India GameChanger had an interesting conversation with Neha Gahlaut, a Co-founder and the CMO at OneGreen. OneGreen is Asia’s largest one-stop destination for all things pure, safe, clean, green, sustainable and organic. 

Some of the topics Neha covered:

  • How Neha’s daughter influenced Neha into thinking about getting into a conscious behaviour and habits
  • How Covid-19 creating a new market in India contributed to OneGreen being born
  • OneGreen’s screening process of brands to ensure customers’ trust and credibility
  • The importance of getting deep insights from customers’ consumer journey
  • OneGreen’s future plans to make an interactive marketplace

Some other titles we considered for this episode:

  1. Fear Is a Negative Emotion but It’s an Emotion That Really Makes You Change Behaviour
  2. Shifting to Better Choices
  3. Bringing It All Together
  4. It’s the Start of a Revolution

This episode was produced by Stephanie Ng. 

Read the best-effort transcript below (This technology is still not as good as they say it is…):

Michael Waitze 0:04
Hi, this is Michael Waitze and an Eskimo and welcome back to India GameChanger. Today we are joined by Neha Gahlaut, I tried, a Co-founder and the CMO at OneGreen. It is great to have you on the show. How are you doing today?

Neha Gahlaut 0:20
Hello, Michael, thank you so much for having me on your show. I’m very, very excited to be a part of this very, very awesome show because it’s called the India GameChanger. So I already feel like one. And I’m all set to share my story and tell your listeners more about OneGreen

Michael Waitze 0:40
cannot wait to hear about it. And before we jump into one green itself, can we get a little bit of your background for some context? You know, one of the things that you said before we started recording that it was cold where I am. It’s 30 degrees every day, not all day today. It was actually kind of chilly when I went for my run this morning. But it always goes even if it’s 19 degrees in the morning. It’s 32 degrees in the afternoon. Where are you based? Just give us a little bit of your background.

Neha Gahlaut 1:02
Sure, sure. So I’m in Gurgaon, very close to Delhi. So it’s in northern part of the countries. And it’s really, really cold here. We are lucky that you know, so it was really even colder a couple of weeks back, and your minimum temperature was around three degrees. Two degrees. That’s cold. Yeah. And daytime was also cold. It was around 1012 degrees. But fortunately, it’s a little better now. But still, there’s no sun today, because I love the sun. Same here. But yeah, but there’s no sun today. So it just feels very very chilly. Strong winds, really chilly winds

Michael Waitze 1:42
is Gurgaon a four season location. Do you have winter, spring, summer and fall? It? Could it snow there.

Neha Gahlaut 1:48
It doesn’t snow here. So it only snows near the mountains in India? Yeah. Which is like your like a couple of states up in the northern part of the country. Delhi it’s all plains. So Google is very close to Delhi. So it doesn’t really snow here. But then you you do feel the chills whenever it snows in the mountains. So the so the air that comes from there, it’s it just makes things very, very cold. But yes, we have all the seasons, we have all the seasons, the summers are equally equally severe. So we summer temperatures they touch 45 degrees in in this in my city.

Michael Waitze 2:28
So that’s my impression, right is that I feel like India is a warm place. But you know, I live in Thailand. And to me, I gave up the winters because I grew up in Boston and in Connecticut. And if I never see snow, and if I never see three degrees again, it’ll be too soon. I just don’t like the cold. And I’m happy to deal with 33 degrees every day, because I know I can go inside and just cool off or jump in a pool but three degrees to me. It’s just I don’t know how people do it anymore. Anyway,

Neha Gahlaut 2:50
um, yeah, so I love the tropical weather. So in fact, I’ve stayed in Bombay for 10 years. And Bombay has, you know, this, this sort of a weather that it’s 2530 32 degrees throughout the year doesn’t really get cold there. And so yeah, and I enjoyed that, you know, that warm, humid sort of weather right? Here. It’s just Yeah, it’s like two extremes, which I even I don’t enjoy much.

