Latest / Love Matters With Leeza Mangaldas / When your work spouse is also your real spouse ft. Nidhi & Shikhar Singh

Transcript

When your work spouse is also your real spouse ft. Nidhi & Shikhar Singh · Love Matters With Leeza Mangaldas

0:06
When you are facing any issues in your business, you have a additional pair
0:12
of hand as you know, a shoulder to support you. You don't feel
0:17
alone. It could be you know, some partner from outside. But if
0:20
somebody your partner, partner from home, your spouse, then it becomes really
0:25
easy. You don't have to fight every single day and you go back home,
0:29
you know, getting cranky on the business things. When you're married,
0:37
you're a team. But what happens if you decide to take your due professional
0:42
and start a business together? Is it just more of a good thing or
0:46
way too much of one? Today we're going to find out. Hi,
0:56
I'm Evelyn Sharma and you're listening to Love Matters podcast about relationship topics that matter
1:02
to you and me. Today we're going to talk to a couple who decided
1:07
to quit their biotech jobs and go into business together making samosas Young Today,
1:15
there are Samosa sing shops in eight cities in India selling fifty thousand samosas a
1:21
day. So, Nidi Singh and Shaker Singh, thank you so much for
1:26
joining us today. Thank you our pleasure to be here. Well, let's
1:30
start at the very beginning. How did you guys decide to go into business
1:37
together. Well, it definitely was not an easy decision. So you know,
1:44
samosas is everywhere around us, so we grew up seeing samosas and Indian
1:49
street foods and the love for Indian street foods across. But then now when
1:55
we went for higher studies and moved to Bangalore, he saw that even in
2:00
the South part of India, samosa is one of the most loved product and
2:05
yet it was highly unorganized. So basically we saw the unmet need in the
2:08
market and we just thought one day, why don't we create something organized around
2:15
the Indian street foods and nothing could be a better product than Samosa's. I'm
2:21
way too pregnant for this conversation. I feel I am so hungry for samosas
2:25
just hearing that, But yeah, continue. And we also knew that starting
2:32
a business together is not going to be a easy think. It's going to
2:37
have lots of ups and downs. Because both Schica and I have very complimentary
2:43
qualities, assets and trades. So basically we knew that it's going to be
2:46
tough, it's going to be challenging, but at the same time, we
2:49
could both make a very strong team. So what were your main worries before
2:53
you guys started. See, I always wanted to do something on my own.
2:58
But know in both of us we have a very good chemistry because we
3:04
are we got married very early in We always say in our childhood, how
3:09
old were you guys when you get married? So we got married twenty three,
3:15
twenty two, Okay, that is early. Yeah. So basically,
3:21
whenever I have to do something in my life, I want to take a
3:23
risk because I have always been on the side like I always like risk taking
3:30
and I want to do adventure in my life. And she's always more of
3:34
a comfort zone girl. So we always, you know, whenever I have
3:39
to do something like this, I always have to convince her first, you
3:46
know, if I have to put some seed in her mind, and then
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if she's convinced, then I know that she's going to convince everybody else,
3:53
be the parents or the consumers, so everyone. So I so my selling
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point is only one and she has many easily points. So that's awesome.
4:01
That's a good balance, I guess. Yeah, yeah, awesome. I
4:05
guess. It was tough and we before we actually ventured into this business,
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we did a lot of discussions. We spent quite a lot of holidays and
4:15
you know, days, weekends, week days, contemplating it, will this
4:17
be a right move? How are we going to manage how are we going
4:20
to actually compartmentalize personal and professional things, etc. Though we were not successful,
4:27
I mean there was nothing personal for the first few years of SAPSA saying,
4:30
But then we still try to do that and it's tough. It's it's
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really tough. It's not easy. So since you both quit your jobs,
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how did you take care of daily expenses and your funding? Did you did
4:45
you save up together and or did one work longer in their um you know,
4:49
daytime jobs than the other to provide or its like? How did you
4:55
split the responsibilities of that? Yeah? So see we plan well, like
5:00
during a job. Also, we saved enough so we bought an apartment for
5:04
us very early, just after joining job. Within one or two years,
5:10
we were able to do that. And luckily, you know, we were
5:14
doing well in our jobs as well, fantastic and once we started some OSA
5:18
saying, I was very clear, if we have to start, then I
5:20
have to plunge in with all my tools. I can't be you know,
5:25
one keeping my one step backward in my job and simultaneously work on the Yeah.
