Perfora, the modern oral-care brand co-founded by Jatan Bawa and Tushar Khurana, closed “nearly ₹50 crore” in revenue last year. Yet Bawa says his personal bank balance sits below ₹2 lakh, a stark snapshot of the founder’s paradox: glossy growth curves on the outside, survival mode on the inside. The company is now doubling down on product rigor, unveiling a purple-hued whitening line that leans on color science rather than peroxide and learning to live with the trade-offs of patience.

The Founder Reality Check

In public, Bawa is the face of an oft-described fast-growing brand that has raised funding and earned magazine covers. In private, as he frames it, the money doesn’t flow the way people assume. Four years into the grind, he describes living lean while reinvesting aggressively.

The playbook will sound familiar to many entrepreneurs. As one founder’s account shared alongside Perfora’s story puts it: months went by without a salary; every rupee went to team, tools, and scale; only after hitting multiple-crore ARR did a modest personal income become feasible. The lessons are unglamorous but real:

• Revenue growth ≠ personal wealth
• Looking successful ≠ being financially secure
• Building a company ≠ building personal savings

The sacrifices add up, no vacations, constant financial stress, thin family time, with no guaranteed payoff. And still, founders keep building, because creating useful products and jobs is its own reward. It’s a bracing counter-narrative to the “funded equals flush” myth.

The Strategic Slowdown: “100% Exceptional” or Nothing

Inside Perfora, the most consequential change of the past year has been cultural. Bawa says the team moved from a “launch at 90%” mindset to a rule that “no new product leaves our lab unless it’s 100% exceptional.” The shift stretched timelines, starved social media of splashy unveilings, and cost short-term revenue. Behind the curtain, though, Perfora’s product team dug deeper labs-first: more research, more iteration, more clinical backing.

After more than ten months of R&D, the company rolled out Purple Magic Whitening Toothpaste a statement piece for the new approach. The formulation highlights:

• ImerCare® KaoBright & Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate for stain-fighting
• PVP & Sodium Fluoride for whitening support and enamel protection
• A Grape Mint flavor profile
• Free from ingredients Perfora flags as questionable (including SLS, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Saccharin)

It’s positioned not as just “another” whitening paste, but as a targeted answer to yellowing, arriving with a clearer ingredients story and a promise of a better morning routine. Distribution spans the company’s site and quick-commerce/marketplace channels (Blinkit, Amazon, Swiggy Instamart).

The Color Theory Gambit: Purple vs. Yellow

Perfora’s purple play didn’t start with the toothpaste. In August 2023, the brand introduced Purple Magic Whitening Serum, built on a simple visual principle: purple neutralizes yellow. The idea borrows from haircare (purple shampoos tone brassiness) and brings it to teeth-whitening.

The backdrop matters. As Bawa notes, OTC oral-care products in India aren’t permitted to use hydrogen peroxide in formulations, and peroxide can have side effects. Perfora’s serum sidesteps that path, aiming for an instant brightening effect by balancing color tones rather than bleaching.

Over the past year, the company says the serum earned early validation and repeat use, enough to justify reformulation and In Vivo clinical trials to back efficacy. Skepticism remains, new ideas attract it and Perfora acknowledges results vary with starting shade and consistency of use. Bawa points to his own daily routine (even with heavy coffee intake) as personal proof. The claim is framed as his experience, not a universal guarantee, an important distinction the brand keeps in its messaging.

Building Habits Early: The Junior Push

A recent launch Perfora Junior, extends the brand’s “clean & effective” promise to kids. About 20 days in, early feedback highlighted by the company calls out taste, efficacy, and packaging for the new toothpaste and electric toothbrush. The line carries the familiar guardrails (no harmful ingredients) and leans into a simple thesis: kids will brush better and longer, if the product is fun to use. For a founder who remembers childhood cavities, that’s a mission with personal stakes.

What This Says About Building in India

Strip away the purple and you see a broader founder story. Growth at the company level can coexist with austerity at the personal level. Headlines about revenue and rounds often outpace the quiet calculus of runway, payroll, and inventory cycles. And when a team chooses scientific rigor over shipping velocity, it must stomach quieter months and deferred spikes, even if the balance sheet can handle it.

Perfora’s bet is that patient product building compounds. That a stronger ingredient story and repeatable results will pay back louder than a flashy calendar of launches. And that trust, once earned, is the real accelerant in consumer health.

Perfora’s story is both specific and universal: a young brand choosing rigor over rush, a founder living the bootstrap ethic despite revenue headlines, and a market ready to try something new, if it works. Knowing this reality, would you still want to be a founder?

Jatan Bawa Debugged The Claim

Perfora co-founder Jatan Shah clarified that recent viral interpretations of his Instagram post were misleading. He stressed the company is well-capitalised, on a strong growth path, and backed by supportive investors. Personally, he lives comfortably though hasn’t yet created “big money.” Shah reaffirmed his focus on building an enduring consumer brand, not quick wins or online noise.

He Wrote on Linkedin: Over the past few days, I’ve received hundreds of messages from friends, acquaintances, fellow founders, and so many others reacting to the incorrect narrative that’s been circulating in the media about me and our brand, Perfora

To be really honest, I was shocked to see how a simple Instagram post (link in comments) was misinterpreted. I have seen the Inshorts story being used by multiple people and across platforms.

My intent was only to highlight one truth: being a founder doesn’t automatically mean you’re wealthy or have “made it.”

Building a company is a long journey, and personal wealth creation usually comes much later.

Unfortunately, some spun this into very different stories – that I’m not drawing a salary, or that the company is running out of cash, or even that investors (in general) don’t let founders take care of themselves. None of this is true.

Here’s the real picture:

1. Our company is well-capitalized and on a strong growth path.

2. I am extremely grateful to our team members and our customers who continue to believe in us and push us forward every day.

3. We are also fortunate to have been backed by some of the best consumer brand investors in the country. They have supported us from very early on, and they’ve always ensured that as founders, we are in a comfortable place, both mentally and financially, so we can focus on building for the long term.

Personally, I live a comfortable life and have all that I need. All is well with me.

But yes, I haven’t yet made “big money” or created personal wealth, and that’s perfectly normal. Apna time aayega 🙂

We are still early in our journey, and it’s only been 4 years since I started Perfora, and we have a long, long way to goooooo.

For me, it has never been about quick wins. It’s about building something meaningful, something enduring – a brand that truly makes a difference in people’s lives, and trust me, we are building something exceptional.

The journey of creating a business is quite tough, and such incorrect & inappropriate narratives make our lives even tougher. My only focus has been and is on building the business. Honestly, I hate such distractions – unnecessary noise.

A big thank you to everyone who checked on me. Means a lot!

Also Read: Can a Simple Patch Change India’s Health Habits? Indore Startup BIGME Says Yes!