PEAKLIFE

Meet Priyanka Ghura Kuka and Tanisha Ghura Kanani – the sister duo changing the face of dating in India, one step at a time. The two lead Not So Arranged – a serious dating platform that helps find a match based on compatibility quotient and in-person interviews. Their approach is matching personalities and compatibility, not profiles.

PEAKLIFE gets in conversation with the entrepreneurs on the brand concept, their connection as partners, exciting experiences, and much more.

What was the whole idea behind Not So Arranged? How did the concept for your business come about?

After not having the best personal experience with the arranged marriage set up, and seeing how our close friends and cousins were struggling to have meaningful dates within the space of dating apps, we really thought that there has to be a better, more positive and fun way to do this. While dating apps only focus on superficial compatibility, matrimonial platforms and the general arranged marriage process don’t focus on compatibility at all, only biodatas. People around us were really struggling to find a meaningful connection and were having so many terrible experiences on these dates. We really felt that we needed to bridge this gap of helping people find love by connecting like-minded individuals based on things like personality, habits, quirks and values. Dating shouldn’t be this hard, it should be fun and light hearted! We get how frustrating and overwhelming the process can be – let’s just say we’ve been there, so we really want to make it a much more enjoyable experience.

Once we realised that we somehow wanted to add an extra layer of science or psychology to help find you a match who will actually be on the same wavelength as you, we started speaking to psychiatrists. They put us onto psychologists as they are the ones who do the talk therapy and design psychometric quizzes. So after talking to a bunch of psychologists who told us that yes there is a way to go about this and there really is a need for something like this, we found our perfect match in Panna Kamaljit. She is a clinical psychologist with years of experience in relationship counselling, premarital assessment, and behavioral research.

The essence of our Compatibility Quiz is to help you gain clarity and get to know someone before making a commitment. With this mission in mind and after months of deliberation and testing, our Chief Psychologist designed the Quiz. It is straightforward, to the point, non-intrusive, and won’t take too much of your time. The best part? There are no right or wrong answers. Our Psychologist has also helped program the backend in terms of the scoring formula and matching algorithm to help match users in our database with whom they score a high Compatibility Quotient.

Priyanka, you have been in the digital content space for over eight years. Could you share your experience with us?

Having had the opportunity to work with some great platforms in the digital space – that too mainly with start-ups, I think the biggest takeaway has been adaptability. A ready-for-anything attitude is important. We would closely monitor website traffic, data, and trends and tweak our processes at regular intervals according to what is working and what has the potential to do better. Working in a structured environment is important but so is flexibility. It’s okay if what you thought would work doesn’t and to acknowledge that and be open to work on bettering it. Listening to what readers or users want is important. And we try to do the same thing with Not So Arranged. For example, even though we are just three months old, we’re already redesigning some aspects of our website to make it a more seamless experience for our users. We also introduced a smaller membership plan based on feedback from a lot of interesting singles who weren’t sure about making a larger investment in terms of not just money but also time. They even have the option to upgrade their membership after starting with the smaller plan once they have a better feel of the whole experience.

How did you come up with the name for your company?

The name Not So Arranged, came about very organically. While brainstorming on the idea one of the co-founders just mentioned it and that’s how it came about. It worked out as it’s a play on the term NSA – No Strings Attached, as well as a twist to arranged marriages.

As a sibling duo entrepreneur, how different or similar are you both workwise?

In terms of skill sets, we bring very different things to the table, so it works. We really complement each other very well. And although our personalities are very different from each other – we’re always on the same page, we understand each other to the minutest of details. A lot of times we’re thinking the same thing when we’re brainstorming or coming up with solutions to problems. But it’s not always rosy, there are those sister arguments which happen. But what’s great is that there are no filters, we can literally tell the other anything without having to worry about how she’ll take it because we’re sisters. All in all, we’re so compatible with each other so that really helps with the theme of our business!

