How YourStory helped Aniket Parihar become an entrepreneur [Testimonial]

Testimonials make a company proud, and over five years of our existence we've been grateful to receive many. We have reached a stage where we can say that YourStory has been responsible for giving an initial platform to thousands of entrepreneurs and fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship in India. When Aniket Parihar recently wrote to us a soulful mail about how YourStory has helped him start up, we decided to give ourselves a mention alongside sharing his story.Back in 2010, Aniket was working at eClerx Services Ltd in Pune in the technical domain. This is when he was introduced to YourStory and he was hooked. “I am proud to let you know that I am one of those who has seen you guys grow, be it Keshav Prasad's article, a farmer turning entrepreneur in July 2010, your transition from .in to .com or Techsparks, anything associated with YourStory has always inspired me,” wrote Aniket.

He continued his job and moved to Mumbai in the same organization but deep down the entrepreneurial bug was making him restless. “I knew entrepreneurship was definitely my call,” he says. Browsing through YourStory jobs listing, he came across Shruti Dhanda who was building Shoptosurprise from Delhi. Shruti was looking for a technical co-founder and Aniket decided to drop her a mail. “I went to Delhi to meet her and immediately decided to join her venture,” says Aniket.

And as Aniket adds, “Since then the super amazing roller coaster journey has been a ride of a lifetime, which he owes specifically to YourStory.”

About Shoptosurprise.com

Gifting is a tricky proposition, and many tech entrepreneurs have tried to make it easy for people to choose and send gifts to friends and families. The team at Shoptosurprise believes they have a concept up their sleeves which can make this process simple and easy. The concept, according to them, is about concepts! “We are focusing on creating concepts which are basically sections, each different from the other. We have 13 concepts live on the site,” says Aniket. For instance, 'Create your own hamper', 'Blow a wish' are concepts where a user can send a wish for INR 99 and Shoptosurprise will deliver the message written on a card. 'Something about nothing' is a section with tips on how to make gifts, etc. “We are aspiring to build a complete gifting community,” says Aniket. The intention is to bring one new concept every month.

The company is coming up with two offline stores, one in Dehradun and another in Greater Noida. And they're about to initiate a crowd-funding project -- Creative Floor on Wishberry. The concept revolves around the idea of creating any product which is on the mind of the user. The entry fees will be INR 50 and all the expertise needed, including equipments and materials will be provided by the team.

Shoptosurprise is a team of 12 and intends to make a mark in the gifting space. Immediately on the product roadmap lies an app for gifting which will keep a check on the upcoming events and occasions for the customer.

You will also like to see this infographic from Funders and Founders on "How to Become an Entrepreneur "