Archit Mittal

Damn. Zepto is at it again, set to raise yet another huge funding round 💰 This time, they're pulling in $310M at a boosted valuation of $5B. And get this - it's happening barely a month after their $665M Series F… So what’s driving this funding? ➝ Expansion and Competition: Zepto's gearing up to take on the big players like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and newcomer Flipkart Minutes. This cash injection is their "ammunition" in the quick-commerce battleground. ➝ Aggressive Growth: Zepto's aiming to set up 700 dark stores by March 2025, up from the roughly 250 they have today./ ➝ Market Share Push: While they have an impressive Gross Order Value (GOV) of $1.5B, they are still chasing market leaders like Blinkit, which has a GOV of roughly $2.3B. ➝ Product Explosion: Zepto's product range is expanding quickly, jumping from 3,000 to 10,000 SKUs, so logically, they need money to support this expansion ➝ Supersized Stores: Bigger is better, right? Zepto's new dark stores are set to grow from 3,500 to 4,000 square feet. More space = more products = more $$$. That's all well and good, but what's really interesting to me is their funding frequency: they are raising capital every six months on average… The most obvious reason for this raise? IPO prep. CEO Aadit Palicha's playing the long game, viewing this as a "balance sheet building exercise" for their upcoming IPO. This funding round will also increase Zepto's valuation to $5 billion, a 40% jump from its last round just over a month ago, potentially positioning it better for a better IPO (or maybe another fundraise, depending on the markets). --- Thanks for reading! If you found this breakdown informative, there's more where that came from: ➝ Follow me here for regular updates and insights. ➝ Don't miss out on Up n' Running - your daily dose of Indian market breakdowns. Subscribe now to stay in the loop! https://lnkd.in/gfVRTF8W

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How can Zomato become a $100 bn company with $1 bn profits? I did a complete analysis of how Zomato can or can not become a $100 bn company as per the current scenario and future growth I also analysed its Food Delivery Business and Quick Commerce business which helped me calculate a goal for Zomato to achieve the target valuation by 2030 ------------------------- Do share your thoughts in the comments and are you buying holding or selling Zomato's share? #zomato #valuation

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2016: Jio was born! 2024: Jio to launch its super app! There’s been a huge rise in how much we use the internet and our smartphones, and that’s pushing a lot of brands to try and make a super app. They want one huge platform that can do everything – give users a smooth experience, be customizable, and encourage them to use more services. Here’s what I think Jio is going to nail with their super app: Nailing both Online and Offline Distribution 👇 Online: Jio’s already got the attention of lots of folks with more than 500 million people using the My Jio app. They plan to use their online reach to gently push these users to their new super app. This smart approach, which is cheap and effective, is similar to tactics used by other big names like Swiggy when they teamed up with HDFC for a credit card deal, avoiding the big bucks normally spent on getting new users. Offline: Jio’s not just online. They’ve got over 50 Reliance Retail brands, from luxury ones to ones we see all the time like Reliance Fresh. This means they can introduce the super app to all sorts of people, making sure a wide range of folks are some of the first to try it out. Making It Personal: Jio has loads of information on what their customers like and need. They’re in a great position to use this data to create a custom experience for each user, figuring out what people want and delivering it. Smart Lending and Insurance: Moving into money lending and insurance areas, Jio’s going to face some challenges, especially in figuring out who to give loans to and how much. But, they’ve got a trick up their sleeve: using a lot of data and analysis to make smart decisions quickly and manage risk a lot better than traditional methods. Getting Users with Great Offers: Jio’s tactics mean they don’t spend a lot on getting new users to their services. So, they can afford to give out great deals and cashback offers to make people want to switch to their platform faster, raising the number of users and staying ahead of the competition. In short, Jio’s planning to bring something huge to the market again. It’ll be interesting to see how this new app will change the game for digital services Picture Credit: Inc42

