Insights from the Conversation:
- Problem-First Approach: Deep's success stems from identifying real-world problems and building practical solutions, even if they're initially unconventional.
- Thousand Day Rule: Deep emphasizes committing fully to a business for at least 1,000 days to see its true potential.
- IP Creation: Building a brand and creating intellectual property is a key driver for long-term success, more so than just chasing revenue.
- Serendipity and resilience: Recognizing that success is not a linear path, many key moments came unexpectedly.
- Staying positive and resourceful: With limited funds, being profitable was the only option.
Chapters:
- 00:00:00 - Introduction: Deep Bajaj's Early Life & Influences
- 00:07:14 - First Ventures: Call Centers, Insurance & The 1000-Day Rule
- 00:15:10 - Australia, Events Business & The Importance of IP
- 00:23:43 - The Road Trip Revelation: PeeBuddy's Origin Story
- 00:32:43 - Building Sirona: Co-founder, Branding & Early Product Strategy
- 00:41:17 - Funding, Rapid Growth & Refining Distribution
- 00:49:52 - Product Deep Dive: Menstrual Cups & Solving Real Problems
- 00:59:50 - Scaling Challenges & Building Awareness for Taboo Topics
- 01:06:35 - The Good Glamm Partnership: Rationale & Strategic Vision
- 01:12:48 - Final Thoughts: Energy, Action & Entrepreneurial Resilience
Hashtags:
#SironaHygiene #DeepBajaj #PeeBuddy #MenstrualHygiene #FemaleHygiene #IndianStartups #Entrepreneurship #FounderJourney #D2C #FMCG #Innovation #TabooTopics #SocialImpact #StartupIndia #WomensHealth #PeriodPoverty #BusinessStrategy #Funding #VentureCapital#GoodGlammGroup #EnergyManagement #ThousandDayRule #ProductDevelopment #BrandBuilding #IndianEntrepreneurs
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Transcript
Introduction & Zencastr Shout-out
00:00:00
Speaker
Before we start today's episode, I want to give a quick shout out to Zencaster, which is a podcaster's best friend. Trust me when I tell you this, Zencaster is like a Shopify for podcasters. It's all you need to get up and running as a podcaster. And the best thing about Zencaster is that you get so much stuff for free. If you are planning to check out the platform, then please show your support for the founder thesis podcast by using this link, zen.ai slash founder thesis.
00:00:27
Speaker
That's zen.ai slash founder thesis.
Deep Bajaj's Entrepreneurial Journey Begins
00:00:32
Speaker
Hi, I'm Deep Bajaj. I'm the founder of Serona hygiene. We're known for the unique and intimate metrolizing products largely known for our flagship product Peabody. Take me on a tour.
00:00:49
Speaker
This is the story of a founder who started from scratch and built a direct-to-consumer brand that raised 100 crores in their last round of funding. It is a story of grit, perseverance and a lot of creativity.
00:01:02
Speaker
Deep Bajaj is a serial entrepreneur who started his first venture when he was just 18. He then went on to run multiple ventures before starting Sirona Hygiene, which is a leader in the space of feminine hygiene products. Deep started his journey of building Sirona Hygiene by launching Peabody, a device that helps women to stand and be. This led to a whole family of products and brands under the Sirona family and today it is a part of the larger Goodglam family.
00:01:30
Speaker
Here's Deep telling Akshay Dutt about building his first venture while he was still in college.
00:01:36
Speaker
A small domestic call centre, where we were booking, you know, back then, car insurance sales, it was like today you can do everything online, right? Back then it was more about your car insurance would run. We used to call customers and take, you know, renew their stuff. So I did that for a while, didn't do well. I mean, how does an 18-year-old kid get the idea that he has a car insurance through a domestic call centre?
00:02:01
Speaker
So what happened was when I was in first place, I think there was some realization that I need my own money, man. And I don't want to be asking my parents for money. So the only job that I would sign in India was I looked at all these classified newspapers where opening for jobs used to come.
00:02:21
Speaker
And I saw an interesting logo.
Maintaining Positivity & Energy in Business
00:02:24
Speaker
I reached the office and the guy, I don't know why, but they said, fair enough, or we'll hire you. They wanted field executives. And I think now in hindsight, I'm like, yeah, field executives are godsent. Anybody who's willing to do a field, I'd be like, yeah, come on, we'll also love to hire you. But for that reason, and for nothing special, I was also given the first job offer for 6,000 rupees.
00:02:43
Speaker
2000, whatever it was, 2 maybe, you know. And I took it up and I said, well, I want my own money. So, used it and sold. I sold online education portal by the name of egurukul.com. You know, back then, I didn't remember this name. Yeah, you know, it was dial-up of MTLK connection, Luckway, LAN Connect, okay. Very few houses had implemented. It was very fascinating, you know, to go.
00:03:07
Speaker
door to door and try to convert people to study online was very, very new. Did that for a while. From there, the same company got into insurance selling. Now insurance is the worst product to sell, by the way. I just said
Independence & Early Ventures
00:03:20
Speaker
that if you can sell insurance, you can pretty much sell everything. And I tried that with Bidlas and Life, which was when I was taking on the payrolls of Bidlas and Life back then. And they were also opening up and they also wanted people who could, you know, go and sell. So with Bank of Insurance, they did insurance selling through banks.
00:03:36
Speaker
Back then, you could buy insurance from your, you know, the new channel was just opening up. I'm one, two, three, 2001, two, three. So from there, the idea of insurance clicked. And I said, well, I don't want to do a job. I'd rather do it on my own. Two friends got together. We got access to, you know, a couple of Tata AG and few other Bajaj Alliance were opening up car insurance. They were looking for BSTs and DSAs. We said, fair enough. We'll try it. So nothing, which is, I would say, was planned. Just one thing led to another.
00:04:06
Speaker
And that's how I got into that. So you would also ban the phone? And did you hire people also? Yeah. I had eight member seats that we used to run. And I had four field guys. So these eight girls used to call and work. But yeah, if you could come and take the check.
00:04:28
Speaker
And four people who are in collection, they would do collective checks. And I think the same checks used to be given to the insurance companies. So that went on for a year, a year and a half.
00:04:38
Speaker
Before I realised that this is going to take a different level of scale-up, I thought I'll take a legend break, go back to full time. There was no money being left for your personal expense. Like, what is your personal expense? No, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how much money you have left.
00:04:59
Speaker
Daddy like phoned me like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my bike had converted into a overwheeler, a second-hand car though. And it's very social there. And I think the only question was that, I don't even know if you really asked me today that why did I decide to move out. Because you know, we were doing okay numbers. We were doing fine. But maybe we're maturity new here. I mean, and that's why today, you know, my theory has become, what are a few things that you would always keep in mind. And I'll say that 1000 day principle I really love.
