The sister act: NotSoArranged founders had to change their business model in the pandemic

Starting a business is filled with challenges as it is, throw in a pandemic and lockdown, and you’ve got more than you’ve bargained for. “There were so many challenges that we faced when we started,” says Priyanka Ghura Kuka. “Firstly our entire business model is about taking dating offline and meeting in person, and now we have had to tweak that based on people's comfort level,” she adds.

In addition to this, they started working on the concept in February last year and had not hired a team yet. “We had started meeting but hadn’t finalised anything until right in the middle of the pandemic. Believe it or not, we still haven’t met some of our core team people in person,” shares Tanisha Ghura Kanani. Other than these two challenges, getting the business documentation and banking details done took longer due to the pandemic, they share.

Team work
Their site is all about compatibility and luckily for these sisters, that’s in abundance. Kanani shares, “Working with my sister has been incredible. If I have a thought and express it to her, 99% of the time, she’s thinking the same thing. Also of course in terms of skill sets, we bring different things to the table. But it’s not always rosy, there are those sister arguments which happen. But what’s great is that there are no filters, I can literally tell her what I’m thinking without having to worry about how she’ll take it because we’re sisters.”


Kuka adds, “I really wonder why we didn’t do it sooner. Since working together, dinner conversations also involve a lot of chat about what we’re doing, so it feels like our spouses and parents are also more involved, which makes it great for bouncing off ideas and getting a larger perspective on things.”

While the sisters have always been close, their working relationship has brought them even closer. “Even if we have silly arguments and bicker at each other at times - we literally get over it and move on to the next item of business immediately,” shares Kuka.

Recognising compatibility in a partner may not be as simple and that’s where their service comes in. “We get into a relationship with the idea that it will help us thrive as individuals. When a relationship leads to personal growth, we can safely assume that compatibility is alive and kicking. But when you feel that the relationship seems to survive rather than thrive, it is time to take a good hard look at how compatible you are,” they say.

Compatibility issues tend to creep in when two people cannot see eye to eye about how they look at life and relationships in general. They may also have vastly different goals or may differ in their communication styles or ways of emotional expression. If compatibility is present, most differences can be resolved.