Michael Waitze 3:20
Yeah, fair enough. We say in Thailand, it’s like there, there are four seasons, hot, hotter, wet, wetter. That’s the joke we use. Anyway, it’s great to have you here. Um, so how did you get to one green, give us a little bit of that background and get us up to the founding of one green, what it’s meant to do while you’re doing it and why you care so much about it.

Neha Gahlaut 3:40
Okay, okay. So I’ll just probably take a couple of minutes to tell you more about my background in terms of the stuff that I’ve done in the past, me and my co founder Abhijeet they’re also married to each other. So. So that’s another, you know, common common point between us. So both of us come from very varied backgrounds. So he’s, he’s more of a business guy, consumer technology guy. So, he has worked with very, you know, large and popular ecommerce players in the country like Flipkart. And then yeah, and then he has been in this consumer tech business for a while he has worked with match.com pay you a payment gateway in India and a couple of other such organisations, and I have always been a marketing and branding person worked very, very closely with the consumer. So I get consumer insights, market intelligence market research is very, very close to my heart. So I’m, I’m basically the voice of the consumer in the boardroom. That’s what you know, I feel my role is hence I look after growth at one green about our stories. So it actually started some five, six years back when we had our second baby. And we just wanted to, you know, transition into a more conscious and mindful sort of lifestyle, I was looking for safer options and you know, better product for my, for my baby. And also I had a toddler at home. So I was also very, very particular about the products that I was buying for her the food that I was giving her, you know, the creams and the lotions that I was applying on her. So just got me thinking a lot. And even at a at a overall household level, we just wanted to get into a more, like I said, conscious, sort of, you know, buying behaviour and habits. But then there were these couple of challenges, then I, I would obviously Google up to read more about the products that were available in India, the brands that were available in India, or if I had to really order from abroad or ask someone like someone in the family to send stuff from, say, the US or any other country, I would obviously have to read. And I realised that there was like, the information was scattered market was very, very fragmented. There wasn’t just one place where I could just go to and you know, just read and buy at the same time, so I wasn’t really sure. And then there was also a fear of greenwashing. So I wasn’t because I wasn’t sure, people around me were also not very sure, I was not really sure if I could trust the brands that they were that for the claims that they were making that okay, we are safe for your child, or that we are absolutely sugar free, etc, etc. So yeah, so there was also a lot of, I would say doubt and, and then we looked around the market all show was not really growing at a very rapid, you know, pace or from a market and a business perspective, also, it didn’t really make any sense to really come up with, with something like with a platform that could curate all these products and brands in the market. So we just let it be, and, and then yeah, and then cut to 2022, we were all hit by the pandemic. And we just realised that people around us were just, you know, very, very scared. Now, while you know, feel fear is a negative emotion, but then it’s also one of the strongest emotions that really makes you change behaviour or, you know, shift to a better, I would say, to better choices. So people were now worried about their health, worried about their family’s health, looking for safer products, there was like a lot of products that were being used to vote the germs away. But still, there was obviously a lot of chemicals that were entering the house. So So these conversations and this awareness, it just exploded at that time. And that’s when we realised that, you know, it was the right time to bring something like one green into the market, where we would curate all all brands, all honest brands, all products that are safe for you that are pure, that are natural, that are conscious, and have it all under one roof. Because the consumers were now aware, they knew that, you know, there were challenges in the market. And we thought that, you know, we would just bring it all together for them. So that’s how that’s how, you know, one green was born. And our journey started in 2020.

Michael Waitze 8:32
It’s such a great story. And there’s so much to unpack there. Can we talk a little bit about this, I don’t like to use the word epiphany that often but this feeling of, you know, we just had another baby, there’s a pandemic, and we want to potentially leave the world in a better place and build a better place for our kids to grow up. Right? And then obviously, the pandemic adds to that, right, because everybody’s kind of stuck at home, there’s a lot more time to think and to talk about, like, what is the impact that we’re actually having on the planet? And what is the impact that these creams and products and food that we’re feeding our kids are actually having on them. But you you mentioned this word trust, like plenty of companies out there will tell you, you know, buy this baby food 100% no sugar added all this kind of stuff. And you’re like, really, because if I look at the label, it says this, that and the other thing, it’s not added but maybe it’s you know, existing product that they already buy, how do you engender that trust? Like how do you test a product? How do you know, before you put it on the one green platform, that what they say is actually true about that product actually is true? What kind of vetting process to use

