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Unlucky in “Love” & still going strong – The Mumbai Open house experience…

By Arpita Ganesh on 22 Comments / 4513 views

It’s always awesome to be in the company of entrepreneurs, and the Open house in Mumbai had its own energy! One that excited, encouraged, and made you want more! It was well worth the trip to Mumbai to be a part of such a fantastic event. And kudos to Alok, for keeping it fun while still getting the point across.

The one thing that stood out was that in this “Open house”, everyone from the presenters, audience and hosts, participated equally. Truly wonderful to see a forum where there was genuine energy and intent.

About me: For the past 6 years I have strived to keep Buttercups, my lingerie company alive. It isn’t easy being a retail entrepreneur. But, I kept up with the changing retail market especially with e-commerce coming in, molding myself and the business to address the requirements of the times, and learning as I went along. The business went from being a physical retail store to an online store, with a unique “size yourself” matrix, which no one else had done at the time. I launched India’s first bra sizing app ABTF, realizing that women needed help with knowing their actual size before they went shopping for bras and also started a blog to reach out to women who were suffering the “bad bra” syndrome.

Having done all this to survive, about 2 years ago, I decided that I wanted to launch my own lingerie label – Buttercups.
My experience as India’s only bra fitter and lingerie expert/consultant for the Indian market gave me the edge to understand what women really needed and what was missing.  Most of them were certainly unhappy with the existing brands.

I put the detailed business plan together, and seeing that it was viable, I began designing the label and finding manufacturers and suppliers. After a year of hard work, having everything in place, I decided it was the time to look for seed money to get things up and running. Only to realize that unless you have a “profitable” business, especially in retail, no one will fund you.

After all that is said about funding a great idea, a great founder with keen domain knowledge, a 2nd time entrepreneur, a POC – nope, none of that finally matters. I realized that sometimes you just have to have the business up and running, or else sorry, no funding!  So basically my “startup” especially since it is in the retail space, could not raise money.

Well, it was disappointing to say the least. I tried to find answers to the lack of investor “love” at the Open house. In the PPT, are a few things I thought may have been the reason for that lack of love!

Discussing it at the Open house, answering questions and sharing views, I realized yet again, that sometimes, you can do almost everything right, and still not get funding!

So, after a few unsuccessful “investor dates”, I sat back one day and thought hard. I had already made the plan, and had everything ready except the money.

I hadn’t worked so hard to give up now and that too because I couldn’t get funding?! I was an entrepreneur, I simply couldn’t give up!

I relooked at the business plan and decided that without investing in a retail space, I could continue to retail from my current website. I also reworked the financials to find out what would be the minimal amount that I would need. As it turned out, not as much as I had imagined!

All I need is for 3500 people to give me Rs. 1500 each to launch my label!

So, with encouragement from a few friends, current customers and an advisor, I decided to go raise money from the very women whose problem I was intending to solve – by launching India’s largest crowd sourcing initiative (product), on my own platform www.fundbuttercups.in  

The amazing part of this initiative is that it’s completely bootstrapped! Everything you see on the site has been created with the help of generous friends, entrepreneurs and supporters!

Now, after all of this, I need “you,” Rodinhooders to help me with making this happen!

You could support me by doing any of the following:

  1. Pledge on www.fundbuttercups.in and become one amongst the 3500 supporters
  2. Spread the word – FB & Twitter
  3. Share the post on your social network
  4. Introduce me to anyone who would want to buy-in to the idea (I’m still not averse to angel investment!)
  5. Anything else you feel you can help with!

If we make this happen, imagine the inspiration this story will give the many others, who have been unlucky in “investor love” like me! Let’s make Buttercups a success so that you can all go on and say you helped bring a brand to life!

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UPDATE JUNE 29, 2015: ADDED BY THE EDITOR: 

CONGRATS ARPITA FOR GETTING INVESTOR LOVE!

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UPDATE ADDED BY ASHA ON AUG 17, 2016:

MANY CONGRATS ARPITA ON GETTING SOME MORE INVESTOR LOVE 🙂

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22 Comments

  1. Arpita – 6 years is commendable. I think I first read about ButterCups in YourStory and then someone wrote about it on #trhs.I thought it was a great investment opportunity for an investor; but then I don’t understand this business/sector at all so I could be wrong. But on the other hand, 50 lacs seed doesn’t sound like much for such a (seemingly) big market. May be that’s your problem – the VC/Angel investor community is predominantly male. I don’t know if you already approached few folks I think you should; I’ll email those names to you. Good luck!

  2. Thanks Rishi.

    The idea of taking small funding at this stage is to, in the next few months, put systems into place and start showing traction for the brand. Once we can do that, we will be ready for a Series A in the coming 18 months. No point giving up large equity at low valuations either.

    And thank you for your mail with references. 

  3. arpita – rishi is a very active rodinhooder based in b’lore. pls stay in touch with him; next time they all are meeting up – you can be involved!!

    ps: how much have you been able to collect via your crowd funding campaign so far? and how much still to go?? 

  4. Thanks Asha,
    Will surely keep in touch with Rishi.

    I have currently raised about 3.5 lakhs from 100 backers. I need to raise 46 lakhs more, over the next 2 months. 

    I am hoping that all the entrepreneurs @rodinhood will back me: And in case I forgot to mention, the backing DOES HAVE rewards. We are not taking donations, but giving Buttercups merchandise in lieu of the funds collected.

