Interview with Sravani Sundeep, Woman Entrepreneur and founder of Apna Writer

This is the interview of Sravani Sundeep, Woman Entrepreneur & Founder at Apna Writer a content writing agency.

Sravani Sundeep, founder of Apna Writer and Woman Entrepreneur

Tell us a little about yourself

Sravani Sundeep: Hi, I am Sravani, the Chief Executive Officer of Apna Writer. I always had an entrepreneurial streak in me.

Despite being a B.Tech graduate and keen learner, I was unsure how to start my journey. After my marriage, I had started working as a freelance writer, and used to make a decent earning as a writer.

However, I was not satisfied. Something always felt incomplete, as I always dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur.

As a freelance writer, I was just self-employed, who was working on someone else’s dreams, not my own. And, all these thoughts made me curious about starting something of my own that I can be proud of.

How did you get your idea or concept for the business?

Sravani Sundeep: While working as a freelance writer, I realized that there were many loopholes in the platforms which provide freelance working projects.

And, that is how I found my startup idea. The plan was to create a platform that connects customers with skilled writers.

This is about my first and hopefully last unsuccessful entrepreneurial adventure. Yes, the startup failed because of a lack of experience and guidance. But, that failure was only the beginning of a new journey that led me to start Apna Writer.

There were multiple issues in the previous model and our team decided to fix them this time. Now, Apna Writer provides fully managed content writing services.

That means, the business owners don’t have to deal with writers, editors, etc, and everything is managed on our side.

This new model ensures that the client gets the best quality content without any issues. Something that our previous model missed.

What service(s) or product(s) do you offer?

Sravani Sundeep: Apna Writer provides content writing services under different verticals including technology, marketing, health, finance, and more.

We cater to business owners in both B2B and B2C setups, including startups and established businesses.

We also help companies in crafting a complete content strategy so that they can make the best use of our services.

Our services range from writing website content, blog articles, email newsletters, ebooks, white papers, press releases, video scripts, ad copies, and various other formats.

What is unique about your business?

Sravani Sundeep: I was sure about the competition out there even before starting with my business. And, to deal with it, I made sure to focus more on the problems that people usually face while getting their content done.

What makes Apna Writer stand out from the rest is its business values, ethics, and ecosystem. We prioritize our clients.

We make a conversation regarding their experiences with previous content service providers, their expectations, and how they were served. This is how we follow our business model. WE LISTEN, WE UNDERSTAND, AND WE SERVE!

What made you choose this type of business?

Sravani Sundeep: Content is something that almost every business needs. And, when you will look outside, companies really struggle to find quality content writers. They are ready to pay for the services but are unable to find reliable sources of content for their business.

Although my first content-based startup was unsuccessful it gave me enough learning. The work experience of four years at my platform was no less than a jackpot for me!

I realized that, for the success of any business, customer satisfaction is essential. You need to focus on your offerings’ quality, and it will take you to greater heights.

Now I knew what my previous venture lacked, and it is from this dissatisfaction the idea of Apna Writer was born. With Apna Writer, I perfected every mistake I made in my last venture and worked with my team to implement the solutions this time.

What was your mission at the outset?

Sravani Sundeep: The mission with Apna Writer was to address clients, understand their requirements, and deliver quality content as per their business goals.

Initially, we started with the simplest platform possible just to reach out to the clients & allow them to connect with us.

Our focus was on changing the way how the content industry works and serve our clients in the best possible way.

This working model, with all human interaction, and limited technology, has given our business success, extreme pleasure, and happiness to our team as well as our clients.

Our customers are our brand ambassadors and this is why currently our customer retention rate is over 95%, which is excellent for a business in the service industry.

How many employees in your organization?

Sravani Sundeep: I am very happy to say that Apna Writer has a unique bunch of writers and editors. They are versatile and experienced enough to cater content services to any industry.

Currently, we are working with a team of 10+ people and also an additional freelance model that allows us to cater to the needs and requirements of our clients.

The freelance writers are filtered through our quality tests. Even though these freelance writers provide quality content, none of our content services is delivered without the final proofreading by Apna Writer editors.

What’s your company’s goals?

Sravani Sundeep: We are very positive about our expansion in the future while ensuring proper business setups being in place and maintaining high-quality standards.

For the same, we are planning on training new writers as per the industry demands, making them eligible for working in the online content creation space.

When we create more impact with people, we will automatically be on the path to scale up our business.

How do you build a successful customer base?

Sravani Sundeep: When I entered the field, I used social media to make people feel my presence. As I was into content writing services, I made sure that people in the industry recognize me for that itself and start trusting me over others.

I focused on branding right from the beginning for both myself and Apna Writer. Creating content, publishing it across different platforms and communities, engaging with people, answering their doubts, building authority in the space were some of the ways that built the initial client base. And, as shared before, our customers are our brand ambassadors.

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

Sravani Sundeep: Failures are a part of our life and we learn more from failures as compared with success. As I shared before, my first venture was a failure and I had to shut it down after 4 years of hard work.

But, that hadn’t made any difference in my will to move forward and build something that I can be proud of.

Who has been your greatest inspiration?

Sravani Sundeep: Sudha Murty is my inspiration and I admire her a lot.

What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Sravani Sundeep: As human beings, we make mistakes every now and then. For me, it was to start my first business without having enough knowledge of business management.

Anyhow, as I always was, and still am, a keen learner, I analyzed my mistakes, learned from them, so as to bounce back again.

And, this led us to start Apna Writer, which is doing great and our whole team is proud of it.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Sravani Sundeep: I would like to share one crucial learning to entrepreneurship aspirants.

It is that understanding your clients is much more important for your business success compared to any other factor that you can work on.

Does your company help the community or society?

Sravani Sundeep: We are definitely adding value to society. We are promoting employment by hiring writers and helping businesses grow.

Also, we have great plans for the future to train people and make them skilled as per the industry requirements.

Website: apnawriter.com