Ambica Gulati

Tell us how it all started – where did your vision for The Humming Notes come from?

Ambica has been a journalist for more than 15 years and Supriya wanted to get into creative writing. She had been working with a government related subject earlier in the media. We wanted to do something more than the regular stuff that was coming out in the market, something more in-depth and creative as well as informative. As Dhruv is doing his MBA, we roped him in to help us handle the operations, marketing and other technical stuff. And sitting in a café in Connaught Place, mulling over our cups of coffee and doughnuts, we came up with The Humming Notes.

To anyone who’s never come across The Humming Notes, how would you describe it?

It is a rainbow under which you feel like humming all the notes of life, a place where you can see every colour and get a taste of everything.

Who do you see as your target audience?

Anyone and everyone, as journalists we are used to seeing a circle and not a dot.

Supriya Aggarwal

How long did it take to put together The Humming Notes?

One week!

How involved are you with fundraising?

Currently, our focus is on quality content. For fundraising, Dhruv is planning a strategy while we build our content base to really package the blog.

What is next on the radar for The Humming Notes?

We plan to cover events and stories across the country and register our presence  all over the great www!

How difficult has the journey been? Any stories you would like to  share?

Till now the road has been quite smooth except for one or two speed-breakers.  Once we  were invited for a food review and the person concerned didn’t turn up at  the last moment. It was a disappointing experience, but not a deterrent. We learnt  to be more  careful with our appointments.

Dhruv Bansal

 Five years down the line, where do  you  visualize The Humming Notes?

 We shall be part of a global network.

If not for The Humming Notes, where would you be now?

Oh, most likely under a banner doing the same stuff day in and day out. But to be colourful and happy, we have thehummignnotes

What one piece of advice would you give to soon to be start-up founders?

Use your experience and be patient. Learn before you zoom in fast and don’t let anything stand in the way of your morale and ethics.

Do check out their website for some interesting write-ups!

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To someone that’s never come across Art and Decors, how would you describe it?

Art and Decors is the place for discerning customers to discover and buy curated and design oriented original paintings, beautiful décor products and jewellery (diamond, gold & fashion). It’s the place where they can find unique ways to express their individuality.

Art and Decors is India’s first affordable luxury e-commerce brand and caters to customers from all over the world. We work closely with independent artists, traditional artisans and leading global brands to present contemporary products in the décor and personal lifestyle space. As part of our art sensibility development mission, we give voice to all the independent artists who produce stunning artworks but don’t have the resources to showcase it to a global audience. And these stunning artworks are increasingly finding resonance with young Indians as they seek out different ways to highlight their personality and refined taste.

What has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey at Art and Decors?

We are very happy at how well the brand has been received by both our brand/product partners and customers. We have been highlighted as the ‘model store’ by almost all our partners for the way their products have been curated and showcased.

It’s been truly uplifting and helps push us to constantly introduce more innovative features that make online shopping simple, hassle-free and memorable while at the same helping sustainably develop independent artists and artisans.

What is the biggest hurdle you have faced or are still facing?

We are a bootstrapped company. And that has both pros and cons especially around team building and marketing. We are competing in a market where companies have marketing budgets running in tens of crores. So while it pushes us to have a sharp focus on our marketing strategy, it does pose a challenge as it limits how fast and deep we can create awareness. The challenge however is that funding in India is quite ‘follow the trend’ based rather than on the actual business potential 4-5 years out. So we are focusing on addressing that challenge.

How do you plan to monetize your brand?

We monetize it in two ways: products sold and personalization services where we allow customers to create completely unique life experiences through bespoke products across art, aromatherapy and fragrant candles and fashion jewellery categories. We even have in-house experts to help turn people’s dreams into reality by providing design advice.

What are your plans for promoting Art and Decors?

We use both offline and online channels to promote Art and Decors.

How important is the role of Social Media for success of any startup?

Quite important. Social media provides a wonderful opportunity for a start-up to reach out and engage with a large number of people in a very cost-effective manner – especially for marketing and customer service. It’s a channel that can be managed without a lot of complications and depending on the platform comes with built-in performance reports that can help startups to track the returns on their efforts.

What is the best advice you have ever received? How helpful has it been?

My dad has always told me to “never be afraid of failure’. And that has been a great motivator all my life because it has allowed me to experiment with multiple things.

If not for Art and Decors, where would you have been right now?

If not for Art and Decors then I would have been busy developing another of my business idea around very innovative enterprise analytics software!

What is next on the radar for Art and Decors?

We are busy building the brand and focusing on scaling it up – across products, brands and revenue. We are also going to be introducing some really cool features on the site that would make it even simpler and memorable for people to shop for décor and lifestyle products. So do visit us regularly to know more!

Any thoughts that you would like to share with us?

At Art and Decors we are truly passionate about building a brand that stands for unparalleled customer service – we are customers ourselves and therefore understand what excellent customer service means and feels like. It is our guiding philosophy and we are backing it up with a mission to give people(both our product partners and customers) their own voice. Everything else is an enabler for that mission to come true. We would like to invite all of you to visit and shop with Art and Decors and experience the difference!

To experience a unique online shopping experience and also to view some beautifully designed artworks, it is suggested you pay a visit to Art and decors. A house is made of bricks and beams, a home is made of art and decors!

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