In the seventh episode of the Ideabaaz podcast, hosted by Pooja Nerurkar, Krishna Siddhapura and Bhautik Siddhapura, the founders of Story Tailor, share an inspiring tale of entrepreneurship—and marriage. Their brand does more than sell clothes; it revives the art of storytelling, sparking imagination and learning while children play. Their journey illustrates how passion, partnership, and cultural preservation can create a thriving business.
Watch episode seven of the Ideabaaz Podcast here:
Krishna, an engineer from Ahmedabad, and Bhautik, a designer from Bhavnagar, met through a community matrimonial arrangement. Their partnership is a perfect marriage of science and art. “It took me almost two days to explain to my family what he does,” Krishna laughs. Bhautik, meanwhile, won her over with daily “good morning stories” for four months—124 in total, all saved carefully by Krishna.
In life, they operate on a 50-50 principle—household chores, childcare, cooking. In business, Krishna manages 75% of the operations while Bhautik handles 25%. “If we divide the work, my design work is done. Now she’s doing most of the business—development, meetings, managing everything while handling home, parents, and our child,” Bhautik says. “Seventy-five percent is actually less—it should be 100%!”
The problem and the solution
The idea for Story Tailor came while shopping for their 8-year-old son, Dev. They found only superhero prints or generic patterns—nothing celebrating Indian heritage. “Our grandmother used to tell us stories that built our moral character,” Krishna explains. “Nowadays, kids get everything spoon-fed from screens, so they have zero imagination power.”
Story Tailor stands out for its clever design and sustainability. Gift boxes transform into animal masks, bills turn into 10-gram puzzles forming 20 animal shapes, and each garment includes a story tag—a mini-book telling the tale behind the design. “Some customers have collected all 14 story tags and ask, ‘Aunty, when is the 15th one coming?’” Bhautik notes.
Their designs also use negative space ingeniously. A t-shirt showing two yellow goats fighting on a bridge flips to reveal two white goats, teaching children about perspective and visual learning. “Kids make friends by discussing what’s on their t-shirts. They start conversing and telling stories to each other,” Bhautik says.
Struggles, setbacks, and breakthroughs
Their first production attempt was disastrous. Using block printing to revive traditional art, they produced 250–500 meters across six stories without proper testing. “The ink spread, and our intricate characters didn’t show up well,” Krishna recalls. “But I used that fabric for pillow covers and bedsheets—nothing goes to waste.”
Before appearing on Ideabaaz, they nearly quit. “We were always in doubt—should we continue or give up? We’d set December as our deadline,” Bhautik says. Then, with just three days’ notice, they were offered a free booth at Startup Mahakumbh. Krishna attended alone, traveling by train with three pieces of luggage, staying with a friend. Ironically, she was placed in the defense sector hall among helicopter and drone makers—but still caught the eye of the Ideabaaz team.
The Ideabaaz effect
“We had never pitched to investors before,” Krishna admits. “When we got a 100% poll result with everybody appreciating us—we couldn’t process it. 100% marks had never come to us ever!”
All Titans came on board to fund Story Tailor, each bringing their unique expertise to the table: Anupam Bansal supported retail distribution, Shaili Chopra opened doors to the women’s community, Sandesh Sharda contributed a high-level vision for export, and Jimmy Mistry, a design futurist, guided brand building and marketing.
“We got funding, and cherry on the cake, we got these experts and mentorship,” Bhautik beams. “They open a lot more doors than you can imagine.”
Work-life integration
Story Tailor’s studio doubles as a family space. Dev studies, plays, and even helps with the business. “He knows exactly what Story Tailor is. If you ask him to pitch, he’ll do it,” Krishna says proudly. “Sometimes he casually asks, ‘Mumma, did that grant money come?’”
Reading is central to nurturing imagination. Krishna’s mother made it a daily ritual while braiding her hair—a practice Krishna has passed on to Dev, who reads books during train journeys while other children scroll on phones.
Lessons for entrepreneurs
“Lage raho (keep at it),” they advise. “You’ll have to work hard. Success will come, failure will come—everything will happen. That’s the journey. If it came straight on your plate, what joy would you get?”
On working with spouses: “For us, it works perfectly. It brings closeness because we know how much each other is working and the stress they have.”
On preparation: “Be prepared that if it doesn’t work, you won’t get sad. We’ll give our 100%—if it’s meant to work, it will; if not, it won’t.”
Story Tailor proves that when passion, cultural preservation, and partnership collide, the result is something extraordinary—a brand that nurtures imagination, celebrates heritage, and inspires a new generation.
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