00:05:28
Speaker
So if I had really continued that call center for 1000 days, maybe I would have been just back today. Maybe they would have been 10,000 seats that we've been managing. What is the 1000 day principle that if you start a business, do it for 1000 days? Yeah. So I believe that, you know, there are a few things that are a prerequisite for a business. And if I were to say top three,
Inspiration & Launch of Sirona Hygiene
00:05:45
Speaker
Well, first of them is if you're trying to do something, it has to be done for 1000 days full time. It cannot be part time and it cannot be less than 1000 days. Because first year goes in Euphoria, right? I mean, you've tried multiple businesses to know that first year is only Euphoria, you don't really have time to think. In today's world, Euphoria would be equivalent to, you know, your stories in 42s, everybody else will do a story on you, you'll become popular.
00:06:09
Speaker
because it's not about how great you're doing, it's about you doing something, right? So first, you don't do that in playing it out. By the time it's second year, it's when your first-year theory, some of them are working, some of them are not working. And, you know, you smell, you smell like real stuff that, you know, this is what my business is. And earlier, when you start executing it, and after that, you're okay. You know, you would have, you tried everything, you know that I started with the objective of selling books. No books is not what my business is. My business is people will buy all the products from me. So, hey, I'm Amazon in the sense.
00:06:38
Speaker
We've got etc. So 1000 days is the first one. Second one that I love to say is that no matter what you're doing, don't get too much into analysis paralysis. Anybody else's story cannot be the foundation to your story. You will have to go through your own learning curve and the best way you can do it is by doing it.
00:06:56
Speaker
And I have a very dear colleague, Dr. Dixai, she tells me that, you know, data is GIGO, garbage in, garbage out, you know, you can enter the small story there is that, you know, you need to avoid data. I'm not saying, yeah, obviously you're making a rocket ship. Yes. But if for a normal business boss, 1000 days, get into it, get your hands dirty. Don't look at too much of data because your
00:07:18
Speaker
your inputs to your business are very different than what your colleague had, even if he's doing the same thing. So that's the second and third is keeping yourself positive. I'm a huge fan of this concept of energy vampires that was introduced to me by this monk in New York called Mr. Dandapani.
00:07:36
Speaker
And third and foremost is you need to conserve your energy and stay positive. Those three things if you have, you would pretty much solve any business that you solve. Most important as a founder is conserving your own energy and surrounding yourself with positive people.
Scaling Challenges & Strategic Decisions
00:07:52
Speaker
Energy vampires have a list ready.
00:07:53
Speaker
So, what would be an energy vampire? So, you know, in your life also, you know, actually there'll be people you would meet, you would have met in the past and they instantly light up the room. And there's some people you meet in the best of places and they immediately suck the living daylights out of you, right? Now, in your life, personal and professional, there are people like that. There are some clients who might be excellent for your business. Just the way they take so much energy, so much energy that you can't offer anything else.
00:08:22
Speaker
In your personal life, also there'll be people who might not mean you're bad. But it's just the way they talk. I mean, could be your mom, could be your dad, could be your cousin, could be your husband, could be your wife. Who would say things like, maybe just draw a comparison. Now, maybe they mean to motivate you, but maybe you are not binged like that.
00:08:44
Speaker
What energy is on the line? So the energy vampire list will be all such people who might not necessarily mean you're bad, but the way they say things completely switches you off. And it's important for you to have them on a watch out list. And the minute you come across a person like that, no matter how important the person is, you have to learn how to switch off. Because according to Dandapani, energy is like money. It's a finite resource. When it's over, we die. When it's there, we are bubbling with energy. So spend it judiciously.
00:09:14
Speaker
So that's energy vampires. Okay, got it. So you quit that call center business. And then what like that's when you decided to do your masters from Australia. Yeah, that's where then Australia and you could fund it with your own earning only, I guess I would
00:09:31
Speaker
So I was able to fund obviously the tickets and the initial fees. I did take money from my dad, but while I was in Australia, then again, that bug was there that I don't want to take money from home. So we'd taken a home loan and while going to jobs with my, you know, masters, I paid that loan before coming back. It was, it was almost paid off, you know.
Marketing Strategies & Consumer Education
00:09:50
Speaker
two jobs I was doing. I was working at a mobile company in the afternoon at a kiosk selling mobile phones. And in the evening, for the last seven months, I worked, not seven months, five months, I think, I worked in an Indian restaurant waiting staff. So did that. Anik, about the events. And how did events happen?
00:10:15
Speaker
So, I told you the first job that I took over a fancy logo called E is equal to MC square. So, there I met their advertising guy was Fahim always to Fahim handled their creative duties. And I met him obviously over
00:10:32
Speaker
many times at the office. And when we started talking before Winter Australia, he said, you know, I'm tired of advertising and I would love to do something which is in events. I was anyways free, had nothing else to do. So even before Winter Australia for a month, I helped him launch one of his event properties and we launched, I think it was the Gold Soup Mall in Urgo.
00:10:53
Speaker
Then from that also made a little bit of money, by the way, and use that to fund some other residential expenses in Australia. So when, and we kept in touch, he started talking and he said, you know, why don't we scale this business together? I was like, fair enough. Yeah. I didn't have any plans to stay back in Australia. I said, fair enough. I'll come back. And if I come back, this is what I'll do. So I came back, kept in touch with him and then started scaling what then became time advertising as the event division completely is something that then we scaled and did that for good four years, five years, five years.
00:11:23
Speaker
And then how much money were you making in events? I mean, like, yes, events is like very, very fickle. Like what was it like for you? So yeah, I'd say that when we started, obviously, but by the time we were ending, we were doing about 10 odd carros in 2010.
00:11:43
Speaker
you know, as annual revenue, which is around that mark. And it was growing every year. It was doubling, you know, that's how it became, wasn't doubling is pretty good. So why didn't you just continue doing that? Like, yeah, so very life, I think has been a comedy of errors, right? It's an insanity. If two things can define it, one is comedy of errors and serendipity. That's when everything is perfect. Something happens at home, like, you know,
00:12:10
Speaker
Yeah man, this is it. So I would say that why not events is because I now in hindsight, you know, like the great Steve Jobs says.
00:12:18
Speaker
I can say that it's
Impact of Strategic Investment & CSR Initiatives
00:12:20
Speaker
only in hindsight that you can join the dots. In hindsight, I can say that IP has always excited me a lot. By IP, you mean brand, like building a brand. Yeah, it's like intellectual property of any kind. After working for about 15-16 years full-time, I can say that IP. If there's something that has an IP, I would love to root because IP usually is created in a space where there's none that exists. Routine, Monday, jobs get me
00:12:47
Speaker
get me bored, you know, so if there's no progression, if you're not working on solving something new, if you're not working on creating an IP, my DNA is not suited for that company anymore. You know, it's how I look at it. So in the event what started to happen was we were taking it of good events. We had good clients at Citibank, Carlsberg, you know, Taubang Decom, I was, and we were doing the corporate activations, corporate DLF was a client. We were doing stuff for them.
00:13:11
Speaker
But it came to a point where, you know, it was just the same thing again and again and again and again and again. And I wanted to create an IP, which I think my partner at that stage, I mean, everybody has different expectations from life. Money was okay, but I wanted more. And maybe, you know, it just wasn't the time for us to create an IP together. So by IP, I mean that, you know, in the world of events, IFI is an IP. You know, IPM is an IP. You work on it for a few years and after that the property works for you.
