Interview with Smriti and Sameer Dalvi, Founder of Florista

Smriti and Sameer Dalvi, Founder of Florista

4 August 2009 One Comment

I realized that IT could play an important role in Florista and decided to build systems and change the way flower business is done.

Smriti Dalvi, Florista.

“What it takes to be a successful in business and build a million dollar company?” I asked this to our company CEO some month back and his answer was “You need to provide a service which can solve a problem and more importantly your business should focus on customer delightness and not customer satisfaction”

I was not able to understand this properly, until I interviewed and know about Smriti Dalvi and Sameer Dalvi, Founder of Florista India (www.florista.in ).

Florista provides service of giving or sending flowers to our love ones, nearest and dearest or for any occasion. Florista operates on an on line and offline model. Extremely convenient medium for ordering flowers. They have an online website for ordering flowers and an offline Call Center where people can call up and place customized orders over the phone.

Founded in 2003, by Sameer Dalvi, today the company is having a employee base of 40 people, having six branches and hitting a revenue of more than Rs 1 crore (Rs 1o million).

In 2007, Smriti, wife and one of the founder, joined Florista leaving her comfortable job as a joint COO (Chief Operating Officer) at Sobis TekSoft Pvt Ltd( An IBM partner).

In interview with WebNeeTech.com, Smriti shared the journey of Florista and the future plans.

Business Detail

Website Name: www.florista.in

The tag line or punch line of your site: Making smiles bloom

Website URL: www.florista.in

When did you launch your business? 2003

Short information about your business (Max. 10-15 lines):

Your target audience: corporate houses , individuals

Monthly visits (page views, if any) on website. Not tracked

Future/Expansion plans:

Nationwide expansion – franchise stores, Mobile based application for florista( on beta testing mode), Touch screen kiosks – credit card enabled

Company Detail:

Company’s Name: Florista India Pvt. Ltd

How much did you invest to start this business? Rs 100, 000

What was the source of funding? Personal, friends, Bank loans

Company Blog (if any):

Number of employees: 40+

Number of branches: 6

Phone: 91 22 44349000, 91 22 65260000

Office Address: 415 / A2 , Shah and Nahar Ind.Premises, Lower Parel West, Mumbai 400013, India

Email ID: contact@florista.in

Founder (s) detail:

Name: Sameer Dalvi( Founder) ,

Age:40

Qualification:

D.E.E (electrical engg.), Shri Baghubhai Mafatlal Polytechnic

B.A. from Mumbai University

M.B.A from Jamnalal Bajaj University

Work experience (if you have worked before starting your own venture):

Work Experience

 1990–1992 Modi Xerox Service Engineer

  1992–1993 Hi Tech systems Sales Executive

 1993–1995 PSS Recruitment consultant

o Art Advertising Account Executive

 1997-2000 MAA Bozell Senior Account Executive

 2000- 2008 Director Bridge 360 Brand solutions

 2006-2008 Director – Florista India Pvt Ltd

Your strength area: (what according you are your greatest strength, it may be marketing, planning, finance etc)

Marketing, New initiatives, Strategies

Name: Smriti Dalvi(Co Founder) ,

Age :40

Qualification:

D.E.E (electrical engg.), Shri Baghubhai Mafatlal Polytechnic

I.D.C.P.A ( NCC UK)

Work Experience

 Nov 1992 – Dec 2002 Carpe Diem India Pvt. Ltd – Head-Software Development

 Jan 2003 – March 2007 Sobis TekSoft Pvt Ltd( An IBM partner), Jt. C.O.O

 Jan 2007 – till date florista India Pvt Ltd , Director

Your strength area: (what according you are your greatest strength, it may be marketing, planning, finance etc)

 Business Expansion

 Franchising

 Technology, Web Applications, Integrated Software for handling systems, Mobile based Applications,

Questions for interview:

Q: How did you start your business? What made you to think to enter into a business?

Florista was founded by Sameer Dalvi who is my husband and mentor. Sameer owns an Advertising Agency ‘Bridge 360 brand solutions’. Sameer is an Electrical Engineer and an MBA in Marketing Management.

He diversified into retail Flowers business in year 2003. Within a year since he saw the growth potential in this business, so I started thinking of a possibility of quitting my high profile software job and join Florista.

