How Three Students Built a Global Handmade Portrait Marketplace

Who built it, and what they built

Sunny Choudhary is a 24-year-old co-founder of PortraitFlip. He studied mechanical engineering at VIT Chennai before starting the business with two college friends.

PortraitFlip is an e-commerce marketplace that bridges artists and customers who want handmade portraits. The company delivers globally, with a major clientele base in the USA, and offers portraits in mediums including charcoal, oil, acrylic, pencil, color pencil, and watercolor.

The business started as a college side hustle with an initial investment of Rs.23,000. The founders report it has since grown into a startup yielding 3.5crs.

The company differentiates itself with a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, free worldwide shipping, unlimited revisions, and a money-back guarantee.

Where the idea came from

The idea began in a VIT hostel in 2017 when co-founder Lavdeep Chahal searched online for a service that could deliver handmade portraits as a gift for his girlfriend. He found existing options either charged too much for delivery to India or seemed overpriced.

After settling for a chocolate bouquet instead, Chahal realized few companies offered this service. He recruited Sunny Choudhary and Shubhanshu Maheshwari, a friend from electrical engineering, to build a platform connecting artists with customers.

The three founders divided the workload: Choudhary handled online marketing, Chahal collaborated with artists and delivery partners, and Maheshwari developed the website. They started with Rs.20,000 pooled from their pocket money.