TÊTE-À-TÊTE

Vineeta Singh: I was born and brought up in New Delhi. I completed my schooling at DPS R.K. Puram. Right from an early age, my parents instilled persistence and the quality of hard work in me. Being highly inspired by them, I decided to pursue Electrical Engineering at IIT-Madras and shortly after that, attend the B-School at IIM-Ahmedabad. I’ve always been extremely competitive and one of my fondest memories from IIM-Ahmedabad is winning the Dulari Mattu award, for Best Woman All Rounder. This honour was a perfect summary of everything I participated in and strived for, during my time on campus.

CC: You have taken some high-level education to reach where you are today. How has the education that you have garnered helped in building your character?

I believe my educational background laid the foundation for everything that I went on to achieve. My undergraduate and postgraduate days have helped me become strong-willed and gave me a sense of autonomy. Today, I stand tall with SUGAR Cosmetics, a company that has been nurtured and raised from ground zero, with hard work, patience and a lot of resilience. This journey that I am so proud of, has taught me to never settle for anything lesser than I wish, no matter how much hard work has to be put into it.

CC: Tell us about an incident that made you realise your dreams.

I think I was always a studious girl. Even at a young age, I knew that giving in to fear will make all my dreams disappear. Hence, I always powered through. My deep-rooted belief that just showing up is half the battle won, guided me during some really tough times.

At age 17, I remember a professor once telling me, ‘You should be an entrepreneur!’. That single moment changed the trajectory of my life. Even at that young age, for me, it was enough of an indication to look at myself through his eyes. Over the years, I worked harder in school, got into IIT, and then went on to get my MBA. I realised during those days that you can only be an entrepreneur by really being one. So, fast forward to job placement day, I turned down a one-crore job offer to follow my dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.

CC: Walk us through the story of SUGAR Cosmetics.

During the process of initial selection of names, one of my team members joked about how ‘makeup gets us high’ which was followed by a wisecrack about the name SUGAR and how it can give us a rush without the calories. We nonetheless included it in the final selection of five names for which we conducted a poll. SUGAR dominated the surveys in the 18 to 25-year-old demographic, with a unique opinion that took us off guard-it certainly didn’t sound like a new brand’-that got the ball rolling, and the rest is history.

CC: People in India, specifically since the mid-2010s, have been taking makeup quite seriously. They are flooded with foreign brands and various other options. Did this give you the initial jitters before stepping foot in this?

We definitely had jitters and second thoughts, I remember having multiple conversations about how the market was already saturated and entering a market dominated by big names would be difficult. However, even during these periods of doubt, we were very certain about our research and initial offering. This data, since 2012, had been collected through running a Direct-To-Consumer beauty subscription venture that served a young 18 to 30 demographics. Our proximity to this TG, closed-loop feedback gathering system and the ability to send 200 products each year to 100,000 women, gave us a very unique vantage point in the industry.

Through this research, it had first hit us that there was a shift underway in the industry and a white space that nobody was serving. Another valuable insight was the international brands were not creating shades of makeup keeping in mind Indian skin tones which are warmer and deeper. This made a lot of women choose the wrong shades which would be a mismatch for our skin tones. This is when we knew we had to ace the formulations to create the right shades of makeup that suited all Indian women.

CC: During your initial years, in one of the interviews, you said were unable to cross a certain barrier. How did you manage those times?

I deeply believe that life is a marathon and not a sprint, so while there were setbacks, they helped to keep my eye on the bigger picture. When starting with a business it’s crucial to hold the ability to recover from setbacks, adapt well to change and keep going in the face of adversity. During a slow period, I would constantly push myself to work twice as hard and do my best for the things that were in my control. Also, what helped me to be further motivated was to take time to enjoy my small wins and look back at how far I have come.

CC: When a 23-year-old Vineeta rejected a one-crore job offer by an investment banking company, it came as a surprise for many. Did you ever regret your decision?

It is a lot more common now but back in 2007, I was only 23 and it felt a little unnerving to be featured on the cover of the WEEK for being the first and youngest B-school graduate to decline a 1-Crore placement offer to launch a startup. During such times, there is a simple tip that I’d say to follow-convert that fear into excitement. The key is to take off your fear lens and recognise the dreams behind them. While I did face a couple of hiccups in the initial days of my startup ventures, I was always sure about choosing passion over great money. So, I haven’t regretted choosing this path. Luckily, my family and friends have always been a strong support system for the dreams I’ve wanted to achieve.

"We tend to undervalue our potential and fail to realise how much we’re capable of. It is extremely important to remember that, no matter what, you must always value yourself, your abilities & your skills, because believing in your dream and striving towards it is one of the most satisfying and underrated feelings."

CC: Soon after that, you started a service company that was functional for around five years, it earned you a profit of 2-3 crores. Tell us about that journey and learnings.

SUGAR Cosmetics Time To Shine Lip Gloss

I always knew that I wanted to start something in the women’s consumer space. Back then, I understood that there was a huge need for an online lingerie store in India. This was because I personally was very disappointed by the whole lingerie shopping experience in the country. The online shopping option, of course, didn’t exist but even the offline experience was very troublesome. So, that’s when three of my batchmates and I got together and worked on a business plan to sell lingerie online. We soon realised that it was too early for a company like that and most venture capitalists whom we approached with our plan said that it would not work. But, by then we had all given up our investment banking jobs, and we had to start something.

