We are publishing an interview of Mr. Prahllad Mittal, Founder, Gift Graphite – An Odisha based startup which provides handmade & personalised sketches by creating a platform for sketch artists to monetize their passion.
Please tell us about the founders
- Prahllad Mittal (Btech Final year in VSSIT, Burla) – I am looking after Marketing, brand building, management, logistics & customer service etc.
- Biswaranjan Pradhan (Btech Final year in VSSUT, Burla) (Co-founder) – Sketch Artist & into marketing.
Both of us were roommates. One day we were searching over internet about some gifting idea for someone. I thought to gift a handmade sketch and got the idea to start my own Startup which should provide handmade sketches and while discussing this with Biswaranjan I came to know that he is good in art though a good artist. We decided to team up and started Gift Graphite in mid July 2016.
What is the problem you are trying to solve? Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?
Nowadays everyone wants to gift something new and unique but no one knows what to gift. On the other hand so many artists are there whose talent is going unnoticed, so Gift Graphite is providing them a platform to monetize their passion.
What is the uniqueness about your Startup?
We provide handmade sketches instead of digital ones because digital one can’t express one’s feeling as much as handmade one. We do the shipment within 7 days and we provide 24 x 7 customer support. We are working through our FB page, Instagram and WhatsApp. It is very convenient for people to place their order through whatsapp which makes us unique.
Ordering a Sketch is very easy from us
1- Send us the picture you want to be Sketched.
2- Make confirmation.
3- Your Sketch will be shipped within next 7 days.
What is the revenue model? Explain your thought process.
We charge a nominal amount for the sketches as per paper size and type of Sketch people want.
Who are the consumers that you are targeting? How is this going to affect them?
We are not targeting any specific type of customer. All age groups of people are giving order to us. Some are giving for their friends whereas some are giving for their parents/grandparents.
What is the big picture of your startup? Will it lead to something bigger? If so, how?
We are trying to collaborate with cooperate sector which may lead us to some new level.
What is the success story of your startup in your own words?
As we all are students, we mainly face problems during our exam times as we have to look after our Startup as well as prepare for exam. But because we are passionate about our work, we are happily able to manage our time so that it will not hamper our studies. We don’t do our work as job we do because it is our passion and when you are working on your passion then no one can stop you from achieving success.
Sometimes artists denies to do some work in the last moment then we manages to book other artist for that work. This is one of the hurdle that we are facing.
Any other information about your startup that you would like to share with us.
- We have handed over a Sketch to India’s Raw Star Rituraj Mohanty and Padmashree awardee Sri Haldar Nag.
- We got featured in so many magazines and e-magazine like The Galm-ro-us, Bbsr Buzz, Odisha.club etc
- Once we organised a sketching event named “Go Sketchy” in which we gave chance all the budding artist to showcase their talent and the winner were awarded with goodies and shopping vouchers.
You can visit our Facebook Page link is www.facebook.com/giftgraphite/
Thanks Prahllad. Best of luck!