5:30
So just like you mentioned, he's a risk taker, right, So
5:33
he's a risk taker of that degree. That the day he convinced me and
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I said, okay, you know, let's do it. Now, enough
5:41
of thinking, let's do it. And he asked me just once, are
5:44
you sure about it? You're not going to, you know, really think
5:46
about it. I said, no, enough of thinking. We've been thinking
5:49
about this idea for over five years, and I'm with, you know,
5:53
let's do that. And the same the next I mean, we slept with
5:57
this thought. And the next day, before I could wake up, he
6:00
was already in the office and I get a message from him, Hey,
6:02
here's my resignation. I've resigned. That's the kind of rest taker he is,
6:08
you know. He literally just with the idea, with no location,
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nothing finalized. He was so sure he doesn't want an backup plan, basically
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no comfort zone. He just quit his job so that there's no looking back.
6:19
So he quit almost almost ten months prior to starting. Samosa saying,
6:26
I mean, you knew him very well and you knew that he does these
6:29
kind of things, but did it still scare you that, Oh my gosh,
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you know, it's real. See that at that time she was very
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much scared. In fact, she revealed me one year after the business that
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she cried almost for seven nights when I told this, And I'm leaving a
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job, it's you know, it's tough, Evelyn, when you have putible
6:49
job, two of you, you know, spending and earning and nothing to
6:55
say you can. Actually I could buy any time anything. I didn't even
6:59
have to think of it. But when we started the business. Literally it's
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not an exaggeration, but to buy a pair of jeans, I literally had
7:05
Dan and you know, chop out some extra budget to be able to do
7:11
that, because that entire money was saving to get into the business. We
7:16
were. Then when she quit the job, we started doing R and D.
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We took a small kitchen, we hired cooks, so the entire salary
7:25
and everything, you know, would move into that. But I think we
7:29
don't. I mean, obviously we were scared, everyone would be. He
7:32
wasn't scared. I was more scared, But I think I also evolved in
7:36
the journey and knowing him, I also know one thing that definitely he's a
7:42
risk taker, but at the same time he's very calculative risk taker. He's
7:45
not somebody who's going to jump into it with just a thought. He'll actually
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think through this really well and then do it. So when when was the
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point that you quit your job? Was it in the same week or it
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was almost one data when I'm also saying was starting. Well, it's great
8:03
to have that mix, you know, in the two owners, um.
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And of course the balance, like you said, you guys compliment each other
8:11
really well and you guys know each other so well, which is always good.
8:16
When you go into business with someone, Um, that trust, that
8:20
basis of trust has to be there. Um. But tell me, tell
8:24
me three pros and three cons guys of going into business with your with your
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romantic partner, with your husband or wife. Three pros okay, so I
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think one definitely, like when you are facing any issues in your business,
8:41
you have a you know, additional pair of hand, as you know,
8:46
a shoulder to support you. You don't feel alone. It could be you
8:50
know, some partner from outside, but if somebody your partner, partner from
8:54
home from your own uh you know, uh, your spouse, and it
9:00
becomes really easy. You don't have to fight every single day and you go
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back home, you know, getting cranky on the business things. So yeah,
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it's literally like we're both rank it together. Yeah, So I think
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that's one of the greatest pros that we both together in it. There's no
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judgment here. We know we're both putting in efforts, and there's no one
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who has to actually explain the other one that while we are working what's happening,
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So we're both in this together. I think the second pros about it
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is that you actually don't really have to spend any time synchronizing your thoughts because
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you're into it together all of the time. So literally you know you're both
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on the same page, you understand, you know what needs to be done.
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You're actually doing it together, unlike another partner who could be having a
9:46
different tangent. Right. And I think the third one is like you don't
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fear the failure. Our mindset is very much clear that if we fall,
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we fall together. Ifs realized together and actually evilent to be very is That's
10:00
also one of the major kN for that because a lot of people tell us
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that you know you're in a big risk because if anything happens, you won't
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do together. There's no one to actually support the other one. But I
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think it is like that you don't really plan for something. So for us,
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we've always felt that it's actually one of our biggest asset. Yeah,
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but then there are cons I'm in one of the biggest negative aspects for this
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is that actually your personal life was for a toss. Trust me, we
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thought so much that will not let this business get into our personal lives.
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But we were absolutely unsuccessful first three years. It was just some mossessing.
