FROM SEED TO IPO: THE FRONTIERS OF START-UP LISTING

From the right product-market fit to a viable idea, founders need to know these crucial aspects

THE LONGEST JPURNEYS start with the first step. As an entrepreneur, every step from idea to execution requires audacity, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to your vision. Becoming an entrepreneur is something that happened as an extension of my personal experience as a mother. As eager millennial parents of a baby with a skin condition, when my husband (Varun Alagh, Cofounder and CEO, Mamaearth) and I were researching everything that we bought for our baby, we realised that all the baby care products available in the market contained some chemicals that were not suitable for the baby’s sensitive skin. That’s when we realised that there was a huge gap in the market for safe and toxin-free baby products in India. This led to the creation of Mamearth, a Made Safe-certified, toxin-free baby care brand.

When we started, we were regular people who had quit our jobs to get on this journey. Eventually, we created our first product line with six baby products. The next challenge was to define the sales channels. Selling on our website wasn’t the most feasible idea, hence we decided to go on Amazon, and eventually set up a direct-to-consumer channel. Over the course of this journey, we have been able to build a company with a diverse portfolio of six brands. While my journey of building Mamaearth might seem like a lot of work, my experience tells me, if one builds an action plan and stays consistent in their efforts, any goal becomes achievable. To that end, here are a few pointers to what founders need to keep in mind:

DECODING THE WHY