PJC interview: Kudos
PJC Interview with Amrita Saigal, CEO & Founder of Kudos
“The most helpful thing I found is being friendly and sharing what I am working on with people I meet. You just don’t know when someone can be helpful and a conversation can lead to something unexpected. So be very open and tell people what you are working on, because even months or years down the road that could possibly lead to something important."
- Amrita Saigal, CEO and Founder of Kudos
About Kudos: Kudos is the first disposable baby diaper brand with a 100% cotton liner. In Amrita’s words, “The biggest thing we are focused on is preventing diaper rash. We start with breathable cotton directly touching the baby's skin. We developed a technology we call DoubleDry that works with that cotton layer to wick away moisture from the baby’s bum quickly, locking it in the core of the diaper.” The Kudos technology has already been tested on 100 baby bottoms that had previous diaper rash issues and all of them said they experienced zero diaper rash with Kudos! You can learn more about Kudos on their website at www.mykudos.com.
About Amrita: Amrita is the CEO and founder of Kudos. She started her career at Procter & Gamble where she worked on automation and engineering for their Always Pads and Gillette brands. Following her time at P&G she moved to India to start her first company, Saathi, now one of the leading eco-friendly sanitary pad brands making pads out of waste banana tree fiber for Indian women. As Amrita entered her early 30s, many of her friends were having children and wanted a natural AND high performing diaper - this led to the start of Kudos. Amrita graduated with an S.B. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Amrita also spent a few years working for Google[X] on the manufacturing team for Google Glass as well as at Thunkable.
What motivated her to start Kudos: Amrita’s motivation to start Kudos was in part driven by her previous experience working for CPG companies as well as her entrepreneurial success with her own startup making sustainable sanitary pads in India. Amrita saw an opportunity to create a high-performing, more sustainably sourced baby diaper as more of her friends became parents. Diaper rash, leaks, and environmental concerns were top-of-the-list complaints she often heard, but she knew there could be a better way. So in early 2019 she started Kudos with a goal of giving parents a diaper that they can truly feel good about putting on their babies.
On her experience with PJC: Amrita first met David and Matt while working at Thunkable, which her brother had started and PJC invested in. During that time she saw how supportive they were through the good times and bad times and explained, “they are people you just feel comfortable with.” A particular memory she recalls is the day she was scheduled to pitch Kudos at the PJC office and her grandfather had just passed away. David and Matt were very understanding and accommodating to her and it meant a lot. To Amrita, the ability to speak with investors about difficult topics is the hallmark of a good relationship, and something she enjoys about being part of PJC’s portfolio.
Q&A with Amrita Saigal
What are you most excited about at this moment in regards to Kudos?
LAUNCHING!! We have spent 18 months doing R&D to develop high performing diapers that have cotton touching baby’s skin and wick away moisture quickly to prevent diaper rash. We are excited to share Kudos diapers with the world!
Where do you see Kudos in 5 years?
Becoming the leader in consumer absorbent products. Diapers fall in that category. But I also see a huge opportunity to take our underlying patent-pending core technology and apply it to pet pads (like wee wee pads), postpartum pads, and adult diapers. I see Kudos becoming the leader in absorbent products, across all verticals.
What is the most rewarding (or most proud of) aspect of starting your own company?
The most rewarding part of starting Kudos is definitely the team we have built. We have a small and nimble team, which has been amazing. When we have an idea and want to do something, we just put our minds to it and are able to execute quickly. There’s only 4 of us right now, and I love getting to work with people who are all very smart and work together like clockwork
What has been the most challenging aspect about starting your own company?
The biggest challenge is that you have to figure things out a lot on your own. We are a small team, and if there are things we don’t know, we just have to hustle and figure them out ourselves. If we don’t have the expertise in one area, we have to leverage our networks for that. It’s both very challenging and very fun! We're also blessed with phenomenal advisors and investors that we can reach out to, which has been helpful.
What has been the best piece of business advice you have received and the worst?
The best piece of advice: Without a doubt the best piece of advice is never take “no” for an answer. As a startup we are so small in comparison to the CPG giants. To many of the vendors we work with, we are very, very small. Sometimes it feels like we don’t matter because our volumes are so small … so we get a lot of push back, like - ‘hey you can't do this, that is just not possible.’ But I know what we are doing is possible - we just have to figure out another way by asking more questions and aligning what we want to achieve with what our vendors are incentivized to do. Don’t assume if someone says, no, that it is the end. You just need to figure out another way to do it.
The worst piece of advice: In the beginning a lot of people discouraged me from doing this and said things like, “it’s difficult, you should have more experience, and you should take more time to make sure you are really ready to jump into a startup.” At the end of the day, there is never going to be a “good” time to start a company like this. I am never going to know everything about every part of the business and be an expert in operations, in marketing, in branding, and in engineering. It’s not possible for one person to do that, but I think many people feel like they need to be good at everything to start a company. I am definitely grateful for the jobs before this, but for those that may be discouraged and feel like they need to get a ton of experience prior to starting a company, don’t wait because there really isn’t a perfect time to be ready.
What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of building a company & getting ready for launch amidst a global pandemic?
There have been 2 challenges. First, we have had a lot of delays on the manufacturing side, mainly because a lot of our raw materials are the same raw materials that go into disinfecting wipes and PPE. It is completely understandable for those to take priority over a new diaper product, so a lot of our manufacturing plans have been pushed out. The second challenge is when you are part of a remote team and you work with physical products, you are left without the ease of just passing around the products to get immediate feedback, like, ‘how does this feel?’, or ‘what to do you think about this packaging?’, etc. So we have adapted by dropping off items at others' houses and apartments, or even shipping things and waiting days for a response, which has been a bit challenging. However, it’s been a blessing in that we have found that we can actually continue with manufacturing decisions and products without having to always fly to a particular site, so we can now see that there may be a path forward with less travel than we originally thought.
Anything else you want to share?
The most helpful thing I found is being friendly and sharing what I am working on with people I meet. You just don’t know when someone can be helpful and a conversation can lead to something unexpected. So be very open and tell people what you are working on, because even months or years down the road that could possibly lead to something important.
BONUS: Be sure to check out Episode #7 of Season One of The Uncovered Podcast where we talk to Amrita about her journey to entrepreneurship and starting Kudos in more detail. https://www.pjc.vc/podcast/season-1-episode-7
This interview was conducted on August 17th 2020.