BoAt didn’t invent or discover something revolutionary; all they did was cater to the needs of their target audience and capture 50% of the market share.
The story of the BoAt lifestyle is an inspirational one. The biggest takeaway for budding entrepreneurs is that they gained fame by catering to the customers and grew despite the struggles of convincing investors. Aman Gupta had a candid fireside chat about his entrepreneurial journey and shared some valuable tips for new-age entrepreneurs at the Global Startup Summit Season 2, organized by 21BY72. This blog takes a deep dive into parts of his discussions and what you can learn from the Shark Aman Gupta!
Who is Aman Gupta?
Aman Gupta is the co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of BoAt Lifestyle, one of India’s leading audio and wearable brands. He is known for revolutionizing the Indian consumer audio electronics market and has played a key role in making BoAt a household name.
Aman Gupta’s Shark Tank India fame comes from his role as an investor on the show, where he mentors and provides funds to aspiring entrepreneurs. With his sharp business acumen and marketing expertise, he continues to inspire young business minds while expanding BoAt’s dominance in the industry.
Aman Gupta’s journey in building the boAt lifestyle
BoAt lifestyle has become a household name for electronic accessories, especially earphones and phone accessories. Aman Gupta’s impatience in offering high-quality products directly to customers and its perseverance in catering to customers’ needs and securing funding have been pivotal to the success of boAt. His resilience in his entrepreneurial journey and understanding of the market contributed to building boAt’s success.
Aman Gupta was pursuing CA when he realized that playing around with the numbers wasn’t what he wanted to do with his life. However, due to his father’s wish, he went through the course and became a chartered accountant. He joined another audio product company. Later, he joined hands with Sameer Mehta and co-founded BoAt Lifestyle.
The boat started its journey by offering indestructible charging cables. However, they expanded their offering with audio products like the boAt headphones, boAt earphones, and boAt speakers. Furthermore, they diversified their product line with boAt smartwatches, phone accessories, and more. Aman Gupta ensured that boAt’s marketing strategy revolved around the customers. It worked well because they could create a strong presence in the competitive market with their loyal customers.
BoAt Lifestyle is one of the early adopters of the D2C market and faced its fair share of struggles in securing investor’s trust. While the customers showed them love and trust, the investors were skeptical about their business’s growth. Aman Gupta shares how many investors asked him how much more they can grow. He shares how his perseverance has helped him secure funding from Kunwaljit Singh through consistent LinkedIn messages about the company’s progress.
While BoAt became a company with a 4 Crore turnover, Aman Gupta thinks they have some strategies that didn’t work for them or did damage. Indian consumers love BoAt, and it became popular quickly. However, they were slightly behind in creating the organization’s structure before gaining market shares. Therefore, Aman Gupta says entrepreneurs should create a structured business flow for smooth operations and management.
Talking about the startup ecosystem in India, Aman Gupta highlights how government initiatives and shows like Shark Tank India have influenced the entrepreneurial spirit in India. Now, it has become the conversation of every meetup or casual hangout. The wave of entrepreneurship has just started, and there is a bright future for Indian startups that want to make a mark globally.
Aman Gupta’s message for entrepreneurs!
While having a fireside chat with our hosts, Mehul Shah and Prateek Tosniwal, Aman Gupta shared a few tips and thoughts with our audience. Following are a few things that can help startup founders for their entrepreneurial journey and investors.
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Make your customers your priority!
The first and foremost rule of any business or startup is to cater to the customer’s needs, especially in a competitive market. Aman Gupta regularly interacts directly with the customers to understand their pain points, demands, and anything to help them improve their offerings. There are many alternatives for the current customers, and thus, even if you are the champion in your niche, you need to understand your customer’s needs and wants to stay relevant.
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Build your brand’s presence!
One of our attendees asked whether the BoAt brand is pushing Aman Gupta’s brand or vice versa. Aman explained how BoAt is like his child and that BoAt’s brand image is his priority. He suggests the founders market their brand at every chance, even if it’s an introduction when networking or a 15-minute pitch at the funding event (irrespective of whether you’ll secure the funding).
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Focus on executions.
While there has been a wave of entrepreneurship, finding ideas is critical and often the most challenging task. Aman Gupta suggests that the key point is to identify the need. It doesn’t have to be something out of the box or never heard of. What makes the real difference is the execution of the startup idea. Even if the idea isn’t original or unique, you can execute it exceptionally to attract your target audience’s attention.
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Returns > exit
The exit for the investor is one of the most crucial aspects when making an investment decision. Therefore, startups often struggle to offer the right exit, and investors also find themselves stuck on it. The solution is for the startups to offer more returns by focusing on the business rather than looking for an exit. As per Aman Gupta, the founders should focus on delivering returns on the investor’s funding.
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Keep the team spirit high!
The team is the backbone of any startup. Therefore, the founders should invest in highly skilled team members. However, the job doesn’t end there. As per Aman Gupta, while money motivates people, purpose and satisfaction are now crucial to the current generation. Focus on building team spirit and work hard to ensure your team feels satisfied with the work and supports you in your vision.
Check out the unfiltered conversation with Aman Gupta at Global Startup Summit Season 2 by 21BY72 here.
21BY72 is on a mission to open the gates of the global startup ecosystem for Indian startup founders and investors. Therefore, we organized an annual startup event, the Global Startup Summit, attended by entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts. From exhibiting startups and pitching events to panel discussions and fireside chats, you can build your brand presence and learn from experts like Aman Gupta, Ghazal Alagh, Raj Shamani, Anupam Mittal, and more.
Global Startup Summit Season 4 is coming this June! You can get an exclusive early bird discount to build your brand presence and network globally! Please check out the website and secure your seats now!!
