Deboshree Dutta - Success is a 3-Dimensional Word for Me (Founder & CEO of ROOMPLAYS | Forbes | Women in Product)

Deboshree Dutta

Deb is the Founder & CEO of ROOMPLAYS, the Founding member & Chapter Lead for Women in Product, and a Forbes contributor & official Council Member.

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

I am a Bangalore born and raised US immigrant with 12+ years of experience dedicated to evolving transformational products and scaling global product teams. I have been featured on Forbes for her work in Technology Product Management particularly in the Non-profit space as a leadership council member. 

I have a Masters from Carnegie Mellon University and has led Product, UX & Technology teams at PayPal, Microsoft, Cisco, Nokia, etc, responsible for driving AI-powered experiences for end-users. 

I am the founder and CEO of RoomPlays, an Online platform for Interior E-design services, connecting new homeowners to Independent Interior Designers & Home Decorators. 

I was awarded the EB-1 (A) Green Card by the US Govt for her contributions in the Technology and Product Management space. This category of Green Card is reserved for individuals that the US Govt deems has demonstrated Extraordinary abilities and has generated significant value (through revenue and impact) in the related field. 

I founded RoomPlays as a way to democratize Interior Design - to make it accessible at affordable prices and creating additional opportunities for women who have a passion for Interior Decor to join us as Independent Designers ( we welcome women who are successful Home Decor and Lifestyle Influencers like herself at @Deesignplay as well as experienced certified Interior Designers, looking to offer their creativity to a wide online audience). 

www.RoomPlays.com is built to economically empower women across the world to establish themselves as Independent Brands offering Affordable and Cutting Edge Design Ideas, thus democratizing Interior Design and making it affordable and accessible to a global audience, so everyone can afford a well-styled home! 

2.Tell us more about being a part of the Forbes Council? 

I have been a strong advocate for Women in Tech, Product Management & Leadership for 10+ years and has been a Keynote Speaker at several events across the Silicon Valley - from Product School, UC Berkeley, Expat Women, ProductCon, etc to name a few. 

As an active advocate for Women in Tech, I was invited to join the Forbes Non-profit Leadership Council to voice her thoughts and share insights with the global Forbes audience! Forbes Council is an invitation-only organization of industry experts where members are selected based on their depth and diversity of experience, then invited to share their insights on Forbes.com 

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

Some of the biggest challenges I have faced have been compartmentalizing my life and my goals. Balancing my priorities and keeping a healthy balance between my family life and my work life has been a struggle. 

By developing atomic habits, making smaller achievable goals, and working up a schedule that lets me separate my personal life from building a company has helped me and my husband find a path to sustainability. 

4. How is the startup ecosystem different in San Jose, California? 

The ecosystem here is not much different from the Bangalore ecosystem, in the sense that as a woman entrepreneur, seeking mentors who can be your sounding board, Women VCs who understand and empathize with a woman entrepreneur’s challenges and is willing to take a chance on a business in the Design space has been an uphill journey. 

Fortunately, there are a lot of women breaking the glass ceiling and showing up in support and are being the voice of women entrepreneurs the world over. 

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

Knowing your customer, empathizing with their core pain points, and truly immersing yourself in their way of life will enable anyone to build a product that is valuable to the customer. 

Before focusing on what to build, how to market, and where to sell, focus on the who - who you’re building for, whose problem are you trying to solve, and how well are you solving them. At RoomPlays we are focused on driving to our customer’s core needs - affordable and accessible interior designer services. 

6. How do you define success for yourself? 

Success is a 3-dimensional word for me. Success is measured by my personal growth - health & family, my professional growth - career & wealth, and my mental wellness - my happiness and internal peace. 

As long as I am able to maintain a healthy forward-looking mental framework filled with Gratitude and meditation practices, I am going to find a way to progress in both my personal and professional ventures. 

7. Which is your favorite book and why? 

My all-time favorite books are Lean Startup by Eric Reis as well as Thrive by Arianna Huffington. Lean Startup has been my bible for learning to build with a human-centered mindset, focusing on our end customer and continuing to refine the RoomPlays experience to drive value to our users. 

With Thrive, I learn about how important mental wellness is for entrepreneurs and business leaders to ensure we don’t lose ourselves in the race to social success but realize that our wellness is an equally important KPI for success.

Deb has 10+ years of experience dedicated to evolving disruptive transformational products and scaling global product teams.

Deb is the Founder & CEO of ROOMPLAYS, an Online platform for shopping Interior Design services at affordable prices from Independent Interior Designers. The portal has over 140+ designer services to choose from. Feel free to also check out reviews from client projects.

Deboshree Dutta

Deb is a Forbes contributor & official Council Member - an invite-only community of industry experts invited to share their insights on FORBES.com

Deb is the Founding member & Chapter Lead for Women in Product - SF Bay Area Peninsula Chapter

Deboshree Dutta
Entrepreneur | Forbes | Women in Product

Interviewed By - Sandeep Virothu