Neha Gahlaut 9:35
Thank you. Thank you, Michael for you know, from for bringing this point up because it’s very, very, you know, close to OneGreen and it’s, it’s you know, it’s a very important pillar of OneGreen, or OneGreen’s USPS. So, so when we were like you said so when you were talking to you know, people around us and general and we were just seeing that, you know, people were were scared and they were just you know, because like you said the was more time to really, you know, do the information search and do more research. So people were also obviously, had become much more discerning and much more aware. And we just realised that, you know, whenever you are talking about trust, it’s always better if you take the route of evangelism. So a lot of these brands, like you said, they may just go out there and depending on you know, how good their SEO is, because if I’m just, you know, Googling it, and if your SEO is really strong, you will obviously, you know, you will pop up in the top 10 pages or top 10 products that are recommended there. But then if the brand says that, okay, hey, yes, I’m vegan, or I’m sugar free, you’re, um, you know, paraben free, I’m not really sure if I really want to trust you, because I have that doubt. But if I take the route of evangelism, if I have a third person vouch for you, or a platform to vouch for you, then automatically, it just adds more weight to what you’re saying. And that’s what we built at OneGreen, we actually came up with an index called the OneGreen index, which is, you know, India’s first such validation tool, which actually combines a lot of AI, ml, internet scrapping, and also, manual checking of labels, manual verification of certificates, to vet the claims of the brand before they get on boarded on one screen. So we are not, we’re not a certifying authority, so I’m not issuing a certificate, right. But I’m like the gatekeeper. I’m the ticket checker. So if you claim to be XYZ, you have to give me a chance to verify to validate, and then only you pass the process of, like I said, the process of you know, getting on boarded on OneGreen, so if I could just take like a minute more and really try to tell you, yeah, more about OneGreen deck. So it’s like a three step process. So it’s, it starts with, like I said, so there’s an algorithm that we have built, and it’s all copyrighted. So there’s, there’s AI ml, a lot of you know, so it’s like a very, very tech enabled product that we have built tools that we have built and with some bit of internet, internet, scrapping it, you know, well evaluates the brands and claims on some points, some variables. And then we do the certification check for, for the claims that the brands are making. And we are we are in touch with almost, you know, 200, plus certifying authorities all across the globe. So we know what the certificate really stands for, and what the certificate really says if it makes sense or not. And after that, we have, you know, in house team of food scientists, doormats, skin specialists, who do the label checking, so so they make sure that whatever that you are saying, whatever advertising or communication that you’re making, you are actually not, you know, really claiming, what is not there in your product, in terms of the ingredients that are mentioned on the lips, or how many people are in the company, our team have currently is, is more than 20 people in the team. Yeah, and we are all you know, we have a remote way of working in our organisation. So while our headquarters are in Google, obviously, then I are based out of Google and a couple of other people in marketing and ops, everyone else is in different parts of the country. And it works very well for us

Michael Waitze 13:40
one of the most, what’s the right word effective? And you should know this as well, right? Because you probably know way more about marketing than I do. For sure, you probably dream more about Mark like, you know more about it than I can ever. One of the most effective marketing campaigns that I’ve ever seen was this idea of Intel Inside red. So the Intel Intel actually licenced their technology to AMD. So it was essentially built on the same thing, but if it’s an Intel Inside on it, people were more likely to buy the Dell with the intelligent rather than the Dell with the AMD chip inside of it. Do you think that there’s a benefit to just saying like one green approved, even though you said earlier, like you don’t have all these certificates, but you do use an algo, which is highly technologized you’re out using some artificial intelligence and going out and scraping the internet to do this stuff. Does it make sense to have like an I’m going to put it in quotes, right, like a sticker on a product, it says like, approved by one green, just so people know, you’ve actually gone out and done that work?

