Launched in October 2017, Sleepyhead clocked measly sales of three or four mattresses a month till December. The first bout was not far away it was lurking around the corner. Sleepyhead got a seed capital of ₹70 lakh from the company, and Joseph was about to get what he didn’t hope for: Sleepless nights.
Though the idea and concept didn’t look too comforting, Joseph got backing on the basis of his stellar track record as marketing director of Duroflex.
What this meant was that it would bypass the traditional retail footprint and channels of Duroflex, and would only be made available online. It was being positioned as a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand. What exaggerated the odds for Sleepyhead was its business model. The 10-member board, which had been used to 10-11 percent positive Ebitda in Duroflex for years, was staring at potential losses. They remained mum for a few hours,” recalls Joseph, adding that the marathon meeting went on for six hours. “For the first three years,” underlined the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sleepyhead, “the company will post around 5 percent negative Ebitda.” The loss talk triggered bedlam.įor the next few minutes, there was a deafening silence. “I didn’t have the Duroflex cushion,” recalls Joseph, who also didn’t want to use a ‘From the house of Duroflex’ branding on the products. Reason: The young third-generation entrepreneur didn’t want to use the mother branding.
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Being one of the promoters of Duroflex-which was set up in 1963 by Joseph’s grandfather PC Mathew-was of little help. The task, though, was not going to be a sleep walk. The online audience, he underlined, is very young and needed something they could relate to. “ Duroflex was a very mature brand,” he reasoned. “I was trying hard to convince them,” recounts Joseph, who had earlier had stints with JPMorgan Chase and Tesco, and had completed a dual master’s in advertising and marketing from Leeds University Business School in England. Not willing to back off, Joseph was ready to go to the mattresses. The meeting stretched out over the next few hours. An online-only brand, he stressed, could cater to the needs and tastes of the digital-native millennials and Gen Z. Pushed to the back foot, Joseph tried to foam up the argument. How Purplle is solving beauty for women in tier 2 cities and beyond
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