Utkarsh Shrivastava - Bulaava Is an Online Invitation App and Currently Has 500,000+ Thousand Downloads on Playstore (Entrepreneur From India)

I think the marketing got more interesting in a way. It’s now very easy to reach out to people in masses through social media and the fact that everybody understands it. businesses got tough as we are seeing every unorganised sector becoming a tech-enabled organised company and In the process, they have killed many small-scale businesses.

1. Tell us about your background and journey. 

Hi, I am a computer science graduate. I am currently building my company 'spring'. The company is about empowering the artist (designer). So that they can create art with freedom. I think I have a thing for building businesses. You can call that passion. In my early day, Back in school, we used to make break toys and assemble them into different toys. Now, I get the same feeling in building a business and I love doing that.

2. How and where do you find inspiration to churn out content while making reels on Instagram? 

I get stuck with problems in my business and still can’t find any solution on the internet. Because I feel nobody is talking about the real hardship of business, the day-to-day trenches of business. 

I still think I need to solve problems by myself. Hit and try maybe. I am just sharing my experience with people. I rarely search on Google for content. Right now, it’s 80% my experiments with business and 20% other brand marketing strategies.



3. Tell us about your startups and your journey? 

I started my first venture back in 2014. It was a short video social network, named Spanshots. Just like Instagram but with videos. I didn’t knew anything about code. It was my third semester in computer science classes. So, we decided to learn code from scratch. I found coding as building blocks(toys, mentioned above) to make any product you imagine. We(me and 2 friends) started coding to build this social network. It took 18 months to create what we have imagined sitting on our terrace.

It was a great feeling as we have made the whole app work our ass off in the last 16 months. We knew nothing about the marketing aspect and we have ignored that, hame lagaah Great products sell themselves(They don’t in most cases)We failed the product in doing the marketing for it. We got only 3000 instals on the Play store at the time.

After that, In the year 2018, We started Bulaava. It’s an online invitation app and currently has 500,000+ thousand downloads on Playstore. We are also building a marketplace for digital designers called Buzzle. Where they can earn royalty money by just making their art once.

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

Hiring, Building a team. I think it’s the biggest challenge because you have little funds. In that, you have to make the best team possible. Hire the best possible coder, the designer and this is the hardest part of the business. 

I think there are two of the following waysGreat Vision - If you’re building something which has a great vision. If you’re solving a big problem that people can relate to. They will work for you. here, great examples are NGOs and social work people who work for free.

Build a brand - Next thing, people want to associate themselves with the brand. So, make a brand.

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

Perseverance. I think It’s only perseverance that makes you wake up every day and do your work. Because you fail almost all the time in this journey and nobody can teach you that lesson which failure can and then rising from that failure again is the most important quality that you can attain.

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

There are two most important factors, first, solving a burning problem for the people that people are willing to pay for it. The second is to solve it for the masses. Is it scalable or not?

7. What are some of the best career advice that you have ever received?

Do engineering after 12th Not kidding. I think engineering enables you to become good at building things. That’s the first part of any business. Also, You have like-minded people around you. So, it becomes easy to build your team and build something useful.

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

Understand the fact that your first product might fail. Rise up again.
Have a clear business model!

Don’t stuck in operation for a long time - Automate

9. What are your views on the fact that marketing and business are changing so drastically?

I think the marketing got more interesting in a way. It’s now very easy to reach out to people in masses through social media and the fact that everybody understands it. businesses got tough as we are seeing every unorganised sector becoming a tech-enabled organised company and In the process, they have killed many small-scale businesses.

10. Any book recommendations in the field of startups, business and marketing?

I will suggest three books!

Read Steve jobs for the inspiration.

Understand the idea of marketing your product with Losing my virginity - the autobiography of Richard Branson.




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Interviewed By - Shashank Sehgal