Rohin Samtaney - Always Try to Bring a Life Into Your Product or Else You Will End Up Wasting a Lot of Time (Co - Founder - The Souled Store, India)


The Idea of the company or what I want to do came to me over a period of time. At the finance job, I met people who are also now the co-founders along with me. We together had a realization of starting something of our own.

Instagram - @rohinsamtaney
Photo Source - LinkedIn
 

1. Tell us about your background, journey and upbringing.

I was born and bought up in Mumbai for a couple of years. I have moved and stayed at many places. I did most of my schooling in Aurangabad. Then I again went back to Mumbai for pursuing engineering further. After some time, I realised that engineering is not my cup of tea but it did teach me how you analyse and change a thing. 

It was also the time when I get to comprehend my real interest that lied in communication with people and knows about their stories. I loved watching movies, shows and reading books and comics from which I get to know my interest.

After completing my engineering, I did a job in financing. This job helped me in understanding the working of an organisation and how companies are lead. My experience really helped me in starting my own organization.


2. What's the story of the souled store since its inception?

The Idea of the company or what I want to do came to me over a period of time. At the finance job, I met people who are also now the co-founders along with me. We together had a realization of starting something of our own. 

And as we started thinking of a business idea, we wanted to start something valuable which might not exist at the moment, have some logic and fill up the gap in the market. 

So, with researching about pop culture we saw one gap which was like when we want to buy an original batman t-shirt, it costs around 2000 bucks which might have a produced in India or Bangladesh for around 500-600 bucks but as it goes through many vendors and there were many people logging between before reaching us. So, this all led to the idea of The Souled Store.


3. What does your typical workday look like? 

A typical workday of mine starts by checking my emails the first thing in the morning and making a list of things I have to do and tasks I have to complete. I go through my thought process of how I am going to spend my day, what all is there for me to do. 

I keep my first half the day basically for checking my mails and going through my task list and thought process. And the other half is the time I have to making the calls and communicating with others and getting my work done.


4. Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?

I think people should be judged on the basis of the skill set they bring in from the universities they went to. And also, in today’s time, there are so many mediums online by which one can develop their skills like there are many apps or by watching something on YouTube etc. 

So yes, I think it makes a lot of sense and thus interviews should be designed in a way that focuses more on the required skill set of the job profile.


Studies today show that an organization can lose INR 10 lakh (~ $17,000) on average on a wrong hire or for hiring someone with a false degree. The only tried and tested way to prevent frauds is via a thorough background verification process. Download SpringVerify's e-book for a comprehensive guide to Employee Background Verification in India.


5. How do you handle someone who has lied on their resume?

I don’t have any personal experience where I come across someone who lied on their resume. And if I ever did, I will ask the reason behind it and try to understand why they had to lie on their resume but eventually, I think I will not go further as there can be many things, they could have lied about so it’s a bad thing for me.


6. What are some of your typical challenges and how have they evolved over time?

It’s been like 8 years from when we started this organisation and we still face some same challenges every single day along with the new ones. Every single decision to be made is like a challenge and telling people to work and making sure everything is understood or figured out is challenging. 

Mindset is what follows a challenge, so if you deal with it with a correct mindset and have a positive attitude towards it, it makes thing really easy. So, the main thing is to have approached and deal with a problem in the correct way.



7. What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs or those eyeing the top job?

If you are looking to start something of your own, the most important thing to be sure of what you are going to start up and it must bring some value in today’s world as you are not the only one out there with an idea and you will face many struggles and it will take time as there are many options available. 

In the case of The Souled Store, we are at the right place at the right time as there were not many people making official merchandises so it prevailed but now if you see there are many players. 

So, the time is important along with the value as it should be solving the problem and if not that then you must exhibit it in a way people fall for your product than others. 

Always try to bring a life into your product or else you will end up wasting a lot of time. And the worst part of being an entrepreneur is to be stagnant like you are not growing but you are also not doing that bad as then you are just wasting your time.


8. Which is your favourite book and why?

My favourite book is a science fiction ‘1984’ by George Orwell. I love it because it gets freaky and also shows what is one capable of. And I am fascinated by the way it is written and its storyline.