Get personalised posters with Bluegape.com
Always wanted to put up a poster of your favourite film on your bedroom wall? Now get it printed and delivered to your doorstep in a jiffy! With Bluegape, a start up that helps you spruce up your personal space and render it your own personality.For Sahil Baghla, living his entrepreneurial dream wasn’t easy. Convincing his parents not to participate in campus placement interviews was a tough task. At IIT Kanpur, where aspiring engineers dreaming about joining IT giants, Sahil and his friend Anupam Acharya chose to take the road less travelled and co-founded Bluegape in their dorm room.
Bluegape is an online store that offers posters. “Our business idea was born and conceptualised in September this year. At first, we did not have a website and accepted orders through email from IIT Kanpur students. It wasn’t easy. We had to juggle our time between studying for exams, completing assignments and replying to email orders. But within just two months, we have a website up and are now delivering posters all over the country. We soon plan to expand to other youth merchandise as well,” says Baghla. In conversation with Abhilasha Dafria for YourStory.in, Sahil Baghla, co-founder of Bluegape tells more.
“Whenever I looked at the bare walls in my room, I would have this uncanny desire to want to bring them to life. In college, I wanted to have posters of my favourite quotes and photos on my dorm room wall. I tried to scout for them on the internet but find services. The process to select and print a poster of your choice is also cumbersome. Bluegape is a venture that helps you get that poster you always wanted with just a click of a button,” says entrepreneur Baghla. Sahil and Anupam still have a few months to go before they graduate and they have already sold more than 4,000 posters. Currently, Bluegape uses creative packaging options like PVC pipes and their official courier partners are Firstflight couriers. They are using the CCavenue payment gateway and “we are looking at adding COD solutions soon,” adds Baghla.
In terms of money, Bluegape was self-funded till now. “We plan to extend our product line and aim to position ourselves as a premier youth merchandising store. We are looking to raise money by the end of December,” reveals Baghla. Although Baghla and Acharya are still operating from a dorm room at IIT Kanpur, after they graduate, they want to continue their operations from Delhi.
It was difficult to find a talented web developer to create the website. Fortunately, the co-founders discovered one in their junior in college, AyushVarshney, who was good at web designing and delivered a great website in just ten days. Other challenges that they faced was sealing a deal with a good printing unit. “With just Rs 5,000 in the bank account, we didn’t have money for customer acquisition or marketing. Initially, the cost for packaging and delivering was high but somehow, we have managed to stay profitable,” says Baghla.
Although the market does have players that sell posters online, Bluegape has an edge because none of them offer customised printing services. “What also sets us apart is that we understand the tastes and preferences of the youth,” he adds.
Go to www.bluegape.com for more details!
