"Never find shortcuts to grow fast in the business"

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1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.

The Company name is Potato Aces (potatoaces.com) and we provide metal posters (artwork printed on metal sheets) to the customers. Customers can choose from a large base of artwork in different categories (anime, TV series, movies, gaming, sports and many more) and can also customize any image or artwork of his choice. Well, its been just 7-8 months since we (me and my cousin Rohit) started with the company. Till now, its been a very exciting and learning experience.

2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?

Being a regular consumer of the mentioned categories since our childhood in some way or other, we were always excited to get wallpapers and posters to hang on our bedroom walls. We liked paper posters for some time but they lacked the durability and also the print gets dull after some time, i.e. the poster used to loose its shine. After that, we started for looking for posters of different materials rather than paper. To our surprise, no one was providing posters of any other kind. There would be different qualities of paper, but no other material. From there, we got the idea of printing posters on metal sheets for ourselves and people like us. In short, giving people a choice.

At first, we did the market research to find out whether more people are looking out for options in this category like we were. Then, we established the supply chain starting from getting the raw material, i.e. large metal sheets, printing partner to shipping the order. After that, we started posting our content on social media platforms and also engaged in word of mouth advertising to our families, friends, neighbors and colleagues.

3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?

Till now, I think the biggest challenge was to establish the supply chain because we have no experience of the industry. We had to establish contacts with multiple people and channelize the whole process from the scratch. It was a tedious process but once established, everyone is running smoothly with minor hiccups as of now.

Talking about the current situation, we are currently not delivering orders. But we are trying our best to be up and running again in the near future.

4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

What I have learned in these 7-8 months that one should have the utmost belief and faith in his idea. Its not easy at the start but you have to keep working on it on a daily basis. Also, patience and perseverance are most required. Results will not come immediately and there will be a lot of rejections.

5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?

You have to be honest and never find shortcuts to grow fast in the business. Treat everyone involved with you with respect and humility. Have meaningful connections with other people, not just transactional. And lastly, never compromise with the quality of your product or service.

6. What are your tips for first time and aspiring entrepreneurs?

Notice things around you. We always try think of big things but never notice the small and basic things. Most solutions come from these only. Do not reject any idea how ridiculous it may sound. Also, try talking to as many people as possible. You never know, who can give you a billion dollar idea.

7. How can one overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up?

In our case, we got lucky because there was not much setup cost for us and everything was mostly operational cost. That helped us to start low and increase funds as the demand grows from the customers. In my opinion, if you have lack of funds do not try to do things on a large scale. Do a minimal amount, and take things from there.

- Sayak Das

Interview by - Saumya Jaiswal