Neha Gahlaut 14:29
Absolutely. Absolutely. Michael. So we are in fact, you know, a lot of brands, let me tell you, you know, so. So a lot of our partners or vendors, they take this wandering index very, very seriously. Yeah. And because it’s a scoring mechanism, so they know that you know, a lot of that can drive consumer towards the brand or away from the brand at the at the point of purchase. Yeah. So in fact, a lot of these brands they work very, very closely with me trying to really understand what to fix in their product or What to fix in the label or what to fix in their, in their claims to really up the score. And, in fact, a brand they you know, so when we went back to the, to the algo, and realise is that you know, there was some some plastic in their packaging, which was pulling the score down, and the founder actually, you know, made sure that she just got rid of all the plastic from all the three levels of packaging. She got that done, she got the certificate, she came and submitted the certificate, and it helped you know her to really increase the score. And she was she was obviously very proud of this entire, you know, thing that she did? So a lot of brands, yes, we are, in fact, in the process of getting this entire one green approved, sort of a validation, done by the brands, so that, you know, the more and more consumers will be interested to know what this is and why, you know, it’s one green and approved. And if it is one been approved, then it automatically adds a lot more weight, and a lot more credibility. Yeah. Do you want Randy saying, Do you feel

Michael Waitze 16:11
like to you and to your co founder, and to the team, that the impact that you’re having is almost as important as the profit that you’re generating for the business that you’re building? And I guess Further to that, do you feel like this is a secular trend that like a wave that you’re building a wave that you’re writing? Like, what is the reaction from the consumer side as well, right? Because you can have these great products, they’re all you know, fit into your one green mantra. But two people care. That’s the other thing. Right? So the first thing is, how important is this impact to you? And how much is the market in sync with what you’re doing? So to separate things? Yeah.

Neha Gahlaut 16:50
Yeah, yeah. So so so I’ll obviously then I’ll try to answer it in two parts, please, first probably talk about the market or you know, what the consumer sentiment is or what you know, where the consumers are, really are in terms of being more aware and more mindful. And then I’ll probably talk about, you know, whether it aligns with what we are doing at one dream, and why we are doing it at one dream. So from a from a, from a market perspective, from a really, you know, call it safe from a trend perspective. So we see a lot of conversations coming up. And a lot of conversations changing. And I’ll tell you why. Because I work very closely with the Zoomers, I love talking to people. So whenever you know, people come and shop on one screen, I just pick up the phone on them, I try to you know, really understand why they are buying from one rain, what are the products that they picked up and why they picked up because it just gives me a lot of these very deep insights, that helps me to, you know, work on my entire proposition. And if I have to really improve it, then I do that. So a lot of these conversations are coming up. And so when we started really, you know, understanding the market from when we were really building a business case, for one green, there was this report by Bain, which said that, you know, there was some 100 or one 30 million conscious affluent health conscious, you know, consumers in India, and that was really the market the size of the market that we were looking at, okay, but then the when he started, and it was in itself a very large number. But then when we started, you know, when one green started, and after some 1415 months into business, we are seeing that, you know, almost like almost 50% of my business is coming from non metros or coming from these tier two tier three cities. Yeah. Yeah, and not, it’s not really a very, very niche concept. Or it is not something which people are seeing as, oh, it’s premium, or you’re talking about something which I don’t relate with, and hence it’s not for me, no, we are not, it’s truly not the case. So this 130, or one 40 billion people that we are really talking about, it’s much larger. Because when I talk about consciousness when I talk about taking care of my health, when I talk about taking care of my family, or when I just talk about the impact of my choices on the environment at large and the kind of, like you said, the kind of work that I want to leave behind for my children. It cuts across geographies, and I’m very well seeing that. Yes, the degree the degree

Michael Waitze 19:30
that surprised you because you said it’s non Metro like, I think what a lot of people think about not just the Indian economy, but every economy right in Thailand. It’s like the top five cities in Japan. It’s Osaka, Kobe, Tokyo, Sapporo, right these types of things. It did surprise you that even the people in like the suburbs of a second tier third tier city were way more interested in this than you expected.

