Papercup – The Journey of a Startup

Abstract

Three classmates in the first year of college at Jadavpur University (JU) Kolkata initiated a venture christened ‘Papercup’ as a means to express their interest in art and craft as also to earn some pocket money. The contextual, tongue-in-cheek and popular culture driven messages on various items caught the fancy of the young college going crowd making Papercup a known name in the gifting space in the city, bringing the three founders popularity and some money as well. In the third and final year of their college, two of the founders decided to focus on studies and upcoming competitive examinations while the third co-founder, Somrwita, choose to continue with the idea of Papercup. Supported financially, logistically and emotionally by her father and elder sister, she started to rent stall space in events and fests outside her college and also target corporate clients for bulk orders. All this affects her academic performance and she fails to clear her exams, finally graduating after a year’s delay. At this stage, there is pressure from her mother and extended family to pursue professional education (eg MBA). At the same time, taking Papercup forward as a serious endeavor would require the informal workshop to move out of Somrwita’s bedroom and into some dedicated space for storage and manufacturing activity; additionally, she would also need extra hands to help her in design and manufacturing to improve the scale and scope of Papercup’s product range. Unfortunately, there are very little savings that Somrwita has – what should she do: pursue higher education or persist with Papercup: how should she make a decision and what should be her next steps?