Siddhant DasFounder & Managing Partner of Soulbowl Published On: Tuesday, May 31, 2016 Views 2626

"You got to be the Change you wish to see in this world."

Siddhant Das did his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Panjab University, Chandigarh. He has worked as Automation Manager at an Auto Service Station. Later, he went on to conceptualize several startups including Pop n Shop and more.

A true entrepreneur at heart, Siddhant started soul bowl in 2014, which is working on a mission to make online shopping for groceries simple, fast and efficient with the assurance of quality and customer service. His 3 years plan involve scaling up soul bowl to become top grocery website in Chandigarh.

Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.

We develop localised software solutions for retail stores to become fully automated and place their inventory online so that they can increase sales by using the same infrastructure as a physical store already has and same resources, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency and connecting customers directly to the merchant via technology to take on bigger and well organised players. We’ve on boarded one store and through hit and trial and developing customised solutions have been able to reduce costs by around Rs 20,000 monthly and boost sales by about 10% thereby bringing in huge efficiencies. We plan to take these learnings to other stores soon.

What inspired you to build the above product/ service?

To provide employment and to build something on my own using my own creativity. I also saw the massive success of my parents in offline retailing and running one of the city’s best supermarkets and based on that experience I decided to build on that. So the next obvious step was e-commerce. Also to inspire other youths to startup in Chandigarh and development of the Tri-City along with encouraging talented youth to stay in the city rather than migrate abroad or to Mumbai or Delhi.

What is your life mantra?

Be honest and sincere in your work and success will follow eventually. Don’t let temporary failures keep you from achieving your main goals.

What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?

Acquiring loyal customers and building scale without giving discounts or functioning at a loss , is still a challenge but we’re working on it.

How did you overcome those challenges?

I’m still learning to overcome challenges. Every day is a new challenge.

Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.

About Rs 10 Lakhs , part of it from my savings and part from my parent’s help.

How do you protect yourself from the problem of Brain Drain?

Pay well, treat them with respect and dignity and make them believe that your success is their success as well.

According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?

Perseverance, Patience, Honesty

Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?

Base Camp is good for managing projects where multiple people are involved. If you’re looking to collect online payments and begin quickly PayUmoney is great for merchants.

Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.

The desire to change the status quo.

Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.

I’m very sensitive and emotional and that at times can be a bad thing.

Answer in less than 50 words

One tip to success:

Do the right thing always, the customer is king, hard work pays off, In the long run, there is no shortcut to success, it is a long and tiring process but eventually, it’s worth it!