Neha Gahlaut 19:51
Absolutely. Absolutely. So like I said, Michael, so Nana had probably you know, cover the part about the impact that OneGreen is making. See if I don’t go about, you know, big words or big things like say climate change, right, or forest fires or say sustainability, water harvesting, I am somewhere you know, I may be intimidating, or I may just overwhelm the consumer, because they may be doing their bit, they may be concerned, they may be showing some concern or some, you know, it must be like really worrying them at some level. But if I really break it down into the impact that all of this can have on your health, or say on your well being, right, that’s when I connect with them. And that’s exactly what we do and OneGreen. Yeah, so I don’t just say that, you know, I’m, I’m like a green platform or say, I will only sell products that do not have plastic in them also that they do not have plastic packaging, or they are absolutely 100% sustainable or 100%. Organic. No, I’m just breaking it down for the consumer. So even if they are, they take that you know that one small step in that direction? I know. It’s the start of a revolution.

Michael Waitze 21:11
Sorry, I have to I have to say this. Isn’t this the thing that most people are missing? I can pontificate to you. And to anybody else who’s listening, it doesn’t matter if it’s in Mumbai, or in a third tier city write about climate change about water preservation about don’t use plastic, and I can go on and on about this. But if I just give everybody like a selfish reason to do this, regardless of whether I’m educating them about climate change or not, they’ll do it anyway. And then what we end up with the same impact we want, regardless.

Neha Gahlaut 21:39
Absolutely. So I’m just so so in marketing, there’s this phrase called, you know, reason to believe so what does that reason to believe or in what you’re seeing, so I’m not really saying that you know, you’re being selfish, or that you’re only thinking about the impact that it has on your life or say on your health and your safety, but I’m just probably saying that, you know, that’s the start of you being more aware. Yep. And that’s the start of you being more mindful. So for example, say we are a marketplace. I tell people not to be an impulse shopper, it totally goes against, you know, the, the concept of a marketplace. But then I don’t want them to be an impulsive shopper. Yeah, I want them to plan their purchases. That way, they will not mind really paying that delta, or paying that extra box and getting a better product for them. Yeah, exactly.

Michael Waitze 22:37
Yeah, yeah. How exactly do you go out and communicate with the consumers you’re talking about? In other words, do you do active serve, as you said, I get on the phone with him. And I can’t imagine you’re making phone calls to all of these consumers, particularly in a country with one point something billion people, how is it that you’re actually communicating with them and understanding the things that they believe the things that they need the things that they want? So

Neha Gahlaut 22:59
when we actually when we started building one green, we had, so I had actually done a lot of lot of research. So I had done, I had spoken to, when I said spoken to, and obviously I had, you know, surveyed more than 1000 people at that point in time. And then I would obviously do a lot of, you know, these phone calls and one on ones. And, you know, sort of these online group discussions with a lot of people to really understand what was happening, and what did they actually really need at that point in time. And then yes, we you know, we continue doing that. So this is something very, very interesting, and it’s very, very close to my heart. We have built a very large thrive, living and an highly engaged community called one green revolution on Facebook. It’s it’s more than I think it has almost 15,000 members. We started it only last year, I think, in November or December last year, so we just yeah, we just completed Well, 13 months, and we have more than 15,000 I would say conscious consumers, you know, who are connected in this community. And trust me, you the kind of conversations that happen there and the kind of insights that I get from there. It’s, it’s, it’s phenomenal. It’s a very, yes, it’s an it’s a very, very engaged community. And very, very organic conversation. So things like you know, somebody just asked that, oh, well, you know, I was just seeing some documentary on Netflix and I realised that all this nonstick cookware is so bad for my health. And I want to get rid of all of that. And I want to buy a lot of this iron and, you know, stuff made out of this earthenware stuff that you get in India. How do I do that? And I you had like almost some 5060 Other people commenting and really trying to help her and then sharing pictures of their own own kitchen and the utensils that they’re using, and just being proud of the fact that They’re already doing it. So so this is how, you know, this is how it all started. And it’s like I said, I just I’m obviously I’m a part of that group. So I keep getting a lot of, you know, these notifications on my phone, every time somebody comments there, or somebody does anything there. And I’m, every time I just log into the community, I end up spending like, almost 3040 minutes, just reading what is happening there. And this is just one example that I gave you anything I’m looking for, you know, a shampoo, which is, which doesn’t have chemicals, because I’m suffering from hairfall, I’m looking for a diaper rash cream for my baby, which, again, which is absolutely safe. And you know, it should be natural, because I’m using it on my baby skins. I’m just giving you some examples. So it just tells me two things, it tells me, what are the kinds of products? Or what are the kinds of categories that people are really looking for? And it also helps me understand their motivations. Yeah, they’re drivers. So is it? Is it their own health? Or is it the health of the kid? Or is it the wellbeing of the entire family? Or what is it? Or is it am I talking about a larger impact that they want to make on the environment. So a lot of people in this group, they grow their own food, they don’t use plastic, and they just they keep. And so what happens is Michael, they share their own stories. So they motivate others, they inspire others. And that’s why we call it a revolution, because that’s exactly what we want to start. And that’s really exactly exactly what we want to build.

