Let’s build for impact!

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9 min read5 days ago

Learn how to create successful impact startups :)

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elton, and I am part of the founding team at build3.

I love to write. And I love watching impact founders grow and build startups. So, I decided to merge the two and create a newsletter for folks like yourself.

People who are interested in building startups for profit AND purpose.

The “AND” is essential.

Building startups solely for profit can be detrimental to everything around us. Building exclusively for purpose may make your path to financial sustainability murky.

And that’s why build3 exists. To help founders (and wannapreneurs) build startups that create a positive impact AND are financially sustainable. (Read till the end to know how we do it :)

Through this newsletter, I will shine the spotlight on startups that have successfully managed to marry profit and purpose; helping you learn how the founders went from a fledgling startup idea to scale , and everything in between.

I am excited to be part of this journey with you. Let’s dive right in!

P.S When I am not working, you can find me on the basketball court trying to get my Jordon on or getting “voluntold” to sing an Elton John number 😉

The first founder on the list is Udit Sood. When I interviewed Udit, what struck me was his commitment to building for purpose, even when it was financially risky to do so. (especially early on in his journey — more on this later and its unintended financial benefits)

Udit and his wife Nikita created Ecoright, an affordable, sustainable fashion brand. (Sustainable fashion brands are usually notorious for charging a premium for their products, a sustainability tax if you will; Ecoright bucks this trend)

Here is the impact that Ecoright has generated since 2019

Here is how Udit and Nikita built Ecoright, read on to know more :)

Why did Udit create Ecoright?

“I needed a strong enough reason to wake up in the morning.”

Udit grew up in an entrepreneurial family. His grandfather was a textile entrepreneur, and so was his father. Growing up, he was never allowed to carry a plastic bag anywhere. He was always given a cloth bag since they were always lying around.

It annoyed him as a child, but he later realised as an adult that the seeds for his passion for sustainability and purpose were sown during his childhood.

His upbringing, coupled with his education at IIM Calcutta (where he met his lovely wife Nikita, who also happens to be his cofounder) and his stints at Zomato and HUL, were fertile grounds for the birth of Ecoright, a company dedicated to creating sustainable products that are both functional and stylish.

He found purpose. He found a reason to wake up in the morning :)

The critical insight behind the birth of Ecoright

Why were people not buying sustainable products? Udit had a hunch that education was not the issue. He had a lot of friends who knew about plastic pollution and its effects on the environment. They wanted to be sustainable, but they continued to use plastic bags.

He went to the drawing board. What if he created a sustainable bag that looked amazing, was functional AND was priced at an affordable rate?

That was the critical insight with which he started Ecoright. He created three tote bags and began selling them to validate his hypothesis. He aimed to make sustainability a simple choice for everyone.

The race to distribute

Nikita and Udit were clear that they needed to create a product that was functional AND aesthetic. While being sustainable was central to their operations, customers would not pay attention to them if they did not love their product for its merit.

Udit put it beautifully during the interview when he said

“The core of what we do is to first build a great product that consumers want. The fact that we want to help the planet is something that we put on us, not on the consumer. If you make your customers compromise just because you are sustainable, your company will never scale.”

To get their first set of customers, Udit and Nikita listed their tote bags on online retail platforms like Amazon since they already had wide distribution channels. Plus, it was easier to get customer feedback quickly since it helped them design bags that their customer wanted.

They also began selling both in India and the US. It made sense to start selling in the US since the idea of living consciously was already seeded in the country. They were runners-up in Amazon’s Global Propel program, which helped them export their bags globally.

The customer is always right ?!?!?

The advantage of building a consumer brand is the amount of instant feedback you receive after someone buys your product. Even though Ecoright has reached over a million customers, Udit and Nikita still go through all the feedback they receive to improve their product.

For example, when a customer told them how she could not take her bag with her on the Delhi metro since she was worried about someone reaching and stealing something, they immediately added a zipper to their tote bags. All their tote bags have zippers on them to prevent theft, which adds to the functionality of the product.

Another example (Nikita gets credit for this) is Ecorights’ expansion into other bag categories. There were other sustainable bag brands in the market, but they were priced as a premium product. Noticing this gap, Nikita created new product lines that translated into new revenue streams for Ecoright.

Keeping your ear on the ground and listening to your customers helps you refine your product faster. Speed matters for a startup; listening to your customers enables you to determine the direction in which you run.

To raise or not to raise, that is the question…

Ecoright is completely bootstrapped. They have not raised any money from external investors, and they have been profitable for the past four years.

