How Niraj Shah’s Sudden Stroke Led to a Meditation Business

Sometimes, knowing less is the key to success. That’s right, you read that right. And Niraj Shah, co-founder of Mind: Unlocked is the living proof. What’s the best way to launch a new product? Why are relationships and email lists so central to starting a brand? Listen to this episode to learn more about the fascinating story of Mind: Unlocked, from idea to conception to success. In this episode of the Social PR Secrets Podcast, host Lisa Buyer talks with Niraj Shah, co-founder of Mind: Unlocked, an online meditation and mental performance movement. The platform is science-led and focuses on a practical approach to help busy people feel less stressed, sleep better, and get more done. Niraj’s story is remarkable. The survivor of a stroke at only thirty, he turned his life around to focus on his health and wellbeing. When he started meditating, he knew he had found the key to recovery and decided to share it with the world. From idea to conception Mind: Unlocked started as a side project. Meditation was a big part of Niraj’s life and he started looking into the science of why it works. What he found was so interesting that he decided to try offering practical, science-led meditation sessions to busy professionals in London. From the first class’ first attendees, his project grew into seventy popular sessions. That’s when Niraj realized there was an unmet demand for science-led meditation and he decided to take what worked in person and make it available for a global audience, online.  While he had never built an online product before, Niraj followed his instincts, and it paid off. Instead of building the platform before seeing if it would be popular, he put together a list of seventy members of his audience and surveyed them. He asked what they would be looking for in a meditation platform, and really understood what his product had to focus on. Then, he offered them a 60% discount on Mind: Unlocked, telling them it would be ready months later. As he was building the site, he made sure to keep updating them and keeping up the noise around his project. As the product developed and got better, Niraj and his team gradually increased the price of the service. Getting big PR with a little strategy When it comes to PR, Niraj also followed his instincts. And again, it paid off; Mind: Unlocked was recently featured in Cosmopolitan. Unfortunately, Niraj has not been able to invest in PR yet, because of financial restrictions. But his personal relationships made through networking landed him visibility in the media. He also says that knowing nothing about marketing and PR helped him because he was able to try out things.  Niraj explains that his initial PR outreach was focused on bringing value to the people he contacted, not the other way around. He offered them to try out Mind: Unlocked to ease their stress. And if they liked it, they would share it with their own network, eventually leading to PR opps.  When it comes to marketing, Niraj also focuses on the value he can bring to others. He offers free content through podcasts and makes sure people who cannot afford the platform can still get something out of his work. If you want to find out what Mind: Unlocked is all about, head over to their website and try it out for yourself!  “I don’t want to be