Michael Waitze 26:37
That is so good. I just joined the group, by the way, so I’ll be paying attention to what’s causing,

Neha Gahlaut 26:43
I’m sure you’re gonna love it. It’s, it’s, it’s such a positive, and a happy place to be trust me, Michael, it’s so such a happy group. Because people are just sharing, they’re just sharing all the stuff that they’re doing. And they just feel that, you know, it’s whatever that they’re doing is actually impacting, you know, the lives of others, and, you know, is impacting the environment at large, like the Big Four, yeah, they go for these tree plantation drives, and they’ll take pictures. So it’s, it’s, it’s awesome. It’s, it’s really, like an amazing community to be in.

Michael Waitze 27:22
In a way I feel like there’s this, what’s the right word, there’s this innate desire to be part of a community. And in a way, when you build these communities, online or offline, it doesn’t matter, they end up being really positive places, because the people that are there like a negative person joining a positive community is like a virus, and people just try to expel it. And yet, a positive community will embrace other positivity. So that the whole thing benefits from it. And this is the best way to share information. Yes, you’re

Neha Gahlaut 27:53
absolutely right. So we have the community. And then obviously, we have our other other, you know, social media platforms from where we keep identifying the right kind of messages to, you know, communicate to the audience, the kind of stuff that they’re looking for. And so it’s one thing which we try to do is that we try to keep it very, very, like I said, very, very simple. And we try to keep it relatable, so that they they like they should feel that yes, you’re talking to me, because that’s very, very important in advertising and marketing. That has to Yeah, it has to make me feel a part of what you’re trying to say. And hence, we just break this entire conch shells and mindful sort of a living into very, very simple language. And, yeah, and you just try to be that friend, that facilitator who just helps you adopt to a better way of living

Michael Waitze 28:51
as you grow and get bigger, do you? Because I’m always thinking about this from a technological standpoint, right? Do you feel like not only the community that you’re building, but the marketplace that you’re facilitating as well can become even more interactive? Right. In other words, if your co founder is into the tech side of this, is there a way to build in to the community but also into the marketplace? A much more interactive place for people to meet and exchange ideas and exchange products and understand what’s happening and to share ideas?

Neha Gahlaut 29:26
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. In fact, we are we are in the process of, you know, building more an exactly that’s, that’s, that’s the word we use, even when we are talking and, you know, just briefing others that, you know, we have to make it more engaging and more interactive. And, in fact, this is already happening, because I tell you, I’ll just probably share a couple of numbers here. So so we have almost, you know, 2 million people, 2 million visitors, monthly visitors on our platform. And our bounce rate is is yeah bounce rate is, is around 15% 15% Yeah, that’s it. That’s it, because industry average is, is mostly around 40 50%. I

Michael Waitze 30:08
was gonna say I wanted you to point that out, because 15% is ridiculously low for a bounce rate. Yeah, go ahead.