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It literally was like raising a child where you don't think about yourselves and all
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that you focus on is just the business. So it literally after three years
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it was like two business partners staying together. I think this is the only
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one. But we eventually learned over the period of time how to overcome these
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But still we are struggling every single day. But at least we don't struggle
11:01
on things which use which we used to do three years four years back.
11:03
Right, awesome. Well, I've run businesses myself, and I think one
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of the biggest pros to have someone who's you know, so involved with you
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to be on your side when it comes to staff discussions. I think that's
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like a really cool thing to have. Yeah, definitely, Yeah, helps,
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no way certainly. We feel it that way is because in our business
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we actually have a mix of all kinds of team. Right, we have
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a great caller workers who work in our factory. These are people to be
11:41
dealt with a lot of love. UK really cannot teach them these ethics.
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They learn my actions. They are the workers, the staff. Then I
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initially it's all the male workers who work in the factory. In order to
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get that discipline, we had to attract the female staff. Now having a
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couple working, as you know, found actually gives them comfort. Theirs couldn't
12:03
feel comfortable sending their wives with young children to our factory. Right, these
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things helped. And similarly, you know in the corporate and the retail staff
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where the things get little stuff, you have to be a little strong because
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you're literally dealing with the customer phase. You need to have someone with a
12:20
more stronger this thing, I would say, your persona. So that team
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sometimes also fear the great collar jobs. That's when sugar comes in very handy
12:28
for me when heavy and we have to manage that front of our team.
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So I've always worked in our favor. Yeah, that's that's very good.
12:39
Do you guys have any role models. You know any other couples who have
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done this that inspired you to go ahead? We act sometimes get I wouldn't
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say inspired, that's a very strong word, but I would say sometimes we
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get motivated by actually looking at our own journey. So I don't know if
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you know, but when COVID happened, just before COVID, we were re
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pourishing well in the business, And when COVID happened, my ninety five percent
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of my business became zero. Overnights, Yeah, I was working through the
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airlines and the big monkey food industry were our major customers, and our entire
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business was zero. And that actually was one of the most I think.
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I would say it was like we were literally standing on the frontiers of expansion
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when this thing happened, and that point in time, we didn't even have
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a second to actually think about us or anything. We both of us,
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we just you know, together with our team, we took them into confidence.
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We immediately pivoted and from zero we again grew the company to where we
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are now. Definitely very very challenging times. But now when anything tough happens,
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we go back think about those times and we ourselves field motivated. Where
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Sicar keeps telling me if we were able to sail through their so I think
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we'll follow this as well. So mm yeah, wow. I was going
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to ask you, what is it that motivates you guys to keep going and
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not just call it quits. See, our only motivation is like we wanted
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to do something on our own, but this one thought that the purpose which
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we started lives and where we want to take this business ahead and what is
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our ultimate goal until that is achieved? And obviously you don't have any reason
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to quit and go back to your comfort zone. And and with us,
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like you wouldn't think like as a partner, we always feel lucky enough,
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you know, if even if we are feeling low on certain states, we
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are assured like we have you know, we are backing each other. And
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if somebody goes down, and it happens in most of our especially in our
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case, if one person is low, the other person gather the energy I
15:00
don't know how, and you start behaving in a very different way and ultimately
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both of them come on the same page with the high energy. Yeah,
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I think it's more, you know, intertwined, like if I am I'm
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feeling down in one of the tough days and I go and tell him,
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you know, I'm feeling something. Why changes in such a way that he
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feels so inspired to maybe you know, motivate me back to get back on
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the things or something like this. It's always complimentary in our cases. That's
15:28
awesome. That is really awesome. If you have that person, you know,
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from your morning breakfast table to the evening dinner to motivate you when you
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have a day that is just you know, a downer, that's really great.
15:48
So in every episode, our Love Matters team puts together some could hard
15:52
facts about the topic. So let's hear some real life numbers from our Team
16:00
Matters. Only thirteen percent of Indian startups have at least one female co founder,
16:08
and the women let startups receive just one percent of total venture capital funding
16:12
in India, according to a report by startup Genom from twenty twenty one,
16:18
and according to Catalysts India's Women in Business Report, traditional gender roles and stereotypes
16:25
are still prevalent in India, which means that women face significant barriers to leadership
16:30
and entrepreneurship. That's interesting, especially because you guys mentioned earlier that having a
16:40
female co founder in the mix makes a lot of female workers or even their
16:48
partners, their husbands, their families very comfortable with coming to work. So
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do you think there should be more couple entrepreneurs or just mixed entrepreneurs to make
17:00
it a better work atmosphere. Yeah, definitely, and I think many many
17:07
companies are working toward this. In fact, recently, I've seen many founders
17:11
who have recently hired and as a co founder's female employees. So male employees
17:18
are very much required, and it could be a couple or co founder,
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right. I agree, and in fact, not just from the perspective of,
17:26
you know, attracting more female workers, but I think overall in the
17:32
work environment also there's a very both you know, men and women. They
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have their own different kind of charisma that they bring in, different kinds of
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an aura that they bring in in the company. So I think having a
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good mix or a good blend helps in either ways. The company becomes more
17:47
workable, the culture becomes more it's more i would say different, and it's
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more iman able to changes and pivoting, and it's it's more fun together.
