Aman Mohunta remembers the exact moment on Marine Drive, Mumbai, when he and his wife Prachi Bhandari first realised that Aminu would become a venture worth investing their lives in.
At that time, most skincare on the market was either trend-led or marketing-led. Prachi, however, wanted to do something product-first - an idea way ahead of its time.
The beginnings of the brand, which is now known for its innovative and science-backed products, were not glamorous. 'We set up a tiny lab in the back of a facility in Kandivali and started working on our own formulations,' Aman recalls. 'No off-the-shelf bases, no shortcuts; we sourced ingredients ourselves, built a lab team, and figured out processes. It was slow and honestly quite messy.'
When COVID-19 hit, things became even more challenging for Prachi and Aman - sourcing became harder and access to the lab grew more difficult. But, instead of slowing them down, that phase set the tone and solidified their vision that Aminu would always be product-first, even if that meant doing the hard work upfront.
And that work never really leaves for Aman and Prachi. It comes home, it comes on holidays, it stays for dinner. Working together means the line between their professional and personal lives inevitably blurs. 'Disagreements do spill over,' Aman admits. 'Sometimes they get heated. Sometimes they resolve in five minutes. There is no perfect system. We talk, argue, cool off, and come back.'
Along the journey to building Aminu, Aman reveals that one of the biggest surprises that came the couple's way was how they grew to understand each other better as people. 'When you build something from scratch, especially in the early days, you see each other under pressure,' he avers. 'You see each other at your best and worst. And that builds a different kind of respect.'
Aman's advice for couples who want to build something together is simple but practical: don't second-guess each other's decisions at every step. Not every call will turn out perfectly, and that's okay. What matters is being directionally aligned most of the time and committing, as partners, to making things work so the business can keep moving forward.
Equally important, he says, is trusting each other's areas of expertise and keeping communication open. 'Sometimes they get heated. Sometimes they resolve in five minutes. There is no perfect system. We talk, argue, cool off, and come back.'