Since Sameer needed to actively look after the Advertising business and could not spend much time with Flower business, I thought of getting directly involved in Florista. Sameer and his company now handle the brand communications and advertising and marketing material for Florista.

Well, I am an electrical engineer by qualification, entered the software world in 1991. I worked for15 years in the IT industry; I love the software world and like being associated with anything technical.

I realized the importance that IT could play in Florista and decided to build systems and change the way flower business is done. Also realized the importance of being an organized player in this hugely unorganized industry.

I spearheaded development of an Integrated Order management Software, the eCommerce Website and am continuously upgrading the software to build in more modules to assist the operations.

Q: Tell us in detail about your business, your idea and how it can benefit others?

Florista operates on an on line and offline model. Extremely convenient medium for ordering flowers.

We have an Online website for ordering flowers and an offline Call Center where people can call up and place customized orders over the phone.

We are launching ‘Florista Mobile’ An application which every mobile user can have, They can order for flowers on the move. Select the flowers, enter recipient details, make payment – all of this through their mobile phone. Our call center will immediately receive the order details for processing.

Therefore we are a one stop shop where you can order Anytime, Anywhere.

Our retail outlets are the stores and kiosks. They are self equipped with floral artists and delivery team and act as delivery points. A customer can place an order from site, Select a standard arrangement and the same arrangement can be delivered in any part of the country.

Q: What are the important things which differentiate your business from other? What is your USP?

1. The touch screen self service kiosk with an excellent presentation of over 200 floral arrangements to choose from. Customers may select by price, by flowers, by occasion and can even get ready help on Messages to be written on the card.

2. The Singing Florigram. Flowers are delivered with a Live Song. A costumed Guitar Singer accompanies the flower delivery boy and sings 2 songs from a selected list and WOWS the recipient.

A cartoon character can also accompany for additional cost and make it a happening event.

3. An independent running Florista branded Kiosk Structure which can be placed in any high street location or Mall and can run independently as a Store.

Our USP is Convenience of Ordering flowers ANYTIME, ANYWHERE through Online Website, thru our Call Center, thru our Mobile Application.

Q: What is your revenue or business model?

Revenue 07-08 : 72 lakhs

Revenue 08-09 : 1 CR. 20 lakhs

Q: In the next 5 year, what are your expansion plans and where do you see your business 5 years down the line?

Scaling up to have a National presence – 100 outlets

National/international Call center

Business should be over 50 crores in the next five years.

Q: What were the biggest challenge(s) you faced in your journey as entrepreneur till now? It may be marketing your product, finance crunch etc.

This entire flower industry in India is dominated by roadside individual florists. The competitive scenario was pricing that the roadside florists and the single store florists would keep. The prices were fairly low as compared to prices of florista.

However, the superior quality of our flowers, design of the arrangements, value addition in terms of convenience of ordering, delivery confirmations, early morning , midnight deliveries, and ability to handle volumes of orders coupled with consistency in maintaining these standards that we have set for ourselves helped us combat it.

Q: What is the biggest mistake you made as an amateur entrepreneur?

Sending an amateurish Business plan to an Angel Investor.

Q: What you want to say to the new entrepreneurs or the one who wants to start his/her own business?

Q: Who is your business idol and why?

Steve Jobs,Apple - The way he moved his company to a really big time innovation giant against all odds.

Q: What’s your ultimate business and life goal?

My ultimate goal would be to make Florista a ‘TOP OF MIND’ brand in India and World. A 500 crore + company with a full fledged call Center and a Cargo Division for Import and Export of flowers and Florista branded stores across UK , USA, Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa is what we Dream of..“What it takes to be a successful in business and build a million dollar company?” I asked this to our company CEO some month back and his answer was “You need to provide a service which can solve a problem and more importantly your business should focus on customer delightness and not customer satisfaction”

“What it takes to be successful in business and build a million dollar company?” I asked this to our company CEO some month back and his answer was “You need to provide a service which can solve a problem and more importantly your business should focus on customer delightness and not customer satisfaction”

And one such example is Florista India (www.florista.in ), founded by Smriti Dalvi and Sameer Dalvi.

