Flatheads Founder Utkarsh Biradar's Interview

We invited Utkarsh Biradar, Founder of Flatheads for an interview with Most Popular Stories to know more about his entrepreneurial journey.

Flatheads are an enthusiastic team of young professionals building a retail brand in the casual footwear space.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur.

I studied at IDC School of Design at IIT Bombay and had always been interested in product design. In 2013, I decided to quit the corporate world and start-up. At the time, the fintech industry was growing and presented a good opportunity to experiment. That’s when my co-founder, Ganesh, and I decided to take the leap and started Momoe, a payments app. Over the last 7 years, we’ve left the corporate life, started up, exited, and started up again.

After Momoe, and our subsequent move to eCommerce, I wanted to get into an industry that I was passionate about, and the footwear industry was exactly that. I love shoes and my closet has over 100 pairs. Starting up again, I had a chance to combine both my love for shoes and product design, and Ganesh too was kicked about the idea of creating a niche homegrown brand. Before we knew it, we were researching the market, talking to designers, and by late 2018, we had a full-fledged business plan.

Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?

I felt that entrepreneurship gave me the freedom to experiment and was a better use of my knowledge and passion. In this case, the tipping point was that I reconnected with a friend of mine from IIT Bombay – Ganesh Balakrishnan. I was at Honeywell when I met Ganesh again and while working together, we realized that we connected well, and we’re both interested in exploring the startup world.

So, we quit our jobs there and started working on our first startup, and in about eight months, in 2013 we launched Momoe. By 2016 we had built the payments app, exited to a unicorn e-commerce player and by 2019 we were on to creating our own D2C brand in footwear – Flatheads.

What was the vision behind it?

We wanted to solve a modern, consumer-centric problem. In recent years, there have been significant lifestyle changes, and currently, athleisure shoes are often worn as lifestyle shoes. We noticed that there was a gap in the market in the price ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000. Mass market shoes were available below Rs 2,000 and premium brands above Rs 4,000. In the Indian context, we were starved of a brand that had a personality and was both aspirational and affordable.

So we decided to change that with Flatheads, by creating a niche premium casual work sneaker brand.

Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what way they are unique?

Flatheads are premium casual sneakers that are both work-appropriate and fun-appropriate. They are optimized to provide over 14 hours of comfort, are ultra-lightweight, weighing less than a glass of water, and have airy, breathable uppers.

They are designed with the modern millennial workforce in mind – that works long hours, needs shoes that are comfortable and stylish that can be worn often, and are easy to pair with any ensemble. All our shoes are made in a small quantity and we launch limited-edition collections in short bursts.

What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?

One of the biggest difficulties for an early-stage startup is to find their first believers and get a good team together. People who believe in the idea and are willing to put in the tremendous effort to build a company are hard to find. Hiring was difficult in our first startup, but with Flatheads, a lot of our previous employees returned to work with us, and hiring was a piece of cake!

How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?

Working on a problem in an early-stage startup hardly leaves you time to think about stress. I feel that working closely with a small team of people who enjoy working with you and keep the work-fun balance is the key to managing both pressure and stress.

What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?

One major strategy that we developed as part of Momoe and have carried through our journey is that partnerships work well, especially for small brands.

You cannot do everything, and it is important to trust your partners’ capabilities and experiences.

How your company is helping India to grow?

We are building a brand that wants to address the needs of an Indian consumer and our products are specifically tailored to Indian lifestyles. Flatheads shoes are designed for long working hours and are suited for the Indian tropical weather. We are helping grow the local manufacturing eco-system as well, and as we move to global markets, we aim to eventually benefit India as an exporter.

In your opinion what are the keys to success?

One of the main things to go after is loyalty, whether it is in terms of the customer or the team. A good product, the right value proposition, and good customer experience are what guarantee loyalty, not discounts or giveaways. As for the team, setting the right expectations and always being authentic ensures a happy, loyal, and close-knit team.

What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?

Successful startups have one thing that differentiates them – they are able to acquire customers with a fraction of what their industry or competitors can do. This is because they are extremely nimble and use guerrilla marketing to get their early customers.

Also, remember that you must strive to build a product that is not only bought but also talked about. Customer advocacy is by far the most important factor in making a startup successful.