  5. I have texted you on whatsapp . Maybe I can help you 🙂

  6. Lets us know if http://www.letsride.in can help you in any ways ?

    Both are 2 different market – Buttercups & Ride-Sharing but who knows who can help each others.

    Cheers!

    Mundel

    Changing the way we commute daily…

  7. Thanks Raj.

    Let me rack my brains and figure out a way. For starters, you can back us at http://www.fundbuttercups.in

    That in itself is a great help. 🙂

  8. My offer is still open for you . Lemme know a suitable time and I will call and discuss it with you 🙂

  9. Hi Honey,

  10. Arpita, I just had to pop in and comment on that quote you struck through… 

    “All things comes to those who wait”.  Now I better clarify that: “wait” = patient expectation

    Not a big fan of connecting “working your ass off” and “never give up” with getting funded.  Counter intuitive I know but sometimes you just have to ship oars and let the current take you.

    Also, take a look at this guy: https://www.growthink.com/.  There’s some freebie stuff that may help plus he has a product to help create ‘winning’ pitches with investors.

    Your idea of differentiation and personalization is spot on and you are in the right market (India) to scale with 80+ variations.  Its a shame men (the moneybags) don’t understand breasts, we only know how to lust after ’em.  🙂 

    All the best… and wait… you’ll get there.

  11. I completely agree with there being no connection between hard work and getting funded. It’s when i woke up to that realisation that I set out to Crowd fund. And things have only looked up since. 🙂

    I have also realised that “winning” pitches again, don’t get you funded. What will, is to find investors who understand Profitability and a clearly differentiated model. Am in conversation with this “endangered” investor spices and will update if something comes of it.

    thanks for making time to comment and the encouraging words.

  12. Of all the ideas I’ve seen floating here yours has the potential to scale due to the sheer magnitude of the problem you are tackling.  All the best! 🙂

  13. https://www.facebook.com/syed.honey

    PM me your no. Maybe I can put your website/fanpage in front of potential funding audience. 

  14. Great Idea! I have been toying around with the idea of starting up for a while now, and the first thing I did was research. I read some books, spoke to people who had started up, and I came to the same conclusion that you did- no one will fund a retail start-up that is not profitable. At the very least, one must have some very loyal customers. 

    Do you currently sell your products on any e-commerce platform? I also couldn’t find a company website. I know that my friends, particularly the ones who are larger, have a big difficulty in finding the right bras. Have you thought of tying up with brands/ stores that cater to plus-size women? 

    Please don’t mind, but I have to ask you this- You require quite a bit of money. Why not start smaller, and grow organically/ attract investors? Also, isn’t it a little bit of a stretch to expect 3500 people (mostly strangers) to donate some money (even if it is a very small amount), especially when they have not tried out these products themselves. 

  15. Hi Neharika,

    Thanks for writing. To answer: We do have a loyal client base already. We were retailing International brands on our website earlier, but have stopped since we decided to launch our own line.
    We have a very clear selling proposition as education and fitting experience is VERY important to our brand. Thus, we are NOT going to retail through other sites/stores.

    When launching your own label, there are minim order nos., that suppliers require, especially considering we want to have 80 sizes and each size is unique to our brand. Thus, to have these minimums, this is the basic amount required.

    Attracting investors has already happened and we are talking o a few. That said, if you live in Urban India, and go out for an evening of drinks and dinner, you spend about Rs.1,500/- If you can give that to someone to help them kick off a business, and get a reward in return, wouldn’t you? The premise of Crowd Sourcing/Funding is TRUST and FAITH. The campaign IS so that I can raise money to LAUNCH a product. If I and the money then I would obviously launch the product, right? 🙂

    My experience has been that India is still evolving in being a “giving” community. If you look up Kickstarter and Indiegogo, you’ll see that a lot of people across the world (me included), fund projects because we are convinced there is a need and that the Campaigner deserves a chance. Like I said, I wouldn’t mind sacrificing one lunch/dinner, if I can help someone reach closer to their dream. And I have nothing to lose, as I get the money back in case the campaign is not successful. So, why not lend my support. 🙂

    This is where I was hoping communities like Rodinhood would come out and change the scene and support a campaign like mine. While I have found greta support in words, that hast translated to backing. So, maybe it will take a while for our communities to evolve to a point of being supportive monetarily and putting trust in fellow entrepreneurs. 🙂

  16. hey arpita,

    just saw this in my inbox!

    many congrats!!

    “Dear Asha,

    Thank you so much for believing in me and supporting Buttercups. 

    I am happy to say that I have now successfully raised funds through Angel Funding and supporters like yourself to begin working towards launching the Buttercups label of lingerie. 

    It has been a long struggle and due to our setback in May, we will be ready to launch only by October / November 2014. 

    I will continue to keep you posted on further developments and once again thank you for backing Buttercups.
    cleardot.gif

    —

    Arpita Ganesh,
    Buttercups.in”

  17. Hi Asha,

    Thanks a ton. And yes, will soon write a post on the struggles and “angels”, since its a story that I would love to share with the Rodinhooders! 🙂

  18. Many congrats Arpita…and best wishes for the launch! 🙂

  19. Thanks Rishi.

  20. CONGRATS ARPITA FOR GETTING INVESTOR LOVE!

    more power to you!!

  21. Congrats!!

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