Every ‘Little Problem’ Has A Simple (yet funny) Solution - Says ButterlyYours, A Customised Merchandise

ButterlyYours was founded in November 2015 by Dinesh Bhasin.

The company creates a customised merchandise that solve a problem. They take the little and common problems that people face in their daily life and create products that solve them in a simple (yet funny) way.

The startup was born with an aim to solve just one problem- The death of innovation in the Gifting and Brand-Merchandising space because of run-of-the-mills products: t-shirts, pens, mugs and key chains or Chinese products.

With the signature product- “The Bhasad Planner” the company aims to help people stay organized by using the 'Funniest and most useful organiser ever made'.

The startup comes with many innovative ideas and are interested to create those products that are not available in the market.

Chitrakshi Suneja Interacts With Dinesh Bhasin, Founder, ButterlyYours And Spoke To Him

Idea Generation

Since the idea was to make actually useful products that solve a real pain point but in a simple (yet funny) way we started with trying to solve a problem that we were facing and we are sure any and every working professional faces the problem, the problem of not being able to prioritise effectively. Thus remaining essentially very busy but less productive. So that was the first ‘little problem’ that we wanted to solve. And that’s how ‘The Bhasad Day Planner’ and hence ButterlyYours was created. And from the kind of feedback that we have got so far, I’d say we’ve done a pretty good job.

About The Product

“The Bhasad Planner" has been doing phenomenal and in the 2 months since we launched we have shipped 1017 units in bulk orders and 258 units in individual orders.

In the next 4-6 months, we plan to launch 3 more products that are currently in the pipeline and then launch one product every quarter. (You see we are really fast moving and impatient)

Alongside, we will be scaling both in B2B and B2C by collaborating with few online/ offline stores & digital marketing. We ain’t looking for any funding as off now but that's something in perspective. Once we have successfully morphed from a line of products to a company with solid business model and projections.

And honestly it’s nothing like anything else out there, because no one really thought that slangs on a day planner (something that civilised professionals use) is a good idea, but we thought, planning is boring and filled with frustration so if we can make it funny, it becomes a stress reliever and maybe people will buy it. And then it comes encased in customizable, premium quality faux-leather available in 4 colors- Green, Yellow, Pink and Black.

We are offering it on crowdfunding at a limited period early backer price and will launch the product publically at the price point of Rs. 349 after the crowdfunding campaign.

Key Features

So why did we want to enter the hyper-segregated customised merchandising space?

If you look at the general notion about customised merchandise, it’s basically thought of as eye candy, catchy and good for gifting products that one would not buy to use for himself. And it’s even worse when it comes to customised merchandise for corporate gifting, where brand, marketing and HR managers think of it as a necessity to do, something that simply needs to be checked-off their to do lists, or as a marketing tool that it was used as when it started and not as a way to create an impact.

Differentiation Factors

One big advantage that we have seen by bringing utility into ‘just for gifting’ items is- if you get it right it appeals to individuals, startups and big time corporates alike. Which is not the case with traditional customised merchandising. In fact, traditional customised merchandising is so targeted that companies call themselves D2C or B2B. And even in B2B what appeals to startups may not be appropriate for even small or mid-sized corporates.

Challenges Faced

There are tech-startups everywhere so it wasn’t easy for us being a product based startup, from designing, to prototyping and now production, every step is an unsolved puzzle with little guidance or footsteps to follow. But social media and internet has definitely come to the rescue in terms of marketing and the kind of traction that we are seeing today has made all the struggles completely worth it.

Funding & Monetization Details

It started as a founder funded project, and after we completed the design of our first product ‘The Bhasad Day Planner’, we launched it on crowdfunding platform Desired Wings and we intend to raise Rs. 100,000 for the first production round of 300 units.

Our first product The Bhasad Planner is a useful Day Planner with the 4 quadrants of Stephen R. Covey. But the way each quadrant is titled with a funny and popular slang like Bhasad, O Teri Ki, Bhains Ki Aankh and Dekh Lenge Yaar makes it a gem(especially for the north Indians).

Traction Details

In the first month since the creation of our first(Beta) prototype we have served 3 corporate orders and 138 single orders totaling to 468 units in sales so far. And our finished version of the product is now on crowdfunding and we have got orders worth 13,500 (totalling to 48 units) so far in the last two weeks. And the kind of feedback that we have got is simply phenomenal.

“ People don't use a product because of the great design, great design helps them use the product ” - Quoted by Team ButterlyYours