Udit Khanna, CEO at Root Bridges

Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?

Udit Khanna : Before starting Root Bridges, my father and I worked as investment bankers. It was probably a dissatisfaction with that work that led me to want to do something closer to nature and more meaningful that was the catalyst. E-commerce was just starting to take off 5 years back and we thought home plants was nice niche to be in.

Great Companies: What are the various products and services provided by Root Bridges?

Udit Khanna : We're one of India's top brands for home plants. This includes indoor plants, air purifiers, succulents and other exotic species. We also deal in decorative pots, seeds, tools and other garden implements. Besides e-commerce we have a vibrant landscaping and gifting B2B business.

Great Companies: What makes Root Bridges different from hundreds of other Indoor Plants and Interior Landscaping Firms?

Udit Khanna :

The key reasons we think people come to us are knowledge sharing, novelty, and convenience. In most parts of India exotic indoor species are not available. We bridge the gap with a convenient online shopping experience. We also share a great deal of information for novices just starting out with plants.

Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face?

Udit Khanna : We're completely self-funded so growing with our own limited capital has been a challenge for us, but we see a clear path ahead now. The lockdown has been particularly challenging for us because its hard to maintain plants when your team can't be there. This got exacerbated with a huge growth in online orders and we've been working around the clock to keep pace with the volumes.

Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Root Bridges?

Udit Khanna : We've been growing at 60%+ CAGR for the last 2 years and this year should be as good. We want to have an indoor plant in each home in India, and customer obsession and improving the e-commerce experience is the way to go for us. 5 years down the line we would like to see the online home plant market size carve its own space from the traditional offline nursery market.

Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Udit Khanna : The problem you want to solve can be small, but be absolutely focused on the problem you're solving. Trying to do too many things almost always means that nothing gets done.

Webiste : www.rootbridges.com