Breaking the societal norms and defying the career templates that most Indian parents handed down to their children, Vineeta Singh, CEO, and founder of Sugar Cosmetics chose to carve her own path to success, but only after accomplishing whatever her parents and society wished her to achieve. So, what made her quit a high-paying career and start something of her own? She was always afraid of failures in life. This notion and a cool quote she read somewhere at that time made her take the bull by its horns and never be afraid of things in life. She shot to fame when she appeared as a judge on the famous show – Shark Tank India.
Let’s find out more about this petite dame who grabbed eyeballs wherever she went…
Early Life and Education
Vineeta Singh was born in a small town Anand in Gujarat and spent most of her childhood years with her maternal grandmother in Bhavnagar. Born to successful Ph.D. doctors, Vineeta Singh completed her schooling at the Delhi Public School and then earned her graduation from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2005 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. She later graduated from IIM Ahmedabad in 2007. She was a role model for many children and a perfect child for her parents who kept ticking the career template her parents expected her to.
She always aspired to study at IIT and IIM in India and fulfilled her dream later in life.
Initial Job and Life Lessons
He got her first summer job at Deutsche Bank in 2006 when she was just a student. She bagged an investment banking job at the young age of 23 with a 1 crore annual paycheck. But, at the same time, she realized that she was always afraid of her future, her targets, and her goals. She read a quote during her business school years, ‘What you are afraid to do is a clear indicator of the next thing you are supposed to do.” She decided to embrace her fears and quit her high-paying job to work on her dream startup.
The Shark Tank judge once said in an interview, “if you’re leaving a corporate career to work at a startup, remember that one of the most important ingredients you’ll need to succeed there is belief! Setbacks are inevitable and way too many people interrupt compounding by not having enough belief.”
She then decided to create her own alternative template and to lead her life path fearlessly. She then started working on building her dreams on something that she was truly passionate about. Today, she runs her multi-million-dollar profitable business. At the same time, she registered for a 42km running marathon without having ever run before. She then discovered her passion for running as well. She believes it is more important to show up for events, and races than to win or lose.
She has participated in the Ironman – one of the toughest marathons that involve swim – bike – run for 17 hours. Little by little, she realized and embraced all her fears and triumphed over them.
She today teaches you to live your life without fear. She feels that as human beings we have unlimited power to convert our fears into achievements. But all we need to do is to try.
Successful Venture
She started with a salary of 10,000 after quitting a job of 1 crore per annum. Her first idea was to create a women’s lingerie brand and then educate people online regarding their use. But she did not get any success here. Eventually, she got into the business of providing different kinds of services to clients. The business could not scale because clients found it risky to give business to such a young and inexperienced person. She gave up after 5 years when she realized that she should invest her efforts in something she was passionate about.
She faced a lot of rejections from people. Her initial years were quite tough when she had to hunt from pillar to post-seeking investors. She feels that patience, belief, and hard work are required to build a successful brand.
She always envisioned young women as the next major customer base in the coming years. She wanted to do something that empowered young women. It was then that her husband and she thought of creating an e-commerce business catering to beauty and personal products. In 2012, they launched Sugar Cosmetics. They faced a lot of problems initially because back then, most consumers of beauty products were not comfortable buying such products online. They preferred going to a store and understanding the application of these products.
It was at the same time that bigger brands were not much interested in young women shopping from social media sites or online sites. They always targeted a market segment of older women and made only those products that would enhance the beauty of older women. They spoke to a lot of young women and found out that wearing makeup makes women feel youthful and powerful. They thus launched their Sugar cosmetics brand with a mission to grant women confidence.
Sugar cosmetics catered to a product range that suited consumers’ skin tones, would last longer, and would make them feel good in their skin. The quality was top-notch and affordable. They wanted to make their products speak for themselves and never bothered much with advertising or marketing. Sugar products created a storm in the market through word-of-mouth publicity as more and more women started loving their products and began posting reviews on social media.
Today, their valuation is around 3000 crores and Sugar Cosmetics does not stop here…
Conclusion
Although many feel that Sugar Cosmetics has had rapid growth, Vineeta Singh feels that they have given a lot of tears, sweat, and effort to get it to where it is today. Her journey has been all about failing, learning, and trying. She feels anyone who is ready to put 10 to 15 years of their life into their passion and is consistent with hard work and belief, can create a world-class company.
