About
Artist by heart. Designer by soul. Entrepreneur by choice. I'm the Founder and Design Director of Lollypop.Design, a research-driven studio that reimagined digital experiences. What began in a garage with two people grew into a 240-member global team, creating work that impacted millions and earned international recognition. After my exit, my love for pets led me back to entrepreneurship. I founded Happy Pet, India's first pet-tech company, bringing technology, data, empathy, and AI together to build better pet care in India and beyond.
Talk details
The Designer Who Refused to Stay a Designer
About this talk
This talk traces my journey from being an artist and designer to building products and eventually starting HappyPet in the pet-tech space. I'll speak honestly about the transition from running a successful design studio to entering an industry I knew very little about. The session covers the uncomfortable shift from solving client problems to owning product decisions, managing uncertainty, fundraising, hiring, and building distribution. A major part of the story is about learning from scratch — attending pet events globally, speaking to veterinarians, groomers, shelters, pet parents, and understanding how emotional and fragmented the pet industry really is. I'll share mistakes made while overvaluing design aesthetics early on, underestimating operations, and how customer trust matters far more than features. The session is less about “success” and more about resilience, reinvention, and how designers can evolve into entrepreneurs by staying curious, adaptable, and deeply connected to
Key takeaway
- How to transition from being a service-based designer to a product-thinking entrepreneur.
- Why great design alone is not enough, and how understanding users, operations, and distribution changes everything.
- Practical ways to validate ideas by talking to real people, attending industry events, and learning outside your comfort zone.
- Lessons on handling uncertainty, fundraising pressure, hiring challenges, and building resilience as a founder.
- How designers can use creativity as a business advantage to identify gaps, build trust, and create meaningful products.