Ananya Deshmukh of KaarigarConnect

It started with something small

I grew up in Nagpur watching my mother run a tailoring unit from our living room. She had ten women working with her but no way to reach customers beyond our lane. That image never left me.

The decision

I had a comfortable product role at a Bengaluru SaaS company. But every Diwali I would go home and see the same women, same skill, same ceiling. I quit in 2024 to build the thing I wished my mother had.

That decision is where KaarigarConnect really began.

The part nobody posts about

Eight months in, we had onboarded 40 artisan units and then our only investor pulled out a week before a payroll. I sold my bike and paid the team from that. Two of them stayed without a salary that month because they believed in it.

Then something shifted

Our first bulk order came from a Mumbai boutique that found us on Instagram – ₹2.8 lakh, paid upfront. I remember reading the payment SMS four times to be sure it was real.

Where KaarigarConnect stands today

We now connect 180 artisan units across Maharashtra to buyers in 6 cities, and last quarter we crossed ₹40 lakh in artisan payouts. Nine of those first women still work with us.

If you’re where Ananya Deshmukh started

Build for one person you actually know. If it does not change their life, the market does not matter yet.

Ananya Deshmukh, KaarigarConnect