In Conversation with Co-founder of The Souled Store
Exclusive Coverage: From being bootstrapped to raising $10 million from Elevation Capital!
Harsh Lal is the Co-Founder of The Souled Store, an online store that sells quirky-pop culture merchandise. It is India’s biggest brand for official, licensed merchandise. From Marvel to Harry Potter to Liverpool FC, and now their original merchandise - they have it all. And guess what?
Just yesterday they closed $10 million in funding from Elevation Capital!
It has been an absolute privilege to have the opportunity to interact with Harsh. Here’s the tea:
Passionately Curious
Growing up, Harsh had no plan. He was always fascinated by a variety of different things and was never sure of one specific thing he wanted to do. A science student in school, who then studied law, did internships in journalism and advertising, and ALSO spent half a year as a tattoo-artist! Harsh tried to spend his college days filling his life with experiences. He feels it is important for younger people to experiment. It helps you build a broader perspective, something which is especially important for an entrepreneur.
The Origin Story
Harsh and his friend-cum-Co-founders, were all huge fans of movies, TV shows, comics, and sports. As fans, their thirst for affordable good quality official merchandise, a medium for expressing their fandom essentially, always remained unsatiated. This thirst is what led to the genesis of the idea of The Souled Store.
Back in 2013, when they started, the online apparel space was not as crowded as today. It was a different world. We Indians were skeptical of buying clothes online. The idea seemed far-fetched to us. A company trying to make a dent in this space would have to tackle psychological barriers of payment security, product quality, and delivery service quality. The founding team picked the right battles at the right time, worked hard, never gave up, and today they are a homegrown behemoth in the apparel space :)
Monetizing Fandom
The Souled Store has worked with 150+ license partners over their 8 year journey. While licensing continues to be an important part of their overall roadmap, Harsh says that their vision is to become the No.1 Apparel Brand in the casual wear space. Something that goes beyond just the pop-culture space. Something that is aspirational. Like what Nike did for sports-wear and Raymonds did for formal-wear.
Today, 80% of The Souled Store’s original wear comes from repeat customers. While the licensing play helps with user acquisition, what this says is that the customers stay for the quality. They stay because they love the experience and the brand.
Currently, 60% of the TSS’ revenue comes from licensed products and 40% comes from their original design. Harsh and the team see this number flipping over to 70% original design over the next few years.
Gliding through a Pandemic
The Souled Store is one of the only few online apparel companies that actually grew during the pandemic. And profitably so. Harsh credits this feat to having a strong brand that is loved by an extremely sticky customer base who stuck with them during this tough phase and an agile time that was quick to respond to never seen before circumstances. And, the numbers speak for themselves.
99% right is 100% wrong
“At The Souled Store, there is no room to half-ass things. Good enough is never good enough.”
Harsh and the team at TSS are a tribe of perfectionists. This comes off very strongly in the quality of their products, the ingenuity of their designs, their creative packaging, and even the striking quality of the colours they use.
Giving up is never the answer
“Everything is figure-out-able. As you scale, problems don't disappear, they simply change. Your mindset is key in tackling them and moving on.”
The life of a start-up founder is a roller-coaster. Things change every day. There are good days, and then there are bad days. Harsh says it is important to believe in yourself. One should work hard, take ownership and have a solution-oriented approach. In the startup world, the problems never end, whether it is the 0:1 phase or the 1:1mn phase. They just change. A strong mindset is the key.
A thing of the soul
Loving what you do and following your soul is the philosophy that lies at the heart of The Souled Store. It is what Harsh and his partners started with, and something they still strive towards every day. Life is short. So spend it doing something you like :)
His favourite superheroes :)
Harsh is an eclectic guy. His favourite is the Mortal Kombat universe. We tip our hats to you.
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