Hey,
This is Jatan and quite a few of you would have interacted with me virtually through Instagram DMs, emails, or via a phone call. I’m always looking forward to having a conversation.
The year 2021 is about to end. This is our last Sunday letter of 2021. Hope you enjoy reading this deeply personal letter from me.
WHAT A YEAR!!! Phew, I just can’t believe that we did so many things in a short period of time. I’m super, super proud of how things have shaped up so far and are really excited for 2022.
To be 100% honest, I wasn’t really sure if we will accomplish what we have managed to over the last 130 days since our launch. 2021 has been a defining year for me personally and this year will always be remembered.
There is a lot that goes behind while building a brand/company and there is a lot of help and guidance one needs in navigating through a sea of challenges. We have been fortunate to have a strong pool of advisors, mentors, and fellow entrepreneurs who have been very kind and candid in sharing their thoughts and learnings. If I start naming all of these folks, I think the letter will become way too long though we might just add a page on our website listing down all the names as “wall of supporters”
Before we end this year, we wanted to take a moment to reflect upon our journey and share a few highlights -
- From a 2 people team (Tushar & I) and an idea on a piece of paper, we have managed to add 2 (full time) extremely talented, inspiring and amazing folks in our team (Drishti & Raghav) and are working alongside another 5 dedicated folks (Devpriya, Khushi, Ritesh, Mukul, & Bala) in a part-time capacity. In total, we are a 9 member strong team that continues to create magic. That is almost 350% growth in terms of team strength.
- From a single product in a single color i.e. Charcoal Grey in August, we have managed to expand our product portfolio and add another 7 products. We have introduced a Smart Water Flosser, a Copper Tongue Cleaner, 2 variants in Mouthwash, and 3 new colors in Electric Truthbrush. Lots of new and exciting products in the pipeline so please stay tuned. We are in the process of creating an extensive range so that all your oral care needs are taken care of.
- To date (25th December), we have managed to sell 3500+ Electric Toothbrush, 850+ Probiotic Rinse (mouth wash), and close to 2900 people have experienced a perfora product. This number in August (our launch month) was close to 250 people implying we have grown 11x since our very first month. That is just phenomenal!!
- We managed to convince and raise some capital from a pool of visionary and talented people at Sauce.VC, Huddle, and inspiring entrepreneurs. It is very encouraging when serious investors are willing to back your vision and believe in your execution capabilities.
- We have been very fortunate to receive media love and attention. To date, our brand has been featured in 10+ publications (all organic). Some of my favorite features are - Elle, Vogue, Grazia, BW Disrupt, Homegrown.
- As a brand, we are super conscious about the environment and the negative impact that we might have created as we go about building our brand. Hence, we have partnered with 1% For The Planet, an organization that helps in preserving the environment by working alongside organizations across the globe. As a part of this membership, 1% of our total revenue is directed towards initiatives that help in making this planet a better place to live. To date, we have contributed close to INR 50,000 towards this initiative.
- In a quest to educate consumers around oral health, we started publishing articles on our blog and so far have been able to cover 6 topics. We intend to scale this up in the coming year and create a strong repository of all things oral health. To my surprise, we have also stuck to the practice of writing a letter every Sunday to our community and have written 14 letters. Didn’t think we would be so consistent with this Sunday letter practice though your feedback and encouragement have been a driving force!
On a personal front, I finally mustered the courage to pen down some of my thoughts on life, learnings, etc., and was able to write 2 articles on medium. You can read them here - https://medium.com/@bawajatan and share your thoughts.
Going forward, we intend to break barriers with innovative products, engaging content, and surprising you in many other ways. Super pumped to grow 100x in the coming year and elevate the oral care regime of at least 100,000 people in India.
We are beyond grateful for your trust, love, and support as we go about building Perfora into one of the most loved and iconic oral care brands.
Enjoy the very last week of 2021 and spend some time with your family, friends, and loved ones.
Cheers,
Jatan