How many people are there who can convert their hobby into a career? very less. In the beginning, Payal Kadakia also thought of moving ahead in the corporate world like everyone else, but his fate was thinking of taking him somewhere else. From the age of three, she had been humming Indian songs and this was her favorite companion. Let us know how she became a successful entrepreneur and established a business of crores.
Both of Payal’s parents were chemists. He shifted from India to America in search of a better future. Payal loved to dance to Bollywood songs since childhood. Payal earned a degree in Economics and Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Having a good degree, he got a job in a consulting firm. Even while working, their dance was going on simultaneously. He then opened the South Asian Dance Company to carve out his dance passion.
One day while she was surfing to watch online dance classes, she faced a lot of disappointment because she got incomplete information even after giving an hour. But in this disappointment, Payal saw a new hope of the start-up. Then in 2010, he founded Classivity which reported dance and fitness classes. He got a lot of page views but still, his start-up could not succeed because people were not booking through this service.
In 2012, she brought a new concept called Passport in which 10 opportunities were offered in a new studio class. But his attempt also failed. Payal returned for the third time with great enthusiasm as she understood the needs of the people and her shortcomings. In 2013, he opened a company called ClassPass. Classpass is a membership program through which gym, studios, and workouts can be enjoyed in almost all the major cities of the world by visiting its fitness center and its fee is also just $ 99.
Payal soon quit the job because she wanted to give time to Classpass by being fully dedicated. Payal, along with a team of 170 people, is motivating people that people should give time to things that can enhance their quality of life.
This idea of Classpass proved to be a huge hit. The idea was so influential that it appeared in the front page of the Art section of the New York Times, while the company’s website had not yet been launched. In November 2015, Google Ventures raised $ 30 million and funded them from other sources for $ 54 million.
ClassPass has more than 1000 class listings and has institutions in 34 cities spread across four countries. For this reason, Classpass membership fees were increased to $ 190 and for newcomers to $ 200. In the past year, the number of users using their apps has doubled. The company has raised a total of $ 550 million in funding at different stages and is currently valued at over $ 1 billion.
Today, Payal is satisfied with these growing figures of development. His success is truly inspiring. He accepted failure as a challenge and continued to work on his idea. The result of this is that today she has become a successful entrepreneur of the world.