Scaling through

Eventually, we decided to do something low-risk, which did not involve raising any funds. So, we started a services company. Initially, we were making content for educational institutes and then over a period of time, we got into HR outsourcing. For most of 2007 till 2012, I was running an HR outsourcing business where we would do background verification, hiring and training for large companies like FedEx, Mahindra’s, ITC etc. It was a healthy services company doing about 2 to 3 Crores INR in revenue-very high margins, but it wasn’t really scaling up.

Right around then, I had the chance to travel abroad. It was then it came across-the whole subscription space, and it sparked my interest. It seemed like the perfect fit for the women’s segment that I wanted to explore. That’s when I decided to exit my previous company and launched FAB BAG in 2012. During this time, about 200,000+ women shared their beauty preferences with us and helped us with data that was the foundation of SUGAR Cosmetics. It made us realise that most women didn’t have access to the right products that were suitable for their skin type, and the rest is history.

CC: What role have the social media influencers played in making SUGAR reach where it is right now?

One of the key factors of SUGAR’s success has been our use of influencer marketing and social media hype generation. We ensured to primarily use social media to educate women on makeup instead of flooding the online community with offers or promotions. This resulted organic growth in sales and building a community, along with SUGAR’s loyal customer base.

CC: So, what took so long for Shark Tank to come to India? Tell us about your perception of the show.

I have been an avid watcher of Shark Tank even before it came to India. I always took away a fair number of valuable inputs from just watching the show; the kind of questions that the Sharks would ask, gave key insight into metrics respective to the type of business model or industry. I’m unaware of why it took so long for the show to enter the Indian market, but I’m positive that its timing couldn’t have been better. The show has played a crucial role in making entrepreneurship an everyday topic of conversation amongst the people of our country. The Indian audience is aware and excited about the startup sector and entrepreneurial ventures now more than ever before.

"Managing work and family life can be tricky but I’ve never given up in the face of difficulty. Luckily for me, I also have a great co-founder and husband, as well as a fabulous team in place, who help me run the show. I am blessed to be working with a fast-growing, energetic team, which is predominantly women."

CC: The show has become an instant hit. What do you think is the reason and what sort of impact will this show have on our entrepreneurs?

SUGAR Cosmetics Time To Shine Lip Gloss

The reason why Shark Tank became an instant hit is the show itself. It not only gave the ‘pitchers’ a great platform to showcase their products or brand but it also gave the audience a first-hand experience of demystifying various nuances of business and the potential that it holds. While entrepreneurship has always been there in India, the show has further motivated people to explore it. The most positive impact of the show is that it has promoted business and entrepreneurship into everyday conversations and has encouraged everyone to explore their ideas.

CC: Tell us a bit about your bond with other Sharks on the show (the fun banter, the bidding war, and other things.)

Shark Tank India was one of the most incredible experiences for me. Over the duration of the shoot, all of us Sharks got to know each other and became really good friends. I hold them all in very high regard and I don’t think that the long shoot days would’ve been as fun as they were if we didn’t have this bond.

CC: How do you manage both work and family? You are a mom of two kids. How do you draw the line between professional and personal life?

Managing work and family life can be tricky but I’ve never given up in the face of difficulty. Luckily for me, I also have a great co-founder and husband, as well as a fabulous team in place, who help me run the show. I am blessed to be working with a fast-growing, energetic team, which is predominantly women. On most days, this is what keeps me excited about getting to work, problem-solving with them and building our company together.

CC: When not working, how do you like to spend your time?

As a hobby, I like to spend my time going on long runs. I have been a fitness enthusiast and an avid runner for over a decade now, and it has helped me rejuvenate and sharpen my focus. Over the years, I have participated in various marathons across the country and completed the Comrades Ultra marathon which is 89 km long, thrice from 2012 to 2014. Additionally, my husband and I are the first Indian couple to finish the gruelling long-distance Ironman triathlon in Austria.

CC: A piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs.

With over a decade of being an entrepreneur, there have been numerous learning that I’d like to share. One of the major ones is being resilient in the face of problems and failure. When it comes to budding entrepreneurs, I think, we tend to undervalue our potential and fail to realise how much we’re capable of. It is extremely important to remember that, no matter what, you must always value yourself, your abilities and your skills, because believing in your dream and striving towards it is one of the most satisfying and underrated feelings.

CC: Philosophy in life?

Deviating from what’s surely attainable to getting what I’ve never imagined I could ever do, is a philosophy I’ve adopted for life. That feeling to accomplish more – pushing your limits to their ultimate - is what keeps me going every morning. That’s what gives me a new goal to achieve every morning, when I’m out of bed and ready to face the day ahead.

Offering the Unoffered

"The key is to take off your fear lens and recognise the dreams behind them. While I did face a couple of hiccups in the initial days of my startup ventures, I was always sure about choosing passion over great money."

-Vineeta Singh

Corporate Citizen: How would you describe your personality?