BoAt Success Story: A Kid From New Delhi Is The Fifth Largest Wearable Brand In The World
The BoAt story has been amazing, especially when you consider that it’s only been two years since the company started out of Aman Gupta’s dorm room at the University of Washington in Seattle. The company actually didn’t have its first product on the market until this summer, but it has already made quite a name for itself, and with good reason—BoAt has made wearable tech that’s affordable, but still full-featured and functional. In fact, BoAt is the fifth largest wearable brand in the world in terms of market share! Here’s how it happened…
How this new brand became one of the top wearable companies in India
BoAt, a company that makes wearables for people to track their physical activity. BoAt’s first product was an activity tracker that tracks movement and sends health data to a smartphone app (on iOS or Android). To promote its new product, Aman Gupta, Founder of BoAt and his team ran a Kickstarter campaign that raised about $10 million dollars from more than 22,000 backers. By launching on Kickstarter and leveraging social media and word-of-mouth marketing from its loyal supporters in India and abroad, Gupta was able to build anticipation for his products before they even hit retail stores.
Aman Gupta, CEO
Aman Gupta is a 25-year-old entrepreneur based in New Delhi, India. He’s CEO of BoAt Technology, one of India’s most successful wearable tech companies. He has won multiple awards for his company and was recently named by Forbes as one of Asia’s 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs in 2016. Prior to starting BoAt, Aman worked at Cisco as a Technical Account Manager in their Mobility Practice working with mobile operators such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance and Tata Docomo to name a few. Aman holds an MBA from IIM Bangalore along with a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology where he graduated with Gold Medals across all academic disciplines including studies abroad at Purdue University West Lafayette USA and University College London UK respectively.
The Inspiration Behind the Startup
I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. My father was a chartered accountant, and I grew up seeing him being a businessman. He taught me that starting up is not just about doing something new but also to do something differently than others. I did my engineering from one of India’s top institutes – Institute of Engineering and Technology, Ghaziabad (IET-G). During those days, I used to live in Saifabad hostel with four of my friends, who were all smart enough to start their own business immediately after completing their college. But what caught my attention was their lack of knowledge about entrepreneurship and all its aspects and procedures which every budding entrepreneur should know before stepping into it.
BoAt company started from scratch
All that is required to start a successful business is an idea, funding and execution. No matter who you are or where you come from, these three things can get you started on your way to success with any company in any country. This is something Aman Gupta knew when he began his journey with BoAt company in December 2015. He is now the fifth largest wearable brand in their niche and making waves all over India. This is one of many stories about how a young entrepreneur has taken risks and made them work for him. And by doing so, he’s created a successful startup in wearable technology as well as providing jobs for other local people too.
How did Aman become an entrepreneur?
It was 2012, and I had just graduated from college with a degree in software engineering. My parents wanted me to get a stable job, but my desire to make an impact on society through technology wasn’t satisfied by anything I’d seen around me. What’s more, I didn’t want to work for anyone else—I wanted to start my own company. But how could a 20-year-old with no startup experience do that? It seemed impossible.
What does being a successful entrepreneur mean to him?
Being an entrepreneur to me means having control over your life and environment. You’re not working for anyone else, but you’re also responsible for a lot of other people’s jobs and livelihoods. It comes with many challenges, some stressful and some very exciting, but if you love what you do it’s all worth it in my opinion. I’ve had plenty of opportunities in my career that have come up as a result of being an entrepreneur; these are things I would never have been able to experience in any other job.