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🚀 Swiggy IPO is providing 30X type of return to many VCs. And media is going gaga over it. A 30X return in 9-10 years is 40-45% IRR which is very impressive. Now look at it another way ----If I set up a VC fund with an expectation of 25% IRR over a 10-year fund, then the final value needs to be 9-10X for the entire fund. And I will not invest more than 10% in one deal typically. Let’s look at numbers: 1️⃣ Total fund size - 100 rupees 2️⃣ Required final value @25% IRR - 930 rupees 3️⃣ Swiggy - 10% or 10 rupees 4️⃣ Swiggy exit value - 300 rupees 💰 I still need the balance 90% or 90 rupees to deliver 630 rupees. This is not easy at all. Knowing most of the investments in startups will fail, I still need 2 more Swiggy's in the portfolio to be an average performer. 📊 On top of that, there are several small-cap mutual funds that are giving 25% return over several years. VC is a tough business. 🎢 #startups #swiggy #VC

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5,000 current and former Swiggy employees set to earn over $1 billion collectively, a Billion-Dollar Payday indeed! 🤯 🤑 Swiggy's upcoming IPO isn't just a milestone for the company—it's a life-changing event for thousands of its employees.  🚀💰 Here's why: • Nearly 5,000 current and former Swiggy employees set to earn over $1 billion collectively 💰 • 230 million ESOPs across three schemes valued at ₹8,960 crore ($1.06 billion) 💸 • Second-largest wealth-creation event for an Indian startup, after Flipkart By the Numbers 📊 • IPO price band: Up to ₹390 per share • 9 million shares already exercised by employees • Previous ESOP buybacks: $150 million since 2017 What Makes Swiggy's ESOP plan stand out ✅ Employee-friendly vesting: 25% vesting each year Early cash-out: One-month lock-in post-listing (with SEBI approval) Comparison with Competitors 📊 • Flipkart: Over $1.5 billion in ESOP buybacks since 2017 • Zomato: ₹6,900 crores ($818 million) ESOP pool at IPO, now significantly larger This massive wealth distribution showcases Swiggy's commitment to its team, potentially setting a new standard for employee compensation in the Indian startup ecosystem. As the food delivery and quick commerce giant goes public, it's not just feeding customers—it's nourishing the dreams of thousands who helped build it. How do you think this wealth creation event will impact India's startup ecosystem and talent retention? 🤔 #SwiggyIPO #StartupWealth #EmployeeOwnership #IndianTech

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The group order battle is heating up! 🥊 Zomato and Swiggy are vying for dominance in the group ordering space. With a combined monthly active users of over 54 million, the potential is immense. This is a classic case of feature parity - both platforms launched similar features yesterday to retain and attract users. But the real differentiator will be execution: user experience, speed, and additional value-added services. It's a strategic move to tap into the growing trend of shared dining experiences. Will it lead to increased order frequency and average order value? #foodtech #fooddelivery #grouporder #competition #techwar #startups #innovation #foodlovers #foodie #marketing #productmanagement #zomato #Swiggy

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Are You Building Your Product with a Clear Use Case in Mind? In an interview, Anupam Mittal, the founder of Shaadi.com, shared a fascinating insight about the early days of launching his matchmaking platform. He admitted feeling nervous about potential competition from Facebook, given their mission to connect people online. However, he firmly believed that Shaadi.com had a distinct use case, separate from Facebook's social networking platform. But why is it important to understand your product's use case and maintain a clear direction in your product development journey? - Research by Harvard Business Review found that 75% of successful startups attribute their success to staying focused on their core product offering and avoiding the temptation to diversify too quickly. - A survey by Entrepreneurial Insights revealed that 80% of customers prefer products that excel at one specific task rather than products that try to do too much. So, what do we learn? It's simple: Be clear and focused. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, founders, entrepreneurs, and product managers should strive to understand their product's unique use case and build in one direction. Here are a few strategies to help you stay focused: - Take the time to clearly define the primary problem or need that your product solves for your target audience. This will serve as your guiding light throughout the product development process. - Resist the temptation to add every possible feature under the sun. Instead, prioritize features that align closely with your product's use case and deliver maximum value to your users. - Pay close attention to feedback from your users and iterate based on their needs and preferences. But remember, not every feature request aligns with your product's use case, so stay true to your core mission. By understanding your product's use case and staying focused on your core mission, you can build a product that truly resonates with your target audience and stands out in the market. --- And if you're eager to dive deeper into strategies for building products with a clear use case and staying focused on your core mission, why not subscribe to my newsletter? Join the community here: https://lnkd.in/dytzUAeV #ProductManagement #ProductDevelopment #UseCases #Focus #Innovation

