Pepperfry may not be known to many – but Pepperfry is a leading company in the world of online furniture, with its founders having their own success stories.
Image Credit source: StartupStory
This is about the time when neither Amazon nor Flipkart had the practice of ordering goods. Ambareesh Murthy and Ashish Shah understood the potential of online market in India. Both of them had earlier worked well with a company in India including Philippines and Malaysia. After which in the year 2011, together they decided to start Pepperfry.
It was not easy to build a company and hoist its name in the sky of success. First of all, the private equity formed by Ambareesh Murthy, many people who already knew him associated with him, appreciated him a lot. Initially he had a team of six people. But this was not enough. They soon realized that this is nothing. Ashish Shah says- He did not even have any money from the investors. But at the same time, both of them together did something that no one would have thought of. He took his entire team to Goa for a holiday. And there the plan was expanded.
website crash on first day
In August 2012, Pepperfry was finally launched for consumers. Within hours of the promotion, 1,400 orders were received. The team was not expecting this at all. While the founders of the company had a plan to take 40-50 orders daily in six months. But on the day of launch itself, the company’s website crashed due to heavy traffic late at night. The entire Pepperfry team had to make direct calls to all customers and assure them that they had received their payment and that their orders would be dispatched.
took customers into confidence
Pepperfry’s first organized office was just 25 seats in 2012. But within five months the team expanded its scope. In the beginning of 2013, Ashish and Ambareesh turned to furniture and home furnishing with new hopes. Even then though those were early days for the online furniture business. It was necessary to take the customers into confidence. For this, the founders also used to make their customers aware. That’s why they got success gradually. In April 2013, where the company had 10 trucks for furniture distribution, it now has around 400 trucks.
Funding ended in 2013
The founders of the company say that business in our country has its own culture, it has a different structure. What we have achieved, we have learned from MNCs. At one point in the year 2013, his funding had ended. Then 15 people decided to cut their salary by 50 percent. So that no one gets laid off. All 15 of those people are still with Pepperfry.
raised $200 million
Pepperfry has raised approximately $200 million over the past ten years. The founders of Pepperfry believe that if you think you have the right strategy, you should go with it. Ten years later, the Pepperfry team has grown into a big family of 500 members. The special thing is that even today the company takes its team on a trip to Goa every year in August.
