HIS STORY:
Akshay Gupta is from a business background, though he studied his Bsc from Hindu College, Delhi University. Business and excitement, involved in building something from scratch have always fascinated him. Never in his life did he even want to do a regular job. Initially, he worked with his Dad, for almost a year but didn’t get the freedom that he was looking for. So, in 2014, he went his way and started Pet Fed.
Pet Fed, India’s biggest pet festival is a carnival for pets and pet lovers spread across 3 acres of lush green land. With in-numerous activities, workshops, stalls and all things fun and knowledgeable, they aim to make the bond between you and your pets stronger and give pet lovers who don’t have pets at home, a chance to be amongst thousands of dogs.
As for the managing bit, he learned on-the-go and implemented things that work amplified them and left behind what didn’t. Their first event was on 1st November 2014 at Dilli Haat INA. After that, they did many more events, one in Calcutta. in 2015, which was a huge learning step for them, after that another one in Delhi’s Garden of Five Senses. Their last major event was in Delhi’s NSIC Ground in 2016. People really liked what they did there and hence they are going to have four more events this year at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Pune.
As for his source of inspiration, Akshay feels that there is an event for every liking of a human-being, be it music, art or food etc. But there was nothing for people who like pets, so they decided to fill this gap in the market with Pet Fed. He took a lot of inspiration from Comic Con which is a worldwide event. He believes that Pet Fed is just like Comic Con, just that the comics are replaced by pets. Their first event in Delhi, was at Dilli Haat so even he followed their footsteps.
Obstacles are a part and parcel of life. Akshay faced two big challenges. One was that he didn’t know anything about dogs or events. So they did a lot of hit and trial. They concentrated and went ahead with the things that worked and had to drop what didn’t. Secondly, when he went to look for sponsors, a lot of brands didn’t take him very seriously. They thought Akshay looked like a kid, straight out of college and was not very sure of what he was doing. It took him a while to make them believe that age is not a factor one should be judged upon.
The fruit of all his hardwork came to reality as the proudest moment for Akshay. Seeing a crowd of 20,000+ people and a long queue in front of the ticketing booth at Pet Fed 2016 is a memory that strikes out. He knew then, that they had made a mark!
ADVICE TO THE READERS:
If you are willing to take a risk, only then become an entrepreneur. Settle on your goals. Do not deviate from them for the initial 2 years. A lot of young businessmen make this mistake, they think of something, they do it for some time and when they don’t see the results in 6 months, they try finding something new to do. Even Akshay thought of leaving Pet Fed and going back to his father’s business many times. But he learned that for anything to work, you need to give it at least 2-3 years. You will always face setbacks on the way but you need to keep going forward.
Don’t miss out the chance to have an amazing time with your pets at the unique PetFed. They are hitting Mumbai and Delhi in December, and they also do a lot of smaller events as well. Check out their site for all the upcoming events.