Founded in 2003, by Sameer Dalvi, today the company is having a employee base of 40 people, having six branches and hitting a revenue of more than Rs 1 crore (Rs 1o million).

In 2007, Smriti, joined Florista leaving her comfortable job as a joint COO (Chief Operating Officer) at Sobis TekSoft Pvt Ltd( An IBM partner).

In interview with WebNeeTech.com, Smriti shared the journey of Florista and the future plans.

_______________________

Founder (s) detail:

Name: Sameer Dalvi( Founder)

Age:40

Qualification:

D.E.E (electrical engg.), Shri Baghubhai Mafatlal Polytechnic
B.A. from Mumbai University
M.B.A from Jamnalal Bajaj University

Work experience :

1990–1992 Modi Xerox as a Service Engineer
1992–1993 Hi Tech systems as a Sales Executive
1993–1995 PSS as a Recruitment consultant
Art Advertising as a Account Executive
1997-2000 MAA Bozell as a Senior Account Executive
2000- 2008 Director at Bridge 360 Brand solutions

Strength area: Marketing, New initiatives, Strategies

Name : Smriti Dalvi(Co- Founder)

Age :40

Qualification:

D.E.E (electrical engg.), Shri Baghubhai Mafatlal Polytechnic

I.D.C.P.A ( NCC UK)

Work Experience

Nov 1992 – Dec 2002 Carpe Diem India Pvt. Ltd – Head-Software Development
Jan 2003 – March 2007 Sobis TekSoft Pvt Ltd( An IBM partner), Jt. C.O.O

Strength area:

Business Expansion
Franchising
Technology, Web Applications, Integrated Software for handling systems, Mobile based Applications,

____________________________________

Business Detail:

Website Name: www.florista.in

The tag line or punch line: Making smiles bloom

When did you launch your business? 2003

Your target audience: corporate houses , individuals

Future/Expansion plans:

Nationwide expansion – franchise stores, Mobile based application for florista( on beta testing mode), Touch screen kiosks – credit card enabled

_______________________________________

Company Detail:

Company’s Name: Florista India Pvt. Ltd

How much did you invest to start this business?:- Rs 100, 000

Source of funding? :- Personal, friends, Bank loans

Number of employees: 40+

Number of branches: 6

Phone: 91 22 44349000, 91 22 65260000

Office Address: 415 / A2 , Shah and Nahar Ind.Premises, Lower Parel West, Mumbai 400013, India

Email ID: contact@florista.in

_______________________________________

Interview (Q&A Round):

Q: How did you start your business? What made you to think to enter into a business?

I realized the importance that IT could play an important role in Florista and decided to build systems and change the way flower business is done. Also realized the importance of being an organized player in this hugely unorganized industry.

I spearheaded development of an Integrated Order management Software, the eCommerce Website and am continuously upgrading the software to build in more modules to assist the operations.

Q: Tell us in detail about your business, your idea and how it can benefit others?

Florista operates on an on line and offline model. Extremely convenient medium for ordering flowers.

We have an Online website for ordering flowers and an offline Call Center where people can call up and place customized orders over the phone.

Therefore we are a one stop shop where you can order Anytime, Anywhere.

Q: What are the important things which differentiate your business from other? What is your USP?

2. The Singing Florigram. Flowers are delivered with a Live Song. A costumed Guitar Singer accompanies the flower delivery boy and sings 2 songs from a selected list and WOWS the recipient.

A cartoon character can also accompany for additional cost and make it a happening event.

3. An independent running Florista branded Kiosk Structure which can be placed in any high street location or Mall and can run independently as a Store.

Our USP is Convenience of Ordering flowers ANYTIME, ANYWHERE through Online Website, thru our Call Center, thru our Mobile Application.

Q: What is your revenue or business model?

Revenue 07-08 : 72 lakhs

Revenue 08-09 : 1 CR. 20 lakhs

Q: In the next 5 year, what are your expansion plans and where do you see your business 5 years down the line?

Scaling up to have a National presence – 100 outlets

National/international Call center

Business should be over 50 crores in the next five years.

Q: What were the biggest challenge(s) you faced in your journey as entrepreneur till now?

Q: What is the biggest mistake you made as an amateur entrepreneur?

Sending an amateurish Business plan to an Angel Investor.

Q: Who is your business idol and why?