BitsBusiness

Stappu is a game played in North India where you throw a stone at a number and hop to the box where the stone lands. It’s like hopscotch and is a fixed marker of the Indian childhood. When friends and co-founders Jeevika Tyagi and Kanika Khosla were brainstorming for a name for their startup, this one popped up. “The name takes us back to our childhood where you could play silly games like stappu and not be judged. Whatever you did, you had fun doing. Also, our business model is hopping from one art category to another,” explains Jeevika & Kanika.

In an age when e-commerce is becoming mainstream because of rapidly changing customer habits, Stappu has adopted an unique philosophy and business model. Instead of focusing on volume growth and scale, Stappu focuses on the artists who offer their products in its marketplace and helps them build their brands and fruitful relationships with their customers.

“We wanted to tell stories and also bring out the entrepreneur in each artists since we were ourselves struggling to become entrepreneurs,” says Kanika.

Both founders were based in New York, Jeevika was a banker and Kanika an architect. Both wanted to explore life beyond the mundane corporate existence they had unwittingly chosen. They quit their high powered jobs and worked with a series of startups to get the lay of the land. When the friends decided it was the right time to start something of their own, they decided they would, “Explore the space that facilitated the growth of an individual’s passion.”

What is Stappu.com ?

Stappu is a platform from where everything is sold and shipped directly from the Artists. They believe every buying experience is enhanced when you know where the product is coming from and the story behind it.

Each Artist has a beautiful story and it is every person’s story that sets him or her apart from the rest. – Stappu.com

The company’s mission is to maximize appreciation for all forms of arts by creating meaningful connections between the artists and the buyers.

Stappu’s first set of clients are Mumbai culinary artists and brands like Eatyadi, Poppaddum, Madd Batter, BakerHer and Sucree Delights. For their events they partner with other startups like HipCask or the venue where they are holding the event.

Stappu is self-funded but is set to raise seed funding soon.They have the bandwidth to focus on one category (culinary artists) and one city( Mumbai) at the moment, however they plan to expand to other categories and cities in India in the future.

In this episode of the BitsBusiness podcast Jeevika and Kanika share their journey as entrepreneurs, Stappu’s business model , some of the challenges they faced to get Stappu off the ground, and their future plans.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS