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Entrepreneurial Story of Rasna Saini who co-founded The Pine Tree LLP located in Bangalore
About:
- Rasna Saini, Co-founder, MBA from Cornell University and London Business School. Investment banking professional from Wall Street, NY
When Started: 31/01/2017
Location: Bangalore
What motivated you to start your Business?
Bringing some sanity and much-needed meaning into gifting. Save the planet with beautiful online invites, instead of paper-based ones. Track RSVP to plan the event better and avoid wastage of food, time and effort on all fronts.
Tell us about your Business
www.ThePineTree.co is a platform for everyone to use – where each one us can create event invites or just wishlists:
- Create event invites – Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, engagements, housewarmings.. whatever it be
- Add the google map enabled venue details – So that the guest is never confused or never ends up entering the wrong details at the last minute and ends up at the wrong venue
- Add a wishlist of gift items – Just add the exact gift item link from any online shopping portal or just add item information if it is an offline item or experience that one is looking for
- Share all the above – As a WhatsApp link, or FB post or email
- Finally, track RSVP – For everyone (whether it was sent out as a WhatsApp link or email) – at 1 place
From the Guests perspective: 
1. Give the gift of choice –
- Know exactly what your host has wishlisted for
- No more guesswork!
- Just click through the link and be taken to the online shopping portal and be done with it!
- Also, be rest assured that your gift will be cherished and will not be duplicated
2. RSVP
- To keep the host updated about your guest count
- You can change it too, later
3. Get all the event and venue-related details from the host directly in a link
So that’s what www.ThePineTree.co helps one do.
And it is not just about 1 event. If you receive/send event invites from The Pine Tree portal – we also calendar manage them for you on our website. You can see them all at 1 place. So, at some point, The Pine Tree becomes your repository of social events to be attended.
Essentially, The Pine Tree is a wishlisting place. It takes the guesswork out and brings back the pleasure of giving and receiving gifts. It helps connect the wishlister or an event host with the invitees where the host can share their event details and more importantly their gift wishlist.
Tell us what an average day in your life looks like.
I handle the business, strategy, marketing, finance, product & other multiple roles at The Pine Tree.
A typical day will start with checking out the website usage and analyzing the results. Then I move onto creating online marketing campaigns or blog about some eclectic gifting ideas.
Then we discuss product enhancements and work towards new things being added.
Towards the middle of the month, I work towards the finance stuff…
etc.
One particular skill you got right and gave you best results.
We are a combination of business and tech skills between the 2 founders. Together, that is a great combination
What have been your biggest challenges in running your Business so far? How did you overcome these challenges?
Indian gifting mindset.
We are still facing this challenge – not too many people are open to making a wishlist.
What have you found the most effective way to get new clients?
Speaking to them and letting them realize how meaningful it is to use the wishlist and online invites
What advice do you give to other business owners?
Customer first
How did you keep motivated through difficult times?
Believing in the idea
What are your Marketing, Funding, and Team Building Strategy?
We work with a lot of interns.
We are a live website which is being used by people. When interns see their work being displayed on the website – they get motivated
Your Achievements?
A fully functional website which is 5 stars rated by ALL reviewers
What’s your favorite quote?
Today you are YOU, that’s truer than True, there is no one else who is YouER than you!
Who inspires you?
Prof Damodaran (NYU)
