Learn Fast, Act Fast.

One of the core Company value is “Learn Fast, Act Fast”. We hear it so often on our floor, that we embody it all our actions. Being a start-up, and in an ever-changing fast moving consumer space, we have to keep up with our customer’s needs. Not just that, we need to keep up with the needs of our partners, shareholders and stakeholders. And to do that, we have to be on our toes, and be quick. We have had to experiment, tweak our experiments, and more importantly learn from them.

?

When we think about how much time & effort we have been giving each stage of our product development journey – conceptualisation, Research, Planning, Prototyping, testing, trials, Sourcing, launching, Commercialisation – we know lot goes into actually getting the product on-ground. We combine, modify, adapt, eliminate, and substitute till we get something that suits the entire maker-channel-user ecosystem. We sometimes even scrap that which does not work.

" But in the entire process, what is important is that we have been AGILE. "

Plug and Play formulations in Personal care are abundant in the Market. It may take as low as 3 months to get out a product. But To create something exceptional, truly innovative, liked by most, and from the scratch is a mammoth task that can take time. Industry average is anywhere between 18 to 21 months. Here is an example we want to share that took ample adaptations, but with dedication and ‘Learn fast & Act fast’ attitude, the product was launched in only 7 months – from ideation to launch : Pure Aloe Vera Gel

First, what is so unique in our Aloe Gel that it needs a special mention?

It is Pure. And Unlike the market available Aloe gel that has a aqueous base with less than 5% of pure Aloe Vera and stabilised with chemical stabilisers, our Pure Aloe Gel has 93% Aloe sourced fresh from farms, absolutely carbomer-free and made fresh everyday in our Kitchens.

?

?

We tackled multiple curve-balls thrown at us, and learnt it the do-and-redo way

1.????We started with traditional procurement of aloe pulp. But then, have you ever tried keeping freshly plucked aloe pulp on your kitchen slab for a while? Aloe pulp doesn’t store well. They turn yellow. We needed to pivot.

2.????Aloe leaves needed to be de-pulped fresh 4 hours before, and at the location of preparation. We then began procuring Aloe leaves, and cutting them fresh in our kitchens. However, the outer green thick layer starts absorbing moisture & nutrients from the pulp if cut aloe is left as is, making the pulp less nutritious. So aloe pulp needed to be de-pulped from the outer covering immediately after cutting. Another quick pivot.

3.????Then we asked our suppliers to de-pulp fresh leaves. But then Freshly De-pulped Aloe doesn’t travel well. We needed to put them in insulated cold boxes to transfer them to our kitchen. Finding farmers that could supply this, and in cold supply chain delivery was a task. We had to look for farmers who were within 150 kms radius from our Kitchen.

4.????Within a few trials of preparation, when more than 70% of the batch began getting rejected in quality control, we realised the need to set up ambient temperature with controlled environment so as to prevent contamination.

5.????After crying over spoilt aloe pulp, we reworked our storage plans – creating compartmentalised cold room where different zones that could have different ambient temperatures.

?

The story of creating Fresh Aloe Gel did not end at just Aloe Vera challenges!

1.????Like most of our products, without chemical stabilizers or preservatives, it is difficult to make a stable product that has shelf life of only 3 months. Lots of Research, trials and testing was required to formulate this product. ?

2.????With the decision of preparing them Fresh Everyday, new SOPs needed to be added to our existing kitchen processes.

3.????Crisp communication that would make our customers choose our product over the clutter of products available from our fellow brands required thoughtful content & creative efforts.

4.????Large number of consumer feedback needed to be studied and incorporated after trials. Could our product garner customer satisfaction that is a 9+ from atleast 95% of our respondents?

Creating something that not just works, but also wows our customers was our goal. In the process of achieving that goal we learned a lot, and are proud of it. Truly embodying our slogan “Learn Fast, Act Fast”, we continue to battle host of such challenges in the future till we become the sought after brand for Natural Living!