Rahul Singh

There was a time when I thought software businesses were it for me.

The ultimate startup model.
Work from anywhere.
No need to move an inch.
Everything, sales, ops, product. Right from my laptop.

It started with BookOnHire back in college, a classic e-commerce rental business. Then came Winkl, which grew into this operating system for advertisers to run influencer campaigns.

And man, it was fun.

We grew like crazy during COVID, travelled and worked across India, switched between WFH and an office post-COVID, and basically ran the whole thing from wherever I felt like being.

When it was time to exit, we got a solid valuation, simply because we had software with network effects baked in.

Naturally, post-Winkl, I assumed my next play would be another software (AI?) startup. I had all the time in the world to think. We tested a few ideas, piloted one, but nothing really stuck.

While I was figuring things out, my consumption shot through the roof. Partly because of that initial rush of financial freedom from the exit. Partly because of my (now) wife introducing me to new things. I started exploring brands. Buying stuff. Trying things I wouldn’t have earlier.

And I started noticing something.
Similar products. Completely different positioning.
Different perception.
Different pricing.

Why do customers go crazy for some brands and ignore others?

In parallel, I saw a shift happening around me. People were upgrading the brands they used. Open to trying new ones. Moving away from the status-quo players to newer brands, sometimes for their story, sometimes for a small functional edge.

Somewhere in all this, it clicked.

I’d gone from running software to becoming obsessed with building brands.

It’s definitely harder than software for me.
And it’s not as flexible. You can’t always work from your couch.
But damn… it’s fascinating.

It led me to start thebaeshop.com and subtlestore.com. Two completely different businesses.

No top-down Excel sheet math.
No TAM calculation.
No pitch-deck-level conviction about “fundability.”

Just pure curiosity.
The kind that keeps you up at night thinking,
“What would it take to build a brand people actually adore?”