Have you ever begged your sister to come along shopping with you? Felt bored when your friend was busy shopping? Fought with your mom because your choices didn’t match?

Not anymore!

Say hello to your new shopping bff, ‘Styledotme’.

Styledotme is an app that helps you in getting instant fashion advice from your followers and fashion bloggers.

JWB was curious to know about the genius mind behind this idea. Well, we discovered that the founder of Styledotme is a 20-something Indore girl, Meghna Saraogi. We quickly fixed a phone interview with her.

Here’s a sneak-peak into our conversation:

Me: How did the idea of Styledotme hit?

Meghna: I am a shopaholic and that, too, a confused one. I could never decide on my own what I should buy. So, the idea for Styledotme struck me while I was shopping. I didn’t not immediately express the idea to my friends and family. Initially, I just formulated the whole plan and did an extensive study as to how I could actually turn it into a business plan. And, in 2014, Styledotme was launched.

Me: What motivated you to take up this novel start-up?

Meghna: I graduated in Graphic Designing from Srishti School of Art, Design & Tech. When I became sure of my idea and business plan, I quit my job, went back to my hometown Indore and started working on the app. It was my family’s support that gave me strength to pursue my dreams. And, I came back to Delhi with the vision of Styledotme in my mind.

Me: Tell us how Styledotme works.

Meghna: The USP of our app is the Live-Timer option which allows the user to ask for a quick opinion from your friends and followers. The user has to post two pictures in different outfits for which they can get votes from the friends and the fashion bloggers/stylists. If the followers like the photo, they can ‘dot’ it. After the time attached to the post is over, it becomes a dead post, wherein the followers can just comment and cannot vote.

We have over 100+ fashion bloggers associated with Styledotme. They get notified by the user seeking their advice, and the blogger’s comment and vote appear as a star on the user’s pic.

Me: So, how did you manage the funding of your project?

Meghna: Initially, I used my savings from the previous job as the seed-capital for my start-up. Six months back, Styledotme raised funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN) under the ‘Small Ticket Funding programme.‘

Me: Wow, that’s great. Being the sole ‘girl’ founder of the app, did you face any difficulty in raising funds from the investors?

Meghna: IAN was, in fact, very encouraging and they really appreciated my product when I approached them. I believe that one has to build a strong product and have to be confident about it when approaching the investors.

While the national level investment firms, like IAN, are very open and welcoming, I feel that the local investors are not. Like the investors in Indore, whom I approached at the initial phase, were a bit apprehensive for investments. Some of them asked me, ‘When will you get married? ‘Do you understand the technical things of your app?’, etc.

Me: Styledotme also installed changing rooms on Janpath and Sarojini Market. Tell us more about it.

Meghna: We got this idea because Janpath and Sarojini are the most loved street shopping places for girls. But, as we all know, they don’t have trial rooms there, which makes it difficult to judge what to buy and what not to buy. So, we took NDMC’s permission and created temporary changing rooms at both the places for two days. We are working towards getting permissions to install permanent changing rooms at Janpath and Sarojini that shall enhance the shopping experience of the women multifold.

Me: Yay! So, do you also have male users of the app?

Meghna: Our target audience is girls and women of age group 13-35 years. However, through our stats, we’ve found out that many boys and men also use the app. It’s great to see the positive response we are getting from people.

Me: That’s pretty cool! And, how often do you use the app?

Meghna: All the time! In fact, not only for shopping, but I also use it to get an opinion of what I should wear to the office. Remember, I told you I was forever confused. *laughs*

That’s the beauty of the app: You can also get the right fashion advice for your big interview day, parties, date, wedding functions, and so on.

Me: What’s next on your list?

Meghna: Well, I want to make Styledotme a global app, as soon as possible. I want every girl to use the app and have a blissful shopping experience. And, also we’ll soon enlist over 500 fashion bloggers and stylists to give their expert advice to our users.

Well, I can’t wait to use the app. *downloading the app* BTW, the app is free and is available on Google Play and App store, both.