Surprise could be the best way to win a heart. And a few entrepreneurs in the city have struck upon the idea to innovatively turn it into a lucrative business!

“It all started from childhood – Giving little surprises to friends and family. It continued through college. I was studying in Tamil Nadu College of Engineering, and my partner P. Shakthivel was doing his diploma in the Coimbatore Institute of Technology. It was through my friend I came to know Shakthivel, who also took keen interest in surprising his friends and relatives,” says S. Radhakrishnan, the founder of www.the6.in, the surprise company.

“The spark of turning this interest into a business came up when I gave my brother a surprise for his marriage. Delivering a surprise at the right moment is our aim. So we started to think how to commercialize it, because this is what we are good at. We decided to follow our hearts, and we began our company on November 24, 2009.”

“Before starting this, we did a research on what is there already and what can be added to celebrations and surprise factors,” he adds.

“We have an idea pool; we get inputs from clients as well. We also take feedback seriously. Everybody who wants to surprise someone is creative. We assist them with a proper plan, execution and most importantly, the timing. Timing is a very critical factor,” the founder says.

Sample this Smart wish: Starting from 12 am, the person to be surprised (mostly on their birthday) receives an hourly prepaid recharge, all day. After 24 recharges, the person who arranged the surprise sends a text to his beloved revealing his identity. And then he conveys that the point is to remember her every hour all through the day.

“People love it when they’re remembered on their special days. So far we’ve completed 1,000 smiles. Every surprise event is counted as a smile.”

When asked about the name 6, he explains: “The name 6(SIX) stands for Surprise, Impress and eXpress. Surprise is the concept of our service. The value addition we and the client get is the Impression we make and finally eXpress is the speed and timing with which we execute them. We thought the name should signify who we are and what we do. Thus, the name 6. ”

“We have packages according to the client needs. People who approach us for the first time have come back to us most of the time. The next time, they give us a lot more time. Right now we operate in Chennai, Coimbatore and Bengaluru. We’ve plans of expansion and we’re looking for investors,” he concludes