BYDefault

How Ritika Mehta Turned Startup Failures into a $10K/Month Agency

February 28th, 2025

Founded By

Ritika Mehta

Monthly Revenue

$10K

Founders

Profitable

Yes

Year Started

2020

Founded By
Ritika Mehta: Monthly Revenue
$10K

Founders
1: Profitable
Yes

Year Started
2020

Who is Ritika Mehta?

Ritika Mehta, the founder of By Default, hails from a background of early entrepreneurial ventures, having started her career in marketing at 17. A non-tech founder from India, she has built a successful marketing agency, previously sold a marketing venture, and is now focused on creating an AI-driven startup, all while sharing her journey through writing and community building.

What problem does BYDefault solve?

BYDefault helps companies pinpoint their most valuable customers and craft tailored marketing strategies, turning confusion into clarity so businesses can thrive without guesswork.

How did Ritika come up with the idea for BYDefault?

Ritika Mehta's idea for BYDefault emerged from her previous experiences and failures with her first startup. Initially, she created a product by assuming features were missing in the market, but failed to clearly identify customer pain points. This trial and error taught her the critical importance of validating ideas through hands-on experience and direct customer feedback.

Observing her clients' needs while working with them at her agency, Ritika realized that many businesses needed help in identifying their core customers and crafting effective marketing strategies. This insight guided her to develop BYDefault, a business model that emphasizes customer-centric marketing solutions.

By continually refining the idea based on direct engagement with startups and consumer brands, she ensured her service addressed genuine market demands without relying on assumptions. This approach helped her define a sustainable business model that delivers real value to her clients, turning past failures into a solid foundation for future innovations.

How did Ritika Mehta build the initial version of BYDefault?

Ritika Mehta built ByDefault by focusing on rapid iteration and rigorous feature validation while being deeply attuned to customer needs. Unlike her previous ventures, she approached the development process with a lean mindset, aiming to avoid the pitfalls of overbuilding by crafting a minimal viable product (MVP) and then refining it based on user feedback. Her experience as a non-tech founder meant she faced significant challenges, demanding an agile strategy and learning from each development cycle—this included course correction from her initial mistake of hiring the wrong tech team without understanding their needs.

Initially, Ritika relied on client insights from her marketing agency to shape the AI-driven tool, coupling this real-world feedback with an experimental pricing model that offered early adopters a flexible "pay what you think is fair" scheme. This approach enabled her to collect valuable data on pricing expectations and solidify a more structured pricing tier of $39 per month once foundational hypotheses about user demand were tested. Tools like prototyping software and customer experience platforms were key in her toolkit, allowing continuous testing and feature refinement, ensuring that each iteration met the evolving expectations of her customer base.

What was the growth strategy for BYDefault and how did they scale?

Quiz & Interactive Engagement

Ritika utilized a well-crafted quiz as a robust strategy to identify and engage with potential customers. This quiz helped brands assess their understanding of their customers, simultaneously generating leads for By Default's service side. By reaching out to existing clients and her email list, Ritika gathered feedback and attracted over 100 users, surpassing her initial target of 20. Through this targeted approach, she engaged niche-based communities, which played a pivotal role in driving the user base growth and fostering a stronger brand connection.

Why it worked: This strategy offered immediate value to potential clients, creating a compelling reason for engagement. The quiz acted as both an educational tool and a market research instrument, drawing potential clients into By Default's ecosystem and offering clear next steps for those looking to improve customer connection.

LinkedIn Networking and Engagement

Ritika employed LinkedIn to establish credibility and foster relationships. Initially posting several pieces weekly without much return, she refined her strategy to prioritize commenting on others' posts and building connections. This shift significantly enriched her professional network and occasionally resulted in solutions to challenges she faced.

Why it worked: Engaging credibly with others instead of broadcasting content built genuine relationships and expanded her reach. Acting as a participant rather than just a content creator built trust and community, laying groundwork for future collaborations and customer acquisition efforts.

The newsletter Ritika developed became a crucial tool for connecting with customers and creating a community. By maintaining a clean subscriber list, she ensured high engagement rates, boasting an above 45% open rate and an 8% click rate. The newsletter not only generated a modest revenue of $150 MRR but also served as a direct line to clients, reinforcing By Default's brand presence and fostering regular interaction.

Why it worked: With an audience increasingly distanced by algorithm-based visibility on other social platforms, a newsletter offered direct and reliable communication. This medium allowed Ritika to maintain a personal connection with her audience, reinforcing loyalty and increasing the likelihood of customer retention.

Customer-Centric Product Development

In the development of their AI-powered product, By Default took a customer-first approach and validated the willingness to pay from the onset. Testing pricing with beta users and refining based on feedback ensured that the pricing strategy was aligned with customer expectations.

Why it worked: Aligning the product's development and pricing strategy closely with customer needs fostered a stronger product-market fit. By letting customer feedback guide the final product, Ritika reduced the risk of mismatched features or pricing, improving the odds of a successful broader market launch.

What's the pricing strategy for BYDefault?

BYDefault offers a service-focused pricing model, primarily providing tailored marketing strategy services with an additional AI-powered tool in private beta priced initially at $25 per month and later adjusted to $39 per month.

What were the biggest lessons learned from building BYDefault?

Validate Before Building: Ritika learned the hard way that assuming customer needs without validation leads to failure. Now, she focuses on validating ideas with real customer feedback to ensure they're solving actual problems.
Iterate Quickly: Instead of going all-in on a fully-featured product, Ritika now emphasizes starting small and iterating based on user feedback. This approach minimizes risk and maximizes learning.
Hone Your Pitch: Ritika realized the importance of clearly communicating product value and user demand to potential investors, shifting her focus from just the idea to proven customer interest.
Diversify Revenue Streams: By Default thrives by balancing service, marketplace, and product revenue, demonstrating the strength of diversified income sources for business stability.
Build Resilient Teams: Overcoming initial struggles with hiring, Ritika understood that having a basic knowledge of necessary skills helps in assembling a capable team that aligns with the company's goals.

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