Hey, I'm Pulkit Viradiya

In 2018, I walked into a store in Delhi after seeing a long queue outside. I didn't plan to buy anything. I walked out spending ₹2,500 on products I didn't even know I needed.

The question led me deep into consumer behaviour, impulse buying, and how retail experiences are designed. I partnered to bring a fast-fashion lifestyle format to Gujarat, opened stores in Vadodara and Surat, and learned what actually drives customers inside a retail space.

Then COVID hit. Imports shut down. What could have been a setback became an opening, instead of waiting for supply chains to recover, we decided to build our own brand. That's how Candy Floss was born: a 0→1 build across brand identity, product development, vendor networks, store experience, and everything in between. We scaled to 11 stores, built a 200+ vendor ecosystem, expanded into Phoenix and Palladium malls, and grew gross margins from 35% to 70% through private label and supply-chain control.

Alongside the retail work, I co-founded Pujan Energy in 2019, a 0.45 MW solar venture supplying clean power under Open Access to ceramic and paper mill clients in Morbi. Different industry, same operating discipline: end-to-end execution, regulatory navigation, and the slow work of building something that runs at ~99% uptime year after year.

Through all of it, one belief has stayed constant: businesses don't grow just by selling products. They grow by understanding people. Most of my work is translating that understanding into execution, store layouts, product mix, pricing, customer experience, or in solar's case, the right plant configuration for industrial loads.

Lately I've been experimenting with AI to simplify workflows and create leverage in day-to-day operations. What I lack in technical skills, I make up for with curiosity and a strong willingness to learn. Outside work: pour-over coffee every morning, podcasts, and a long-running habit of breaking down brands to understand what makes them tick.