Harish Mahale

The Indian Gen AI prosumer, consumer landscape still remains early – Companies have hit power users but are subscale OR have low % of paying users  • Companies do not have enough cohort level data to indicate product love  • Most cos who have managed to cross few hundred thousand users (MAU) are building their US GTM machine  • They have a rudimentary hallucination check AND a rudimentary RLHF in place We at Chiratae ventures are keen to look at – 1) Vernacular AI assistants - Sarvam, Krutrim are foundational model (Sarvam – OpenHathi) based general intelligence assistants very similar to Anthromorphic or Poe, but contextualized to India. They have raised significant capital, but the space remains open still. 2) Vernacular AI search – We do not have a Perplexity, Liner for the Indian vernacular. This is a potential whitespace. We will look for a solid team, with a solid product roadmap. Product risk mitigation playbooks are being built out by investors as we speak  Some companies like Two.ai are building both assistants as well as AI enabled search platforms. 3) Co-pilots for Professional services with pre-existing spend pools which can be delivered digitally – AI generated influencers, AI based gaming, digital professionals/copilots - legal professionals, counsellors/therapists, accountants Please write in to [email protected] if you feel there is something you would like to discuss. If there are products or companies we should look at, please tag them in the chat below Chiratae Ventures Sudhir Sethi TCM Sundaram Ranjith Menon Venkatesh Peddi Anoop N Mandeep Julka, CFA Kailashnath M S, CFA Tanvi Dubey #GenerativeAI #Consumer #SaaS #Technology

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#WhatsHotInConsumer9: Are we missing what the data is not telling us? The new buzz word is data-driven decision making. Based on my several conversations with the founders and co-founders, a common explainer of a problem(sometimes even in a condescending tone) is that we are making decisions based on data but a million dollar question is - **Are we considering what the data is not telling us?** On a side note, if data would tell us everything then AI would do a far better job than it does today. That's where we still need human intelligence. Board room discussions go well if one adds the line #Basedondata. But is everything really that well? Who cares, data is the scapegoat! This is where I feel the Founder-Investor collaboration is very important as a trusted Investor/advisor will bring in the perspective which is crucial in uncovering hidden insights that data may miss. Afterall, a good investor is the one who can connect the dots and attempt to improve the odds of making the right call. For instance, creating #blueoceans is not solely data-driven; it requires a deep understanding of consumer needs (#Marketing101). Isn't start up thinking all about recognizing latent demand and catering to it? Identifying these potential opportunities may not always be possible just by looking at data. Recently listened to this podcast which highlights this concept very well. Watch here: https://lnkd.in/gcFCQZWD #ConsumerTrends #DataAnalysis #StartupThinking #LatentDemand

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Can India become an economic superpower? CNN Business published this article yesterday which is based on data and data don't lie so even if CNN wanted to deny they couldn't :-) Five data points from this article which clearly sets the tone: (Please note these points are taken from the article with some value add from my end) ✅ GDP Growth - Sustained expansion will push India higher up the ranks of the world’s biggest economies, with some observers forecasting the country to become number three behind only the US and China by 2027. ✅ Infrastructure Push - With furious construction underway across the nation. India added nearly 55,000 kilometers (around 35,000 miles) to the national highway network, an increase of 60% in the overall length, between 2014 and 2023. ✅ Digital Infra - Aadhar which is making sure all welfare programs reach to needy. UPI which has brought a lot of money flow to the formal economy. ✅ Stock market superpower - Thanks to the sizzling rally, the NSE has overtaken both the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Exchange to become the world’s sixth largest bourse. Domestic investors, both retail and institutional, have been driving India’s stock market to unprecedented peaks. ✅ Manufacturing - Asia’s third largest economy has launched a production-linked incentive program worth $26 billion to attract companies to set up manufacturing in 14 sectors, ranging from electronics and automobiles to pharmaceuticals and medical devices. As a result, some of the world’s biggest firms, including Apple (AAPL) supplier Foxconn, are expanding their operations significantly in India. Analysts have called the change in strategy a big win for Modi, as growing manufacturing ties with a US giant like Apple will in turn attract other global players in the electronics manufacturing ecosystem to India. Overall, a data based article which sets the tone very clearly that India is on its path to become an economic superpower, a clear alternative to China. The article doesn't conclude the way I am concluding my post but someone has to accept the truth! Right? **** edurigo.com #economy #superpower #stockmarket #manufacturing #jobs #growth #infrastruture #gdp #cnn #business #india

