Close friends and co-founders of ‘& Little Things’ Gagan Mauli and Gitanjali Naithani are believers of the old adage, ’Good vibes grow with sharing’. Their personal journey over time and space was marked by the gifting of jewellery that anchored memories and deepened their bond. ‘& Little Things’ was born out of these memories; it’s a personalised gifting experience with curated jewellery that celebrates memories, milestones and experience, as also the person who is being honoured, in a way that wouldn’t be possible with a regular gift. Special keepsake boxes are used for packaging which can contain pictures, the gift and a message for the loved one.

In conversation with GlobalLinker (GL), the team of & Little Things talk about their entrepreneurial journey, and their business aspirations for the future.

GL: Tell us about your business and how it came into being?

The Team: & Little Things is a personalised gifting experience with a collection of minimalistic jewellery, which is creatively packaged in a handcrafted Keepsake Box. We, the co-founders, are close friends, passionate creatives, and enterprising professionals. Over the past decade, we have been through many changes - from Gagan’s travels for education, a career and marriage; while Gitanjali took a career break to be a full-time mother. With major life events and  a meaningful, long-standing understanding between us, we celebrated our connection, common journey, and unique experiences, with gifts that anchored us to those fleeting but precious moments in our hectic lives. Reflecting both our aesthetic tastes and the value these memories held for us, the gifts tended to be beautiful everyday jewellery, personalised with handwritten messages and photos of shared moments. The gifts are special since they were woven in shared memories.

With this, ‘& Little Things‘ was born. It is our tribute to jewellery, the gifting experience, and the people gifting and receiving. A celebration of each other.

GL: What are the challenges you have faced in establishing your business?

The Team: One of the key challenges that we have constantly been facing is growth and marketing. ‘& Little Things' is a homegrown brand. We as founders have a strong vision for this brand with respect to product design and buying experience -  a unique proposition which is distinct to &LT. Thus we have not ventured into external stakeholder investments, which has limited the amount of financial investment which we could use as the marketing budget. As a result, we rely heavily on organic growth through social media channels like Instagram, Facebook etc. However, in the face of changing algorithms, we have seen our business struggle to get visibility with prospective clients. This a huge challenge and we have been strategising every single day as to how best can we make use of available resources.

GL: How did you hear of GlobalLinker? How has it helped you?

The Team: Summi (co-founder of GlobalLinker) and Gitanjali  are close friends. When we were initially thinking of launching an online store, Summi and her team's inputs were really helpful. They helped us become aware and navigate the challenges that small businesses face with respect to legal paperwork etc required for starting an online business. The GlobalLinker team has been super effective and efficient when it comes to customer-service. We actually were very inspired by the team's way of working and hopefully we can bring the same model to &LT when the business and team grow.

GL:  What is your big business dream?

The Team: For us, success isn't about getting to some crazy number of profits etc. A big business dream for us is to earn the customer's trust. We believe we would be successful the day our customers think of us when they think of celebrating a special someone. We want to be more than just a brand selling products. We want to deliver personalised experiences.

GL: What is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs?

The Team: Our message to aspiring entrepreneurs is:

• Getting started is the easy bit, staying committed is difficult
• If you're thinking of a partnership, sign up with someone who you trust a lot more than you probably trust yourself. Your days are going to be revolving around each other.
• Stay humble in your actions and lean in your operations. Your customers are everything. Make sure you treat them with utmost respect.
• Do it. If you have a dream there's no better moment than now to get started on it.

Network with SMEs mentioned in this article by clicking on the 'Invite' button on their profile. Gagan Mauli, Gitanjali Naithani

Disclaimer: This article is based solely on the inputs shared by the featured member. GlobalLinker does not necessarily endorse the views, opinions & facts stated by the member.