1 Lakh job that no one thought was true
Ready to be a sleep intern? | #DreamJob | Wakefit Sleep Internship
On November 16th, 2019, Wakefit posted an advertisement on LinkedIn stating: Job Opening- Sleep Intern. 9 hours sleep for 100 days. Salary- 1 Lakh.
The internet’s response: “It cannot be real”
It was. In 2 weeks, they had 1.7 Lakh applications from 30 different countries. Forward messages were viral among family WhatsApp groups. Memes about sleep internships were trending on Twitter. Radio stations approached the company and asked whether this could be true. International news outlets including Forbes and BuzzFeed reported about it.
While so many have failed to make it in the Indian ad space, this startup succeeded in sparking a nationwide conversation about the dullest category imaginable: mattresses. In 2024, the very same startup clocked a revenue of over 1,017 crores, bounced back to a profitable position with 65 crore EBITDA, and got ready for an IPO at a 6,408-crore valuation.
Here’s how two serial failures-built India’s hottest D2C brand on sleep using humor, data and extreme obsession with customers.
An Apartment That Changed the Game:
Chaitanya Ramalingegowda was, with cofounder Ankit Garg, in dire straits by 2015. Ramalingegowda had already suffered two entrepreneurial failures-a matrimonial site and a content-to-commerce app both tanked within three years. Garg, a chemical engineer by profession and a foam-maker by experience, was utterly frustrated by India’s mattress sector-opaque pricing, high-pressure salesmen and no product innovation.
It was during a coffee over, that they identified the problem. Sleep is one of India’s largest markets (projected to be 14,000crore by 2021) but it’s an unorganized one-local retailers’ rule, product innovation and quality is almost non-existent.
With a capital of 2-3 lakh each they kick started Wakefit in March 2016 in their third-floor apartment in Bangalore. Their vision, ‘Democratize sleep’ by selling mattresses worth 70,000-2 lakh at 5,000 with similar quality using memory foam and new age material sciences.
The American playbook Ramalingegowda noticed that in the USA, no-questions-asked returns was the standard, something which no Indian brands were practicing. Wakefit decided to enter the Indian market with 100-night free trial and a 10-year warranty – unprecedented numbers for mattresses in India.
This gamble paid off. By 2016, they achieved a turnover of ₹6 Cr. The following year: ₹27 Cr. FY19: ₹81 Cr. FY22: ₹636 Cr. FY23: ₹825 Cr. FY24: ₹1,017 Cr.
The campaign that changed India’s attitude towards sleep:
Wakefit appointed Spring Marketing Capital in January 2019 with the mission of making the brand a sleep solutions company and not just a mattress seller. The issue? The year 2019 marked the highest peak of hustle culture. Sleeping less was a symbol of status. ‘I’ll sleep when I die’ was the corporate mantra.
Sandeep Balan, head of branded content at Spring, had an unconventional proposal: offer interns a paid opportunity to sleep. “We’d put 2 interns, track what happens to them over a span of 100+ days when they are asked to sleep for 9 hours and convert that into content to make sleep cool again,” he recalls.
A Launch Nobody Saw Coming.
On November 25, Wakefit went live. The premise was ridiculous: 7 nights a week. 9 hours a night. For 100 nights straight. Win 1 Lakh.
The first 24 hours: radio silence. The team panicked. Perhaps the idea was too outrageous. Perhaps no one would sign up.
Then the floodgates opened.
Over the next 3-4 weeks:
1.7 Lakh applications from 30 different countries.
Mentioned in more than a dozen countries.
Interviewed by more than 10 different radio stations.
Family WhatsApp groups went ballistic with shares.
Memes spread like wildfire across the internet.
The one thing money couldn’t buy was organic branded searches, which this campaign generated. ‘Why should we choose you Wakefit’ and ‘Wakefit 10 lakh job’ took over Google trending.
The numbers are real
When registrations for next seasons opened the following was seen:
Increase in direct traffic to the website- 100-150%
Increase in google searches of Wakefit – 150%
Top-of-mind awareness- 40% year-over-year growth
Increase in Application numbers
Season 1 (2019) – 1.7 Lakh applications
Season 2 (2020) – 5.5 Lakh applications
Season 3 (2022) – 10+ Lakh applications
Season 1 – 1 Lakh
Season 3 – 9 Lakh
Unlike its competitors, Wakefit’s only guiding principle was data-to listen to the customer, study their behavior, build products on the basis of their need.