00:13:41
Speaker
I was not able to do it and it was it came to a point where I think we were not really looking at creating an IP and maybe that's what triggered and I said I don't want to do this all my life like I just don't want to be selling. I don't want to do this dude. I was making money but it was not really
00:14:02
Speaker
I was not sleeping well, I can say that. The money was good. Money had become very good. So from that second-hand cost to 2008-2009, I had picked up whatever I wanted to buy, had saved a little bit of money to also invest in a property and life was good. I had gotten married and all that. And there was no reason for me to rock the boat. But again, those two things happened. So maybe serendipity and a comedy of others. So I decided
00:14:30
Speaker
I don't want to do it. And Rashi, at that stage, she was also looking for free labor. And I became a business. And I began to call the center executive to say, and he got me to handmade carpets. So carpets fell into my lap because she was into it. But did you see carpets as like that exciting space? So was it that, let me do this till I figure out.
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think the woman running is one of the followers far more exciting than the product.
00:15:09
Speaker
I could see excitement in my life. But there was a thing of saying zero to one, right? It was again zero to one. So maybe I'm zero to one, one to ten. I don't know if I'm very good at it. But zero to one, certainly. You discussed something today, you wanted off the ground. I can say that I can chip into that company and I can do reasonably well. I can help you think through it, launch it, scale it, do the first calls. That excites me. So carpet was exactly at that stage.
00:15:38
Speaker
And we were thinking on how to sell. We had no sales. So I said fair enough. I had done that in events that I can find customers. I can pick up the call. I can be the call center guy.
00:15:47
Speaker
So I said, I'll pick up the calls and see how it goes along. But carpet still gave me a little bit of IP. I said, you'll be India's first female carpet designer. We'll not be a carpet store. Back then, the concept of interior designer, for me to talk about a carpet designer. But I think we took that punt in touch with today that punt has paid off. She still runs that business, does a lot of H&I residences, palaces.
00:16:11
Speaker
So I started the hospitality business by fluke. How did it start? Again, there's a friend of mine who was in Dubai. And honeymoon, it had to be just a holiday. I think it was our third, second anniversary where we said, let's just go and meet him. And Dubai was buzzing at that time. So many hotels. And we did not have that expertise to make carpets for hotels.
00:16:36
Speaker
But I still took some samples, met a few people and then eventually we got the first daughter and after that, obviously there is no looking back as they say. So that division started. Three, four years later, I think it came to a point where to me, I'd say if I can be very candid about it, maybe I've not said it earlier. But I think it was, it came to a point where I couldn't, it was not my business. I got into an identity crisis myself while the business again started making money.
00:17:02
Speaker
But it was not my business. It was Ashi's business. It was her and somebody who loves IP and loves to do things on his own. I thought this is not me. It's never going to be mine. It's not my business. Also, you know, husband wife, I think things, there was no personal life left at all. You're only discussing them today, right?
00:17:22
Speaker
But if I can be honest about it, it's now eight years behind me. I think the reason was this was not mine. I could never relate it as something which is me.
00:17:37
Speaker
So for me wandering went around for next five years. I would say till 2015, I didn't know what I wanted to do in life. It was the worst, the worst dark days. You were in carpet still 15 only. I tried many things. I've tried many things. I tried my carpets. I tried home health care. I invested the money that I made from events into home health care.
00:17:56
Speaker
Even having elderly patients get access to physios, nurses, caregivers. I invested in a holiday home project in Mukteswar. I had bought some land. I thought I'll do second homes. None of that worked out. The idea for Peabody, again, you know, Comedy of Ferrers and Serendipity was born in 2013. And I didn't know if this is the business. It was always chasing me, but I was always running away from it.
00:18:21
Speaker
So 2013, the idea was born and I still didn't know it will become a business. What do you mean idea was born? In what way? 2013 road trip, Delhi Jaipur highway. And we were four couples traveling and I being the joker because I found my voice and ninth I told you, right?
00:18:41
Speaker
I was the one who was really having fun on the trip and making everybody laugh. So girls were not drinking even water. Boys were drinking whatever they wanted. A friend's wife suggested Gauri. I told her, they see men are so blessed, we can stand in peace. Anyway, we were made better by Bhawanji. Bhawanji loved us more. So it was a joke. And she said, no, she had seen someone in Europe use a contraction to stand in peace.
00:19:08
Speaker
And while everybody laughed it off, I think for me, the world stopped at that stage, must have again. Again, I'm saying in hindsight, because we were four of us. Anybody could have picked it up. Her own husband could have done it. Other three friends could have done it. My co-founder wasn't even there on the trip. And I thought I would love to do this. I'm so exciting, right? Because women can stand in P. Let's do it. In hindsight, now I know maybe why it made far more sense to me because when I was in events, I was doing large-scale concerts.
00:19:37
Speaker
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't give clean toilet experience to customers. During our pregnancy, I had seen, and we'd had one miscarriage, right? During the pregnancy, we had seen how difficult it gets for women, especially in the last semester, to sit and stand. My mother had arthritis, you know, so I had seen all our sitting and standing was such a challenge, you know, she'd start, stopped attending marriages and funerals alike because, you know, she wanted a different toilet seat. When you, all these must have crossed.
00:20:04
Speaker
my mind. I'm sure at that stage this happened and I didn't know this was happening and I said I would love to do it. And I came back and started working, realised I'm not the only Einstein to have ever thought about this. Look first, patent for a category category. But first, patent goes back to 1919. You know, the US may stand and be funneled.
00:20:31
Speaker
But commercialise unique here, because maybe we have to do something like this. Whatever. I said, I don't care. I will still do it here. I came up with my own shape. It's my shape. It's unique to me. Applied for a design patent. Got it. 2015. 2016 onwards, I started scaling. What today is known as Serona hygiene. But it's been gone since then. So the idea was what? Like that on a road trip. Two, three years, I didn't even know this is what I'd want to do. So both the part time, all sides still rather. But then a call started.
00:20:59
Speaker
You were doing multiple experiments and Peabody was just one of those experiments till 15. That's correct. I didn't know more. I honestly didn't even know a formula to it. Now I can still say formula three years full time. Don't look at the data. We will not stand it. Screw that shit. Everything can sell. Anything sells.
00:21:20
Speaker
You pursue anything with passion, you can sell anything in this world, anything whatsoever. But yes, full time, passion, don't look at the data right now. Just go for it, do it and it will happen.
00:21:34
Speaker
So that's why today when I start something, whenever I exit, whatever I do next, these things are very clear. So back then I didn't know. So yes, till 2015, I would say I tried multiple things, didn't even know this can be a business. What was the trigger for you to focus on this and drop everything? Did you see some positive market feedback? No, there was no money in this. I think the universe just conspired. I think I was just born to do this yet.