Neha Gahlaut 30:13
Yes. And so, this goes on to show that, you know, when people are landing on the platform, they are actually exploring, they are discovering things they are, you know, checking out products, they are reading about products. So we also so in order to, you know, really facilitate this entire exploration of, of, you know, these better products and slightly, like I said, New Waitze, sort of products and categories. So we help them with a lot of literature as well. And, and that’s why the average time spent is is is more than, you know, three, three and a half minutes also pageviews. Yeah, pageviews is around seven, point five. So yes, people are spending a lot of time on the platform. And that’s exactly what we want to do we really want to, you know, make them more engaged and spend more time so that it you know, it leads to better conversions as well.

Michael Waitze 31:08
Yeah, better conversions for sure. If the if the consumers that you have or conscious consumers, if they’re health conscious as well, is there a way to use those 2 million monthly users to sell them something like insurance, like health insurance, right, particularly in a country where insurance penetration still remains low? And it’s not something that’s top of mind to people, but if it’s something people really care about? Right? I mean, one of the other gentlemen that I’ve had on the show says that, you know, every family in India, I would posit in the whole world is just like one medical emergency away from poverty. Right. And a lot of that comes to health emergencies. Do you think about that as well?

Neha Gahlaut 31:44
Thanks for the idea. We haven’t really thought about that. But yeah, it’s actually something which we can definitely, you know, mull over and

Michael Waitze 31:56
just yeah, I’m not telling you what to do. I’m just thinking about, like, how else to serve this community? I

Neha Gahlaut 32:00
don’t absolutely, absolutely. This is also, you know, it makes sense. So, so let’s see, but yeah, I’ll be honest, we haven’t really thought about,

Michael Waitze 32:09
okay, and the last thing I care about a lot is company culture, right? When you’re building a company, if you have three employees, it’s pretty easy to make sure that everybody’s kind of on the same page, as you get to 30 employees, it gets a little bit harder. 300,000, when you go from 2 million to 2 million monthly is to 20 million. It’s just like, how do you ensure? And how do you build this company culture about people that really care about the products that are on the platform? And the people that are buying it? Have you thought about this at all, as well, while you’re growing?

Neha Gahlaut 32:38
Yes, absolutely. So so I’ll, I’ll just say tell you that you know, obviously, it and I would say that you know, we are slightly left left of centre when it comes to really, you know, making policies or you know, really making these, these, you know, this this or writing the code of conduct, or any other cultural or adding some sort of cultural nuance to the company, so, we, we really care for people, and when I say we care for people we care for the human being, yeah, before they are, you know, our employees, we feel that, you know, they are, they are a human being, they have their own, you know, families to take care of their own lives. So that’s, that’s where we start at. So there’s a lot of heart. And there’s a lot of connection that’s there. And it’s only when you actually lead by example, and only when you set you know, some such ground rules that you can expect, you’re in fact, I won’t even want to call them your employees, but your I would say to your you know, your family, yeah, yeah. To, to reciprocate with that same level of, you know, care and trust. So that’s where we begin that so we begin at, you know, 100 person trust with each one of them. We love to empower people, we love to give space to people. That’s the reason why we are all you know, we work remote, we are absolutely fine with not really setting any sort of working hours or you know, or like a work timeline. As long as the work is getting done. People are motivated, they want to, you know, report to work in the morning, they want to be available, they want to really help resolve issues they take, they’re proactive, they take accountability for their work, right? We are we are fine with that.

Michael Waitze 34:35
That’s awesome. Okay, look, I’m gonna end here. I think this has been awesome. Unless you feel like I’ve missed something. I really want to thank you, Neha Gahlaut, a Co-founder and the CMO and OneGreen. This has been incredible. And in about six months, we’d love to have you back on or the co founder back on or actually both of you back on together to feel the interaction between the Co-founders and just learn more about the growth of OneGreen thank you again, so much for doing this.

Neha Gahlaut 34:58
Absolutely. Absolutely, man. Actors and thank you so much for this opportunity and yeah it was it was great talking to you

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