..and why you should too.
Now it is not everyday that you can come up with a headline like that and get away. But I will valiantly try to do what no man has done before.
Wishberry, the Kickstarter of India, in what may be the first in the world (or at least India), has opened pre-orders for a brand of bras, lusciously named ‘Buttercups’.
Arpita Ganesh, the woman behind the project, is an energetic and gregarious woman whom I first met in 2010 in the IIM-A CIIE Power of Ideas Program, where I was also a participant. She had already been retailing ‘the bras that fit’ in Hyderabad, but since then, has been untiringly attempting to make the world a better place for every woman in the country and the world with her products. She says “every bra fitting is like a high for me. It’s like the high which a chef gets on being complimented on an extraordinary dish!” Such is her passion.
If you are wondering, like I did, if she chose the right cause to be so passionate about, I bet you are a man too because women apparently just get it. But you are excused. Men aren’t supposed to know about the problems of ill-fitting bras anymore than women are supposed to know why the non-fitting boxer shorts are so gloriously comfortable for men. Unless somebody educated both, of course. So here is the education for men.
Triumph International, a german lingerie company, recently conducted a survey of 10,000 women which revealed that almost two-thirds of women across the world are wearing the wrong size bra. The results published in a recent article in the Daily Mail also claim that 73 per cent of women in the poll – almost three-quarters of them – admitted that improperly-fitting lingerie could ruin their entire working day.
Now what about that you may ask. Discomfort of ill-fitting underclothes is not all that alien to men either – anyone who chose style over function and bought a VIP Designer brief or the recent Denin by Zoiro will vouch for that (you’re damn right it is a confession).
But the issue is the problem is not that easily solved for women as it is for men. For starters, it is not often that a woman finds herself resembling the girl on the packaging. So it may not fit as expected. The buying experience is pretty much downhill from here if you factor in other variables like price, style, and the environment in which women have to shop, like malls, in full public glare.
Still, I needed to be sure the research findings are not hyperboles that lingerie companies perpetuate in their favor. I read the comments that followed the article. Most commentors agree it is a problem. One especially summed it up crisply.
My last piece in cross-checking the research was asking the women at home. They concurred too.
So there is clearly an inefficiency. Now consider that the Indian lingerie market is reportedly Rs 3000 crores – as quoted by Business World in its interview of Richa Kar of Zivame, the multi-brand online lingerie store – and that India has a women population of 300-350 million over 18 years (considering those who are eligible to vote), it gives you an idea of the scale of the opportunity.
Smart entrepreneurs look to solve inefficiencies at scale, and VCs love them for that. Yet for four years, Arpita’s work has been unfunded, while she slaved away to add the other pieces of the puzzle – designers, suppliers et al. You wonder if the fact that most VCs are men has anything to do with it.
In any case, I met Arpita again a couple of months ago. She told me she was lining everything up for one last shot. What about the money? I asked. She said she is going the crowd-funding route. It is a ballsy move so I asked her if she considered the downside of it. Should the attempt fail, potential investors could consider it as negative market feedback for the product even if the failure was in reaching the target audience and not of the product per se.
She said there’s no choice but to go all in. So this is it then, I asked. She nodded.
If I am as tensed about the outcome of this project as a cricket fan at an India-Pakistan world cup final, it is not because I am obsessed with whether the women in the world are wearing the right bra, but because it is an entrepreneur’s obsession. That is what my allegiance is to – to the obsession, tenacity, and courage to stay the course despite all odds until you’ve given it all you got.
That is why I care about the right bra size. You should too, not because of the product (although you will love yourself / be loved for that) but because a fantastic success story would have happened because of you – An Indian woman with no formal business training or financial resources, overcomes all odds and builds a successful business solely on customers’ confidence and self-belief. Isn’t that a worthy narrative to contribute to?
India needs stories like these to succeed. Stories of products, of crowd-funding, of businesses and more importantly success stories of ordinary people, nay women, whose primary capital is self-belief. These are the fanatics or a new religion called ‘Entrepreneurship’. May there be more of them.
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Contribute to Arpita’s project. Fundbuttercups.in. And while at it, also support her ThunderClap.
— About the Author
Kiran Kumar blogs about entrepreneurship and current affairs on kkirank.me. Follow him @kkirank
asha chaudhry
hey kiran,
i saw the headline in my inbox and clicked it immediately ‘coz i know that arpita isn’t a rodinhooder (i’ve been following her story closely!) and was pleasantly surprised to see your name!!
love your passion behind sharing the story. let’s make this happen!!
