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Open Talk @DSIM

An Interview with Pooja Bhayana, Co-founder at Let’s Barter India

Let’s Barter India provides a platform for Indians to come barter their goods and services with each other. You can get whatever you want, without using any money. Your not so used goods, and personal services can now be bartered for getting new goodies.

Q1. Hi and welcome. Before heading forward, give us a snapshot of your professional journey till now?
Ans. Thank you! I studied in Singapore and worked for a magazine at the same time. Post completing my studies, I came back to India and got associated with a leading PR company where I contributed as Account Executive for almost 2 years and ultimately quit to look for happiness and found it at Let’s Barter India.
Q2. Wonderful Pooja. Tell us what made you and co-founder, Sahil Dhingra, decide to start working on “Let’s Barter”?
Ans. The need of Let’s Barter came from our personal pain point. When Sahil had some extra tablets that he wanted to give away, he realized that he was getting really low prices on classified sites. When I suggested that he barter it with some PS4 games with one of our friends, the idea just struck the right cord. We decided to make a Facebook group for our friends to barter, but within the first 4 hours, we had over 5000 members.
Q3. Pooja, how long have you known your co-founder Sahil?
Ans. Sahil and I have been in the same school since nursery, in the same batch. But we have been friends since class 8 so more than 9 years.
Q4. Great! What are the most effective ways for a company to promote itself online? What does digital marketing do for your business?
Ans. It is imperative for your business to have social media validation and following, and this is highly efficient too. For us, digital marketing has helped garner initial users and seed in the concept of barter.
Q5. Any particular thing that clicked for you w.r.t marketing?
Ans.We spend a lot of time strategizing and designing our social media posts to create maximum impact and this has really worked for us.

Q6. If you had INR 1000 to spend on advertising for the brand, what would you do and why?
Ans. We’d probably buy goodies worth that amount and then use it as a giveaway for the Facebook group and app.
Q7. Pooja, what has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced while running “Let’s Barter”?
Ans. Concept building has been the biggest challenge as now. We have to constantly seed in the concept of barter in the audience, and make them move away from the idea of buying/selling used products.
Q8. How have you raised funding for your start-up? Was it difficult to convince your family members on the idea of launching a start-up?
Ans. We have just currently raised funding for Let’s Barter. Before this, we have bootstrapped our business for a year. Luckily, both our families have been supportive about our entrepreneurial pursuits. They obviously worry but have always given us constructive feedback for the business.
Q9. Tell us, what are the most common problems that an entrepreneur has to face?
Ans. An entrepreneur faces a number of problems but the main one has got to be idea validation from a customer traction view. Post that, you have to focus on hiring the right team, always keeping up the team morale and learn to lead in tough situations.
Q10. What about the future? Where do you plan on going from here?
Ans. With Let’s Barter India, we plan to take the app to all markets in India. We want to capture the market in a strong way and spread awareness about the barter concept.
Q11. All the very best, Pooja. Have you picked up any tips from other startup founders?
Ans. Thanks a ton! A good entrepreneur always has their ears open for picking up some good tips. We have picked up some amazing ones too, like “You can never make it big till your heart and soul lies in the concept” or that “Hustle and make something that people want”.
Q12. It was really nice talking to you, Pooja. Before we finish it up, one last question, what advice would you give to people who want to start a business?
Ans. Be very sure about the idea, concept and execution. It is important for you to do a market research before you take the plunge.

Thank you very much, Pooja. It was really wonderful to share your valuable information. Team DSIM wishes you all the best for your future.

DSIM Team
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