Sathvik – The dude who dared to say F**k Purses! It’s cool to stuff money in your bra…

My first exposure to any form of “bra stash” was when we moved back to India in 1979. Every elderly Punjabi lady – be it my granny or maasi (mom’s elder sister) or maasi ki maasi (grandaunt) used to pull out this fat folded hanky from her bosom, untie the knots and shove some rupee notes into my tiny hands. I was all of 7 so I found this “hanky-purse-in-the-bust” concept quite fascinating! Being as flat as an airport runway at that age, I was so disappointed that I couldn’t stash my money on my person – no hanky-panky for me :(.

So when I saw this photo shared on facebook, my eyes widened. And gleamed. Finally my long-forgotten childhood dream would come true! I quickly got an intro to the creator of the Wallette and got him to spill the beans in an EXCLUSIVE e-interview for therodinhoods!!

He’s all of 27, mind you. Read his answers and you’ll wonder how can he be all sorted out, so young?! Meet Sathvik Sivaprakash – the man who got creative with “bra stash” 🙂 

So dude! Tell us a bit about yourself… actually tell us all!

I grew up in Dubai and left for Canada back in 2005 to study Industrial Design at Carleton University in Ottawa. Being kind of a big-city kid I relocated to Toronto as soon as I graduated and spent a few years working for crowdfunding startup called ideacious. That’s where I got my first taste of the entrepreneurial spirit, so to speak. I gained in-depth knowledge and industry connections for every stage of the product-to-market process right from design development to sourcing manufacturers, logistics, shipping and distribution. As I’m sure many of you know, the workloads you face as part of a small startup team can be quite overwhelming. It was only once my contract with ideacious came to a close last September that I was able to finally put some knowledge of what I’d learnt to good use. That’s when I founded Deconstrukt – a self-sustaining product development house that exists on the fringes of the design world – independent, online, and responsible for a broad spectrum of thoughtful, high-quality crowdfunded products that cater to the well informed, proactive consumer.

Being able to work independently also enabled me to travel (something I’ve wanted to do for a while), and continue working on the road. My fiancée and I have been making our way down the US west coast since February, scoping out cities to relocate to, a search that ended this past month in LA (we got here and simply couldn’t drag ourselves away!). 

How did you get the idea of the Wallette (AN AMAZING NAME!)….?

Credit for the idea goes entirely to my lovely, talented fiancée Meg Butler. I knew that I wanted to start things off with a simple product – something with broad appeal that was easy to produce. Casual discussion one evening over what that could be led us to the Wallette. Meg has been my inspiration, my sounding board and has helped keep me grounded through the entire development process. The Wallette wouldn’t exist if not for her!  

So it’s true! Behind every rocking dude is one brilliant woman! Now, tell us everything about the journey from idea to execution…

One of the biggest challenges I face as an independent product designer is figuring out where to start with a new project. One thing that I find helps a lot is creating a set of parameters to work with. Since this was a new venture, I knew I wanted to start with something simple to produce (keep the funding goal low) and small/light (keeps shipping costs down for online retail).

Accessories seemed like a logical choice – watches, wallets and the like. Once we landed on the idea of the Wallette I knew we had something I could run with. I spent copious amounts of time researching what competitive products were on the market, seeing where they fell short and figuring out how I could capitalize on their shortcomings. Keeping low-volume production methods in the back of my mind, I proceeded to sketch out dozens (if not hundreds) of manifestations of the Wallette with various material combinations, functional details and aesthetics. Hours of paring down left me with the 5 iterations you see now.

Once I had the concept nailed down, it was time to move on to manufacturing – modelling everything up in 3D CAD and sending manufacturing packages out for feedback/quotes. Given the simplicity of the product, this process went pretty smoothly. While I was confirming the manufacturability of the product I continued work on all of the images, visuals & marketing aspects of the campaign. 

The first doubt that comes to mind is how much moolah will fit in – you claim 3 Credit Cards and some notes – does it all actually fit in?!

Absolutely! The idea behind using a leather backing is that it’s got a bit of stretch to it. It might take a few uses before you can comfortable fit all of that stuff in, but it will definitely work!

Swarovski crystals – that would mark the price up quite a bit, aye? Wouldn’t keeping it more affordable first make more sense?

The Swarovski crystals actually came into the picture during the quoting process – recommended by a manufacturer. A few factors played into my decision to run with it – it added a significant, recognizable selling feature and improved the perceived value of the product without compromising my retail price cap of $50. 

How has the overall response been? Do women see it more as something tucked in the bra or as an accessory they would love to flaunt over their low cut dresses (the gecko is a killer!) 

The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive. While the Wallette did start out as a concept for a bra stash, somewhere along the way it stopped making sense to limit its application to just that. I’d say the majority of women I’ve spoken with have said they’d want to show it off by using it on a dress/top vs keeping it incognito in their bra.

‘Because F**k Purses. That’s Why.’ – your tagline & campaign attitude clearly targets the younger segment. Haven’t you limited your market by positioning it this way?

