“I knew doing business was my destiny, but wasn’t aware that it would happen so early in my life,” said Kulpreet Kaur. She always wanted to have her own business, and the idea of the inception of a dynamic online coupons’ website came from a day-to- day problem faced. Kulpreet wanted to gift a mobile phone to an ex-colleague but wasn’t sure where to find the best discounts. She searched online to find some relevant information but couldn’t find necessary information. This resulted in an instant realization – there existed a wide gap between what users require and what they are rendered with, as far as couponing was concerned. No one was catering to actual user needs. She wanted to have a website that will save time and money and act as a one-stop solution provider for all the enthusiastic shoppers like hers.

She wanted to make life easier for impatient shopaholics who didn’t have time to check all the websites for their preferred shopping needs. Immediately she shared the idea with her friend – Suresh Kumar, who also found it an interesting one.

However, things were not as easy as they expected. The biggest issue was getting funds to start the business and of course, a proper strategic plan was equally required. It’s here that Kulpreet’s eight years of experience of working with startup ventures, administering their overall operations helped her a lot. She knew the nuances of business as well as the infrastructure of the Information and Technology industry – from strategy formulation to solution delivery – and enable technology to enhance all processes and scale the organization to the next level. Coming from a business family, entrepreneurship was always in her blood.

With her and trusted partner Suresh’s focused approach, Shop Pirate Coupons came into existence. Luckily, they never faced any problems in financing the business. First, they initially invested INR 50 lakhs in the firm and soon raised 50 lakhs as their first round of investment from Confidance Holdings, who is also going to invest further into their venture. After all, the concept itself was interesting enough to enthrall the investors.

Shop Pirate is an online marketplace for deals and coupons which help shoppers to save time and money by providing them jaw-dropping deals and coupons, all under one roof. They also help merchants to acquire users as they primarily play a vital role in the last leg of the users shopping journey.

According to Kulpreet, “We save shoppers time and money by providing them jaw-dropping deals and coupons, all under one roof. Shop Pirate is the first site to bring features like affinity search, intent categorization, superior user experience, and performance to users in India. Shop Pirate ourselves say we loot and get the best discounts and deals across e-commerce stores. All coupons on shoppirate.in are tested rigorously to ensure that they are working, and users do not get any expired coupon. Besides, the online coupons site is available across all major platforms – the web, browser extensions and mobile apps. It helps shoppers to save time and money by getting the latest working coupons in one go. Besides, registration to our website is very easy and a one-time affair. With Shop Pirate Coupons shopping is so much fun and is a hassle-free engagement”.

Today under her guidance, Shop Pirate Coupons has been considered the most promising coupons website in India and since one year of its existence Shop Pirate experienced nearly 10 million unique visits to its website and unique mobile visitors totaled 4 million which indicate their growth. The company is in a growing stage at present and has more than 5000 active coupons and partnership with more than 500 eCommerce sites. With Shop Pirate US site and Canada site we are looking at a larger audience of 169.1 million shoppers. Projecting revenue of $10 million in the financial year 2015-2016 with a global presence in the US, Canada, India and Australia, Shop Pirate is moving ahead with its plan to become India’s one of the most trusted e-coupons’ company. Furthermore, the company is expanding its Indian operations by setting up offices in Delhi, Bangalore. They are also scaling up operations in Canada where the site is live (since a year now) and getting real attention. They have recently launched in the US as well. Now they have plans to launch Shop Pirate Coupons in many other countries.

At present, there is a team of 20 dedicated professionals who work hard day and night to bring the best coupons and deals across e-commerce stores to save the shoppers’ time and money big time.

Was entrepreneurship easy for her? “Not really. Life isn’t a bed of roses. In fact, even today, every day of my life is a challenge in itself. Just finding a solution at the right time to overcome and get going is the key to success. It’s never a single obstacle; there’s always more than one hurdle everywhere, and in everything we do. Now, if we want to look at it as a barrier, that is a choice left to us. Rather than whining about it, I find a solution to jump over it, or sometimes use it to my advantage.”

Her advice to young entrepreneurs
Kulpreet says, “I would advise them not to be impatient. First, you need to know your passion, and then you need to know your expectations from it. Once you have that solid foundation framed in your mind, you’re ready to lay that foundation into reality. Follow the path of discipline. And most importantly be willing to face various challenges. Do not do many things together instead do one thing and do it perfectly.”

Details of Startup:
Name of Startup: Shop Pirate
Location of Startup: Hyderabd
URL of Startup’s Website: http://www.shoppirate.com