00:22:04
Speaker
I think everything else started to close one after another. Either close or some complication or it was not giving me that contentment here. So this was an opportunity that kept knocking, kept knocking. At least at the last time when it was knocking, I opened the door. I said, I was running away from saying that
00:22:31
Speaker
I don't know what I was running from also. Maybe I was just saying that those are far more lucrative opportunities and I didn't know myself that I'm not the one who will go after lucrative alone because I had left far more lucrative opportunities in the past, right? Events I'd left at a very good stage. Carpets I decided to not pursue and Rasi to pursue at a stage where we could have done a hundred crores. Maybe by now we would have been doing far more, right?
00:22:52
Speaker
So, I was still chasing the mirage to say, no, your home health care is a bigger industry, holiday home is a dream state, let's do it, let me try something else. While all along, when it came to innovating around products, it excited me the most. So, I was finally doing stuff. So, I was doing, you know, this toilet hygiene I had done. We had come up with India's first herbal period pain relief patch by then for my wife.
00:23:12
Speaker
I mean, it came in the product for her. We had launched India's first disposal bags for sanitary disposal. And I think some of them, my co-founder also pushed and said, dude, I mean, you've given so many things, so many years, might as well do as well for a while and see where it goes. I mean, if we can sell, if we can sell carpets, if we can sell, you know, home care, we can also sell this, right? And then how did the co-founder enter the story? He was born in the same house.
00:23:40
Speaker
We floured him on the same bag. I thought the sequel was amazing. On a serious note, Mohit was also trying to do... He's your elder brother or younger brother? He's five years younger.
00:24:00
Speaker
So, when I was trying to exit everything else, and we had applied for a design, when it came, he started saying, you give it to me, I'll run this full time. I can take care of it while you find clarity in your life. So, he took the, I think he kept the show running. And that played a very critical part that when I was thinking that what else to do, you know, Sirona played the part which Carpetz did when I was trying to exit from events. That was something else available.
00:24:29
Speaker
So, but like you say, he kept the show running. So like, were you selling? Were you selling online? Were you selling offline? Like what was the show? We registered a partnership firm first. 2013 only we registered a firm. So it's not that we were not selling, but we are selling off and on, off and on.
00:24:47
Speaker
In what way? Website was there. But online, there was no listing available. Amazon Flipkart did not even have the category. So we didn't even know that we'll sell it, make it an online business. Now D2C is the buzzword. Back then, nobody knew car based. We were selling everywhere.
00:25:02
Speaker
We were trying to sell through retailers also. We were trying to sell through doctors also. And he was trying to manage that show. You know, he was finance production operation. So he always kept that line going. Production. How did you manage that? Like through third party? Yeah. And again, he kept in touch with people. So this guy who made Peabody was a guy who used to do a lot of printing for us during our days at events.
00:25:25
Speaker
This guy only, I said, you know, can you help me make this? And because he knew me for almost five seconds, he said, fair enough, you have to calculate. He was okay to do small batches, fix the returns, you know, and all of that he did, right? Fix the right grammage, et cetera. So all that happened, which Mohit handled in the early days.
00:26:00
Speaker
You can, or like, if you've ever driven a bike, if you've ever ridden a bike, I'm sorry, if you ride bikes, that funnel, it's just a funnel. That is the only part. We just had to make a funnel, right? I mean, women and men and women pee the same way. We just have a contraption, they don't. And all I had to do was direct that urine from the flow area to the pot.
00:26:05
Speaker
What was the product like? I mean, probably it's an audio medium, so you'll have to describe it by talking about it.
00:26:23
Speaker
So, we just created a funnel. It's just a funnel. It was like a, like a cardboard. Basic cardboard, use and throw, easy to carry. You know, it is, it's portable, recyclable, made of cardboard. It's a simple funnel. You pee into the funnel from one end, it goes out from the other. No rocket science, you know, but all it does is you don't need to sit and pee. You can just stand, just stand, you know, widen your legs a little, place the funnel, pee into the funnel, it goes to the pot. Very simple. No, no rocket science.
00:26:53
Speaker
And so yeah, that's how the product came about. And then one product led to another. But 2015, it was clear that this is what I wanted to see. It took me a year to exit everything else. And then we fixed everything else that we had created as a problem. We had created three brands by then. In fact, we had five brands. We brought them because I thought that, you know, every product should become cattingly synonymous. You know, like we won't sell the other products.
00:27:16
Speaker
So that we will become free. Serona will be a menstrual hygiene products. Bodyguard will be bodyguard, which will be family hygiene. So we are going to create hygiene. So we are clear that hygiene is an exciting space. We had its own sweet journey. You had all these products out by 15.
00:27:34
Speaker
Okay. Well, what do you like spreading yourself to? Thank you so much. Capitalist my friend. Yes. But I didn't have smarter people like you advising me back then.
00:27:46
Speaker
So it is, in hindsight, everything is 2020. Now if I were to do it, I would never do it again, or maybe I'll do it all over again the same way. You never know, right? If I hadn't made those mistakes, maybe things would have been very different today. So we were the only ones who couldn't really raise a lot of capital, but it got me to think, how do I still keep scaling? So we might be the only startup of our space and segment to be still profitable for the last three years on very limited funding, you know? But it happened because we didn't get good money. So was it on design? No, it is that thing.
00:28:15
Speaker
Fortune favors the brave Bali Bate. I had no other option. The only way was to survive, right? And to survive, you have to have money. So, I didn't take many puns. So, those three brands, I kept continuing because some of them were selling, some of them weren't. I didn't ever have the luxury here to have a million-dollar raise. I don't have any brand. I don't have a million-dollar raise. I don't have a million-dollar raise. I don't have a teen-brand brand because all the brands were contributing some capital. We had a little bit of venues they were bringing in.
00:28:45
Speaker
But now today, if you look at it, everybody's acquiring more and more brands. All companies with single brand are acquiring other brands. It's all house of brands. So we were housing brand from day one. So what was wrong initially is now right in hype, is now right. So 15, what kind of revenue was the business generating?
00:29:12
Speaker
We were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell pain patch, we were trying to sell, you know, disposal bags, all habit changing products. We were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell pain patch, we were trying to sell, you know, disposal bags, all habit changing products. We were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to sell P-Buddy, we were trying to
00:29:42
Speaker
If you like to hear stories of founders, then we have tons of great stories from entrepreneurs who have built billion dollar businesses. Just search for the founder thesis podcast on any audio streaming app like Spotify, Ghana, Apple podcasts, and subscribe to the show.
00:30:02
Speaker
Tell me that progression then. As of 15, full time now, you are running Serona slash Peabody. 16, I was running full time. 17 is when we raised... 16 KITI revenue. Then 17 was about a crore, I think. And you were at breakeven. No, breakeven happened on 18.
00:30:24
Speaker
You were putting in our money and then we had raised a small round of capital from Indian Angel Network. In 17? Yeah, 17. How much did you raise? We raised 2.96 crores. And I think of 17, then it was 2.47 at a loss. 18 was of 7.
