Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Hi, I'm Kaushik and I love building brands! Follow me for candid backstage hits & misses as we build SUGAR Cosmetics into a billion-dollar brand from nothing 🌟 I spent the first 25 years of my life trying to build the perfect CV. Why? Because as a conscientious kid in a middle-class family, EDUCATION was always the bridge to SECURITY and hence, SUCCESS. Engineering at BITS Pilani. Gold-medal awardee at IIM Ahmedabad. Summer internship + pre-placement offer at Goldman Sachs, New York. Never once did I stop to think: What if security was not equal to success? What is success anyway? And then, it started. Declined the investment banking job offer to start up an eCommerce company in 2008. Failed. Raised seed funding from Rediff to run an online insurance portal. Shut down. Ran out of money. Borrowed from friends till I landed a job at McKinsey & Co. Survived. Started up again after two years. And have been building again ever since. Today, I still don't know what success is but I understand what happiness can be. Happiness is the cacophony of creating and the bustle of building. I'm here to share our journey as we build SUGAR Cosmetics over the next decade. Would love to have you clued in on the ride 🙌 Discussions on Startups, Entrepreneurship, Brand building and Marketing energize me - so does Public Speaking and Knowledge Sharing. Apart from a TEDx Talk, I have spoken at various leadership forums in organizations such as Google, Future Group, Capgemini and more. An IRONMAN triathlete - in 2017, I successfully finished the world's toughest single-day sporting event (4km swim 🏊 + 180km cycle 🚴+ 42km run🏃) in under 17 hrs. While this seems unrelated - it is difficult to express how much I credit this experience for sowing the seeds of endurance in me. Because Entrepreneurship. Takes. Time. Let's Keep Building! 🚀🚀🚀 Currently reside in: Mumbai with my better-half in business/life and two rambunctious kids. Featured in: Fortune 40 Under 40 List 2021, Economic Times, Entrepreneur magazine, Times Of India, YourStory, HT Mint, etc. For more behind-the-scenes banter: 👉 Follow @kaushikmkj on Instagram and Twitter
SUGAR Cosmetics is a cruelty-free makeup brand that is high on style and higher on performance. The brand is inspired by and targeted towards bold, independent women who refuse to be stereotyped into roles. Scaled from INR 0 to 100+ Crores in turnover within 4 years and currently available online and 1000+ retail outlets. That's the formal introduction. Behind the hood, we're just a bunch of guys who love to punch above our weight and create work that makes the "industry" sit up and take notice. SUGAR Cosmetics was born out of a need to fill in the gap between mass and premium cosmetics brands - but also, to keep our company from shutting down. From a 250 sq. ft. office with 4 employees to an army of 1000+ team members who keep punching above their weight - we're just getting started.
India's largest beauty subscription service, FAB BAG brings home an opportunity to sample and try out the best beauty brands at your doorstep. We offer 1/3/6/12-month subscriptions for as low as 333/- p.m. where subscribers receive a monthly ‘beauty bag’ with 3 beauty/cosmetic products from top global brands that are curated as per the member's preferences. Following the ‘Try and Buy’ sampling cycle, each bag contains limited validity gift coupons that allow subscribers to purchase the full-size of samples at a discount from our online store. Each beauty bag contains detailed product information and ‘how-to-use’ instructions that help members get the most from their products.
- Worked with the Mumbai office in assisting large-scale organizations across Asia, Europe and Africa in strategy and operations engagements - Assisted a Norwegian FMCG conglomerate in scaling revenues and increasing profitability of their fully-owned Indian subsidiary in the healthy snacks and fast foods space - Helped deliver multi-million dollar savings to a UK-based healthcare entity via a technical feasibility study and contract renegotiation of their Oracle HRMS platform and related tech platform - Discovered unlocked efficiencies in the coal extraction pipelines of one of Zambia's biggest mining companies to achieve stretch targets with no increase in cost and subsequent margin improvement - Personally led multiple leadership training and senior management coaching camps for one of India's largest steel producers that led to improved employee morale leading to a reduction in attrition and timely delivery of business plan targets - Delivered a plan for building thought leadership and PR clout for one of India's foremost policy think tanks as a pro bono study
- Raised seed capital from Rediff.com and HNIs in 2009 to launch an online insurance startup called Fintact.com. Led a team of 12 to grow business and increase insurance agent base to 1000+ in the first year. - Prior to 2009, operated a software development firm that designed and delivered internet systems to run scalable businesses. Some of the more notable projects being BolCityBol.com, Zibika.com, AKDesign Ventures, LootStreet.com, etc. - Selected as Proto.in's top 10 most promising internet companies in 2008. - Awarded the 'Best Startup business' at NITIE's Navkriti event for new ventures in 2009.
- Interned with the Investment Banking division, Financial Institutions Group in the New York office - Assisted clients across US, Europe and APAC geographies through core financial modelling and deep-dive company analyses - Prepared decision-making decks for prospective M&A deals, LBOs & IPOs - Upon completion, was offered a full-time position in the New York office