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Onion Price Showdown: Zepto vs. Swiggy vs. Blinkit! I recently compared the cost of 1 kg of onions across three popular grocery delivery platforms: Swiggy Instamart: ₹58 (Best Deal!) Zepto: ₹64 Blinkit: ₹64 Tip: Swiggy offers the best price for onions, but remember to consider delivery speed and service quality when choosing your platform. Imagine if there was an app that could automatically find the cheapest options across platforms for bulk orders—like a "Grocery Price Ninja!" Until then, let's keep comparing prices to save! #idea #zepto #blinkit #swiggy #zomato #quickcommerce #startup #innovation #creativity #founders

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Zomato’s marketing is brilliant, but it hasn’t converted me as a user. I still stick to Swiggy because it works and I have not had any incentive to change.. Ironically, the reason I invested in Zomato stock isn’t their marketing—it’s Blinkit, which rarely features in their campaigns. It got me thinking: once a product has an established user base, does heavy marketing even drive conversions? I’d argue it doesn’t. Some marketing is necessary to stay relevant and highlight new features, but too much can feel redundant or even annoying. Look at brands like Rapido, Zerodha, Google,Zudio or OpenAI. They hardly market their products in the traditional sense, yet they dominate because they’re indispensable. Their products seamlessly fit into users’ lives and solve problems so well that they market themselves. Great marketing can get users to notice you. But great products keep them coming back—and make them investors.

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I was able to boost conversion rates upto 30% by just nailing this ONE THING. Working at a startup is exciting as is, but being a growth marketer takes things to a whole another level. 🔥 The hustle, the need to adapt and experiment at close intervals after detailed analysis of outcomes periodically. A project that made me feel the blood rush the most was around figuring out the sweet spot of pricing and positioning of an app that was due to launch. ⚡ 📍 The flow of thought that went into it was a series questions and answers - 1. Audiences -   ->What does the user data look like?   ->How would we define the most interested consumers? 2. Messaging styles -   ->What product definitions would get the best responses from them? (you’d be surprised when you find out what people consider as premium and what not!) 3. Internal Feedback -   ->What would the experiment’s output possibly look like? 4. Finally, run it and assess it. 📌 At the end of the day, the key is to bring a fresh perspective to things at the right time. ♻️ Repost to keep the ripple of growth going! 🔔 Follow Hind Chetwani for more on growth and strategy making. #growth #foundersoffice #strategy#careerrestart

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After Zomato's IPO, people mocked it, saying, "Don’t invest. It’s just a food delivery app. It does not have much scope." Then it acquired Blinkit, and again people mocked that they were playing with investors' money. Then Launched the #District App and these live shows. And continuous amazing feature updates by Zomato are a tight slap on the face of people mocking the product. Long back when Zomato's stock price was Rs. 45 I wrote a detailed article doing product analysis. Then I said Zomato is here to rule, accumulate it now coz it will cross the Rs. 1000 mark in the next 5 years. Deepinder was and is my ideal, he’s redefining Product, Marketing & Design for Indians. What West cracked long back, India is cracking it now and Zomato is laying the patch! #dualipa #zomato #product #productmanagement

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I helped my client to sell THREE cars using just WhatsApp marketing, Here’s how I did it. It may sound extraordinary, but my client “Sri City Automobiles” in Erode sold three cars this quarter using just WhatsApp marketing. Here’s the strategy that made it happen: Firstly, Customer Segmentation and Messaging: By crafting personalized messages in their regional languages which is Tamil for each of the leads, we addressed their specific needs and wants. This ensured that they felt their value as a customer. Secondly, Timely Follow Ups: Prompt responses to any communication from the customer through automated replies maintained the conversation and kept the lead engaged and warm. Finally, Multimedia Content: High quality images and carousels of the cars were shared with the customers, ensuring that they were provided with a detailed and well-thought out decision making process. Thus, with three simple steps, a seamless, engaging and successful sales funnel was created. Planning to start WhatsApp Marketing for your business? DM to discuss!