17:56
Awesome. So give me some tips, guys, say me and my husband,
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I'm thinking about going into business together. What are your top three tips
18:07
of how to start a business together? Communication is the core is really really
18:12
the most important and underrated I think sentiment or an emotion. Most of the
18:18
couples need to understand that creating a business plan versus running a business are two
18:23
very very different things. So business running is a reality. And in business,
18:29
while you're in the business, you're actually dependent on so many third parties
18:32
and factors that sometimes actually most of the times, things don't go as for
18:37
the plan because there's so many intricracies and other you know, sudden developments that
18:42
gets involved it are out of your control. So therefore it's very important to
18:47
understand that it's going to be a challenging journey. But at the same time,
18:51
if you do it together, you actually will enjoy the process more.
18:55
Sometimes you need to step back from the you know, from the core and
19:00
understand on the bigger picture of the company and discuss like we are we flowing
19:03
in a right direction? Are we doing right strategies? You know, whenever
19:07
we get to time and we especially go to our gardens, like we have
19:11
a couple parking Bagalore where we take out time and go there, or a
19:15
cafe or any other place where you know, in the nature we get to
19:19
connect with each other and decide on our and those there are certain rules,
19:25
right, you really need to talk your heart out, close it and then
19:27
with a closure you proceed ahead. And this I mean it may sound trivial,
19:32
but trust me, these things are imperative because otherwise you never know that
19:37
these small hiccups would eventually become ego clashes as well. Absolutely, I guess
19:42
a good communication is something every couple can work on, whether you're in business
19:48
or not. I think these are right tips to have specific dice to talk
19:53
it out. So how do you keep the love alive in your relationship ship
20:00
when so much of it is a bad business? Now, Well, love
20:03
was always there, It's always there and back in romance. We have a
20:11
very dedicated spaces at home where when we enter we actually do not drink.
20:17
Office. There were are certain time zones that we follow. We definitely keep
20:21
taking apart from work vacations, we keep taking some personal time off as well.
20:26
Some personal vacations and other things we keep celebrating. So whenever there is
20:32
a small even small thing, we celebrate, and when are we especially take
20:37
out time especially in the night to go some some good nice place where we
20:41
have a good music and good food and we talk personal things with each other,
20:47
so that keeps our romantic relation alive. Suppose about things, you know,
20:51
when we get home after office, we actually, as most every day,
20:56
we actually welcome each other at home with a very warm heart. Again,
21:00
that's probably like it's a it's like a signal to our brain that you
21:03
know, now we are home. So summall small surprise elements here and there
21:07
are enough to actually keep it going. So I guess there are certain points
21:12
of make or break. Tell me some of the issues that you guys had
21:18
and how you made sure that you give each other the space to be yourself.
21:22
See, in our case, these issues we obviously faced it. Why
21:29
because like initially also we mentioned, we have very different personalities, right,
21:33
so if any concern comes in, if any problem comes in, the approach
21:37
to that problem is very different for both of us. I'll give you a
21:41
very simple example. Okay, So let's say we were actually serving a very
21:45
big customer and it was a very important order, and just at the final
21:48
delivery point, when the final frying of this amosas was happening, something wrong
21:53
happen. Basically, the product didn't come out. Well, we immediately get
21:59
the call, We immediately go to the factory. We figure out what's wrong.
22:02
Now my brain starts processing, oh my god, how do I manage
22:04
the customer? Right? Because eventually the customer needs the delivery? Next one
22:08
are for secured automatic. His buiring will go, oh my god, what
22:12
went wrong? What was wrong in this entire process that you know, my
22:18
final step the product didn't come out? Well, how do I do to
22:21
make sure that the next badge doesn't follow the same suit? So, in
22:25
reality, both of us are actually thinking the right things right, So eventually
22:29
we realize that it's actually none of the others fall. It's like we are
22:33
standing in such a direction that to me it looks like a six and to
22:37
him it looks like a nine. Right, and none of us is wrong.
