Adgully has been turning the spotlight on the entrepreneurs who fought against all odds to bring their dreams to fruition in our special series – START-UP STARS. We at Adgully wholeheartedly support the ‘Vocal for Local’ movement and have been featuring numerous local/ homegrown businesses, brands, and Apps in the country launched in the last few years.
In this edition, Adgully speaks with Chandra Shekhar, Founder of CuteStory, a passionate educator and entrepreneur whose journey spans hospitality, education, and environmental initiatives. With a deep belief that everyday care moments can nurture emotional bonds, Shekhar has built CuteStory around the idea of turning baby care routines into experiences of love, joy, and connection. His vision is to make CuteStory one of India’s most trusted baby care brands within the next five years — one rooted in purity, transparency, and sustainability. In this conversation, Shekhar shares the inspiration behind CuteStory, the lessons drawn from his diverse professional background, and how the brand aims to close the trust gap in India’s baby care market by putting parents and the planet at the heart of everything it does.
What inspired you to start CuteStory, and how did the idea evolve from concept to brand?
CuteStory began with a personal desire to provide infants with the best quality of care, which is safe in an all-natural way. We soon learned as new parents that the baby care space can be complicated and confusing with so many options, ingredients and incomplete labeling. So, we set out to do something pure, safe, gentle and trustworthy. It began with small searches for safe natural baby care alternatives that we felt more comfortable with for our baby, and grew into a brand based on love, compassion and responsibility. Every product we create contains the same love and care we would have for our own baby! Whether choosing ingredients with no toxins, at safe concentrations or being sustainable with packaging materials, every thought and action has been guided by the belief that baby care should be honest, gentle and warm. CuteStory is more than that, it is our promise to provide care for little ones in our product offerings, while caring about the world they grow up in too.
The name CuteStory has a warm, emotional ring to it. What’s the story behind the name?
The name “CuteStory” reflects the emotion behind every child’s journey, a story filled with love, laughter and small milestones that makes parenting magical. We wanted a name that captured the essence of those tender moments, first smile, first crawl, giggles, and even messy meal time! Every product we created are designed to be part of that growing story. The word "cute" is a symbol of childhood innocence and joy, while the "story" reflects memories that parents make every day with their children. Together, it becomes a brand that celebrates the beautiful bond between parents and the child. CuteStory is not just about baby care products; it is about cherishing small stories that make parenting special. Through this name, we aim to connect emotionally with families and remind them that there is a new chapter with their younger one every day.
Coming from diverse sectors like hospitality, education, and environmental work, how have those experiences influenced CuteStory’s philosophy?
Through our hospitality experience, we recognised the importance of care, attention to detail, and crafting experiences that delight. In an education setting, we experienced the power of knowledge and how vital it is to build awareness among parents about the reality of baby care products. Through environmental work, we came to understand the urgency of sustainability, no longer just a marketing word, but as a personal commitment. These experiences combined allowed us to build a brand on the foundation of care, transparency, and responsibility. At CuteStory, every product is born of hospitality's comfort, the clarity of education, and environmental sustainability's conscience. This amalgamation provides parents with a holistic experience, providing safe/soft products, while also providing education that helps parents to make informed choices for their babies. In short, our collective experience formed the foundation for CuteStory's current philosophy: Caring for babies, while caring for the planet they will inherit.
What gap did you identify in India’s baby care segment that motivated you to create CuteStory?
When we looked at the baby care market in India, we saw a void: either expensive international brands that few in India could trust because they would only have expensive products shipped into the country, or affordable products that made no effort to be transparent about their ingredients. Parents were left picking their poison, trying to navigate between safety, affordability, and sustainability. That's where CuteStory came in. We wanted to develop a brand that offered world-class value at a reasonable price point, using natural, toxin-free ingredients suitable for the needs of babies in India. Next, we noticed an even larger void related to emotional connection to the product; most brands are focused on the product and forget about the parent-child relationship. We see CuteStory as providing products that will resonate with parents on a more personal and considerate level; to make parents confident that these products are not only doing a good job but are also made with an intentional love and consideration. So, where it is very simple, we centered CuteStory baby care products to close the trust gap with a purity of ingredients consideration and to provide a favourable price point with an emotional regard.
In a market dominated by established multinational brands, what makes CuteStory stand out?
CuteStory is unique because we bring love, purity, and sustainability together in a way that few brands do. While the multinational corporations focus on mass production, we focus on mindfulness, and every product we make is with clean, plant-based ingredients and safe formulations that are science-backed. But the biggest thing to note is that we share with parents the transparency and emotional connection. We can openly explain to parents what goes into our products and WHY, because parents deserve to know what’s touching and spreading on their baby's skin. And we don't stop there. Our packaging for our products is also thoughtfully designed using earth-friendly materials that minimize waste, reflecting our care for the planet. It is about creating a community and not just customers, so parents feel supported and heard. CuteStory is not trying to compete with huge brands; we are creating a movement for conscious baby care. We stand for trust, gentleness, and sustainability, traits that pacify the new-age 'conscientious' parents who want the best and honor the Earth for their babies.
