It was the night before Christmas and the Founder of Stoned Santa, Shashank Shekhar was confused. He wanted to gift something unique to his parents on their wedding anniversary.

Just like a lot of startups, the need to gift something new led to the inception of the company Stoned Santa. Shashank believed that he has all the engineering skills but very little artistic creativity.

Hence, he looked for help from his friends, who had their creative skills in place.

Unmet need let to creating a solution to fulfill it and the inspiration struck. He thought of forming a community of artists and creators who use their creativity to create magic. In just 30 minutes, the idea had been discussed and implemented. That’s a quality of an exceptional entrepreneur. He had the art made, got it on Whatsapp and it was up on Facebook within this timeframe.

48 hours later, he had received 15 orders, his first demand that was a validation of the idea and its potential. A few weeks later Shashank also won “TechKriti” a B-Plan competition at IIT Kanpur. In just 90 days, Stoned Santa had made 3 Lakhs in revenue.

This is what he gifted his parents:

The prime focus of the company is to connect the clients to talented artists who will make whatever they and however the client wants it. As long as it is handmade. It is a platform for artists to showcase their talent and also make a good income.

Enter: NSRCEL

Even though the idea was splendid, it needed a push that only NSRCEL could’ve given. Shashank worked as an intern at “The Climber” with Mohammad Zeeshan, Ruhan, Sameer, Rahul, and Asad. The climber is an ed-tech startup that was incubated at NSRCEL. He then learned about the incubation program and applied. His happiness was unmatchable when he got selected.

He owes his success to his mentors. In his words, “I am very grateful for the mentors I got. They would advise me and at points thrash me for my own good”

With the help of NSRCEL, Shashank learned how to identify target markets and what kind of messages are they targeted with and why? This augmented whatever he had learned before and was an amazing experience in itself.

According to him, “NSRCEL solves a lot of basic problems. It, first of all, gives a platform for small ideas. The main complication of a startup is to find an office space. NSRCEL facilitates with all the major infra needs like office space, internet connection, instant support from mentors and peers. Working with NSRCEL was a dream of mine and it came true”

Shashank hopes to get incubated soon at NSRCEL. His idea is stunning, the implementation is even better.

“Great ideas might fail but small ideas with great execution will definitely see the light of success” – Shashank Shekhar, Entrepreneur.