Angad N. JagtianiFounder & CEO of dotbadges Published On: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 Views 3573

Dot designs and manufactures merchandise, such as badges, posters, fridge-magnets, posters, keychains, bag tags, notebooks. Over the period of time we’ve also diverged into graphic designing and printing, we do all sorts of print media related jobs now and are a full fledged print-design and merchandise firm.

I was always fond of fan based merchandise as a kid and I still am, but on seeing their prices, I used to get disheartened, I wanted to provide customers with their favorite fan-based merchandise at the most affordable rates, this way everyone could have it and not only the people with big pockets

Stay humble, hustle hard and do what you love.

The most challenging part of my journey.. hmm.. I think in a startup everyday is a challenge. But of course the start was the most challenging, I mean it raises all sorts of questions in your mind like “Will they buy my product?”, “Are the designs good enough?”, “What if i fail?”, “How am I going to break even?”

I believed in my work and let it speak for itself.

I’ve been offered a few investments till date but I’ve chose not to get into that, because I believe in working for myself, when you get an investor on board, you become his/her puppet and you end up taking orders from them. The truth is that start-ups these days get a whole lot of investments, open up fancy offices, hire a large number of people and then eventually go in loses, the outside picture looks very rosy but on the inside they’re just surviving on their business valuation.

There is a lot of pressure and a lot of goals to be met when you’re a startup. Its best to keep calm and stay composed when you’re under pressure, else you’ll wear out, make it a habit now and it’ll certainly help you in the long run.

Work hard, think different and most importantly take risks.

Facebook is a really powerful too these days if you use it to the fullest, it helps you network, boost your business and publicize it well. A quarter of the world’s population is on Facebook and hence, I feel its the best way to connect to a larger audience rather than, wasting money on newspapers and magazines and other print media.

I don’t waste my time in front of the television.

I need to learn to be punctual, I am always late for everything, client meetings, stalls, college, everywhere.

• One tip to success:

Work really hard, when people put you down. Work towards fulfilling your dream and not your 9-5 employer’s. DON’T BE A CORPORATE SLAVE.

• One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:

They think too much and kill their ideas and most of all their scared of taking risks.

• One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:

You’re all alone when you start, no ones going to support you, but when you hit big, everyone wants to be associated with you and be around you.

I haven’t thought about that till now… but we’re soon going to be opening up our design studio and store in Mumbai, so as of now, the plan is to expand that.

Nothing really. Given a chance I’d love to go back and relive it from where I started.

I spend a good one month every year in the summer with my brother in NYC, where I relax so that I’m in good to work for the next 11 months.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” ~ Steve Jobs