00:30:47
Speaker
And product range, all these products. We were just concentrating on this only. Merit has started becoming better in 2019, where we said we want to be known for only female hygiene, puberty to menopause. We will solve unaddressed issues, which are around these areas, you know, toilet hygiene, intimate hygiene, menstrual hygiene, expanded eventually to sexual wellness, emotional wellness, but all taboo topics. If you want to talk about taboo stuff only.
00:31:13
Speaker
And over 70 per day, 80-20, 20% of products kept contributing to 80% of revenues. But largely female hygiene, except for the COVID time when bodyguard took off because of COVID. But now it's again 70-30, 70% of whatever we do comes from female hygiene, 30% from family hygiene. And yeah, 18, 19, 20, 21 was I think 7 crores and 14 crores and 26 crores was 21. Let's see where we... What are you expecting to closer?
00:31:41
Speaker
So yeah, I mean with the way things are going, I would say that 40 odd should be the least and it can go anywhere from there. But coming here is when we are looking at 100 crores if all goes well.
00:31:54
Speaker
Wow. Amazing. Okay. Okay. So the, you know, tell me about the sales and distribution strategy. Like initially in 15, 16, it was largely offline. So how did that evolve over the years? Like, so, you know, because most of our products were, and I still do, right? We are still the pioneers of female hygiene as a category. When it comes to innovations, you know, we, we come up with products, people launch similar products.
00:32:17
Speaker
But when it comes to ideating in the space, we've done that bit. And what that does is, you know, it opens, it leaves very few channels for us to sell for all. Because you know, offline is about, you know, right? Online, you have to now online is available. But in online, what's in that big as what it is today?
00:32:39
Speaker
We tried everything. We wrote all the channels where we can sell from. We went after everything. We spoke to doctors also. We went to schools also. We did colleges also. We went to corporates also. We did offline also. We did online also.
00:32:51
Speaker
How did you sell through doctors? Did you place a product like a standee with products there that people could buy and pay? We had medical representatives back then going to doctors and telling them about this unique concept of stand and pee for pregnant ladies and for orthopedics and sorry talking about arthritis and we started doing that. We could sell the RV but credibility but we should go with you know. We did that for some time but because sale didn't come we couldn't sustain the channel.
00:33:20
Speaker
So, we moved to online. We tried offline, offline. We can't sustain like that right at this corner. So, we will not even do this. So, most of the channels for us became because of elimination. So, online became a channel of choice because whatever we were selling at least we were getting money.
00:33:39
Speaker
And then we said that whatever we can sell from and we can sell from profitably is what we will sell from. Our own website also became out of bound because of that object. Because to sell from your website, you had to have that Facebook and Google kind of capital, which didn't happen. So Amazon became its voice, Amazon Flipkart are the portals of the world.
00:33:56
Speaker
And we started selling from there. And today also it's the same. I mean, we're still largely online. Offline, we're now getting in now with the recent. We've taken a strategic series B from Goodlamguru. And now we'll be maybe leveraging their offline might to expand offline. But otherwise, the plan was to just continue to grow it online. From where we can sell profitably, that's the logic.
00:34:17
Speaker
Okay. And how were you like driving sales? Like were you doing Facebook marketing and like that spend? Now we do. Oh, now we started doing for the last one year because so we raised our series in April 21, you know, which was 10.
00:34:32
Speaker
which was actually a 20 crore round out of which one transfer came to the account. So, 10 crores had come to the account. Next month was expected in December 21, but by December 21, we did another 100 crore deal with Bupurj Lamguru. So, and offered, we ran exit to all our angel investors and other investors.
00:34:52
Speaker
So, that's the amount that we raised. I'm sorry. That's what you asked. That we raised back then. And so we started with that. We started selling from our website where we started selling on Facebook and Google. We are spending money there. And so you have like separate websites because these are like separate. Only one. Whatever you want, you go to thoseserona.com and you can buy from there. Thoseserona, that's the mother brand. Everything is their own.
00:35:19
Speaker
And now what sells? Like, you know, in terms of out of your SKUs, which are like the top performing one? Let's say Peabody does well in the toilet hygiene space. In the menstrual hygiene space, we have more products. Peabody is still just the funnel device or are there other products? We've added other products, but out of the products, funnel sells still the most for us. We have this NNP device in Peabody. So we're saying, what's the toilet? Pea, poop, smell, anything problem?
00:35:45
Speaker
Pea karoogia, poop karoogia, smell it. Those are three things. So for peeing, there is pee buddy, you can stand and pee. For poop, there is toilet seat covers that we have. And for smell, we have polydeodorizer like infected. Paper cover. Paper covers, yes. So we've just made them into D2C, you know, like a small biscuit packing. You can just carry it and eat it. So we made it easy portable. So toilet hygiene disruption, they're where stand and pee sells the most. In menstrual hygiene space, we are known for our period pain relief patches, which are India's first herbal period pain relief patches for menstrual cramps.
00:36:15
Speaker
We didn't want worlds can't carry hot water bottles everywhere and obviously painkillers are its own set of side effects. Our herbal period tater leaf patches do well. Our disposal bags which are sanitary disposal pad tampon condom pecking casei. We came with their size small disposal bags followed by menstrual cups obviously which are India's highest selling menstrual cups for us. There are about a million women who use Sirona menstrual cups today.
00:36:37
Speaker
You know, and then our natural intimate washed as well, which is for intimate area. Now we're getting into hair removal as a category for women. So those are top two. Hair removal, like pubic hair, like that focus. I mean, you know, men have 20 kinds of razors. So why do girls only have one available? So we expanded, we have now seven kinds of razors, obviously for your bikini line, for legs, for even face, by the way, girls who
00:37:04
Speaker
Even they'll like to go shape their upper lip and all that. So we have that. And hair removal creams also, we've tried to come with solutions which have no talc. So that's hair removal for us. And Bodyguard does post out time. So I want to understand your process of...
00:37:24
Speaker
launching new products. How do you decide, how do you actually create the prototype and what is your process of testing a product, and then how do you commercialize? So that whole process,
00:37:41
Speaker
shortlisting, testing, commercializing, and maybe you can give some examples also. Initially, it was more around saying that whatever problems came directly to us as founder level. We just said, we are a problem, and it was clear. So we started becoming whatever was the most obvious. I mean, so initially it was, there was no process, honestly.
00:38:01
Speaker
Now there's a very common. Like let's take that herbal patch. So obviously you felt cramps is a problem. So let's solve it. Then how did you figure out the HA product? How did you finally create a herbal patch? You're not from that background. You need a chemistry background or something for that. So it was simple. It was again, I call myself a very selfish man. So Rashi, you know first my wife, you know her first day of periods are still very painful.
00:38:30
Speaker
Mike then it was far more painful. So when I tried to understand, it was that hot water bottle after a while.
00:38:43
Speaker
painkillers, and it has its own side effects. So it's going to understand, how do you solve something as fundamental as mental crimes? And obviously, I'm not saying our patches are, you know, but it works out of 10, it'll work on 7 and on 7, it'll work very well. What it does is basically, I spoke to, I was trying to find solutions.
