At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the unique and compelling stories from the entrepreneurship world. As part of this endeavour, we invited passionate entrepreneur – Pratik Gadia for an exclusive interview with us. He is the Founder & CEO of The Yarn Bazaar. His startup The Yarn Bazaar is a B2B yarn trading and lending marketplace. Its enables textile companies to buy and sell yarn more efficiently through their website or mobile apps using proprietary ORA (online reverse auction) process while getting access to flexible unsecured line of credit. Let’s learn more about his exciting journey as an entrepreneur, his background and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Please share with us more about your background and where did the idea to start something like this come from?
I am a metalhead who gets as excited being at the helm of the business world as the distorted riffs of my guitar. Born in a stereotype Marwari family having a family business in textiles, I completed my master’s in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from University of Warwick, UK.
Having worked in the family business of fabric manufacturing & wholesaling for over 5 years, I spotted a gap in the industry and decided to pursue this opportunity and started my venture called ‘The Yarn Bazaar’, a B2B holistic yarn marketplace. In 8 months of being operational, we crossed a GMV of INR 350 million.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
To create and leave a legacy behind.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
True entrepreneurship is about solving a real problem and making a difference. Once you are dedicated to this, you will not get peaceful sleep in the night unless you really accomplish it. And this is what keeps me going and gets me out of the bed in the morning. The expectations of all your stakeholders and your own self.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Creating and running a startup is all about challenges. My decision to adopt the new and untouched field of digital commerce in the textile sector was seen with reservations by my family and many people in the industry too.
Calibrating a sound business model to deciding the tech architecture to creating an intuitive user interface and finally building the tech; everything has been extremely challenging and is an ongoing process.
If on a given day, you are not faced with an obstacle, you have to challenge your own self and your team.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
To be honest, neither one. What comes first to me is value creation and that, I think is the generator of both wealth and emotions. I have followed this principle in seeking all my partners/co-founders as well as employees. It acts as a self-motivator for all and aligns everyone together in achieving your vision.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
It’s not easy. I am still learning. But yoga and meditation definitely help.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
That is a very good question. Having the right advisors onboard. We have been very fortunate and blessed in this case and that has helped both me individually and my startup to grow faster.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
There is definitely no substitute for hard work and persistence. You have to work hard every day and just be persistent with it. This alone can help you succeed.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Know WHY? If you know why you want to do this whether it is value creation, making money, getting fame; if you are clear about your purpose of being an entrepreneur, you will have a better sense of direction. This will help you avoid all the other traps and focus better.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
