For a fresh graduate, opportunities in the Capital were few and Gupta was looking ahead at many years of struggle before he could come into his own as a professional.
This route was not for him and Gupta, a young man in a hurry, decided to take a detour. He shifted focus to interiors instead, turned entrepreneur and started offering clients a whole range of design solutions and an in-house product line.
Interior designing was a field just coming into its own then. What's more, the initial investment required was literally nothing- just a rent of Rs 2,000 for a shop in Palam Vihar and a few ideas. Today, when everyone from corporate offices to your next-door neighbour wants to hire a designer, Gupta's company is increasingly in demand.
I trained as an architect at the Institute of Environmental Design, Anand, in Gujarat and finished in 1996. But I soon realised that a long struggle lay ahead before I could really make my mark.
At that time I decided to work for myself and turn entrepreneur. I decided to focus on interior design, which was a field just opening up at that time. I got my first project by chance.
Tata Tetley was opening up an office at Khan Market and they hired me. It was a small project and cost just about Rs 300,000 to Rs 400,000 but it really helped.
I decided to do the furniture in-house and the client didn't mind. I hired a shop behind the international airport in Palam Vihar for just Rs 2,000 because we needed a basic workshop.
With the advance I got, we bought the raw material and hired carpenters who made all the furniture in-house. Everything else was profit and I put it back into the workshop and into buying machinery.
After that I got some small office projects in Connaught Place. At that time Shahpur Jat was coming up and it was nearer to CP, so I decided to shift my workshop there.
Initially, I hired two rooms. From there, we've slowly grown, gradually acquiring more space and staff. Today, I have a full-fledged company with a staff of about 12 to 13 people and we are expanding.
In these years, there have been so many times when I have suffered losses, clients have not paid up, and I've thought of quitting. But I didn't, and things have worked out.
In a competitive market, it is tough for a young company like ours to survive. There's competition from the bigger players and sometimes clients don't take you seriously.
But one of the biggest challenges I have had to face is dealing with the mindset of my family. I come from a typical service class background -- my father was a teacher in the American embassy school.
As such, my family has always had a cautious attitude towards money and would not be supportive of financial risks a businessman often has to take.
I always had to prove myself first, show results and then invest. There have been so many times I felt limited by finances. For instance, when we were still coming up, Gurgaon was growing into a big market.
I wanted to tap into that and set up a workshop there but could not because of the capital required. So I was forced to take small steps instead. The company could never jump from 1 to 50, we've had to grow slowly from 1 to 5 to 10.
Apart from design solutions, I am very proud of my furniture line. In fact, clients like that because there is less hassle for them if we also make the products.
I trained under Pradeep Sachdeva, the person who has done Dilli Haat, on his product line and was inspired by that. Besides that, I am very handy with tools.
In fact, I am a decent level carpenter so I've always loved making my own products, which are contemporary and practical. I do a lot of work for corporates now, and the French, British and American embassies are also clients. But I feel the middle class is a growing segment and this is what I'd like to tap into now.
-- As told to Anoothi Vishal