The 35-40% Rule
An interesting statistic emerged from internal data-that on an average, 35-40% of all mattress customers returned within 6 months to purchase bedframes. That single statistic was the source of Wakefit’s entire product expansion strategy.
In 2020, Wakefit entered the furniture space. They set up a 3,500 sq ft manufacturing unit, on-boarded a Jodhpur-based woodworking family, and spent a year testing. By March 2022, they invested 100+ crore in a Hosur factory. The pandemic catapulted demand, Work-from-home furniture was snapped up. FY24 forecast:
Furniture revenue- 350 crore
Growth rate- 50-60% Y-o-Y
Forecast for six years- 40-45% of revenue
CreatingBuzz around Mattress Making- Humor Meets Culture:
Wakefit grasped a common, yet ignored fact by almost all the brands-nobody likes talking about mattresses! So, they made the conversation about everything else: lack of sleep, work culture, wellness and humor.
Kumbhkaran- The Sleepy Mascot
The masterstroke that Wakefit took was hiring Kumbhkaran (the mythical sleeping demon from Ramayana) as their Chief Sleep Officer. The mythological character was launched on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & YouTube… and he immediately fell asleep mid-session snoring loudly.
Results:
3.52 cr reach
6.5 million views on YouTube
#Gaddagiri Satire Series (2024):
When YesMadam falsely claimed they’d fired all their employees and the Zomato CEO was asked to pay 20 lakh to get an interview, Wakefit saw its opportunity. They made the #Gaddagiri campaign which parodied both incidents:
Film 1: CEO is tired and asks for payment for offering someone the job
Film 2: An exhausted HR ‘accidentally’ fires employees (making fun of the fake dismissal drama at YesMadam)
Film 3: Featured Poonam Pandey-the actress infamous for falsely claiming her own death-talking about why a lack of sleep results in silly decisions.
Film 4: Poking fun at Narayana Murthy and his recommendation of a 70-hour workweek and about the fact that work is effective only when sleep is achieved properly.
Tagline: Lafda tab hota hai jab tum barabar nahi sota
Two entrepreneurs, with 5 lakh capital, built India’s biggest talked-about D2C brand from a 3rd floor apartment in 2016. They didn’t just create mattresses. They reinvented sleep.
They built massive brand recall, with a spend of a few lakh (and offering 1 lakh to people to sleep), while competitors spent crores on ads. They grew into a total home solutions provider by being obsessed with customer data. They made a boring category hip, by making use of humor and cultural moments.
The real win, however, isn’t that Wakefit’s IPO is expected to be at a valuation of 6,408 cr; it is that they managed to make a nation aware of sleep. And considering the fact that it’s the 2nd most sleep-deprived nation on the planet, it might actually be Wakefit’s largest contribution.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
1. Making Boring Products Interesting
Before mattresses were a commodity. Wakefit made sleeping (and its absence) into a cultural conversation. They sold the better rest – not the product.
2. Data Drives All
Their 35-40% repeat purchase information fueled all their furniture launches and informed every product design decision.
3. Organic Over Paid (When It’s Clever)
Sleep Internship brought 1.7 lakh applications,150% traffic growth, and international recognition-with absolutely zero paid ad spend. The key is creativity, not the budget, for a viral campaign.
4. Customer Obsession is Competitive Edge
They made a 100-night trial and 10-year warranty, which was unheard of in India’s mattress market. It inspired trust in the industry where competitors depended on high-pressure sales.
5. Humor and Cultural Relevance = Memorable
Kumbhkaran, their #Gaddagiri satire, their Sleep Internship campaign-Wakefit knew meme culture when the word “meme” wasn’t part of the D2C vocabulary.
6. Evolutions Over Status Quo
They began with mattresses, then entered furniture based on customer need derived from data, and then went omni-channel when they realized their online-only limitation. They continuously changed to adapt.
7. Sleep Internship became a Property
With three seasons, the applications for the Sleep Internship increased from 1.7 lakh to over 10 lakh. It became an annual, customer anticipated event, essentially a branded property rather than a single gimmick.
8. Timing was Right
They launched their Sleep Internship in 2019 just as the rush to achieve things accelerated and their focus on well-being proved timely, with the pandemic turning it into a necessity in 2020.
9. Democratization created the Market
By making products costing 70,000 – 2 lakh affordable for 5,000, they expanded the market size. Accessibility and volume come with making things more affordable.
10. Profitability proved the Model
They were able to reach a profitability of 65 crores EBITDA in FY24 after incurring a loss during their growth period, which gives confidence for an IPO.
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