I absolutely intended to target a younger audience. I’ve found that trying to appeal to too broad a market can actually hinder a product’s exposure sometimes. I didn’t want to please everyone a little, rather please a few people a lot! My market research also showed that the biggest customer base for the Wallette lay with the trendier, club-going crowd (particularly in terms of online crowdfunding and retail).

Has anyone contested the fact that you can’t really replace a purse since a girl needs to carry her cellphone?

That’s what pockets are for! Men have been doing it for years so it’s easy to take that simple phone storage solution for granted.

I have a strong feeling that it’s just a matter of time before Google Glass takes over and we’re all answering our phones on our contact lenses.

Until the future finally arrives, Wild & Free is on the case.  You’ve touched upon the direction that the brand will go in once the Wallette takes off: a comprehensive line of fashion forward products that will handle phones, lipstick and all of the other goodies that were once the sole purview of the purse.

‘F**k Purses’ is our motto and once we’re done with the market, the hand bag will be just another accessory, not a necessity. 

Wow. You really have thought through this!
Coming to India… How do you think the Wallette will do in India? It would look neat on a saree as well!

I hope that it will do well! I always had online retail in mind for the product, so I definitely aimed for global appeal. While the concept of a bra stash maybe more prevalent in North America – I think there’s room for a fashion accessory/wallet just about everywhere. PS – I’d love to see it on a saree too! 

Let’s talk about your crowdfunding campaign – why did you choose the crowdfunding route? Did you approach any investors?

The very idea of doing something completely independent has always appealed to me; and the exponential growth of the crowdfunding industry in the past few years makes it the ideal time to make that happen! There really never was a question in my mind as to alternate routes. I wanted sole proprietorship and complete control over every aspect of the product. To some extent, I think every product designer seeks that out (we’re a bunch of control freaks!). 

What would you like to say to early-stage entrepreneurs who are skeptical about crowdfunding?

For everything that’s under your control, keep your risks to a minimum. Make sure you’ve got all your ducks in a row before launching a campaign and you should come out fine the other end (successful or otherwise). For the things that aren’t under your control (such as someone stealing your idea), accept them for what they are and focus your attention elsewhere. 

What has been your greatest challenge (apart from funding)?

Managing my time. I had initially hoped to launch the campaign a few months ago, but as I mentioned I’ve been on the road a lot. It’s been particularly challenging juggling work on the project with getting out and exploring all these awesome cities I’ve been visiting! 

What’s been your greatest high and low so far?

My greatest high has been all of the positive feedback I’ve received from everyone who’s seen the product. It’s a bit nerve wracking unveiling something to the public that you’ve sunk months of hard work into – specially as an independent designer because there’s really no one to blame but yourself if the shit hits the fan! (pardon my French)

Unfortunately, the lowest low is the realization that, as heartening as positive feedback can be, there’s really no practical use for it unless it translates into hard numbers on that campaign page. I’m certain that’s going to turn around very soon, but since you asked, that’s where I’m at!

How has the media reaction been?

A bit more muted than I’d hoped for. We got our first feature on TrendHunter almost immediately after the launch but haven’t had much more than a few tweets and likes since. 

You’ve achieved only 2% out of your target and there are only 41 days left. Do you have a Plan B if God forbid you can’t achieve your crowdfunding target?

I’m working day and night to get some exposure for the Wallette through social media marketing and more traditional media outreach. I’m in talks with a few blogs/websites about doing features and reaching out to more every day. The internet is a big place and I fully intend to carve out a spot for the Wallette!

I’ve seen firsthand how hitting even 1 site with the right audience can turn a campaign around overnight, so I am absolutely staying positive and keeping at it.

If the campaign fails, I’m ready to cut my losses and move on. I specifically chose to go the Fixed Funding route on Indiegogo because there is very little risk – if I don’t hit my goal, all the contributors get their money back, and aside for the time I put in, I come out relatively unscathed the other side too. Besides, I’ve always got a few other products in the works! 

Anything you wanna tell Rodinhooders…?

We’re in an exciting time for entrepreneurship — established brands don’t hold quite as much sway as they once did. We’re looking at the dawn of a new generation of well-informed, internet savvy consumers that are willing to embrace new ideas as never before. Take full advantage of it, and all of the great resources available. You’ve already got a head start on the latter by being a Rodinhooder – I know I plan to be on here a lot more now that I’ve discovered it!

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If you’re wondering how big the Wallette team is – well it’s just a team of two right now! Sathvik handles all the design & manufacturing elements while Meg takes care of the marketing & copy.

This is Sathvik’s FIRST INTERVIEW WITH AN INDIAN WEBSITE!! Let’s make him real famous by liking & sharing this post.  Let’s try and help by contributing to his crowdfunding campaign. Also pls feel free to give him marketing suggestions & ideas in the comments below. 

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Campaign Facebook: www.facebook.com/endpursetyranny

Campaign Twitter/Instagram: @EndPurseTyranny  

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Asha is the editor of therodinhoods.wpengine.com. When she isn’t rodinhooding, she’s chasing crabs on the beach with her six year old. In her previous life she was an advertising professional. She enjoys writing on travel & living kinda topics and motherhood – the roller coaster ride.