Funded by Imagination and Passion
Gautam Reddy
Building culture-obsessed creative entities that deliver brand-love and memorable entertainment | South-Indian Culture Enthusiast
Learning: It is important to bootstrap when you are a first-time entrepreneur starting a new entity.
Anecdote:
A first-time entrepreneur wanted to teach kids about gender equality in the kitchen. In India, over generations, we have inherited a gender bias around women-folk operating kitchens. As a child, this entrepreneur grew up loving cooking and everything inside a kitchen with his mother and sister. His father detested his attraction to the kitchen.
In the open world, his idea would not receive any traction merely because he believed in this cause. He had to set out a path to realising this dream.
Step 1:
With this goal in mind, the hustling began. The first step was to become a reputed entity in the culinary space. He set up a Facebook page and created a concept where people could dine with strangers in the home of another stranger who prepares a meal for all of them. This allowed him to get close to upcoming and home chefs.
Step 2:
Eventually, the chefs at hotels started asking him to build a concept. He built a culinary studio where corporate employees, boards of listed companies, HNI kids, families & couples started bonding over the "universal social adhesive"; food. All of these customers came in for the experience curated by the "artists behind walls"; chefs.
The concept is now well funded, awarded, has given the entrepreneur a global network with celebrity chefs and inspired him more to stay on course with his dream.
Step 3:
With his carefully curated stature, he has embarked on his final lap and ironically his first dream - gender equality in the kitchen. All the chef connections have led to him developing DIY kits that go to consumers' homes where parents and kids bake & cook together watching content developed by celebrity chefs. Besides talking about recipes and procedures the chefs garnish this content with doses of values that one can infer from cooking and kitchen-fare.
In a world where multiple avenues for start-up funding have opened up, choosing to bootstrap has its own benefits. From coming up with low-cost solutions to finding the right talent, working on a tight budget makes one stay true to the essence of being an entrepreneur, by forcing them to work in ways that are creative and unconventional.
How did you kick off your entrepreneurial journey?