Today is exactly one year since we launched Orange Espresso - our wellness focused stationery brand.
My bio says 'Building Orange Espresso'. But over the last year it's Orange Espresso which has been building me.
Building something from scratch in a new industry has made me realize how much I don't know, how much others know and how much there is to learn - the best lesson in humility for someone who worked for more than a decade at a big MNC.
Building Orange Espresso has taught me how to regulate emotions and tolerate (and thrive in) uncertainty - we all think of ourselves as calm rational human beings but when the salary tap stops and EMIs/rent/non-discretionary expenses knock loudly at the door, all that facade drops and when revenue is miniscule (as it will be at the start when you're building for the long run) it's sometimes a struggle not to lose it and thrown in the towel. Thankfully my partner and cofounder Vaishnavi Sarma is the exact opposite to me - a true believer, chilled and all about manifestation and all that 😆 (me the rational, OCD, perfectionist, hyper co-founder).
Building Orange Espresso has taught me to really think customer first and not just say it - everything -> website, logistics process flows, customer handling - all of it is built by both of us, no consultants. Now we're not chasing the most elegant UI (as I did when we started out), just the best Ux to get the customer in and out of the funnel at the fastest pace and then build a long term meaningful relationship with her.
Deciding to leave a cushy corporate job and stake our personal savings on building a startup in an industry we don't know well enough was to most an insane decision. Today is exactly one year since we launched Orange Espresso - our wellness focused stationery brand.
My bio says 'Building Orange Espresso'. But over the last year it's Orange Espresso which has been building me.
Building something from scratch in a new industry has made me realize how much I don't know, how much others know and how much there is to learn - the best lesson in humility for someone who worked for more than a decade at a big MNC.
Building Orange Espresso has taught me how to regulate emotions and tolerate (and thrive in) uncertainty - we all think of ourselves as calm rational human beings but when the salary tap stops and EMIs/rent/non discretionary expenses knock loudly at the door, all that facade drops and when revenue is minuscule (as it will be at the start when you're building for the long run) it's sometimes a struggle not to lose it and thrown in the towel. Thankfully my partner and cofounder Vaishnavi Sarma is the exact opposite to me - a true believer, chilled and all about manifestation and all that 😆 (me the rational, OCD, perfectionist, hyper co-founder).
Building Orange Espresso has taught me to really think customer first and not just say it - everything -> website, logistics process flows, customer handling - all of it is built by both of us, no consultants. Now we're not chasing the most elegant UI (as I did when we started out), just the best Ux to get the customer in and out of the funnel at the fastest pace and then build a long term meaningful relationship with her.
Deciding to leave a cushy corporate job and stake our personal savings on building a startup in an industry we don't know well enough was to most an insane decision.
One year later I can say, maybe it was insane, but it was the best decision of our life...Ever. Never tasted this absolute freedom to do what you think should be done, the freedom to truly be yourself (no filters, no protocol to hide behind), to be the owner of your own time. And being able to be a fully present dad of a precocious five year old (who by the way 'runs' an imaginary brand called 'Mango Espresso' which btw has the identical wins and issues as Orange Espresso 😉 ) makes all the uncertainty worth it ❤️. There are cons of course of starting up but the pros far outweigh it - a detailed post on that some other time.
To surviving (and loving) the first year 🎂 . and hopefully the next. and the next. and..