How Roopam Gupta is Building a Brand from Scratch—One Bold Step at a Time

Discover how Roopam Gupta is redefining women’s wellness with Nuthin. Learn how WeWork and Growth Campus accelerated her journey from idea to execution.

The first phase of Roopam’s professional career was nothing short of a sprint—an all-out dash where every second counted. She’d spend long hours at the office, racing against deadlines, preening over sheets, hustling to the printer, and sitting next to the graphic designer, obsessing over the tiniest details in her creatives to ensure they were perfect. It felt like a relentless relay, where each task handed off to the next had to be executed flawlessly and at top speed. There was no time to slow down, no room for hesitation—just an ongoing push to stay ahead in the race.

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After a few more stints across brands like Bata and Fortis La Femme at the helm of their marketing divisions, Roopam took the plunge to become an entrepreneur for the first time—to build a unique, first-of-its-kind brand that focused on women’s health. “I was already thinking about doing something in the space of women. I said it's a golden opportunity and we launched a brand called The Woman’s Company.” 

Along with her co-founder Anika, they built out a brand that had women’s hygiene as a focus, which as of 2019, was still fewer and far in-between. Thinking back on her time at Woman’s Company, she is glad that she was able to bring about some change to the space. “We were able to launch the first sanitary pad for teenagers so that they feel included and can go on with their active lives… similarly we also launched the Compassionate Pad, a product that was designed for women that had a miscarriage.” The work they did captured the attention of investors and media, besides Meta, which even partnered with them to launch the compassionate pad across Facebook. 

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A few years later, Roopam found herself at Day Zero again, this time building a new company alongside her co-founder Devidatta Dash, picking up a new category and trying to scale their business. “We decided to join hands to build this brand Nuthin to help women feel great and boost their confidence. The first set of SKUs we launched were nipple pasties and bust enhancers.”

From that moment on it seemed like there was no turning back.

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Building a category from Day Zero

Unlike most other direct-to-consumer brands in the market, Roopam and her Co-founder Devidatta don’t have an existing playbook in the market to follow. Given her prior experience building a company in a niche market, Roopam knew what she didn’t have to do. “I think I learned quickly that I had to gain a consumer’s trust first. The nipple pasties we are bringing into the market have a design patent for instance,… we’ve also designed the product in a way where the nipple isn’t touching an adhesive directly,” she says.

Roopam even made her mother-in-law try out her products to see how customers might feel about using their products. “Building a category is not easy,” she says. “I’ve been doing things very differently from when I was at Womaen’s Company—I wouldn’t step out of the office. But now I am exactly the opposite, stepping out and actually talking to consumers.”

Enter WeWork

Right after she left Woman’s Company, Roopam found herself at a coffee shop drafting the barebones of Nuthin from scratch. “I thought I was very productive in the coffee shop where you know I was given a few hours unattended by anybody else and I was focusing on sitting and trying to a big banyan tree and feeling excited about my space,” she said. But after walking through the doors of WeWork Eldeco, her perspective on workspaces seemingly changed.

At WeWork Roopam hosted one of her first pop-ups for the brand, where she was able to interact with consumers more closely. Now, she’s on a pop-up tour taking her brand across the country, determined to repeat the success she had everywhere else. “It’s only been a few months, but the journey has been nothing short of amazing.”

Joining Growth Campus and getting a membership even accelerated her journey to launching her brand. “It would have taken me six months to launch the brand but I was able to do it in two just because all the basics have been taken care of,” she said. For Roopam, someone who is meticulous about the details, her journey at WeWork labs boils down to the little things. Within her building she was able to find an agency who was able to help her with her brand besides networking with others in the building.

In many ways, while building a category from Day Zero isn’t the easiest thing in the world, Roopam says she’s found the right support systems. “There’s no doubt that WeWork will definitely be a big part of my growth story,” she adds.