Kiran Kumar
Thanks Asha. This story had to be told.
Arpita Ganesh
Hi All,
I need your help with two things:
1.Support my Thunderclap: This is NOT a money pledge but a support to help me broadcast my message to everyone in your network. click on bit.ly/TClap and just support the message with either Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr. If you do so, on Feb 10th, at 12 noon, Thunderclap will send out my “fund a quest for better bras” message on your behalf, to all your friends/followers, at the same time as the other supporters. It’s just two clicks: One to the Thunderclap page and the other for your support. Please do this and help me spread the word.
2. Support to the campaign: This one involves money contributions/Pre-orders.
All I need is 3000 people contributing RS. 1,500 each to reach my goal. And you do get a reward for this 1,500, so it’s NOT a charity. For this, log on to http://www.fundbuttercups.in , watch the video (you need to know what my mission is), then click on fund. You will be redirected to the wishberry page. Here click on contribute now, select your reward and click next to go tot he check out page.
Your help with either will make me succeed in a long struggle and prove my conviction. It will also change the way in which we do fund raising for our start-ups. So, help me, not only to realise my dream but to open an avenue for many other entrepreneurs like me, who can succeed without “Investors”! 🙂
Vivek Srinivasan
I am following this story’s development, not because I am extremely interested in the subject, but to see if this campaign runs successfully. Wishberry has never done large sums of money. Although the kind of money she is looking to raise is fairly small, by Kickstarter standards. Its a giant leap for the Indian crowd funding system.
I was also very surprised by how well the crowd funding campaign has been structured! If only she could run it overseas!
Arpita Ganesh
Vivek, Thank you so much for the kind words. Yes, it has been a well thought out campaign and there is more to come.
In the short span that we have run it, I have realised that the challenges we face in India to crowd fund are too many to count. I may or may not reach my goal but, I have already ensured that at least a 100 more people in India know what crowd funding is. And I am glad to be a part of this “giant leap” in funding.
Aparna
Definitely a giant leap Arpita and Kiran!
Good luck with the campaign. As for me, I will definitely send a word out about this campaign!
Arpita Ganesh
Thanks a lot Aparna.
Priyanka Agarwal
Hey Vivek, it’s funny that many people in India feel that using a foreign crowdfunding platform guarantees success, where as the truth is far from it. Most Indian campaigns on indiegogo fail! In fact, Vijay Anand (in50hrs / the startup centre) ran a campaign on Indiegogo recently and Wishberry as well. He raised Rs. 2.75 lakhs on Indiegogo but Rs. 4.2 lakhs on Wishberry (50% more!)
Arpita Ganesh
Vivek/Priyanka,
What I cans ay from my experience is that in India, there are still a lot of apprehensions regarding online payments. What Wishberry is GREATLY helping me with, is pick-ups of cheques and cash, which the international platforms obviously don’t have. And this is why India needs it’s own platforms. 🙂
The disadvantage I have with being on an Indian platform is that the awareness with regards to “crowd -sourcing” is very very poor. This is making my efforts a larger challenge as I need to first educate friends/family/ associate son the concept and then ask for support.
But, this is a small challenge in the face of trying to change an entire eco-system of funding. Am happy to be the “educator” here. 🙂
asha chaudhry
this is what i love most about discussions on trhs!
one awesome post goes up and we have two new rodinhooders – both amazing women entrepreneurs!!!
a very warm welcome to both of you arpita & priyanka!!
priyanka – pls do share the story of wishberry with all of us! am sure there will be lots of rodinhooders who would be keen on crowd-funding but don’t know how to go about it….
Vivek Srinivasan
Nothing guarantees success like success itself. I think it is brilliant that you have taken a step towards making crowd-funding more mainstream in India.
Having said that, 50 Lacs is not a target that can be achieved that easily by an Indian site at the moment. Wishberry has been successful; but north of 10 or 15 Lacs, I doubt. This is not a question being raised on Wishberry but a question of India embracing crowd-funding.
I am sure the same challenges exist when one puts up a campaign on Indigogo or Kickstarter. A simple analogy to this this, I am sure a boatload of startups fail in the US, but you have a greater odd of finding a Billion dollar success in the US as compared to India!
Vivek Srinivasan
I wish they have a like button!
asha chaudhry
trhs is on NING vivek. ning doesn’t have a LIKE button unfortunately.
we’ve all been wishing for a LIKE button. increases engagement!