From the Co-founders: As 30Stades turns one, our heartfelt thanks to all our readers

The last 12 months made up the shortest one year of our lives. Time flew, literally. Conceptualising, launching and nurturing 30 Stades has been a learning journey every single day for us.

When we set out, the idea was to report impactful stories from across India. Little did we know that, alongside, we would end up creating an impact in our own small way.

In the last one year, we put out 250 pieces (mostly timeless readings), thanks to the unrelenting support from our writers across India. Despite the Coronavirus pandemic and some other rough patches, we stood together as a team and built a global readership of 1.2 lakh.

Our coverage from 23 states put the spotlight on the good work of some social enterprises and NGOs, which helped them receive funding. In the words of an NGO associate: “30 Stades brought back the focus on education at a time when NGOs were seen only as food distributors due to COVID-19.”

For some others, our stories were instrumental in creating new business partnerships (including overseas). A languishing craft received the much-needed government attention, and a young farmer is now an online consultant to farmers in the US and the UAE.

30 Stades connected people who had migrated to India in 1947 to their former neighbours on the other side as well as others of their own community within India.

Some farmers got directly connected with buyers, eliminating the middlemen. There are more such stories.

A year-old start-up can’t ask for more.

Overall, it has been a year of satisfaction, surprises, impact and learning. The more we learn, the less we know. We will continue this learning as we enter the second year with 30 Stades. Big thanks to all those who helped us reach here. And also to those who read us, encourage us and believe in us.

Warmly,

Rashmi & Urvashi