Sloshout is a web platform that helps the customers find the perfect venue for their event and book the best packages on group parties, both big and small. Sloshout provides expert suggestions on selection of venues, based upon the customer’s requirements. All the suggestions made are entirely unbiased and the only priority that influences it is the preference and the requirement of the customer.
1. How would you describe Sloshout in one sentence?
Sloshout is a web platform that helps the customers find the perfect venue for their event at best possible prices.
2. How did the idea strike to curate Sloshout ?
Mr. Kunal Makhija and Mr. Parth Chandok completed their graduation in business management after which they joined Aon together. They then shifted to EY for better prospects. As an added responsibility, they were expected to conduct team outings. It was at this time that they too faced serious problems making online searches, calls, emails and countless negotiations first hand. It took them 8 hours, each time, to find the perfect venue suiting their requirements. So, instead of being the ones looking for a solution, they themselves became the solution, and this, in turn, led to the emergence of Sloshout.
Kunal Makhija & Parth Chandok, Co-founders of Sloshout
3. How is Sloshout different from its competitors?
When a company enters into a market, it is always welcomed by their competitors, Eventila, Venuelook, Venuemonk are some of their competitors.
How are we better?
Personal Touch
We respect the privacy of our customers. Unlike our competitors, we do not pass leads to the restaurant. We assist each customer throughout the process, which builds more trust and increases our rate of repeat customers.
Transparency
Where most of our competitors do not provide the rates on their website, we communicate the most competitive rates of packages to the customers through our website. A user can filter the results as per his budget, preferred location and deals, and can see the package rates openly for the deal required.
Small groups catered
Along with catering bigger groups, we also provide the unlimited deal packages to smaller groups than the minimum number set by the restaurant, which is not possible if a customer asks the restaurant directly.
Complimentary Services
We provide some complimentary services to delight our customers, which includes:
- Complimentary Photographer to exclusively cover their party
- Surprise package upgrades
- Loyalty Programs through vouchers and cashbacks.
4. Who should use Sloshout?
As mentioned before, we cater to both small and big group parties, from corporate get-togethers, birthday parties, kitty parties to a casual friends outing. So, our clients are essentially all the people going to the clubs with an aim of spending a hassle-free and a memorable time
5. What were your biggest challenges while starting for Sloshout?
Initially when we started, it was very difficult for us to convince the venues to tie up with us and be on our platforms as they were confusing us with one of the zillion companies that send customers on a la carte basis by offering discounts, but we instead sell their standard party packages and provide them with big groups. Also, it was quite difficult to convince the clients that we help them in every way, that too for free. They considered it too good to be true. We finally got some venues and some corporates and since then there was no looking back.
6. What are your main marketing channels for promoting Sloshout?
Since its inception, Sloshout has grown purely by word of mouth and has grown to serve to more than 1400 parties and 350 corporates in a span of 2 years. Currently, Sloshout is the Number One Portal for Venue Discovery and Booking for Corporates in Delhi NCR.
7. What’s in store for 2018?
The nightlife industry in India is more than Rs.12,000 crore, growing at a CAGR of 20%, and we aim to seize the opportunity. Ready to launch in 5 new metro cities by the end of 2018, namely Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Hyderabad, we plan to expand our services and multiply our revenue and profits significantly, and aiming to clock a GMV of Rs.15 crore in the next financial year. All this, keeping in purview the quality of work and the requirements of our clients at large.
“We are also looking at the technical aspect of introducing machine learning in our services with an aim to reduce the operational and time costs and moving towards automating the entire process for a better customer service” say the Co-founders.
8. What was your inspiration to build Sloshout from scratch?
We started Sloshout with a vision to eliminate the wide-scale problem of selecting the appropriate venue for parties, and booking it through a trustworthy medium. Having faced the problem ourselves, for both corporate and personal functions, our aim was quite clear in our sight. It was this one idea that acted as the single most inspiring and driving force behind Sloshout
9. What were some memorable moments in Sloshout journey?
Sloshout has always aimed to cater to the clients in every aspect that it can. A significant milestone was achieved by Sloshout team in February 2017 when they successfully organized their 500th event. This milestone was achieved within a year of starting on our journey. In the process, Sloshout served over 18,000 people. Sloshout counts its successes in terms of quality of service and our memorable moments definitely have to be an amalgamation of our journey till date.
10. What would be your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Looking back at our journey today, I think it was that conviction and hard work teamed with patience that has brought us where we are today. Every aspiring entrepreneur needs to look at the larger aim of his/her startup and put attention to the smaller details that lead up to achieving great heights.
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