Tanisha, you have worked in the marketing sector in Mumbai, New York and Washington D.C. How different are these cities when it comes to a conducive work culture?

I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work across Mumbai, New York, and D.C. The exposure has been invaluable. After having worked in the US, I have made a conscious decision to bring back and recreate two very crucial aspects of work culture which I really appreciated.

One was time – valuing my time as well as other people’s time. Whether it is being on time for a meeting, or ending my workday on time, the importance of time has really taught me to maximize my workday and be more efficient. And this stands for our entire team. We do not bother anyone late at night, nothing is that urgent that it cannot wait till the morning. And the other is accountability. Most people today work in a team set up, not one job can impact the company, but a series of tasks, so nobody really works in isolation anymore. Being held accountable for your responsibilities is beneficial not just to you, but to the entire team. If you get stuck, we’ve got your back because we’re a team.

What difference do you both see in modern dating to what it was a decade ago?

The biggest difference is the boom in online dating. The traditional arranged marriage setup is usually the last resort for a lot of singles these days as most want to try and find a partner on their own first. And of course, ever since the pandemic hit, more and more people have gone digital when it comes to finding love because it was the only way to meet new people while being at home. Lockdown even converted the dating app skeptics to online dating.

However, the pandemic has slowed down the dating process for all. The past year has shown us how our relationships are emotional anchors. People now seem to appreciate the sense of belongingness, warmth, and security that comes with them. People are spending more time talking and getting to know each other. Courting is back in, rather than simply swiping right and moving on to the next profile. By matching people based on compatibility and personality, we help provide meaningful matches so this actually helps the conversation flow. When you’re set up with someone who compliments your personality, there are lower chances of forced, awkward conversations and higher chances of a meaningful connection.

Could you tell us about the culture in your organization and how did you establish it?

We’re a small team of six members, and we all take on a lot of responsibility! The learnings have been great and in terms of keeping everyone motivated, we feel it’s so important to have the entire team believe in the ‘why’. Why are we doing this? What’s the big picture here? And our entire team gets that and believes in our product, so seeing it come to life is the biggest motivational factor we feel. We also believe in a work-life balance so we try to be flexible in terms of work timings and leaves to keep morale high.

How did you nurture your talent during lockdown?

Not So Arranged has been our lockdown labor of love. We started recruiting our team during the first lockdown in 2020 and then launched in March 2021. Till date, we haven’t even met all our team members in person! Having said that, our team is nothing short of amazing. For us, empowering our team has been crucial. Here are two things we do to ensure they are happy and productive:

1. Being flexible with work times that work for our team. They choose when they want to work and when they are most productive. Everyone knows and understands their responsibilities, so as long as everything is done on time, we don’t interfere and insist on having that face time.

2. taking everyone’s opinion into account for big decisions. We include everyone in most of our big decisions. Involving the team entrusts them with responsibility and makes them part of the bigger picture and this is highly appreciated.

If you had to suggest 5 must-read books during the pandemic, what would they be?

That’s a tough choice. Some quarantine reads that have made a lasting impact on us are The Tattooist Of Auschwitz, American Dirt, and Pachinko because they’re all about undeterred resilience. Less will take you around the world, it helped hone our wanderlust while we’re currently couch surfing, and of course a good romance like Beach Read because we’re all about love!

What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs to invest their time in?

Definitely invest in your team as they are literally your backbone, it’s important to surround yourself with people who are as passionate about what you’re doing as you are. And another would be to get to know your customer. Understand what they’re looking for, what needs are you fulfilling for them and how well are you doing it.

Any advice you would give for our budding entrepreneurs?

Patience and adaptability are huge factors when you embark on any entrepreneurial journey – be prepared for a roller coaster ride but it will definitely be worth it. If you have a good idea that you strongly believe in, go ahead and do it – you’ll never know until you try. So believe in yourself and the why – why are you doing this, and take the plunge!

Explore Not So Arranged here: https://notsoarranged.com/.