Scrappy underdogs

So, this month we have grown to a 7 member team. We also moved a big ass table in my 150 sq. ft. apartment and converted my bedroom to a conference room. This is also the room where the tech team sits. Some how there is something truly inspiring about bootstrapping your venture. It shows you the importance of cash and also enables you to focus on only the few core things that matter – product, customers & survival.

Till recently, we were taking most of the meetings at Costa Coffee on 12th Main IndiraNagar. Obviously we didn’t order anything but when someone offered us to ‘have’ something we never said no. “Never say no to free food or free coffee” this I believe was the most important lesson I learnt during the days of my struggle in ’08-’09. I still live by it. But one fine day we decided to start shifting meetings to our office only, I was kind of apprehensive as I wasn’t sure how people will react to seeing that the guys who were speaking of all the grand things & plans were actually working from a 150 sq. ft office, which also happened to be home to one of them. But when we started seeing people coming in, we realised how powerful it was. Inadvertently we had opened our doors for our partners (& thus the community) to be part of our start up life. The moment this thought occurred it was highly liberating. Since then we started having all our interviews, partner meetings etc at our office only.

Next month we are growing our team by 2-3 people, so that means the mattresses have to be sold and a rollable cotton stuffed mattresses, bought. Well, I have always been a scrappy underdog, been broke multiple times and slept at all obscure places like local train, train platforms, bus stands while in Mumbai, so all this is still luxury and not beyond me. Hustling my way till now. And the fact that you have great friends as co founders & a fantastic team then it becomes even easier.

So here is how our first office looks like –