Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur
Dev: We had founded De Space in 2010. The journey began when we bought our own home in 2009 and Akshata worked on its interiors.
People who visited the house talked highly about it and inquired if we would take up their home interiors too. It was then that we decided to start our interior designing firm. While Akshata takes care of the designing and execution part, I handle the sales, marketing, and operations bit.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
Dev: Entrepreneurship enables us to follow our passion our way, laying down our own rules based on our vision and ambition and create a niche for ourselves. It also empowers us to support our team of skillful people and pave a way for their future too unlike a typical corporate career where we follow something that may not essentially be our dream and vision.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges?
Akshata: Challenges are quintessential to be motivated in life; without these challenges life will be dull and boring! so we try to enjoy it like salt n pepper to spice up our life and that keeps us going.
How did you come up with the name for your business/startup?
Akshata: De space means “of or about space” and since our forte is to “create/add space in a space” so this seemed to be an apt name for our initiative.
What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?
Dev: An organization cannot become big only by the efforts of its founding team, it requires an extremely strong team of people who believe in the vision of the founders and walk on the same path as theirs.
Like any other company, we also faced the challenge of having the right set of people supporting us. Hence, in our early years of inception, we decided not to grow exponentially; rather, we focused on creating a team that would understand our vision. It took a bit of time, but helped us to stay afloat in the long run.
What keeps you going?
Dev: Our supportive team, our clients’ faith in us and our conviction in our vision and work methodology keeps us going and keeps us motivated.
Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.
Akshata: Establishing a name to reckon with in this industry has been our accomplishment. Thanks to our clientele (our brand evangelists) who played an instrumental role and paved the way for our growth.
How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
Dev: Unfortunately, there are no fixed hours of working for us. But we try to follow a 9 – 6 regime as much as possible. Our typical day is spent in interacting with clients and teams, ensuring there is clarity at both sides. We also visit our sites whenever feasible to conduct an inspection.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Akshata: Our strengths are our team which is our backbone and our weakness is the volatility of the industry and the changing market needs/trends.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Dev: An entrepreneur requires to marry both – his dreams and reality. Do a thorough research, and ensure your dreams are worth being turned into a reality. Once you are sure about it, tell yourself you can do it and go for it!
Connect here,
Facebook – facebook.com/despaceinteriors
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWlKXVZJ2eJ3Q7lUBvR7nYA
