When Forward Fooding spoke to Guruji, a funky company who’ve brought tasty lotus seeds from India and given them a westernized flavour profile, we were stunned to hear of how tumultuous and fast-paced their start-up success journey had been. But having come out of the other side, and now a defined company available even on Amazon, what have they learnt? We compiled some of their wise words to help any budding start-up facing the daunting challenges of marketing, launching, and producing.

TIP #1: Stop overthinking!

It’s the easiest thing to say and one of the hardest things to do. So how did the Guruji team manage to do it?

Don’t overthink things so much! Things which may seem so important to you, the consumer barely even considers. We spent weeks deciding on what badges we wanted on the front of our lotus seed packets, a choice I think a lot of other start-ups with a range of USPs (vegan, gluten-free, non-extruded, no artificial ingredients, etc.) will face. But at the end of the day, consumers will grab your packet off the shelves for so many reasons as well as your badges; trust in your product and get it out there!

TIP #2: Where the customer’s hat more!

It’s hard sometimes to detach from your product; after all, you’ve cared about it from the very seed of an idea all the way along the journey to selling it to consumers. Here’s what the Guruji team had to say…

Taking a step back, and putting on the hat of the consumer, is honestly the best way to make decisions. We’ll always be close to our lotus seeds; but what would a consumer think seeing them for the first time? Would they like our packaging? Are they appealing? That crucial detachment in decision-making means you can be far more efficient. Definitely something we wish we’d learned sooner!

TIP #3: Stay authentic!

Increasingly in the start-up community, transparency and authenticity is the biggest power-move companies have over large corporations. So how important is it to Guruji?

It’s everything to us to make sure we maintain and honour that Eastern heritage which we owe so much to, both personally and as a business. We wanted to make a collaborative product — it’s from the east for the west, with a western taste profile and an eastern name. Staying true and authentic to that has been so important.

• 

• 

This interview made up part of our ‘East Meets West’ newsletter, where we spoke to a number of companies who’ve brought their traditional delicacies to a Western audience, and their advice to other start-ups looking to do similar. We provide hand-crafted news and insight from the world of FoodTech; if you want to be put on our mailing list, email mathilde@forwardfooding.com and we’ll add you to our community!

If you enjoyed this article, follow, clap or share and join us in our Food Revolution at ForwardFooding.com

This article has been written by Mathilde Redshaw