Shinysleep.com is an online platform to buy orthopedic mattresses. The products are made of memory foam, high resilience foam and knitted fabric with quilting. Shinysleep was founded on 12th November 2017. Neha Chugh is the Founder and Tarun Chugh is Co-founder of Shinysleep. Neha is taking care of as a Sales and Marketing head and Tarun is handling Research and Development. Both are working on the startup from the start. We are publishing an interview with Mr. Tarun.
Q.: What is the problem you are trying to solve? Please share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?
Ans: As in Corporate Sector, there is a lot of sitting work and it leads to back pain because of poor posture and sitting position. This was something Tarun Chugh (Co-Founder of Shinysleep) faced too. He realized the problem of back pain was very common as his colleagues were also suffering from that.
Tarun says, during their initial research, they found out that most shopkeepers and mattress dealers would ask their customers one very common question – what is your budget? But Tarun says, this was a wrong approach, and the ideal way was to first understand the customer’s need, not the budget!
Q.: List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles – How you see them evolving over time. What would be each of their Skill Sets? – Elaborate also if any of the team members have specific domain expertise.
Ans: As we all know in a startup, everyone has to perform in multiple tasks initially. Core team members designated roles:
- Neha Chugh: Sales and Marketing Head – As a freelancer and worked as a professor that helped Neha to get a lot of skills. She manages varies activities related to sales and marketing.
- Tarun Chugh: Research and Development
While working in various organization, Tarun always differentiates them in two categories
MNC’s always helping you to learn process-oriented approach and startup-like Paytm helps you to get work done, speedy approach, Implement, Do little mistakes, Fix it and move on!
- Priyanka Sharma: Business Development
- Astha Dhiman: Operations Manager
- Tejinder Singh: Sales Manager
- Murthy S.P: Logistic Manager
Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. How did you get your first customer? Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
Ans: Firstly they started online and offline research and gathered a lot of knowledge regarding mattresses. They started with friends and family and made them their first customers and got an initial boost that gives them the courage to move forward. In phase one, they launched mattresses in the offline market and after capturing enough data points, they started selling online on their website shinysleep.com as well as on the e-commerce portal: Amazon, Paytm, Flipkart, etc.
They launched their first mattress in 2017 by the name of orthopedic memory foam mattress which is a combination of HR (High Resilience) Foam and Memory foam.
Q.: What is your USP?
Ans: USP of Shinysleep:
- Eminent design of the product
- Firm and sturdy comfort
- 0% EMI
- High comfort
- Futuristic technology
- High durability
- No roll pack of mattresses and delivered in actual shape
- Free Door Step Delivery
- 111-night hassle-free trial
Q.: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have at least one of them signed up?
Ans: Before entering the marketing they get to know the flaws and loopholes this market has and they prepare their products in such a way that they fulfill their customer’s exact needs and requirements. As the best suitable mattress for an each individual based on personal requirements, we have a product range for all segments which caters middleman and upper-middle class.
Every customer is an ideal customer and every person has own requirement based on various parameters such as their lifestyle, body weight, sleep position, age, etc. and based out of that Shinysleep expert team help them to select an ideal mattress according to their requirements.
Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??
Ans: We don’t have such a big failure as an entrepreneur. We face little problems every day as an entrepreneur and we constantly learn and improve ourselves.
Q.: How are you pricing the Product? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium, etc.? Explain your thought process.
Ans: We are currently following the Premium model. In the majority of businesses, the selling process is: the first Manufacturer to create the product and then it goes to the Distributor and then it moves to the Dealer and in the last Dealer sells it to the Customer. But in our model, there is no middle man and we manufacture the product and sell it straight to Customer in our online business which makes our product cheaper because there is no extra cost added to the product as it is been going straight from manufacturer to customer.
Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)
Ans: Shinysleep is currently bootstrapped by Tarun Chugh and Neha Chugh and the team. We are currently looking for funding to expand our reach.
Q.: Is there any interesting success story of your startup? If yes, please write about it. ?
Ans: As initially there was a very good response from our friends and family which gave us initial boost and motivation that every business wants and after that, there was no looking back.
Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in detail. (e.g., What is the current turnover? From Launching till date total no. of visitors on website/persons registered/enquiries and enrollment etc.)
Ans: The average production cost of a mattress we are giving it in approx. Rs 15,000, and Shinysleep mattress products range varies from Rs 8,000 to Rs 20,000.
Shinysleep generated revenue of Rs 1.5 million in the first month when they started selling and sold around 70 mattresses in the first quarter of 2017. Now, Shinysleep is annually turning approx. 50 to 70 million including both offline and online. They are selling around thousands of products per month in India.
Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this product / service leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Ans: We will go further in deep with sleep and its related product. We are currently constantly learning and improving our product day by day to provide our customers with the best comfort and support. We will creating all possible sleep solutions option to fulfill everyone’s need in India and abroad.
Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?
Ans: India’s mattress market is estimated to be worth around Rs 10,000 crore. Currently, Shiny Sleep competes with The Sleep Company and Sequoia-backed Wakefit, Wink&Nod, Sunday Mattress, Cuddl, and SleepyCat.
Every individual is having a different need based on lifestyle, body weight, age, sleeping positions etc. hence we offer mattress based on individual need not just based on price range. We believe in giving quality products to all our customers.
Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? Any other information you would like to share?
Ans: After doing a lot of research, we are now launching Natural latex mattress and Hybrid Latex Mattress and incoming days more research on sleeping products, expanding business in the offline market in pan India, physical presence, etc.
Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Ans: Never go for short term success, always go for long term success.
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Thanks Tarun. All the best!
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