Getting married gets hassle-free

 

Minnat Lalpuria Rao believes that complete weddings can be planned with the click of a mouse. Her venture 7Vachan is simplifying the process by building a network of professionals and services, so all that you have to do is say yes.

An alumnus of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, Minnat Lalpuria Rao knew she would be stuck with a well-paying but lacklustre corporate job after college. She wanted to take a different route and let her love for the great Indian wedding make the choice for her. In 2012, she founded 7Vachan, a complete online wedding solutions provider. “The real question in my mind was that there are over one crore weddings happening in India every year and yet a wedding planner does not take up more than 20 weddings a year. How do people who don’t hire a planner get things done? That’s why 7 Vachan was born—to simplify weddings.”

GETTING HITCHED
Minnat anticipated 7Vachan to appeal primarily to working couples but she found business families and entrepreneurs attracted to the idea as well. “They were saving time and money and the planning was made convenient.” To expand her business, she did not charge the hotels to list with 7Vachan nor did she charge a service percentage. “We are able
to get venues for families that they thought were unaffordable because of our tie-ups with five-star properties. We just take an initial registration fee that ranges from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 11,000 so we know it’s a serious customer. In return, we guarantee at least 20 per cent savings on the venue booking.” The only mode of revenue generation is the registration fee.

Better AND FASTER
Minnat conducted a market study of engaged and married couples and found that scouting for the perfect wedding venue was the most challenging part for most couples. She shortened the venue finalisation to a three-day process. She intends to make it a 30-minute process. “The couple has to share their requirements with us via a simple interface, and they will have their destination or hotel venues shortlisted within minutes,” she says.

WOOING INVESTORS
Minnat knew since she had already identified the problem, converting it into a business was not difficult. “We got a lot of recognition quite early— maybe because we really were solving a problem. I first interacted with multiple VCs, angels and the ISB and IIM networks, and vetted the idea. Then we decided on how much capital we needed and raised the capital through my ISB alumni network.”

PARTNERS FOR LIFE
Minnat broke even within a year of starting her venture. After completing 100 weddings, she focused on perfecting the service and spent on her team and other services. She has recently revamped the new 7Vachan platform, and is getting a great response on it already. “For the past two years, we didn’t give out a single job. We had people coming to us
and saying that they wanted to join us. My team is a bunch of people who are passionate about what we are building. We just started releasing roles and meeting people, and I’ve met candidates who are leaving their corporate jobs to work with 7Vachan.”