"It's People With Character We Should Have Around Us"

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

MerchInDyes is one of the fastest growing company in the promotional apparels segment. We specialize in the manufacturing of customized products including tees, mugs, hoodies, bags and much more. My journey with MerchInDyes has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. From trading and outsourcing to manufacturing everything in house, my journey has really helped me expand my horizon.

Initially I was outsourcing all my orders, but after about 6 months when I had saved up a small amount of capital, I rented out a small manufacturing space with my own machines and workers. From client backlash, squabbles to meeting supportive people and to experiencing the beautiful industry firsthand, it's really been memorable.

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

To be honest, I had no prior background or connections to the textile industry. Starting MerchInDyes was simply a stroke of fortune. I was interning with another company in the same line of business and one of my tasks was onboarding clients for bulk orders. Having never done this before, I was a bit skeptical about it.

So I decided to give it a try and called up a friend of mine. I asked her if she had such a requirement for her college society. And I immediately bagged an order. It went about the same way with the next few people I reached out to. Something I also learnt while speaking to them was the absence of a company providing quality products at an affordable price.

And that was the time when I felt the need of a company like ours and decided to quit my internship and start working on this idea myself. I started exploring the cloth market. Fortunately, my best friend's father had been working in the textile industry for a while. So I decided to approach him and he was kind enough to not only guide me through the process, but also allowed me to use his manufacturing unit till the time I get settled.

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

I think our biggest challenge initially was sizing, but since we've overcome that, it has been meeting deadlines. Being a new company, we were initially operating as per standard sizing. However, after feedback from our first few orders we realized that we need to work on a smaller size pattern since majority of our market are colleges. So we called a pattern master who created new sized patterns based on smaller dimensions.

Post that we haven't received negative feedback with respect to sizes. Fortunately, the number of orders that we have been receiving have only escalated. What separates us is how we do not deteriorate quality irrespective of the pricing, the time or any other factor. But since a production line is dependent on a long chain of people, any delay in a single element causes a delay in the entire process.

So maintaining high quality standards along with meeting deadlines became a major problem. Some clients gave us a lot of backlash even if their order was delayed by a day. To meet the deadlines of all the orders we also had to start outsourcing a few orders. The margins reduced drastically but atleast we could deliver our orders in time.

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

I think the most important qualities of an entrepreneur are intent, honesty, vision, relentlessness, and discipline.

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

For me the most important factors for running a successful business are:

A reliable team - we can always find ways to make money, but its people with character we should have around us. Those are the people who will help you move forward in life.

Sustainability - Start something that will not be majorly affected by any chance in economical policy and will grow with time.

Patience and Consistency- Businesses don't boom overnight. You need to be patient and consistent with your work and believe in the results. Have faith in your business. Don't be disheartened in case you have any fallouts. Take a break and start fresh the next day.

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

People, especially youngsters, are under the misconception that they cant start something unless they have money. Which is really not true. Money is an important factor when growing your business, not when starting it. Start with whatever resources you have at your disposal. The biggest one being Google and YouTube. It's essentially free education there. Save money, save every penny. Forget fancy outings, dinners, dates, parties. Use that money for your future business plans. If you really want to be a bigshot, it's never too early to start. Work now so that you can party later!

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

Take note of all available alternatives. You require an office space? Operate from home for a while. You require a website? Start with Facebook and Instagram and simultaneously learn how to create a website online. There are many online websites having preinstalled templates that are very easy to use like Shopify, Wix etc (depending on what type of business you want to start).

You need people to help you with your marketing? Speak to your friends. Ask them to spread the word. Speak to your teachers. Put up posters at places you feel you will get maximum visibility.

These are the main elements a startup requires in its initial stage. Also, in case you haven't started saving up yet, start from the very moment you begin your business.

- Yash Gupta

Interview by Kriti