Introducing Gardenly | An Outdoor Living and Garden Design Company
I hope this can inspire you to become a successful entrepreneur too! Why is it important to hear the story of a successful entrepreneur?
Having the vision to become an entrepreneur is great. Making it happen is another story!
In that frame, I had the pleasure to interview Jay Sah, Director of Gardenly and Founder of MyCeiling.
About Gardenly
Gardenly started with the goal to transform home spaces into a source of everyday joy and leisure. We provide aesthetic landscaping solutions for residences, institutions, markets, corporations, and industries.
Services offered by Gardenly include Terrace Gardens, Nature Aquarium, Landscaping, Balcony
Garden, Vertical Garden, Ponds, Artificial Grass, and Moss Walls. Gardenly aims to
firmly adopt eco-friendly measures, from the usage of pots to final paint.
1. What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e what’s your source of motivation?
It has to be my home garden which was an outcome of a deep love for gardening. It was how initially the idea for Gardenly came up. And not to mention a fresh cup of green tea to boost my mornings.
2. Why should people choose your product/services?
When we were working on starting Gardenly, the first thing that came to our mind was how can we give the best quality services that suit the client’s taste and preferences. We knew that we had to do more than our competitors. And without a doubt, technology came up as the focal point for our design – we use 3d design models for getting a better grasp of what exactly our client wants. Since our team knows the ins and outs of installing different components of the project including all stages from preparing models to the final look and feel, the projects that we set up for our clients were unique and very interesting to look at. So, we focused on the feeling that comes from being in nature, the smell, the sound, the lights – that was a special thing we never overlooked.
3. What’s your competitive advantage and why can’t it be copied?
Even though we have IPR in place, there is nothing that can’t be copied in any business. But on a second note, the type of team that we have and the knowledge they possess – that is invaluable. And that is the one thing that can’t be copied and since we are in a service business – it is the best advantage we have over others.
4. What risks are you facing?
Investment has to be one as we are in the growth phase. But particularly, skilled ground force is not easily available. It is a risk for us as we need good craftsmanship for our projects.
5. Have you considered any alliance/partnership?
Definitely. We are open to partnerships, and I am currently working to get a partnership with interior design and outdoor living companies like Livspace, Homelane, Pepperfry, Urbanladder, Designcafe, and Furlenco.
6. What are your cash flow projections? When will you break even? How much will you need in investments?
We plan on raising a fund of 5cr to expand our services across India but for now, we are relying on our own investments and currently, curating our services for Bangalore.
7. What comes first for you – money or emotions?
Emotions gave birth to this startup so money for us comes second. But then, we also don’t forget the value that money gives to Gardenly. Since we put our customers in the center of all our plans, it goes without saying that emotions and money go hand in hand when it comes to our customers.
8. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Strength is our creativity which we always strive to bring in all of our projects for our customers. If we know things can be done differently, we will try that. New ideas and an innovative culture are a few things that Gardenly stands for. Our weakness at this stage is not many people know about our brand. We hope to change that with an ever-increasing number of projects we are currently working on and the uniqueness we bring to each project.
9. Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.
The fact that how quickly we were able to get new projects after launching was really a proud moment for me and my team. The numbers are growing, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
10. How do you handle the pressure?
The best way we do that here at Gardenly is to take a stroll in our terrace garden at our office. Trust me, going back to nature is all you need for some cooldown time and come up with positive and new ideas.
11. If you sold your company today, what would be the tone of the conversation? What would you want to gain? What would you want to avoid losing?
I don’t think that time will ever come when I would like to sell this company. Something which we all strove to build with our own ingenuity, the thought of giving it away is very distant to us.
12. What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Slow and steady is the name of the game. In this day and age, when everything seems to move way fast we took the alternate route and it got us at a very good place. The best advice would be to go slow and with that to take calculated risks.
13. When was the last time you stepped into a garden?
Today, in the morning. My garden is the one peaceful place I never want to let go of and it has become a sort of sacred place where I can think about new ideas, my next project, and life. And that’s why there is one in our office too.
Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gardenlyindia/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegardenlyindia/
Website: https://gardenly.in/