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Should we do problem discovery every time from Zero to One? 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫: It depends. 👀 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫: 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐀: User Needs are already addressed by an existing player in a market. 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: Flipkart entering the groceries delivery market where BigBasket is operating with a 1-day delivery timeline. Here relevant focus area can be more on differentiated offering of Flipkart compared to BigBasket to solve the same problem (may be a shorter delivery timeline of 2 hours). 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐁: User Needs are addressed by a lateral thinking solution (completely new) in an existing market. 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: Blinkit wants to enter the groceries delivery market with a 10-minute delivery timeline. Here more emphasis is needed on discovery of user needs which can be groceries deliverable within 10 minutes. 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐂: User Needs and Market of Operation are totally new from existing state. 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: Creating a tourist service for people to visit Mars. Here we need to focus on every aspect of problem discovery: user needs, market research, context of problem, etc., Thank you Rethink Systems Shravan Tickoo for introducing this in the sessions! Cohort mentors: Attharv Sardesai | Unnati Nakra | Suraj Sharma | Mayank Madaan | Raghav Mehta | Arjun Hariharan | bhishm juneja Our group: Abhishek Singh Rathore | Aastha Thakur | Ashutosh Zode | Nadisha Garg | Vidyakrishna Jois G | Anurag Kumar | Avneet Sidana | Eshita Rastogi | Mansukh Kaur

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How can you expect anyone to believe in your vision if you can't clearly define your market? As a founder, it's natural to pour your heart into building your product But defining your Total Addressable Market (TAM) is key to unlocking growth. Why does TAM matter? - It shows the full potential of your market. - Helps you prioritize and focus on key segments. - Validates that there's demand for your solution. - Guides your growth strategy with clear direction. TAM isn’t just for investors—it’s for you. It’s the foundation for scaling, making decisions, and knowing where your next big move is. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gJWvSEzF

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I've lost all my social media accounts, How would I ideate, build & get users for my startup 🧵: 1. I'd build a niche audience in a vertical I understand or want to dive deep into. E.g. teaching, construction, flowers, accounting, law, marketing, coding, MVPs, design.... 2. I built an audience of 100-1000 people. Now, I start reverse-engineering their problems. Throwing my solutions as ideas at them and see what resonates. I do this until I see one hit. 3. I build basic MVP with most important feature only and pitch it. If they don't get excited, I go rebuild it with a new feature. 4. Iterate with an MVP until uses says wow. Move on to marketing now 👇 5. I will Not add more features anymore until I build an organic marketing channel, so that can go back to building new features. 6. SEO - I earn backlinks using tools like listingbott[.]com - I go for seobotai[.]com for AI blog articles - I write guest posts on all possible blog platforms - I optimize every single word on my site based on kw research - I build 5 web directories using Unicorn Platform to win more SEO traffic & channel it back to my main project - Link exchange with others by DMing them - I open search stats and manually improve 5 best articles (by stats) weekly. 7. Social Media. I share: - my open buildinpublic diary - compressed knowledge that's valuable for my audience - engage into all important discussions - chat & network with my audience - go on podcasts listened - pitch myself to interviewers - speak at online conferences - cover the news for the topic 8. Listings. - I run listingbott[.]com to be listed everywhere on the internet when my audience is hanging out - I launch on all launchpads(visited by my audience) - I find all listicles on the internet and reach out to everyone asking to be included. At least 100, better 1000 9. Back to the lab - I keep perfecting that "one" feature for my users to the level where they can't stop themself from sharing it on social media or with friends. - if I can't get them to share, my product is sh*t. If I think my problem is distribution now, I am the problem - i spend another year perfecting the product with my few users until they spread it and the network effect kicks in - now that product has it's key proposition established, I start adding more features and I go back to do more SEO, listings, social media But also I add this 👇 10. Influencer marketing. I find 100 small influencers (1k-10k followers) and pitch them either affiliate marketing or paid marketing. I spend on this $2k/mo 11. Paid ads. Since I know my key message and audience, I'm able to create high-converting banners that I'll test on FB, google, and Carbon ads. I'll also reach out to related website owners pitching my banner to them too. Total budget here $1k/mo 12. I'm nearing PMF, I'll keep repeating my process until I get to $50k mRR, then I'll launch my second product for the same audience. And go back to step nr.2 and repeat it all again.

