Shailaputri and the Spirit of New Beginnings: Women Founders on Taking the First Step

Every journey starts at the foot of a mountain.

Today is the first day of Navratri, and it belongs to Goddess Shailputri, the daughter of the mountains. In Sanskrit, Shail means mountain and Putri means daughter. She is shown riding a bull, with a trident in one hand and a lotus in the other, which together stand for strength and calm.

Shailputri is worshipped first for a reason. She stands for strong roots, the base everything else is built on. Before there is growth, success or a big story, there is a beginning.

For a founder, that beginning is rarely easy. It means leaving a steady salary, a familiar title, or a world you know well, and stepping into something with no guarantees.

So this Navratri, we went back to the start. We asked women entrepreneurs about the moment they knew it was time, the first wall they hit, and what they had to give up to take that first step. Their answers are honest, personal and, in one case, truly hard to read.

When the first step tests everything

We begin with a story that shows how much strength a first step can take.

Anupriya Keshri left a 15-year corporate career to build TUMMZY, a clean-food brand with zero maida, zero refined sugar and zero refined oil. But just as she was ready to begin, life tested her in a way she never saw coming.

Anupriya Keshri, Founder, TUMMZY

Maa Durga has been at the center of my faith since childhood. In December 2024, I spent 21 days doing Devi Seva at the Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore. When I returned in January 2025, I knew my calling lay outside the corporate path and that I wanted to build something of my own. Leaving a 15-year corporate career, with its safety and predictability, was a big sacrifice, but I was clear it was time.

Soon after I resigned, I faced the biggest obstacle of my life. I am diabetic, and a severe infection developed on my right ring finger. After a minor surgery, the condition got worse, and I was rushed into a second surgery. I later learned the doctor had told my husband that my palm might have to be amputated if it failed. I spent four to five days in hospital, including my wedding anniversary, just as I was about to start my kitchen and business.

When the idea starts at home

Anupriya's story began with faith. Nidhi Sabbarwal's also began close to the puja room, but with a very practical problem: the incense used in daily rituals made her unwell.

Nidhi Sabbarwal, Founder, Kalyanamm Holy Waste Recycling Pvt. Ltd.

Just like Shailaputri symbolises purity, my journey began with an intention to bring purity back to rituals. I had allergies from charcoal incense, but after marriage, I saw how meaningful rituals were in my family's life. That motivated me to try out low-smoke incense from temple flowers and essential oils. When my family loved it, I realised the concept had viability.

The greatest challenge was awareness—making people believe that something so traditional could be reworked for the environment. Informing consumers and establishing credibility around eco-friendly pooja products was the most challenging but most critical step in our initial years.

When the idea is hiding in plain sight

Anupriya and Nidhi found their ideas at home. For Subarna Mukherjee, the idea came from somewhere far less dramatic: a spreadsheet.

After years at Amazon, ITC and Flipkart, Subarna kept seeing the same problems come up again and again. Eventually, she stopped seeing them as problems and started seeing them as a business.

Subarna Mukherjee, Founder & Global CEO, Shop Culture

I believe there wasn't a lightning bolt moment. It was a recurring realization when I kept looking at my spreadsheets. Problems that keep showing up in your data are not coincidences. They are business plans waiting for someone. That was the inception of Shop Culture.

The first big obstacle was credibility. Big-company titles are a borrowed reputation. The day you leave, you find out how much of it was yours. Brands that had taken my calls as "Amazon" now asked, "Who are you again?"

What did I risk? A predictable salary, a clear career ladder, and the comfort of knowing what next year looked like. Economists call that opportunity cost. My mother called it "madness." Both were right. I did it anyway, because the bigger risk was spending ten more years watching the same spreadsheet.

When you start over as a beginner

Subarna had to rebuild her credibility from scratch. Nupoor Mohan faced something similar, but she was entering a completely new field.

She had already built a successful marketing firm. But she kept noticing something that had nothing to do with marketing: people around her were struggling quietly, with nowhere affordable to turn.

Nupoor Mohan, Founder & CEO, The Full Circle

I spent more than a decade in B2B marketing, building Flexisales into a firm that works with over 600 brands. Along the way, I kept seeing people around me struggle quietly, and when they finally looked for help, therapy was either too expensive or too hard to find. That gap stayed with me. The first obstacle was trust. Nobody knew us, and mental health is not something people buy on impulse. The biggest risk was stepping out of a world I knew well and starting again as a beginner.

When you step into the unknown

Nupoor walked away from a field she knew well. Tejasvi Madan made a similar leap, leaving a comfortable corporate job to build Beyond Bound, an activewear brand designed for real women's bodies.

Tejasvi Madan, Founder & CEO, Beyond Bound

When I left behind a comfortable corporate career to build Beyond Bound, it felt like stepping into the unknown. There were endless hurdles from convincing manufacturers to trust my vision to ensuring every design celebrated real women's bodies. Yet much like Shailaputri's steady and grounded strength, I learnt that humble beginnings carry their own power. With clarity of purpose, even the smallest steps start shaping a dream into reality.

When the roots run deep

We close with a founder who took her first step two decades ago.

Seema Bansal co-founded DCGpac in 2006, long before "startup" was an everyday word in India. Today, the company serves more than 50,000 customers. But it all began with the same leap the others describe.

Seema Bansal, Co-Founder & Executive Director, DCGpac

I always believed that entrepreneurship means creating something, not just starting a business. In 2006 when I co-founded DCGPac I saw a chance to give the packaging world structure, reliability and a focus on customers. My earlier work in the US and UK had shown me how important operational discipline and customer experience are, but entrepreneurship still meant starting with no guarantees. The biggest risk was leaving the safety of an established career to build something from scratch. That choice became the foundation of everything that followed.

What these beginnings have in common

Six women, six very different starts: one from faith, one from a family ritual, one from data, one from empathy, one from a leap into the unknown and one from years of experience.

But look closely, and the same pattern shows up again and again. Most of them left something safe behind: a 15-year career, a big-brand title, a field she had mastered, a comfortable corporate job. And every one of them faced a first hurdle that could have stopped her, whether that was a hospital bed, a market that didn't understand her product, a "Who are you again?", a lack of trust, manufacturers who needed convincing, or no guarantees at all.

None of them waited for the perfect moment. Like Shailputri, they relied on their roots and took the first step anyway.

If you've been standing at the foot of your own mountain, waiting to begin, let this be your sign.

Happy Navratri from all of us at StartupTalky. 🙏