Ratan Tata investing in BlueStone has lent the brand a sense of self-pride, says Gaurav Kushwaha, Founder and CEO

Success Quotient is a weekly feature that appears every Friday on Firstpost, which looks at the pains and joys en route to success for a head honcho - whether a CEO, MD or an entrepreneur. The column looks at the ideas that helped launch a company, its highs and lows. He calls himself a rebel. Or he is a drummer who marches to his own beats. The 35-year-old Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, CEO and Founder, BlueStone.com - an online jewellery brand, does not like to follow the herd. A computer science graduate from IIT Delhi, he chose not to go the traditional route of going abroad for studies or applying for a job overseas. From being a student whose parents could not get him to trim his long hair (that is for girls, they said) to going about his career and life with his gut instincts, Kushwaha has come home meeting with success with BlueStone that got funded even before it was launched in 2012, to its luminous growth: revenues have grown 3x every year. Kushwaha talks to Firstpost about his life as a busy entrepreneur that has taken centre stage leaving everything else in the wings. Excerpts from the interview: [caption id=“attachment_2412334” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] Gaurav Kushwaha, Founder & CEO, Bluestone.com[/caption] What did you want to do after graduating from IIT with a computer science degree? I am from Kota which is famous for producing IIT aspirants and graduates. Almost every friend or relative has an IIT-attending relative. I wanted to do physics at IIT but well-meaning friends said physics would be extremely gruelling and Computer Science was the ‘in-thing’ to do. They also mentioned that Computer Science would be far easier and IIT was a fun place to be. At that impressionable age I listened to their advice. I was very angry with myself for having paid heed to that because the first year at IIT was very tough for me. I had no regrets when I finished the course though. However, I was clear I did not want to join the herd and go abroad for work or further studies. I am a rebel of sorts. I don’t like to do what is suggested or told to me. I don’t plan anything. But I have significant risk-taking capabilities and also confidence in my abilities. So what did you do after graduation? I did not take up a job after I finished my graduation. When I was in the third year of studies at IIT, I was working for a company based in Germany. When I graduated, that firm asked me to work for them. I did that for eight months and then returned to India. Subsequently, I joined a start-up where I worked for around two and a half years. For a small period I also worked in the US. But I have always wanted to to live and work in India. With my background in computer science, I got a job at Amazon. In 2006, I started Chakpak.com, a website based on Bollywood with an IIT batch mate. I was 27 years old then. We decided on the name Chakpak when we saw it as an alias on a friend’s email id. We loved the name.  However, we found it difficult to monetize Chakpak. What lessons did you learn from your first start-up? There were some valuable lessons. First: The team is an important component of a start-up. A start-up is not about its founders. Second: To be present at the right place. If you are playing poker, for instance, you have to be playing at a $1,000 table and not a $10 one. How did you hit upon the idea of jewellery online and BlueStone? In 2011, internet usage was booming in India and e-commerce companies had emerged across verticals. I wanted to get into a niche vertical.  The jewellery category is huge in India. This sector is the biggest retail player. It is not a horizontal game. Have you ever heard of a poor jeweller? But I must admit I was doubtful whether people would buy jewellery online. But I realized that when people spend around 10 hours on the internet daily, it is more likely that they will buy things online than offline. I wasn’t targetting people in the 40-60 age group, but the first-time buyer and the newly married couple who may want to try the medium.  To make that happen, I would have to offer stunning products at attractive prices. Then the customers would be tempted to buy jewellery online. My aim was to put up a product display that consumers would fall in love with. I spend six months working on that. I came in touch with many talented individuals who helped me a lot. I knew Vidya Nataraj, who had extensive knowledge about the jewellery industry as she was part of the C Krishniah Chetty family and serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Ganesh K. We got funding of $5 million from Palo Alto, California-based Accel Partners and Bengaluru-based Samaa Capital. Do you have a factory? We have one at Mumbai and another at Surat. Maintaining a jewellery inventory is very costly. We have reversed the supply chain. On the website, the prices of the items on display are mentioned. Once the order is placed, we get into manufacturing of that item. We offer certified jewellery, a 30-day money back policy and a Lifetime Exchange on all our products. If customers are not satisfied with the jewellery, I don’t want them to be forced to keep it just because they have bought it. We have seven percent returns on an average. When any piece of jewellery is returned, we put that back on display and usually someone buys it. If it is not sold, then we melt it. We have had to do that just twice in three years. Were you surprised with the rapid growth of the company? I am happy with what we have achieved. But it has not been easy. I have done things differently. In the first year of operation in 2012-13, the revenues were Rs 6 crore, in the second year it was Rs 17 crore and last fiscal it was Rs 55-60 crore. I hope it keeps tripling year after year! Do you plan to go offline too? We will have to go that way. I am a big fan of the hybrid model. Technology is changing and evolving every day. Everything is tech-driven. Anyone who is online goes offline to make purchases. We would like to have a presence in both places. We want to be the leading brand in jewellery in India and globally too. Ratan Tata invested in BlueStone. Tell us about that. We were doing Series D with Citigroup and that is when I met with Mr Tata. He is extremely sharp but a man of few words. He is not at all aggressive. Unlike other potential investors who ask many questions even as one is sharing the business plan, Mr Tata is a patient listener. I told him about our financial model and operations. He said we had made an efficient use of working capital without blocking funds. He had only two suggestions to make: To have a great deal of patience in a business such as jewellery, and to be the best and honest player in the space. Mr Tata investing in BlueStone has helped pushed the brand. Yes, it has. Not only in the industry but also within BlueStone. Everyone working here feels a sense of pride to be associated with a brand that Mr Tata has invested in. What are your best-selling pieces? Rings are the most bought at BlueStone. With regard to ticket size, customers prefer to buy jewellery in the range of Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000. People still have apprehensions about buying jewellery online.  We know that we haven’t nailed that apprehension completely. What you see is an intangible product and there are bound to be apprehensions. That is where our money back policy helps. We also have a home-try-on service in a few cities. Our growth figures prove that people are willing to buy jewellery online. How do you relax? I sleep. (Laughs). It is true. I love to sleep. I am an entrepreneur who cannot afford to take time off to indulge in hobbies. I have a five-month-0ld daughter and spend all my free time with her. I don’t like to shop. My wife takes care of that. She is one of the most frequent buyers of jewellery from BlueStone. My hobby is sleeping. That has been my hobby for some time now!