00:39:05
Speaker
Ointments, balms, oils, don't work because they smell like a cup of water. So solution, let's get started.
00:39:14
Speaker
which works for longer, it doesn't smell. And it is something which is discreet also. Smelling is discreet also. So, in one such conversation, I was talking to a friend whose dad runs an Ayurvedic brand. They do good, 70-100 crores revenue. Back then, they were also doing revenue. So, I was trying to ask him, how do you solve this? He said, nobody will take something which is, you know, as a way to set up.
00:39:43
Speaker
You know, medicine is not good, medicine is not good. So, then came the bandit. So he said, why not? Let's try it. Actually, it came out of that only that, yeah, at the end of the day, what it is, it's a pain of the brain. It's a pain of the brain. It's a pain of the brain. It's a pain of the brain. It's a pain of the brain. It's a pain of the brain. It's a pain of the brain. It's a pain of the brain.
00:40:00
Speaker
So, then we spoke to Uncle and we came up with this formulation, which became our so-called proprietary Ayurvedic formulation, where we had put in menthol and eucalyptus oil. Both have its own speed purpose. Menthol cools the area, the soil helps in mobility, even joint pain, similar to eucalyptus oil. So, we put it in a big, big band-aid. Just think of it as a big band-aid. It's a big patch.
00:40:37
Speaker
So that's how the first product came about. Honestly, there was more rocket science that went into it and because we're not any drug company, for us, we still said that, you know, what we need to do is we need to
00:40:51
Speaker
Just heal the pain at that point. So we worked on this medical, this is a move-out, move-out, you know, this is the strongest sensation. So that's why when you put a, you know, like a spray, you know, and completely cool, then you're like, oh, see, I'm ready. Your brain is sensation. Okay.
00:41:19
Speaker
You're just disrupting the signal, basically. The body pain signal, the signal could disrupt with some other signal. Absolutely. And that's what you do anyways. That's what you've been doing with all these sprays that you're using. What is happening? That's happening, dude. Nothing else is happening. So we said, how can I just not give medicine? How can I make it simpler, easier? And pain pads came out of that. Disposal bag, same process. When we were travelling, she would not meet Delhi boy, Miriliy Matlab.
00:41:54
Speaker
And she would not throw anything. So especially with our first daughter, you know, so it was, she would not throw stuff. And plastic in itself is a disaster baby diaper, technically. So it came for her at that time, you know, at least baby diapers can be thrown in a better fashion. These are oxo-degnetable plastic.
00:42:14
Speaker
And you know, it becomes easy for people on the go to throw stuff. Then I thought, all the pads will be a problem. Quantum disposal back came because the society where I used to stay earlier in Gurgaon, every third Thursday, every balcony in Quantum, you know what I'm saying? I think it just thought, why can't you not just get up and throw it in the bloody bin? Oh well. Oh well, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
00:42:44
Speaker
But still, maybe I might have some photographs also. If it was like clockwork, I was on the 8th floor. Third Thursday, so I knew the guy was having fun. Only, you know, Wednesday.
00:42:59
Speaker
Now, there is a very competent team. We have three medical doctors, who are looking at many problems from that lens that while we are not a pharma company, how do we still look at problems and solve them in a far more scientific fashion, but cosmetic. So, we will still stay cosmetic.
00:43:21
Speaker
So now the ideas are there. We've made a list of problems that women still face from puberty to menopause. There's a list that we have at the office and one after another ideas are being picked and they're being sold.
00:43:31
Speaker
And menstrual cups? How did that come about? Serendipity again. I was doing pain patches. I wanted to introduce tampons. I thought tampons here were not in very good supply. There's just one brand and that also regular analog tampon. And whenever I've travelled from international locations, I've always asked to carry tampons.
00:43:55
Speaker
We introduced tampons and from tampon users came the feedback for cups. We know I think cup is a far better thing. So we got into cups like that. It was not something that I would say. So that's how it came. That's where it was.
00:44:21
Speaker
But yeah, we are the first ones to start pushing it commercially. What I realized was, if it has to be sold at scale, it cannot be 2000 rupees of price point for people. It has to be so easy that you should be thinking, let me try it. Even if it doesn't write 200 or 300 bucks, I'll not die. But the ones who are trying, price should not be a handicap.
00:44:40
Speaker
So we disrupted that space. We said we'll make affordable cups. We'll make them the best quality and the least possible price possible. Even if there's no repeat, it's okay. Maybe if he likes my cups, he'll go and buy other products from me. And that's what is happening today.
00:44:56
Speaker
And so, are cups mainstream? As you said, mainstream is pads. So, is it changing now? Are cups getting more acceptance? Obviously, like I said, you know, now, again, you have to do anything that you will find traction.
00:45:16
Speaker
20 years ago, if we discuss in one piece that you are a pad minister in India, no, but today are the mainstream ad absolutely is, right? Consider a similar juncture. It is the reality of tomorrow. It is the product of tomorrow. It is the most logical product for us to push. But why? Like, why do you feel it's? So pads make, again, your pads have done their beta. I'm not against pads, by the way. All I'm saying is that let the girl decide for herself.
00:45:40
Speaker
More globally, you scrape out sour products available for her periods. She can use her pad, she can use her tampons, she can use her panty liners, she can use her cup. So in India, my dialogue, why is it only skewed towards pads? So from that lens, first of all, let her give all the four options. Depending on her situation, we will pick one product. Now you're okay with your pad, very good. I would say that, you know, why you should switch is because, you know, pad has to be bought every month. So it's a financial thing.
00:46:06
Speaker
Pad takes about 500 to 700 years to decompose every pad and you will throw about 10 to 15,000 of them in your lifetime. Also, it's an environmental disaster. Third, it also limits you in many ways to say that you can't swim, run, jog with a pad on. For all these things, there is an alternative called GUP. Yes, you have to insert it, but it collects the blood. It can last, same up can last you for 7 hours, 8 hours and one cup can be reused for up to 5 years to 10 years depending on how you keep it.
00:46:32
Speaker
And it's leak proof, like 100%. Yeah, I mean, I think I have a million users in India. And it's not my innovation. So there are cops have existed for decades. It's just that it's like, it's maybe I would say it's the same way how the stand in P devices, why they've existed, just that they've not been commercialized. And do they work? They work like clockwork. Yeah, they work very, very well. Same as the case with the cop.
00:46:52
Speaker
And all the users in America today or in Europe who are on tampons are moving to cups because for them inserting is not a taboo anymore. They have been inserting tampons so they are saying when we are inserting something which is a tampon which I have to use every month, buy every month, might as well use a cup.
00:47:06
Speaker
So for all those reasons and obviously for a country like us where there's so much of poverty also, I would say that if we have to get our women from rural India, from the underprivileged background or any sort of mental protection, cups makes most sense because you don't have to keep giving it to her. She doesn't have to think about where to throw. She doesn't have to worry about all those other challenges that are there with it.
00:47:27
Speaker
We work with the underprivileged and we are moving them to cups at no cost to them. So when it comes to cups here, I can talk about it. It can be different podcasts altogether. I can talk about all. Okay. Okay. And in the bodyguard range, like how did that come about? And what all products are there? You told me a mosquito repellent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It has. So how did it come about like this only? So we knew 2015.
00:47:57
Speaker
So we wanted to cover the product that I can enter her house with and back then I didn't even know I'll sell online honestly. It was more offline. So we came with mosquito repellent spray, patches, etc. You know, polishing masks for kids.
00:48:18
Speaker
So, that's how it came into be. Because first couple of years it was our own money. So, bodyguard top sales back then. So, we could never start it now. And then, even till about 1890, it was contributing to 20-25%. 20-25% for a company which has not raised too much capital. You know,
00:48:48
Speaker
So that's a body that kept growing and it still is. It is still a brand which has helped us in the years where it did. But now I think I think that now that we have enough capital, we've given a good exit to our investors, we'd want to focus on category which is closest to our heart, which is female hygiene, which is taboo topics, which is female, this intermittent naturalizing space.
00:49:09
Speaker
Okay. And how did you get bodyguard manufactured like commercialization? Subcontract manufactured. We don't manufacture. Only the product combination is ourselves. So tell me about how you launch stuff. So now we've talked about product ideation and how that product gets made. How do you
00:49:31
Speaker
How do you scale it? Say you thought of menstrual cups, how did you scale it from finding customers for it and getting it out there? You want the right answer, you want the politically correct answer. No, I want the honest answer, the brutally honest answer. The honest answer is there is no formula, honestly. Whatever worked when we launched cups is now not working with what we are launching now.
00:49:55
Speaker
The category is evolving very, very fast. I think the only thing that we keep in mind is what is it that is today the best way to reach out to our customers and we use that platform. Which way it was TikTok, before that it was Facebook, then it became Instagram, now it's something else. As launch process, yes, all the products are compliant. We follow, I mean, there's a strict T-45 day. We have a rulebook, which we follow. But when it comes to go-to-market, go-to-market is very, very fast evolving and it varies from product to product.
00:50:23
Speaker
So, and we know also my experience that when it comes to solving, giving something to Indian customers that they've not used, and I cannot say, you know, but now by that logic, we launched India's first.
00:50:46
Speaker
period strain remover. We wanted to stay in India's first period strain remover. Should we be a roaring success? It absolutely should be. But has it been so far? No. It will take time. I will talk to the same colleges, schools, wherever we've spoken, talk, spread awareness around it. And there's some people who will be the early adopters and then laggards will follow.
00:51:16
Speaker
But tell me about what worked in the past, like when you wanted to launch the menstrual cup, like how did you do that? Different products, different things have worked there and they all worked because we were trying five things and one of them started to click. Again, like I said, I'm talking as a friend that while now there's a playbook, if I have to launch new product, I myself in my heart know that I can't put a finger on something and say, you know, I see a consumer or dynamic.
00:51:40
Speaker
Not with more dynamic circumstances, but with COVID. COVID is the first phase of COVID. I was thinking people will not stay home, but we started selling a lot. Second wave, we didn't sell a lot. Our cubs started kicking up a lot. So can I now say that COVID was not staying at home, but pregnant women were using it? Maybe yes, but why did they not use it in phase two?
00:52:06
Speaker
Why do we use cups? Because we don't have time to try. Everybody is working for both. So many factors have played and it will play out in everybody's journey. Can you say that this is 100% fighting? What you need as an entrepreneur is the conviction or the belief in yourself to say, I'm willing to fail.
00:52:25
Speaker
What am I going to fail on? I am trying five things today with my products and I'm willing to fail. Like in the case of Peabody, I went to doctors. It started working but the space was very, very small. For me, because I had sent 700 cold emails, one of them replied, which was Airtel marathon, you know, Airtel Delhi marathon, which started Bombay marathon. The guy replied, the CEO, and he threw me at Bombay. He threw me to Bombay at a day's notice. And he bought first 10,000 Peabody's one go and he gave it to women for free.
00:52:55
Speaker
That gave us a very different level of, did it give a lot of sales? Not really. But it gave me confidence of another level, boss. So many times in our lives, good things have happened which have changed the course of the organization. And I think life is just about waiting for those good things to happen by just trying in all directions. There's no one direction. Kupskake is what worked. Maybe COVID worked. I tried technique, but can I attribute them to directly? Not really.
00:53:22
Speaker
Nobody today, I mean, all the friends also who run D2C startups, if you ask any of them while they can be very clear, you know, politically correct answers given to what worked, can they do it again? No, the same book cannot be now followed to replicate the same success. Yeah, I wanted to understand you saying like that educational institution tapping like schools and colleges as you know, how did you do that? Did that work? You know, I want to understand that like,
00:53:47
Speaker
Essentially you are creating stuff which is like a category of its own. So which means that you need to educate and spread awareness. So like you would be the best person to talk about spreading awareness and educating for a new category. And that's what I want to hear from you. How did you do that? You know, our category has a lot of taboo around it here. And I believe that till the time there are conversations, there'll be no progress. There's no progress. We'll stay in status quo. It's a vicious circle.
00:54:16
Speaker
With anybody we realize that if you're able to have conversations started, things start to move because this innovation amongst themselves, they're not scared of talking. So now what we do is we run a foundation where we work, like I said, with the underprivileged with a lot of NGO partners, where whatever we are doing, we're talking about it for a regular urban customers. We are running campus ambassador programs. We have, you know, programs within.
00:54:38
Speaker
colleges and schools where we are talking about sustainable menstruation and that's all that we're doing. Is it resulting in sales? Not really. But is it opening the category? It certainly is. These are the audience that we want to talk to. So if one is into any taboo topic, the only way you can solve it is by untabu it. And we untabu it by talking.
00:54:54
Speaker
So the more we talk about it, how do we do it? We create videos, we circulate videos. Some of the videos go well, some of the videos don't go well. The campus ambassador essentially circulates the videos. What do the campus ambassadors do? They talk about it. We don't use them for circulation of videos. We every year get students on wood and we talk about sustainable menstruation. We talk about the importance of using other products than what they're already used to. We talk about them.
00:55:17
Speaker
into talking about these issues at home to their domestic health, to figuring out what are those guys using. And the more they talk, the more aware they are, the more questions they ask, the more solutions come out of it.
00:55:31
Speaker
Okay. So there's like an internship like that in which there the KRA or there what they expected the job description of the internship is to talk to people about. That's right. That's all. We don't and it's something to do with Serona. It's just about and we talk about sustainable development goals. We talk about how it is important to talk about these things. We make them listen to many webinars. We make them talk talk to many founders and share their journey. But you know, just just
00:56:00
Speaker
Baking the hitch, whatever are those inhibitions is what that program breaks. And that's all which is working. And I think in the absence of money, you keep trying 100 things. Now, maybe we'll try the same mass level advertising and the same morning companies that others are. But so far, it has been about whatever can get us to talk about the category. Let's talk about it.