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𝐆𝐌𝐀𝐓 715 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 40 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 | 98𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 Fewer than 1% of the GMAT test takes get to a score of 715. Achieving this in a mere 40 days is almost a rarity. Yet Siddharth did just that – he not only scored a brilliant 715 (99th percentile) with a perfect Q90 but also a phenomenal 98th Percentile on Data Insights. In this video https://lnkd.in/e_9yxjZq, we delve into the key elements of Siddharth's impressive GMAT success story: 1. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: Siddharth ’s journey to the top 1% involved ____. Discover what they were and how he identified these and fulfilled them to achieve the top GMAT score in just 40 days. 2. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲: Six of the nine milestones were DI-specific. Siddharth not only completed all these milestones efficiently but also excelled in each of them, achieving 80%+ accuracy for hard questions across the DI sub-sections. 3. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞: While many students are good at quants, only a few of them get a perfect Q90 score. Uncover the focused strategies behind Siddharth’s preparation that led to a perfect Quant Score. 4. 𝐓𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭: Siddharth faced many challenges – from setbacks in previous attempts to test day anxiety. Learn how he overcame each of these challenges and performed exceptionally well on the test day. If you want to learn how to improve your score and excel at your GMAT dreams, then do not miss out on this incredible session! Take the first steps toward writing your own GMAT success! Payal, Abhinav, Atul, Satish, Sanchari, Shubham, Akash, Abhishek, Rida, Rashmi, Abha, Kanupriya, Prakriti, Mansi, GMAT Club, Siddharth, Manas

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“GTM” You will hear in most 3rd wave’s in Bangalore and elsewhere. on Reddit! At a lot of meetups. Almost at all pitches I hear & during founder interactions. Go-To-Market is one of the toughest things in the 1-10 journey. I don’t find it super important in the pre-seed or even at the seed stage. Founder is doing most of the selling and evangelising in the early stages. Cold Calls, Referrals, Friends of Friends etc. Once the startups starts getting momentum & you are nearly at PMF! Then the GTM gods need to kick in. I transitioned from “code-monkey” to doing pre-sales & then sales in 2003. Thats 21 years ago! I ❤️ GTM! I think of it as both art and science. And I can shamelessly say - I am not a complete expert. GTM depends on a lot of things ▶️ Market / Region ▶️ Product ▶️ B2B, B2C, D2C, P2P, etc ▶️ Amount of Capital available ▶️ Consuner research & Insights ▶️ Auto ( SalesTech, Marketech, Tools) ▶️ Partnerships, Channels, etc ▶️ Add “AI” into that mix ▶️ Human Element ▶️ Media Mix in the market (Did I cover everything?! 😎) If you are post seed Stage and want to discuss concrete things on GTM then drop me a DM! “Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are “ - MeatLoaf ( R.I.P) #GTM #Startups #MarketEntry

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And that’s another way of cost cutting, unlike layoffs or closing shops etc. Should we call it Ola-way!? Investing to reduce costs can easily be looked as foolhardy expense by many, but it is called “leverage” by the rare few! #innovation #leadership #costcutting #businessvision

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It's raining in Delhi ☔️, and as usual, retail and ride-hailing platforms are quick to slap on surge pricing. But when it comes to personalizing homepages or ads based on weather? They completely miss the boat. I have been reading about Weather based marketing and Ads. There are so many interesting case studies around it. Smart Adtech is all over Weather Targeting, allowing marketers to tailor their messages based on the weather—no traditional identifiers needed. They can tell their stories at just the right moment, in real-time, across zip codes where the weather is just right for influencing consumer behavior. I was talking to a friend who bought home insurance for a 10year old house for the first time because of the rainy weather and possibility to structural damage. Zomato should personalise food based on Weather, rainy day people prefer pakodas over icecreams. Subaru a company has created Driver Difficulty Index (DDI), Google Maps should consider adding it too based on weather and location give this metric to drivers. The world of Adtech is super interesting, with countless parameters to consider for personalization. It's like a puzzle, but way more fun!

