Find your life partner online was made possible by Anupam Mittal when he launched Shaadi.com in the early years of the internet in India. Anupam comes from a family that used to run a textile business.
It was during his college years when he joined his father to run their family business. Anupam, subsequently, created a new startup that would manufacture and export cotton- made-ups but this new project proved a failure. He immediately realized that he needs to learn a lot about running a business and after a couple of weeks went to the United States to do an MBA.
The idea of launching Shaadi.com struck the mind of Anupam while he came in touch with a priest {pandit in Hindi} in 1997 when he had come to meet his family in India. Meanwhile, he learned that the pandit used to conduct a matchmaking business and had a network of somewhere around sixty families.
Anupam felt for the families as they were provided a too limited choice by the priest for their children to look for their life partners. That is when he decided to create an online platform to bring more choices at the fingertips of both men and women who would seek to start a marriage life.
The initial years were very tough for the matrimonial site as the internet penetration was too limited in India. But when the internet access picked up gradually in our country, the startup started to receive a good response from the people.
Anupam would experiment with new ideas to grow his business. He would provide more profiles of match seekers to his users and in the meantime, he decided to earn revenue through subscriptions. People had to pay money for the number of profiles they received. But it didn’t work too long as people were thrifty to make online payments.
Anupam realized to change his revenue model and gave people free access to profiles and they would pay only when a potential match-seeker would accept their proposals. People, after they would make the payment, were allowed to continue their communications.
Anupam wasn’t satisfied with the results as his customers were mostly 21-35 years youth that comprised a small portion of his target market. He gave birth to a new concept called Shaadi Point where the families could not only find ideal partners for their match seekers but also were allowed to avail wedding planning services.
The services of Shaadi.com aren’t any more limited to India but in other nations as well. Its presence is growing fast all over the place and is believed to flourish further as more and more people are going online in the world.
In conclusion, Anupam’s journey wasn’t easy and neither was an impossible dream for him. He kept up with the latest market trends, promise, and dedication and that is what bold entrepreneurs always do. Thank you!