00:56:22
Speaker
So the CSR initiative was also like a way to spread awareness instead of spending on Facebook and Google, which would have been much costlier. CSR became a path to... Well, I'd say not really, because those customers are not my buying customers. CSR became because in our heart somewhere, we believe that we are here to actually change this category.
00:56:52
Speaker
And one way we can do it is by showing to our own self that it's not only about the money. And how do we do it? We say...
00:57:04
Speaker
We will do it right now and we did it at a point when we were doing not even a career a month. The foundation work was started back then. I think it's a time when we also met. We said, no, we have to talk about these issues not only to those who can afford our product but also to those who can't because at the end of the day, period poverty is everywhere. Today, even a rich woman is a poor woman when it comes to period awareness. So for us, it is a way of tatting ourselves on the back to say, I know we are doing good for everyone. Not only
00:57:31
Speaker
We're not a for-profit company alone. We also run initiatives with sex workers. I remember before Covid, I've been on GB road, please 10 times if not less. Not to talk to Dr. Deemis. We've been to the remotest of villages. This Dr. Deesha Dara just spoke about. She runs the foundation and she's been to the remotest of villages in the country today where she's spoken in person. Yesterday also she was at a place despite Covid where
00:57:56
Speaker
We were talking to 15 refugee women and we spoke to them about what they're using and the situation is very, very bad. This gives us a little bit of, I would say, it helps us sleep better. We did it for somebody who otherwise nobody would have looked at. Those are never our customers, those will never be our customers, but they're users for sure.
00:58:18
Speaker
So Sirona is saying that we will solve it for those who can buy the products and also for those who can't. And for those who can't, it cannot be our ad-hoc. So that's why we registered our foundation. It has to have its own care, it has to have its own targets. This is our ortho aware about this. We have to be aware of this. We have to raise more capital and get them onto these products because
00:58:43
Speaker
Every life matters. How do you fund the foundation? Is it out of profits like a certain percentage of profit goes there? First couple of years, it was ad hoc. From last year and a half, we started saying that whatever product we sell at Serona, Peabody, those two brands, we gave one rupee to the foundation.
00:59:04
Speaker
And from that, they fund, if they have to donate products, they just buy the products and give it. If it's about arranging webinars, they do it. So, that's why we're trying to organize it like this. The Parona Foundation is a website which has details that we want to end period poverty and gender inequality. Those are the pillars of that organization and they have their own targets every month, educate these many women every month, give these many products free to these many women, and end when monitored.
00:59:32
Speaker
So tell me about the good glam investment, which is like a game changer. How did the conversation start and what clicked? I think I just liked the founder a lot. Honestly, more than money was honestly just the icing on the cake. We had raised our series A, we were in the market to raise our regular series B. So what I thought was, series B, how did it work?
01:00:00
Speaker
Facebook, Google. That's where I'll spend money. Why will I spend money? Because I want more and more people to know about me. I want more and more people to know about our products. They will look at these ads and they'll come to my website and buy. And so whatever I need, I need women. I need traffic. I need money to be able to let more and more women know about our products.
01:00:20
Speaker
You need money to buy traffic, basically. Yeah, I'm spread awareness, yes. So, we're clear. When I started speaking with this guy, I think what I loved about him was that he was trying to say that, you know, at one point, and I think he just said the right things to us and things would resonate like, I hate to burn money.
01:00:40
Speaker
So he did say that if you're looking at traffic, we have so many companies that we've now acquired from Papexo to maybe Chakra to Scoop Poop to Miss Mali. These are best names when it comes to content and media and traffic. I've been conference with them in the past to see that sometimes people do. This is where awareness will be spread from. She said, this is anyways available to you.
01:01:04
Speaker
We love the passion with which you are building and we are long term players in the category. So I think some of those things were resonated very, very well, which in our category is difficult. You know what happens with typical VC is they would want to go into category which is very big already. So that, you know, if it's a 1 lakh crore category, in a 1 lakh crore category, it's easy to be a 1000 crore brand. So if they come in at 100 crore revenue, they know they can take it to 1000.
01:01:26
Speaker
and a thousand will be able to exit. In our category, it's a 3,000 crore category. It's a very small category. So you genuinely need people who want good for the category, who have long-term capital available to build the category. That unfortunately is not the VC game.
01:01:39
Speaker
So I was facing a lot of, you know, while I did have four term sheets, I was facing a lot of, I mean, I had, there was a lot of, I would say convincing required. They were still investing in the passion of the team. You know, they were still saying, we love what you're doing. We are users of your product. Let's do it. Let's do it.
01:01:59
Speaker
which says we love what you're doing, it's exciting, we can give the traffic, we can give the money, we believe in what you're doing, let's take it to the world. So I think it was just a founder-founder level conversation, which I don't know, but certainly it has started off on a very
01:02:16
Speaker
Very beautiful note, where somebody valued the five years that we've given to the six years actually, a lot of heart, blood, sweat, tears have gone into this because people have come in later and they have raised more capital, they are doing far more revenues in easier categories.
01:02:36
Speaker
And this is a difficult category. And we're slogging it out. And there are still people who believe in what we're doing is right. So I think it was more of alignment at that level. And then I believe in energy here. I told him very clearly, the founder, I said, I will not give you $1,000 conversations. I will come and meet you when I see one person sit across the table and the guy was willing to meet peak COVID. I think I flew to Dubai and I met him. I think it was a very interesting conversation.
01:03:05
Speaker
So, let's see where it goes, buddy. So, are you now part of the good lab group? No. What we've done is, in our case, we've taken money. We are an investment from the good lab group. Have we been acquired? No, we've not been acquired. It's an investment. Yes, they have given us adequate money to give an exit to all the current investors. So, they do hold a good majority right now. However, it's a partnership at this stage.
01:03:33
Speaker
And the idea for us was very simple. We want our investors who backed us initially to walk away smiling. We want our future to be safe for our employees. Our majority to be there in our ESOPs that they will buy the ESOPs and they'll do all that. They agreed to all that and then there was very little that I had to do. But yes, in two years, if everything goes well, I do have the option to raise more money from them to eventually exit to them also.
01:03:57
Speaker
Okay. And now that you have money in the bank, what do you think will be the best use of this money? I mean, essentially your problem remains the same, creating awareness. And so far you've been using low cost hacks. So now that you have money, what do you think? Some of it we're going to keep hiring here. I think we need some key level employees, CXOs will come in.
01:04:20
Speaker
because this now needs to be built as a mission so far which it's all passion driven. Now it needs to be tied in. So that's there. I think some of it and majority of it will also go into awareness and marketing.
01:04:32
Speaker
If you like the Found A Thesis podcast, then do check out our other shows on subjects like marketing, technology, career advice, books and drama. Visit the podium.in for a complete list of all our shows.
01:04:53
Speaker
Before we end the episode, I want to share a bit about my journey as a podcaster. I started podcasting in 2020 and in the last two years, I've had the opportunity to interview more than 250 founders who are shaping India's future across sectors. If you also want to speak to the best minds in your field and build an enviable network, then you must consider becoming a podcaster.
01:05:17
Speaker
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