đť’‰our people: Ketan Gupta is Reinventing how India plans Weddings
At Hour Space, our courtyard has hosted more than coffee and calls; it's hosted ideas, first pitches, and the grind that turns those ideas into real businesses. In our đť’‰our people series, we sit down with members past and present to talk about the stories behind their startups. This time, we caught up with Ketan Gupta, Entrepreneur and founder of ShaadiYaadgar, a wedding-tech startup he's been building since 2022.
How did it all start?
Entrepreneurship has always been part of who I am. I come from a business family and belong to a trading community, so conversations about business were part of my upbringing from a young age, building something of my own always felt more natural to me than following a conventional career path.
As a teenager, I discovered entrepreneurs and educators like Mark Cuban and Sandeep Maheshwari. This was back when Shark Tank was still relatively unknown in India, and watching Cuban's approach to business, investing, and problem-solving left a lasting impact on me. Sandeep Maheshwari's content reinforced something I still believe today, that continuous learning and execution matter far more than waiting around for the perfect opportunity.
The real turning point came when my parents felt I was mature enough to handle a small amount of capital, and they trusted me to start my first business. That trust became the foundation of my entire entrepreneurial journey. Like every entrepreneur, I've had my share of successes and setbacks along the way, and building a business has taught me that execution, resilience, and learning from your customers matter far more than having a perfect plan.
What we're building:
ShaadiYaadgar is currently a wedding photography and filmmaking company, dedicated to preserving life's most cherished moments through timeless photography and cinematic storytelling. We work with talented creative professionals to deliver wedding photography, films, pre-wedding shoots, albums, and related services, with our focus today on exceptional customer experiences through strong branding, technology, and a seamless booking process.
But photography is only the first step in our journey. Our long-term vision is to turn ShaadiYaadgar into India's most trusted one-stop wedding destination: a platform where couples can find everything they need for their wedding, from invitation cards and attire to jewellery, makeup artists, photographers, venues, decorators, caterers, entertainment, and honeymoon packages, all in one place. Instead of spending months visiting different vendors, comparing options, and coordinating separate bookings, couples should be able to explore trusted brands, price points, and styles from a single, well-organized destination, whether they're planning an intimate wedding on a budget or a luxurious celebration.
My vision is to make wedding planning as simple as shopping in a well-organized department store, where convenience, quality, transparency, and choice all come together seamlessly. By leveraging technology, automation, and AI, I want to remove the complexity of wedding planning altogether, so couples can focus on what actually matters: celebrating one of the most memorable moments of their lives.
Values that drive us
My expertise lies in entrepreneurship, branding, marketing, and business development rather than in creative execution itself. I enjoy identifying talented professionals, building high-performing teams, and creating the systems that let them do their best work.
Over the years, I've gained hands-on experience in digital marketing, particularly SEM, SMM, landing page optimization, SEO, conversion rate optimization, and customer acquisition. I enjoy analyzing data, testing strategies, and improving the customer journey to drive sustainable growth. More recently, I've developed a strong interest in automation and AI, and I'm genuinely looking forward to using both to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and build businesses that can scale. What continues to drive me every day is curiosity, I love learning new ideas, testing them, measuring the outcomes, and implementing whatever works. My goal, at the end of it all, is to build brands that combine innovation, trust, and operational excellence to deliver lasting value.
Advice for fellow builders
Here are three things I've learned about D2C and B2C businesses that I'd want any founder starting out to know.
For better survival, keep your fixed costs as low as possible, especially in the early days. Put your resources into branding, marketing, sales, and customer experience instead; those are the areas that actually drive long-term growth.
To improve sales, identify the different types of customers you're engaging with by creating detailed customer personas, then personalize your messaging for each one. Sales come from understanding your customers, not from simply pitching your product or service.
To improve productivity, gamify your tasks. It sounds like a small thing, but treating your to-do list a little like a game keeps you genuinely engaged with the work, makes it more enjoyable, and goes a long way toward heading off procrastination before it sets in.
Want to follow Shaadi Yaadgar's journey? Find them at Shaadi Yaadgar or @shaadiyaadgar
PS// Know a fellow H·Our Space member with a story worth telling? [Reach out - we'd love to feature them next.]