Udit was very clear about the fact that if they do raise funds, it will be to accelerate their growth and not for the survival of their company. While they could have taken investor money earlier in their journey and increased their revenue, Udit and Nikita focused on building strong business fundamentals first.

A lot of founders in the idea stage approach us at build3 and ask for funds. But the real question is, “How do you become ‘investable’ as a founder?” At its core, what really matters is if you are building something people love and if you are able to earn more than you spend while creating the product. That’s what unlocks the purse strings of VC’s.

Do it all for the ‘gram ;)

Most of Ecorights’ customers are women between the ages of 18 and 35, a generation that is comfortable making online purchases via Instagram. Udit emphasized the need to create relatable content rather than content that looks like it came from a catalogue.

Most of the content that they publish on instagram is real people showing off their bags in everyday situations, which makes their brand approachable.

Ecoright also works with micro-influencers (<100k followers) to make relatable content. Apart from being easier to approach, micro-influencers tend to create niche content that resonates with Ecoright’s audience that values style and sustainability.

For Ecoright, it’s important that they attract the right kind of customer, a customer who values the stylishness of their products AND how sustainable they are. The customers then spread the love they have for the product organically. Thats how Ecoright grows.

As I was speaking to Udit, it was quite apparent that his passion for sustainability was not skin deep. He felt strongly about creating a business that was good for all its stakeholders.

However, the content that Ecorights posts does not overtly highlight its sustainability initiatives. Instead, it highlights the functionality and the stylishness of the bag, since that’s what the customer cares about first.

Ecoright cleverly weaves its sustainability messaging through its product design, packaging, and messaging to imbue customers with a feel-good factor when they purchase their products. That makes their customers want to share their product with other people.

Building for purpose = Long-term financial rewards

Building a business is hard. Building a business that considers the well-being of all its stakeholders (customers, employees, environment, etc) is even harder. But it’s the right thing to do. That’s how we ensure we don’t blow ourselves up while we try to get rich.

Ecoright is a certified B-corp. The certification is the gold standard when it comes to businesses that better the mind, body and the Earth (build3 is a certified B-corp as well :)

Human beings are wired to think linearly. It’s hard for us to predict the benefits of actions that do not have a direct cause-effect relationship. And that stifles a lot of possibilities.

I could see the benefits of non-linear thinking in the case of Ecoright. Udit intended to build a purposeful company when he started. When the company evolved, he noticed how the actions that he implemented early on in Ecoright’s journey paid off in the long term.

Actions like giving interest-free loans to employees for the education of their children, ensuring all their employees are paid a living wage, ensuring the materials that they use in their products are 100% sustainable, etc., were decisions that incurred short-term costs.

However, it translated into increased loyalty, both from their customers and employees. The churn rate in the organization is low, and they don’t have to spend time finding new employees and training them, especially blue-collar employees

Their customers trust them to do the right thing and are loyal to the brand. This bolsters customer retention rates and, subsequently, revenues.

The journey from 1,000,000 customers to 10,000,000 and beyond

From my conversation with Udit, it was awe-inspiring to see how he found a financially sustainable way to make his impact business viable.

When I asked him to share some advice for people who are building for profit AND purpose, this is what he told me :

“Sustainable products do not have to be expensive. We have proven this in the past five years. When sustainability is affordable, thats when real change happens. Secondly, appreciate the intelligence of your consumers. They will understand the value proposition you have to offer. While they might come for the functionality of your product, they stay because of the story behind your product. Take every opportunity you get to communicate your story well!”

Key Takeaways (take a screenshot)
1. Purpose-Driven Foundation
Udit started Ecoright to create a business that combined sustainability with commercial viability, inspired by his childhood in a family deeply committed to avoiding plastic and promoting environmental responsibility. This foundation had unintened financial benefits later on in Ecorights journey.
2. Critical Insight for Success
Udit’s key insight was recognizing that people needed sustainable products that were functional, stylish, and affordable. This led to the creation of Ecoright’s initial line of tote bags, aiming to make sustainability an easy choice for everyone.
3. Customer-Centric Product Development
Ecoright positioned itself by focusing on creating products that customers loved for their design and utility first, and sustainability second. This approach helped them gain their first customers and refine their products based on direct consumer feedback.
4. Strategic Marketing and Expansion
Ecoright utilized platforms like Amazon for initial visibility and quick feedback, expanded through relatable social media content, and worked with micro-influencers to reach their target audience. This strategy helped them build a loyal customer base and scale effectively.
5. Sustainable and Ethical Practices
Ecoright’s commitment to ethical practices, such as paying living wages and using sustainable materials, fostered long-term loyalty from both customers and employees. This approach built a strong, trust-based relationship with stakeholders, enhancing retention and supporting growth.