How this woman entrepreneur is helping the startups in transforming their businesses

We are publishing an interview with Ms. Neha Agarwal, Founder, Digi Acai. Digi Acai was launched on 31^st March 2020.

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: In today’s digital era SEO is a must for any company’s website and using typical SEO practices is not enough. Especially for Start-up’s as they face N number of problems like revenue crunch, not knowing who to hire for best results and some don’t give a thought to SEO. We offer a very Structural approach towards SEO for these startups, giving them customized solutions and expertise, they need.

Q.: Please tell us about the founders
Ans: I run this show solo, everything started when I quit my job at PopXo and started Mummas.in which is an online portal now run by me and my team; this was the first step. It was challenging as there was no source of revenue, after which I decided to start my own startup which is Digi Acai. I started with the little savings I had as I always wanted to do something of my own.

Q. : List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles.
Ans: We are a small team of 9 members.

I fully take care of Client pitching, acquisition and on-boarding. Then I personally evaluate and set the strategy for every new campaign.

Arjun Chand is the second-in-command and ensures the overall performance and deliverables. He has been assisting me on and off for the last 4 years along with his studies. When I started Digi Acai, he joined us full-time.

We have a very dedicated client-servicing team including Komal Agrawal, Taneesha Bhandari and Shruti Arya. These power puff girls ensure execution according to brands’ requirements.

We have Mayank, Vipul and Vishal in the link building department who ensure high quality links acquisition.

Aanchal and Anika help us with content deliverables.

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: We are experts of SEO, Content marketing for E-commerce companies. We got our first client through. Interestingly, I have an engineering degree but I did my first job in a Digital Agency well that’s not that surprising as all engineers have a creative tool in their kits. Our process is not just doing typical SEO we are also focused on content marketing and offer findings from our in-depth analysis on what can be better. We don’t treat our clients as clients but believe in becoming a part of their team rather than acting like an outsourcing unit.

Q.: What is your USP? Uniqueness about your Startup.
Ans: Our USP and mantra to deliver the best output are 3C’s Content, commerce and community. We give a 360 attention to our projects unlike any boutique we believe in keeping the list of services small and in delivering exceptional results, as quality is more important than quantity.

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: Well there were no assumption as to when I entered the market as I was focused on building a company that focused on delivering. My ideal customers would be from the Ecommerce sectors and Lifestyle industry. If I have to name a prospective ideal customer then it has to be Nykaa, I would love to help facilitate their growth as they are an organization which I feel connected. Their growth, their content is something that I would love to experience firsthand and help foster more.

Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??
Ans: Prior to Digi Acai I had tried to start my own venture 2-3 times but had to face failure. Even after all those failures my determination never withered to start something of my own. So, I started thinking what was going wrong. After internalizing and introspecting I got to know where I was going wrong and rectified it. From experience I say this that never try juggle between two jobs, rather focus on one that you can see yourself doing happily and the other is to never do anything that holds your interest temporarily.

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: In the start we did what any company would do and resolved to make packages we divided them into three categories bronze, silver and gold. But bifurcation of services was always a question as the packages did not draw clear lines. Now we have turned to Customized packages, where according to the need of the client the services are provided by us. We try to do this for all our clients but those who still wish to follow the package system they can choose from that.

Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)
Ans: No Investors yet.

Q.: Is there any interesting success story of your startup? If yes, please write about it. ?
Ans:  Yes there is one such incident. There was client I was trying to get for a long time and was never able to seal the deal. But, one fine day this gentleman was in Delhi and messaged me on LinkedIn to meet and discuss about the project. I heartily told him to join me at my office which is at co-working space in Gurugram. He joined me for the meeting we had meeting in the conference room and all went well, out of the blue he asked me to show him my working space. I took him to my cabin and he was astouned seeing a cot over there. He asked me if I brought my child at work. I told him, yes, he looked at me in complete amazement and said you are doing a wonderful job at managing your startup and baby all together. He sealed the deal right then and their asking me to start working with him immediately.

Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in detail.
Ans: We just started 7-8 months back but with god’s grace and hard work of the team we have managed to do a business of INR 30+ lakhs till date.

Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product/service leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Ans: Well it is hard to predict in this unpredictable world amidst these unprecedented times of the pandemic. But in three years I see my company first of all surviving and then scaling new heights in the arena of SEO. We also plan to build our own tools, for SEO and also make and grow more portals like mumma.in.

Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?
Ans: We do not believe there is any competition for us as other companies offer boutique services while we are more concentrated upon expertise. This factor makes us stand out in the market making us a worthwhile contender for any client. Also our USP the three C’s content, communication and commerce help us distinguish amongst the many fishes in the sea.

Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? Any other information you would like to share?
Ans: This pandemic has deterred many businesses but our wills still stand strong. The goals that we have our eyes set on are, first, we are still in establishment phase so the major aim is to scale this business and survive in this highly competitive arena. We also plan to develop our own technology and tools an example of such tool would be AI auditor which would smartly audit a website and can point where and in what areas improvements can be done, does on page optimization and helps to do technology audit. 

Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs? 
Ans:  When we keep moving forward, new doors open. There’s no doubt that running a business take a lot of time. But the only way to be satisfied in your life is to do work that you truly believe. Before entering into your venture do keep one thing in mind that have a clear vision of what you are aiming at, and believe that you can succeed, and you’ll find ways through different obstacles.

“Always listen to your heart…. Look inside yourself and you will find all your answers”