Mumbai, May 6 -- Ganesh Sonawane wanted to make products to help people get mobile, and so he set up Frido, a company focused on ergonomic comfort. "We started with a niche of a niche-a self-propelled wheelchair-where the pain point was very large," recalls Sonawane. "This was an innovative commode and shower wheelchair and the goal was to serve 1,000 people."

Sonawane launched the wheelchair in 2015 with a website and a blog post explaining the product and the ideal customer: elderly or disabled folks who do not want to rely on a caretaker 24x7. "We were hoping to serve 1,000 customers but we ended up with more than 10,000."

A sharp, targeted pitch in a blog post gave Frido early success. Now, three years later, he continues to market ...