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Dark Stores: The Backbone of India’s Quick Commerce Boom Swiggy’s recent IPO has thrust quick commerce (q-commerce) into the spotlight. With demand for near-instant delivery of groceries, essentials, and even OTC meds surging, it’s worth exploring the driving force behind this phenomenon—dark stores. What Are Dark Stores? Dark stores are fulfillment centers designed exclusively for online orders. Unlike traditional retail stores, they don’t serve walk-in customers, allowing them to focus on optimizing operations to find, pack, and dispatch products swiftly. Why Are Dark Stores Key to Q-Commerce? Dark stores enable companies like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto to promise deliveries within 10-15 minutes by strategically placing these hubs close to high-demand areas. This operational model eliminates the need for retail space, focusing instead on speed and efficiency. Real Estate Impact: In 2023, India’s demand for dark store spaces surged to 24 million sq. ft. and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12%, reaching 37.6 million sq. ft. by 2027 (JLL-Miebach study). These stores are strategically located based on consumer demand, lease affordability, and accessibility for delivery partners, transforming how real estate is used in urban spaces. What’s Driving This Growth? Online Grocery Boom: The pandemic fueled a permanent shift to online grocery shopping, with consumers prioritizing convenience and speed. Market Expansion: Companies are expanding not just in Tier 1 and 2 cities but also looking at smaller towns and rural areas. Funding and Investments: Heavy investments by venture capitalists are allowing q-commerce giants to scale operations and workforce aggressively. Tech Integration: Automation and AI are improving warehouse efficiency and delivery systems. Rising SKUs: Q-commerce platforms are expanding their product offerings from 5,000 SKUs to over 20,000 SKUs. The Workforce Boom To meet this demand, q-commerce players are scaling up hiring. By March 2025, Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart are set to hire 4+ lakh employees, marking a 60% increase from the current workforce of 2.6 lakh. Blinkit: Plans 1,000 dark stores by March 2025, doubling to 2,000 by 2026. Zepto: Backed by $300M, targeting 700 dark stores by FY25. Swiggy Instamart: Plans 538 new stores by 2028, investing ₹559 crore post-IPO. The Road Ahead While Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities are thriving, the big question remains—can q-commerce succeed in Tier 3 cities with smaller populations? With rapid innovation, deep investments, and operational scaling, the future of quick commerce in India is nothing short of transformative. Is your city ready for the quick-commerce revolution? 🚀 Source: https://lnkd.in/gd6kZqhF #QuickCommerce #DarkStores #Ecommerce #Innovation #Hiring #IndiaBusiness #RealEstate #Technology

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Eloelo's week-on-week revenue growth trend from the last 12 weeks (See graph). No ads, no subscriptions, only virtual gifts being exchanged on the platform. Had to share this because many feel India’s consumer tech is about building DAU farms or how middle India does not pay, none of these true. There’s money where there’s value. With virtual gifts replacing “likes and hearts” as a means of self expression, the Indian Creator economy will monetize like never before. And we are not building another “xyz of India”, we are building Eloelo for the World. Many kudos to the team at Eloelo that lives & breathes this growth mindset and continues to break new records every week! #eloelo #IndiaKaLiveAdda

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Who exactly is losing market share in the hotly contest grocery commerce? I thought it must be the now-not-so modern retail, but I'm not so sure. Zepto raised $665 Mn at a valuation of $3.6 Bn, and is in talks to raise $250 Mn more. And their cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha recently commented that they can beat DMart - Avenue Supermarts Ltd on GMV in the next 12-18 months. Swiggy Instamart also is growing, and Blinkit is likely to be more valuable than their owner Zomato itself - so they are all doing well, even if Dunzo isn't. Sure, no idea what JioMart Digital is doing, but deep pockets. Same with Tata Digital and their weird assortment forced to converge on Neu. bigbasket.com is trying to unlearn and relearn, and it just might. And Flipkart Grocery and Amazon Fresh are also upping their game - launching faster deliveries, discounts, improved fill rates, and selection. So I wonder if it is the modern-trade players? The likes of More Retail Private Limited, Spencer's Retail, STAR BAZAR, and SPAR Retail that are suffering? The nearest Spencer's to me is definitely a sore sight, now reduced to a shell of it's former glory - I think they aren't even replenishing inventory now. And we all know what happened to Big Bazaar - Future Retail. But Dmart itself isn't doing half bad - with pareto presence in just 23 cities, and no presence in UP (except NCR), Bihar, and West Bengal, they have considerable headroom, still. And they haven't yet quite solved for ecommerce, so while The Ken says that they are lost, they may find their way, eventually? I also don't think that the real consumption is growing, if at all, it may even shrink with the K-growth. Thus, some one _is_ losing share. And if it is not modern trade, then is it the regional chains? The single kiranas? The corner-store? The hand-cart? I'm not entirely sure because this data is hard to organize, and get. Would you know? Image created by AI in Microsoft Bing Copilot.