22:41
So we decided that let's do one thing. You focus on that aspect,
22:45
let me do my work, and then wonderfully kind of divided it and
22:52
then conquered it. And we were eventually able to figure that out. So
22:56
over the years, one thing we have learned we have actually compartment and lies
23:00
our work. So when it's about the front end, the customer facing and
23:03
all of that. I take it. When it's about the back end,
23:07
the core, the business process, the finances, the strategy, that's where
23:11
he does it fantastic. I guess that's a really good idea to make sure
23:15
that the roles and responsibilities are very well defined. So yeah, considering how
23:21
many startups succeed, it's a very very small percentage of how many startups are
23:29
started and fail. What tips do you have for couple prineters to you know,
23:37
find that motivation but also really evaluate the idea whether it's worth pursuing or
23:45
not. See, well, when you start anything, your business, so
23:51
your idea has to be evaluated before you plunge into it. Basically, they
23:56
evaluate your idea. They do the market search analysis, tell you, you
24:02
know, what could be the success if it works, and if even if
24:07
it works or not. So I think it's very important aspect for any startup
24:12
business. No, that's true. And I think second big suggestion that I
24:18
would want to give out at least from our learning is it's okay to fight.
24:22
You know, it's absolutely okay to fight rather than keeping it. See,
24:25
it's not like a vine, right that you keep aging it aging it,
24:27
aging it and wander better. In fact, if you keep any grudging
24:33
you and keep doing it, it turns into worst thing we have seen it.
24:37
So what we do is we've actually decided that if there's something that we
24:40
feel angry about or do it, just fight about it. So when COVID
24:44
happened right with the businessmen zero, it was a very tough time. You
24:47
literally felt like fighting because sometimes you know, you tend to blame the other
24:52
person's decision. Why didn't open this? I told you we should be opening
24:56
this otherwise? And see how COVID happened. Now, Actually, COVID will
25:00
one off case. Right, It's not something that anyone would have planned or
25:03
kept in mind. But it's okay to fight and vnd it out. But
25:07
then eventually, you know, at least let that emotion pass because only one
25:11
fits off. Then you'll be able to focus and feel better and getting I
25:15
think it's really important. People underestimate the value of venting out the emotions,
25:18
but it's super critical. And we both fight. We definitely fight. It's
25:22
just two of us at home, and sometimes it's literally like a mohabata that
25:26
goes on. But it's okay after that then things start getting much better.
25:32
So yeah, I guess that's also something that couples can learn, is how
25:37
to fight. You know. Well that brings me to another interesting question,
25:44
which is how important do you think is having mentors in your journey? Yeah,
25:51
it's important. So we actually never had any one mentor as such,
25:55
but then throughout our journey we were blessed to come across really nice people,
26:00
but who got associated with us in the business, even from our families.
26:03
You know, people telling us how they evolved and where you are really struggling.
26:07
In some aspect, you tend to become more absorbent and capturing the things
26:11
that people want to tell you or talk to you about. Yeah, I
26:15
think it's it's super important. I mean, I'm in my life at the
26:19
moment, I'm just embracing motherhood, so having other moms around is just absolutely
26:26
priceless. It's such a treasure to laugh and cry together. So the same
26:33
with when you're in your time of entrepreneurship. You really want to have other
26:38
people to talk about. I of course had that too when I wasn't that
26:44
phase of my life. Well, thanks Nidian Shaker, thank you so much
26:49
for being here today and sharing your incredible experience and story with us. You've
26:56
created an amazing company and it's really inspiring to here how you got there,
27:02
and yeah, thank you. I'm sure our audience is very very inspired right
27:07
now. Oh, thank you, edlenn It was an absolute pleasure interacting with
27:12
you and you really enjoyed this session. It was very impromptu. Love the
27:17
questions and yeah, I feel good too. Well, guys, you've been
27:21
listening to Love Matters, a podcast about relationship topics that matter to you and
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me from Indian Express and DW, Germany's international broadcaster. If you think there's
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something that we should be talking about, then please make sure to write us
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at love Matters at DW dot com and don't forget to share this podcast with
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all your friends. I'm Evelyn Sharma and I think Love Matters n we deviled
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to shame my