How do you plan to build parent trust as a relatively young brand?
At CuteStory infant skincare, the establishment of trust takes time, however it begins with a starting point of honesty. Our mission is simple, we are going to be honest, clear, consistent and genuinely caring. Each CuteStory product goes through rigorous safety testing, dermatological testing, and uses only natural, toxin-free ingredients. We do not want to just sell to parents; we are committed to educating you about baby skincare, ingredient safety, and sustainable parenting. We want to gather feedback, build and improve our formulations based on real parent needs.
CuteStory will earn trust by being present and having open and honest conversations with you on social media, by collaborating with pediatric experts, and by building community with parents like you. We do not give parents outrageous promises; we let our products and the words of parents speak for us. We also have plans to include certifications and ingredient transparency labels so parents can choose products with confidence. We want parents to feel that CuteStory is so much more than just a brand; we want parents to feel that we are a friend in the process of parenting who is always gentle, honest, and caring.
Sustainability is central to CuteStory’s identity. What specific eco-friendly innovations are part of your packaging and product design?
At CuteStory, sustainability is our top priority, deeply ingrained in our values. Our product packaging utilises recyclable, biodegradable or BPA-free materials to limit environmental impacts, specifically, our printed packaging is printed using non-toxic soy-based inks, which are safe for the environment. Our bottles and containers are crafted from well-crafted, reusable materials and designed specifically to enable customers to refill the containers, which results in less plastic waste.
To limit water use in the manufacturing process, all kit products are designed with minimal water use, and all natural ingredients are responsibly sourced. We are also exploring refill packs and sustainable shipping methods with the goal of reducing our overall carbon footprint.
In addition to the packaging, our brand stands for sustainable parenting practices, from choosing eco-safe products to minimising waste practices beyond what is necessary. At CuteStory, we believe taking care of babies is also taking care of the world they will grow up in. Every step we take, from formulation to delivery, is done with the promise to create a cleaner and greener world for the next generation.
What is your strategy for scaling CuteStory beyond Tier 1 cities, especially to reach families in Tier 2 and 3 towns?
Our intent for CuteStory is to ensure that parents, no matter where they live, have access to safe, quality baby care. Since we want to connect with families in Tier 2 and 3 towns, we are going to prioritise affordability and accessibility. We plan to collaborate with local pharmacies, or baby stores and/or regional distributors who know and understand the families they serve. Online will also play a role, through e-commerce, social media visibility, and regional-language content connecting with parents directly.
We will also engage healthcare professionals and parenting communities in smaller cities to create education and trust around clean baby care. Our packaging and product offering will remain affordable without sacrificing quality, so every parent feels comfortable choosing CuteStory.
What were the biggest challenges you faced during CuteStory’s early months of launch?
The initial months for CuteStory were exhilarating yet difficult. One of the hardest hurdles was building trust as a new brand among a sea of established players. Parents are naturally hesitant to purchase baby products. It took time to develop this trust. Additionally, sourcing pure and toxin-free goods and maintaining the best possible safety, affordability, and integrity was always a challenging task.
Creating sustainable packaging within India was another innovative challenge, and we needed partners we could trust and who shared our vision. Marketing was yet another challenge: we wanted to share our story, rather than sound like another brand, and somehow make it feel natural. There was a lot of logistics and communication in smaller towns to work through as well. Throughout all of these challenges, we learned something that was helping shape our brand, and depending on the day, we sometimes stumbled through. We knew that our mission was to create safe, honest, and sustainable care for babies, and we believed in it. Our early challenge helped build our brand. Throughout this experience, we developed into a brand built on trust, sustainability, care, and time-tested resilience.
If CuteStory were to become a household name, what kind of story would you want parents to associate with it?
If CuteStory is remembered as a household name, we’d like parents to see it as love, safety, and warmth. We want to be the brand that parents recognise, supporting them through every moment of their parenting journey, from their baby’s first bath to bedtime cuddles. We want to represent trust, trust that parents feel good about what they’re using for their little one. We want CuteStory to inspire a community of mindful parents interested in sustainability and conscious living.
The story we would like to tell is one of care – care of the baby, care of the planet, and care of the emotional bond between parents and children. We want families to say, “CuteStory has been part of our story too.” This would represent our biggest success. We aspire to be much more than a baby care brand, to be a trusted part of your journey, creating impactful moments that represent love, purity, and joy.
