DETAILS

A pursuit in:
* Product Development,
* Go-to-market strategies,
* Fundraising,
* Founder-led Sales,
* Negotiation. 

Stage: Product-User Fit

Pumbhirri Studios is my bootstrapped venture, where I wear every hat—product development, go-to-market strategy, content creation, sales, and even packing orders. My background in design and strategy fuels the process and I obsess over every detail and every strategic decision while adding new skills like Sales to my arsenal.

I created pumbhirri studios because...

Flagship product

'Play and Display' is a puzzle-based experience, all about forging a personal connection—with the art, the experience, and the people you share it with.

Imagine art that doesn’t just arrive ready to hang but invites you to assemble it, stepping into my artistic process while making it your own. Whether you assemble it solo or with loved ones, you create a meaningful memory before proudly displaying it. By the end, you don’t just own art, it becomes a living piece with personal meaning, shaped by the memories you create along the way.

Milestones

product differentiation

'Play and Display' reimagines the traditional puzzle-making experience using the principles of board game design, and has three experiential pillars: 

Pricing Strategy

Unlike mass-produced puzzles, 'Play and Display' is intended as a piece of art that happens to be a puzzle. The pricing reflects that middle ground: between the cost of a standard puzzle and a fine art print. To determine the pricing, I analyzed the per-square-inch cost of art prints by 16 artists, ranging from emerging to established. This shift from “puzzle” to “art print” changed everything, from messaging to where I looked for potential customers.

Go to Market strategy and De-risking investment

Launching 'Play and Display' took resourcefulness. With no spare resources to allocate towards an inventory, I decided to secure pre-orders through a Kickstarter campaign with a modest goal of 2400 CAD. In 30 days, I had 31 customers across North America, Europe, and Asia. This organic approach helped me find customers beyond my imagination and confirmed a deep, genuine interest in the product—a rare and valuable validation. 

Sales channels and retail placement

In November 2024, 'Play and Display' was accepted for retail placement at Shop Makers, an artist-focused retail space in cities across Canada. I stocked a limited inventory, hosted a pop-up, and gained firsthand insight into the challenges of competing for attention in a shared retail space. Now, I’m re-evaluating sales channels alongside my web store.

Key Strategic Pillars

Resource Allocation: Working solo forced me to be strategic with every dollar. I reinvested Kickstarter funds into inventory rather than treating the excess as profit, extending my runway for growth.

Founder-Led Sales: Selling directly to customers has been invaluable. Customers want to know the story, and hearing it straight from the founder can make a big difference. For me, packing each order myself and managing all the details is as important as the sale itself. This is all the more important for something like art, where the story behind the artwork matters a lot, it's not like other products which are about utility but about the collection of ideas and thoughts of the artist.

Retail Strategy: My goal is to make 'Play and Display' available in select artist-focused stores and high-end furniture stores. The first test is with Shopmakers.ca, a chain of Canadian stores featuring independent artists’ work. For furniture stores, I’m focusing on locations that excel at curating aspirational interior spaces, where my product feels right at home. 

My Biggest Challenge: Manufacturing of course!

Manufacturing has been a steep learning curve. Unlike the software world, where you can iterate quickly, launching a physical product requires patience. There’s less control, and lead times are longer. I prepared as much as I could for unexpected issues, but nothing teaches like experience. It’s a reminder of how different the physical product space is, even for a designer with a background in iterative processes.

... and unforeseen circumstances: shipping strikes and cost hike

As of October 28, 2024, my first inventory of 156 units has arrived, and I’m fulfilling pre-orders as I build my direct-to-consumer channels. I’m not paying myself a salary yet; every sale goes back into expanding the brand and reaching more people who see value in connecting with art in this hands-on way. 

The 'Play and Display' is just the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, and this experience has deepened my love for creating new beautiful things!