An exclusive interview with Meeta Gutgutia, Director of FNP Group, Co-Founder of Sipping Thoughts and Founder of Women Listed
When addressing Ferns & Petals' success, Meeta Gutgutia is a well-known name. She is well recognized as the Co-founder of Sipping Thoughts. And for melting hearts with her opulent and elegant floral décor through FLAGSHIP by FnP.
After successfully establishing Ferns & Petals and serving as the support system of all its allied enterprises, Ms. Meeta Gutgutia's quench to start something new led her to develop yet another Venture. And this time it's for a larger good. Her work experience over the past 27 years made her realize the dire need for a specialized women-centric platform for all backgrounds catalysing their progress and helping them become self-sufficient.
Meeta Gutgutia's brainchild ‘Women Listed’ is a forum that not only celebrates but also encourages and supports female entrepreneurs. It is an ecosystem that plans for, helps, and makes it possible for women-owned businesses to grow and succeed.
In an interview, Ms. Meeta says. - “Since I have been a part of the journey of Ferns n Petals from the ground up and we have created many parallel businesses. Starting something new slowly became a part of my DNA. The ongoing learnings and experiences have helped me in starting Women Listed after a lot of research and analysis. Entrepreneurship is all about taking calculated risks and using your strengths for the best results. Having Ferns n Petals makes the basic ground strong. And provides access to a strong infrastructure and team support. which, for a start-up would have been more challenging. At the same time, I have never been reluctant to do the basic job of a start-up within the defined requirements.”
Women Listed is a breakthrough listing app for women professionals, home entrepreneurs, and business owners. With numerous features like listing, selling, booking, learning, and a community-based support system, it is designed to increase the exposure of all women who want to succeed professionally.
1.When was Women Listed founded?
Ans: Women Listed was founded on 01 Aug 2021
2.How many employees do you have?
Ans: We have 10 employees at present
3.Is the company funded?
Ans: Yes
4.Could you briefly explain about the business?
Ans: The story behind Women Listed came from multiple need base situations. The inability to locate worthy entrepreneurs on Amazon and Google. I'm talking about women who sell amazing products and offer unique services, but I only found out about them through word of mouth or references on WhatsApp groups. That inspired me to create a platform where these women could connect and grow. I spent a long time brainstorming and deciding on the app and website. Modalities, features, revenue models, team size, designing and technology needed to create women listed.
5.What are the future plans?
Ans: Touching and impacting 5 million women till 2025
6.How different is your startup from others in this space?
Ans: Women Listed is a requirement for female entrepreneurs since there are so many talented women in our country who run their businesses from their homes. So many households have entrepreneurs... However, they are all so disoriented that they are not even counted when it comes to financial contributors. They frequently refer to their profession as a part-time hobby, so they do not prioritise upskilling, marketing, and networking.
At Women listed, I am attempting to develop a perspective that will aid in the development of these characteristics in women by providing them with all of the necessary tools. My ultimate goal is to see them become self-sufficient and advance in their careers.
7.What is your revenue model?
Ans: Our Revenue model is our database. The more women we list here the more feature we will offer. As of now getting featured on our app/web, networking sessions and marketing dashboard is our monetization plan.
8.How fast are you growing?
Ans : We are continuously growing and till now we catered to 1000+ professionals and 40k women pan India. Our reach is around 2.5 lakh and we are aiming to close this to 5 lakh by end of this year.
9.Tell us about your professional background and journey so far
Ans: Im a graduate with a Degree in fashion design, from Delhi University. In 1994 when Fnp was laying its foundation decided to stand with my husband and support him (Mr. Vikas Gutgutia) on his dream endeavour of making Ferns and petals the number 1 florist in the country. And I'm humbly pleased to announce that we have come a long way. For more than two and a half decades Ferns N Petals is the only name that comes into our client's thoughts when they think about flowers and gifting solutions.
In 2017 I started Sipping thoughts to spread awareness on women's issues. Sipping Thoughts now is a flourishing digital media brand that focuses on women-centric content and has a monthly audience of more than 4 million women.
And when I saw that there is a dire need for women centric networking platform I came up with Women listed In August 2021 with the intention to provide working women with a platform that motivates women to redefine success on their own terms. It is sure to give society a directory of all working women for all their professional needs. The mission of Women listed is to help women navigate the future of work.
10.What skills you needed to start the business?
Ans: Well, I have been a self-learner. And I see my experience in starting and tackling new ventures as my USP. I never held myself back from learning new things and walking on the unexplored path.
11.What’s your leadership style?
Ans: I believe that I have a democratic leadership style, and prefer working with my team closely. I believe in sharing my vision as well as my fears with my team, so that we can work together cumulatively fetching larger goals.
12.How are you different from the competition?
Ans: Women Listed is a first of its kind of listing app for all women entrepreneurs, homepreneurs and practitioners. It is created to give women entrepreneurs visibility with features like listing, selling, bookings, learnings and a community-based support system. The unique feature of our platform is a dashboard for self-marketing on all digital mediums. this makes us stand out from our competitors.
