From being Jobless and sleepless to building a Rs.500 Crore Brand – How Ankit Garg is building Wakefit

Sleep- An Energy Investment You Need Tomorrow

Before we read about the story of Ankit of Wakefit: Jobless to Sleeplessness, a bit of context.

Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being. Getting enough quality sleep can help one protect their mental health and physical health, thus improving one’s quality of life. Studies show that a good night’s sleep improves learning. Whether you’re learning math, how to play the piano, how to perfect your golf swing, or how to drive a car, sleep helps enhance your learning and problem-solving skills. Sleep helps one pay attention, make decisions, and be creative. One can truly say that sleep is an investment in the energy you need tomorrow.

Matthew Walker in his book titled “Why We Sleep” brilliantly illuminates the night, explaining how sleep can make us healthier, safer, smarter, and more productive. The book provides knowledge and strategies to overcome the life-threatening risks associated with our sleep deprived society.

Today, sleep deprivation has become a great problem, one which is effecting a huge chunk of the population. From children to adults, many are lacking sleep for various reasons. Lack of sleep leads to many kinds of problems, likes of which include depression, stress, anxiety and increased risk for stroke, heart disease and asthma attacks. An estimated 93% of Indians are sleep deprived and get less than eight hours of sleep says one study.

Hunt for a good night’s rest begins with a mattress which one finds comfortable and relaxing. With lifestyles getting more hectic and stressful, the wellness market in India has seen a rise including many Sleeptech startups have emerged. One such startup is Wakefit, founded by Ankit who’s journey from being jobless to sleeplessness is nothing but spectacular!

Journey of Ankit from WakeFit: Jobless leading to Sleeplessness

An IIT Rourkee Graduate, Ankit Garg found initial funding success with a product he created out of his laboratory. But having funding and a good product did not mean success. He realized that managing financial side of the startup had a role to play.

He soon shut shop and was out of a job. This meant sleepless nights and sleep walking. Today, Ankit Garg has built a Rs.500 Crore Mattress Brand in Wakefit. Its ironical how he went from being sleepless to building a brand that would assure others a sound sleep at night. How did he go from being jobless and being sleepless to doing this? Its all here! Listen to Ankit of Wakefit talk about his journey from being jobless to sleeplessness.

Here are some excerpts from the Episode:

Evolution is Key.

Every year, there’s a new car that will be launched, every year, there’s a different bus that will come out right so you keep on evolving and you cannot keep on spending a lot of money on the board.

Ankit Garg 31:10

First Satisfaction After Starting Wakefit.

There are better ways to build it. But when that failed, I think it started that you know I have to do something I actually cannot be just going in my car or a bike to kind of get new customers and tell them and collect payments second, or whatever you do in a sales profile of a business. So that was one thing.

Second is when I started my business, then you said, you know, when you really think that, you know, entrepreneurship is really important, is really working out, you start believing in entrepreneurship. I think that moment happened to me, when some customers actually called me up and said, “Bahut Acha Product Tha”.

Ankit Garg 49:53

Customer Is Always Right!

I think I learned one thing, and I started believing it to the core that if you don’t talk to your customers, you are going to get screwed. You cannot decide what you want to sell.

You have to listen to the customer that he has to tell you what he wants to buy, you have to build that, you cannot decide what kind of service you are going to give to the customer.

It is the customers if you ask him, what what is he looking at. And if he tells you that this is what I want as a service, you have to build that service.

Ankit Garg 53:52

Looking Forward with Wakefit

We’re setting up really last month, our ambition is…I don’t think we should, I should say that, but I want IKEA to think before he comes into my territory. Right?

So I mean, I want to create a value ecosystem products, things of the level that you know, people start loving, and the outsider should be able to think they should really think that they should get in on. So and that’s a that’s a dream.

Ankit Garg 01:20:09

Show Notes

Follow Ankit Garg on Twitter (@Ankit_AGarg)

Visit https://www.wakefit.co/ to check out their products.

Here is what the world cloud from the episode looks like:

Follow Maharajas of Scale on Twitter (@maharajaofscale)