Vrinda Singh Chauhan, Founder, PaperWiff Speaks On Brands Journey And Growth Of The Vernacular Literature Of India

Why did you choose to become an entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurship is a change I want to bring to society, which entails a risk. Being a woman, I had always been advised to marry someone and then take a chance with my passion for preserving the art of India. India is an abode of many languages, and we need people to work for them. The spark of saving languages from turning extinct made me an entrepreneur. I started writing just for my passion, but I did start entrepreneurship for everyone's passion, i.e., creating readable content in local languages.

What was the idea behind establishing PaperWiff? What is its USP?
Paperwiff started with the vision to preserve languages by bringing them into the limelight through a centralized platform where readers and writers could exchange thoughts in local languages. Paperwiff is the first community in India which has revived literature in languages like Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Haryanvi, Braj and lot many to count. Paperwiff is the most powerful literary platform that has reached India's remotest areas to redefine literature. We have restricted content copying on our platform and ensure that all the content copyright stays with the author.

While establishing your venture, what kind of challenges or obstacles did you face in the beginning? Please elaborate.
Paperwiff was not built in a day, just over a thought. It's an amalgamation of literature and technology to assist those who hold the legacy of their local language. Paperwiff is a support system for those who could be more techno-savvy but have the zest to operate innovative phones/laptops to write their heart out in their language.

Being a woman entrepreneur, the biggest challenge was to prove that the idea of saving languages would work, highlighting the local language literature. This took many iterations with the writers to understand their needs. Now building a tech stack alone was another challenge. It took six months to get the paperwiff hybrid application (Meant for both Laptop/ Desktop and mobile phones) up and running. Enduring the cost of the infra behind the scenes was another challenge which inhibited Paperwiff's growth during a very early stage.

How has been the journey so far? Any particular learning?
Building Paperwiff is the most rewarding journey so far. Despite all the challenges, Paperwiff was people's first writing choice, especially regarding engaging readers and writers in local languages. Paperwiff managed to garner more than 2 lakh readers and writers within a year with much offline engagement, which has been increasing exponentially.

One of the most significant learnings from Paperwiff is that content monetization was one of the biggest problems amongst the writers, which could be resolved through proper measures as Paperwiff has engaged writers in many projects, thus helping them encash their effort.

What inspired you to become an author?
I always wanted to be a full-time writer, but destiny had something else for me. Being a technocrat, my author journey was topsy-turvy. I am an accidental author who always wanted to write and share her observations with the world through the most engaging stories. I love to narrate the story in any form possible, but nothing can beat writing, for it gives you enough opportunity to describe elements in detail. My characters are primarily real-life inspirations, and my story always has a moral associated with it.

How is Paperwiff encouraging the growth of the vernacular literature of India?
Paperwiff encourages young India to write and read in local languages and empowers India with wider internet penetration. The more the use of local languages, the more the existing firms will work on creating language-friendly e-commerce websites or education hubs. Language is our country's essence, and in English and Hindi, we are missing out on quintessential things.

Through its offline campaigns and programs, Paperwiff invites talents from all languages and regions to showcase what they got, encouraging them to spread the magic of their words. Paperwiff truly lifts by words.

Tell us something about the first vernacular quote-writing app. Please elaborate on its features.
The Paperwiff Quote writing app is an innovation that will bring in features like a plagiarism detector to help prevent the content from being copied and protect the author's rights. This quote-writing app will be fast and will provide the user plethora of options to customize their emotions using the images of their choice.

Tell us about your educational and professional background.
I am a Gold medalist in VLSI and completed my B.Tech+M.Tech from a reputed Govt. hospital. I have developed software for MNCs and managed many companies' technical projects. I enjoy working with technology, and literature is my passion gives me a good reason to build Paperwiff better every day.

What are your future goals?
My goal is to level up Paperwiff to the extent that it turns out to be the central repository of all the legacy literature people search for in libraries. The aim is to raise the literature bar in India and help literature enthusiasts find their poison with poise. Paperwiff is all about monetizing content and staying content with it.