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Struggle is an inherent part of every entrepreneur’s journey in the creation of something inspiring. However defined in terms of what Deepak and Tanu Kalhan, husband-wife founder duo of AIO Bazaar (www.aiobazaar.com) have faced, struggle takes on a new meaning in perseverance, belief and patience. 

First generation entrepreneurs, the couple has been through the grind, from struggling with college fees to moving cities in the hope of finding a good job. 

“Rs. 5000 was what we came to Bangalore from Chandigarh with. After 6 years in the IT industry, we realized that our efforts were helping someone else become rich, while we were still tied down to seeking approvals for everything we did.”

That was the beginning of AIO Technologies, the effort of the two member team to create and replicate an all-in-one technology in several industries using their IT expertise. 

The team grew in size but was not without its share of teething troubles, more specifically in finance; “Raising funds was a major challenge to us. Initially we did look for VC’s and Angel investors but soon gave up realizing the time and effort it took away could be better utilized in developing our product. 

That was when the team started freelancing. Not just projects in IT but anything that came their way. They admit that there were days they were left frustrated at having to take up random small projects but Deepak says they always knew that ‘Wealth is a person’s ability to survive the number of days forward & if they stopped working, how long could they survive?’ 

“There was a point in time, when I had to ask my team to stop work on AIO and work on things that would make us financially strong. We started supplying tiffin boxes to our friend circles and a lot of other things that were deemed small work. The one thing I remember clearly is Tanu carrying at a time, three or four tiffin boxes for her office mates.”