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Now I know why it's Zomato "Gold" coz Zomato is definitely a Gold digger :) 🤦🏻‍♀️ Breaking News: Zomato just reinvented the job market. Introducing the first-ever “Subscription-Based Job!” 🤔 Want to be Zomato's Chief of Staff? Well, here’s the spicy (but expensive) platter: First-year salary: Zero. Nada. Zilch.0️⃣ BUT, you pay ₹20 lakhs! Yes, you heard it right. YOU pay THEM for the honor of working. (Because, who needs savings anyway?)💸 If you survive Year 1, you get paid in Year 2. This sounds less like a job and more like Squid Game: Corporate Edition. 😉 At this rate, by 2030, internships will require a home loan.💲 The twist: Your ₹20 lakhs becomes a donation. Zomato flexes its generosity by donating ₹50 lakhs to a charity of your choice. (Win-win, right? Or...?) Second year onwards: You’ll finally get a salary, and they’re being cryptic about it. (Is this the Bollywood movie of job offers?) 🤔 Why pay ₹20 lakhs? Because ordinary jobs pay you money, but this one offers you “learning opportunities” and a one-way ticket to humility! 😑 Forget fancy MBA programs; THIS is where you’ll learn the art of patience, perseverance, and explaining to your parents why you’re paying ₹20 lakhs for a job. 🤐 P.S. This is not just a job—it’s an investment... in their PR and your ability to live on Maggi for a year.🍝 P.P.S. If this takes off, I’m starting my own job subscription service. DM me for details.🤗 Would you apply, or are you just here for the popcorn?

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Want to become a Product Manager? Join Zomato as a delivery partner. Earn while you Learn and eventually become a PM! 👇🏽 Zomato recently announced promotion of 4 delivery partners to the role of product managers internally. 🤯 Why? Simple. They have first hand experience, their empathy for understanding customer pain points is of the highest magnitude. 🛵👨🏻‍💻 This initiative, called #ZomatoCopilot, launched last month, aims to integrate delivery partners into the company’s ecosystem, using their firsthand experiences to enhance Zomato’s services.👏🏽 This strategic shift will help recognize the valuable insights of delivery partners, bringing fresh perspectives to product development.🙌🏽 Zomato's approach challenges traditional hiring practices and highlights the importance of diverse experiences in creating successful products.💯 This bold move underscores Zomato’s dedication to employee growth and empowerment, investing in talent and offering real career advancement opportunities.💪🏼 Could this be the beginning of a new trend in recruitment? Could we have next product managers of Blinkit from their Dark stores or Quick delivery riders? 🤔 Zomato’s strategy may inspire other companies to rethink their hiring practices. Let’s see how this unfolds!🤔 #productmanagement #hiring #recruitmentprocess #changingnorms #breakingbarriers #zomato #blinkit #deliveryriders

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While small feature updates like this can improve the user experience, we should focus on celebrating innovations that solve real problems at scale or drive measurable impact, I don't know what's new for Zomato as a company here, they already had all the setup just a UI tweak to flash this to nearby people in reality people don't cancel their order after paying for their order, After 100's of order on Swiggy, Zomato there have hardly been an instance where I cancelled an order after paying Entire world is doing something new especially with AI and we are praising all these small feature launches , we should think about raising our feature launch discussion standards..

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