This Is the American Dream for Us
An Interview with ExecSocks
Suresh Bhagchandani works for a Fortune 20 technology company as a Sales Director. His wife, Divya Bhagchandani, is a passionate life sciences consultant. Both immigrated to the United States from India, Suresh in 2004 and Divya in 2011.
Together, they founded ExecSocks, a subscription sock service that delivers business ready “socks with an attitude” to your door for as little as $8/month. With Suresh’s executive experience and Divya’s love for keeping up with the latest fashion trends, ExecSocks has quickly found success and has been featured in Forbes and BuzzFeed.
We were fortunate enough to interview Suresh and Divya and learn about the beginnings of ExecSocks, the couple’s pursuit of the American Dream, and the importance of giving back in business.
Entrepreneurs often have major formative experiences which allow them to think differently, differentiate from the competition, and ultimately find success. For Suresh and Divya Bhagchandani, it is no different. Both were born and grew up in India, eventually immigrating to the United States and marrying here.
For the couple, their experience living in a developing nation shaped their worldview in a unique way. It created a sense of gratitude, appreciation, and empathy for others within the entrepreneurial couple.
These traits are evident in each part of their business, ExecSocks, and has the couple making some serious noise in the subscription sock game.
Starting new and starting over
Suresh immigrated to the United States from India in 2004 at the age of 21. He recalls his first thoughts of entrepreneurship while a student at UNC Chapel Hill.
“I studied economics with an entrepreneurship minor and that’s where the whole entrepreneurship idea actually came in. What else should you do (besides work)? You could be an entrepreneur and live the American Dream.”
Nearly 7 years later, in 2011, Divya followed Suresh to America and they were married.
“I immigrated to the United States in 2011 to marry Suresh. While it was definitely challenging to adjust to a new environment and re-establish myself, I was very excited to explore the immense opportunity this land had to offer and to live my dreams.”
Despite having to start over in many respects, Suresh and Divya both found success, Suresh as the Director of Sales for a technology company and Divya as a sales consultant for a laboratory and life sciences company, both in the Raleigh, NC area.
Despite finding professional success, Suresh’s ties to entrepreneurship stayed with him and he could never shake the bug. His interests came to fruition a little over a year ago.
Recognizing a subtle change in the culture
Through his own professional dealings, Suresh noticed a subtle change in workplace culture — ties were becoming less and less commonplace in the office.
He recalls thinking, “People are getting rid of ties. It is one less thing you have to wear. The attire for business casual is a pair of slacks or a pair of nicer jeans, a dress shirt, and a nice pair of socks.”
He thought the personality offered by ties could be replaced by one of his own fashion favorites. “I used to wear socks with crazy designs with different colors, and I used to always get compliments. But I realized that nobody else in the executive world goes out frequently to shop for socks. That’s the last thing a guy would go out and buy. I thought it could be a great market.”
In the early days, Divya remembers being skeptical of the idea. “Initially seeing scientists at work I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. I don’t think this is going to work,’ but then I remember seeing people and the first thing I would notice about a guy was his socks. It was amazing the impact the idea could create and then I really bought into it.”
Still, ExecSocks was entering into a crowded space. Other companies had already started to do subscription sock services and the field was getting more and more crowded.
ExecSocks needed to find a way to differentiate. They were able to do so, relying on their professional experience in sales and their experiences growing up in India.
Gaining traction by giving back
From the start, Suresh and Divya knew they wanted to use ExecSocks to make a bigger difference than simply turning a profit.
As Divya remembers, “Giving back to the community was definitely something we always thought about. Coming from a developing country like India, where we saw directly how the economy affects people, any little thing we could do to give back to the community, any difference we could make is valuable. When the idea came for ExecSocks, we knew we would give back to the community.”
Suresh recalls discovering that donating socks would be the perfect fit.
“We did research and found that socks are the items donated the least to a homeless shelter. Due to hygienic conditions, the shelters can’t get a pair of used socks. Other clothes you can get washed or dry-cleaned, but there is nothing you can do for socks.”
Today, ExecSocks donates a pair of socks to their local homeless shelter in Raleigh, NC each time they ship off a box of socks as a part of their quarterly subscription service, giving their customers the opportunity to give back. As their website states, “What’s better than refreshing your sock drawer? Refreshing someone else’s at the same time.”
Suresh believes giving back is a model every entrepreneur should follow. “As a business owner, if there is something you can do in good nature, then why not? You are going to feel good about it and your clients will feel good, too.
As an entrepreneur, you can come up with an idea, but if you don’t do something to help someone in need, you’re not a good business owner.”
“Nobody is stopping you…”
Part of Suresh and Divya’s willingness to give back comes from their deep appreciation for having the opportunity to start their own business in the first place — something American-born entrepreneurs can easily take for granted.
Divya speaks fondly of the opportunities afforded to the couple in America. “There is definitely a reason ‘Live the American Dream’ is such a popular phrase. The opportunities and facilities offered here make it possible for any individual to dream big and turn that dream into a reality, which is sometimes more challenging on other parts of the globe.
Really, over here, if you are committed to what you want to do, and you’re ready to work hard… there is no reason you cannot be successful.”
Suresh agrees, “You can actually have your own business. Nobody is stopping you. That’s the mindset Divya and I had — we want to live the American Dream which, to us, is to run our own business and to be able to give back to the community.”
“Do not take ‘no’ for an answer.”
Suresh and Divya do not mean to make entrepreneurship in America sound easy. They recognize it is anything but. A couple years in, however, they have figured out a couple of key ingredients for success.
“The thing I tell everyone is, ‘Do not take ‘no’ for an answer,’” says Suresh. “If you have an idea, if you’re bought in, nobody else has the right to say no to you… You have to do it, just get in there, get your hands dirty, and learn from it.
Don’t let anyone else run your destiny. The second you accept that ‘no’ from someone else, you’ve had that person run your destiny.”
“This is the dream for us.”
As Divya explains, finding work you are passionate about makes it far easier to not take “no” for an answer.
“I think if you’re passionate about something, it doesn’t feel like extra work. And I think that is what ExecSocks is for us. Even when we go on vacations or talk by the beach, we talk about ExecSocks, ‘What’s next that we have to do?’ It’s not something that feels like work. It is just fun for us.”
As Suresh and Divya continue on this path, they recognize how lucky they are to have found something they are passionate about and to be able to live their version of the American Dream.
“This is the dream for us, both of us. This was the perfect idea to give our 100%. We wanted to be entrepreneurs. We wanted to start something.”
We are so grateful for the opportunity to interview Suresh and Divya and share their story with our readers.
Use the discount code “HUM25” when you shop at ExecSocks to receive 25% off of your order.
