Website – Weirdo
Founder – Priyanka Saini, Mohd Shariq
A creative and inspiring startup founded by two youngsters Priyanka Saini and Mohd Shariq is the “Weirdo”.
Their journey began when they had common goals and wanted to be independent and stand on their own.
The idea of starting this platform was that of Priyanka Saini’s from Roorkee. She was a professional dancer who loved to learn as well as teach dance. She always felt the need to earn well and take care of her expenses.
This startup was something she wanted to explore during her first year of college. As they say “Surround yourself with people who want to see you grow”, Priyanka too had such a friend, Mohd Shariq from Ghaziabad, a constant motivator who joined along with her as the second founder of Weirdo. Both of their interests synced very well and have hence resulted in this success.
Priyanka, Shariq, and her other friend Saim always wanted to own a BMW M8. With this as a secret motivation-triggering element, they started their journey in acquiring new skills. They learned digital marketing and tried to gain a lot of prospective clients. They did face a lot of challenges with the hectic schedule they had to follow every day. They were also not financially well-equipped to start their own business. But these youngsters were not the ones to be shaken!
They started “Weirdo” based on the concept of digital marketing. At first, they posted a lot of poetry on their website and blog. They maintained an Instagram and Pinterest account where they constantly featured very beautiful poems in various genres. These poems interested a lot of people who started to adore them. Soon, Weirdo had a lot of people connected to it. This support from people encouraged them and they thought “Why not launch products at our site?”.
And there it began! The youngsters decided to work towards their first milestone. From being just a poetry site, they took their first step towards success. “Weirdo” became a complete e-commerce platform that sold a plethora of products, each designed uniquely and innovatively. This startup mainly aimed to provide products that touched people’s hearts. They aimed to provide products in such a way that they held a special position in the heart of their customers.
They decided to improve their business by taking one step at a time. They believed that slow progress is still progress. They made 10 sales at first, which then became 13, and little by little they increased their sales after gaining confidence in their customers. They sold products such as theme-based t-shirts with peculiar and lovable prints. They sold personality-defining coffee mugs, cute wallets, and fashionable backpacks.
The startup gave these college students a change in their lives. They felt happy about escaping the stressful full-time jobs which they would have to be doing if not for this startup. Now, though “Weirdo” is in its very initial stage, it is known to be a profit-making company. The company has always aimed to produce quality products that grab the attention of customers. This startup has been aiming to achieve different goals in an extremely fun and enjoyable manner. The determination of these young founders and the creative implementation of their ideas is what has played an important role in getting them discovered!
What made you strike this business idea? What inspired you to start this company?
Priyanka Saini – Initially, i started with digital marketing internships back in college. Over time I learned and explored and eventually got a few good clients. But I always wanted to connect to people which I was not doing through the digital marketing business so I created a poetry page and when I had a good reach I and Shariq planned to launch the eCommerce brand under the same name.
When did you start your business?
Priyanka Saini – I started this business back in 2016 but as a digital marketing service provider wherein the eCommerce brand was launch in Jan 2020.
What does success mean to your company?
Priyanka Saini – Success to us means to connect to more and more people wherein they start talking about the brand and love it in every way be it be the products we offer or the unique content we share.
How are you performing currently?
Priyanka Saini – Launching the Ecommerce section this january we were doing quite well but due to the covid outbreak we had to stop operating while the other part of the business continues to stay as it is and also is the reason behind the survival of the ecommerce brand.
What is the biggest risk to your company?
Priyanka Saini – The company provides digital marketing services to other companies and individuals and makes money through that. And thats the backbone of the ecommerce brand we have launched.
So the biggest risk is the funding that we need for survival and expansion.
What are your plans for the funding?
Priyanka Saini – We have some unique ideas down the line to launch under the weirdo brand but that requires quite a good amount of money, so yes we do plan to raise our funding. I would love it if someone gets to know about the brand and then approach us so we are working to get on to that state.
What is the biggest challenge you faced during your start-up setup?
Priyanka Saini – The major challenge was the decision to launch an eCommerce brand. We had with a premium range back in December 2019 but it was not selling for obvious reasons no one in the market trusts a new brand for a huge ticket size so we switched on to other products and as we wanted to touch people with what we say, do or make we started off with customized products range.
What does growth mean to you and your business?
Priyanka Saini – We do not expect magic to happen suddenly. But growth has a different meaning to us. We want every order we deliver to meet up the customer’s expectations. We grow when a person who purchases from us once gets back to us anytime in the future they need a product we offer. Such should be the impact and that’s how we expect to grow.
How does your product stand different from others in the market?
Priyanka Saini – We create products for different categories. As the whole idea started from connecting to people so our initiative is to design products for different personalities so they can connect to it more and eventually we make a sale.
Where are your start-up services spread?
Priyanka Saini – Currently, we are delivering all over India and id I talk of digital marketing then that has no boundaries its in India and outside India.
What does it feel to be the founder of your start-up? How does it feel getting up every morning and getting on to work?
Priyanka Saini – To be honest i have done an internship and also have done high-end jobs and was earning quite well. But as and when we sell a single product the feeling is something that words can never express.
Where do you see your business standing in the next 5 years?
Priyanka Saini – In the next 5 years, we see a brand people will love, a community where people can share their thoughts and also will grow small initiatives with us all hand in hand while we aggregate and make them onboard.
Because alone one cannot achieve success we believe to bring small talents, small products and showcase them to the world to create magic.
Who support you to stand this business and how? Please share this thing in brief.
Priyanka Saini – My family believes that a job is a thing to go for especially when you are doing so well but also they have never stopped me to do something i want to. They have supported me like anything, often being stuck in continuous challenges like delivery, tech, or quality of the product while I was low. They have been the one telling me that if it had been so easy anyone could have set up a business. A line or the other was my punch to get back to work and solve whatever is coming my way.