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#HiringAlert: Looking to hire a lead within the Business Intelligence team at PhonePe - please read below to understand what we're looking for. - 10+ relevant years of experience in running Business Intelligence functions (Preferably at a product firm) - Strong depth of knowledge, and working experience in any Dashboarding tool; Experience in QlikSense will be an advantage - Team management experience where you've led least a 5-6 member team in the past - Understanding of data flows, handling of big data & optimization through SQL In case the skillsets match the profile, do drop me an e-mail on [email protected] with your resume & summary of work experience in the below format: - Current organization - Years of relevant work experience - Expertise in dashboarding tool - Public links of dashboard projects that you've built on Tableau, Qlik or any tool Do note that I'll be going through and responding only to relevant profiles who've taken the time to give the information in the format requested above - as much as I'd want to reply to each e-mail, that's not going to be humanly possible :) Would appreciate if a relevancy filter can be applied from the other end before sharing. #phonepe #hiring #businessintelligence

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Are short delivery times even worth the $ & effort? In today's world of consumption - Super-fast Same-Day-Deliveries have become a game-changer–– but it's not without its controversies :) I've seen how customer expectations have evolved–– driven by the ⬆ of Qcomm–– especially since the pandemic. It's all about → giving customers what they want, WHEN they want it. But here's the catch: meeting these expectations comes with its own set of challenges… The rush to offer speedy deliveries has led to a race to the bottom -- where companies are pressured to cut costs to attract customers (!!) YET–– customers aren't ALWAYS willing to pay those extra rupees...for faster delivery (putting undue strain on the logistics enablers at the backend). Things can really improve with: real-time inventory management + automation = efficiency ⬆ but… but they all come at a price, especially for smaller players (have covered this bit before :) ) So the question remains= are Faster Deliveries needed? PS: We chat with 100s of brands every month at Zippee — I enjoy most of these conversations, especially : where they want SDD, but at their old courier costs of INR 30/40/50 [very well knowing that their current TATs at 3-5 days] 😅 PPS: I hate to say this - but its true : "If you throw peanuts, only monkeys will come" Checkout the full article on Financial Express (India) for a deeper dive into this topic [Link in 1st comment]. #Zippee #Ecommerce #SameDayDelivery

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HSR Founders Club is doing an AI for GTM Fireside this Friday. Where? Most probably HSR :) If you're in a 5km radius and looking to do something before you step out, drop by. Look forward to meeting Rapti Gupta Piyush Agarwal and Akshay Hangloo. #GTM #AI

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Founders focusing on category-specific Quick-Commerce (QC) should note: when Myntra/Nykaa launched, Flipkart/Amazon weren't operating in those categories. Also, e-commerce players are now venturing into quick commerce. They already know which individuals in which locations order what products and at what frequencies! I see no chance for category-specific QCs. I've noticed many VCs lamenting that 70% of new founders are pitching category-focused QC ventures. These founders seem inspired by broad-QC successes (Zepto/Blinkit/Instamart) and draw parallels to e-commerce, where broad players (Flipkart/Amazon) coexist with category specialists (Myntra/Nykaa). The VCs' concerns are valid, and many founders are missing the crucial point. When Myntra/Nykaa launched, they faced no competition from major e-commerce players. These category specialists captured significant market share before broader players entered. By then, they had built unique user experiences and strong brand recall. This helped them survive and thrive. Today, every broad QC (Zepto/Blinkit/Instamart) is raising crazy capital to expand. It's unlikely they'll leave room for category-focused players to establish themselves. Unless the broad QC players mess it up big time, I fail to see how category-focused QC players will make a dent. Additionally, the entry of established e-commerce players into quick commerce (like Flipkart with Minutes) complicates things. These players have years of data on which pincodes order what products, and at what frequencies. They are aware that you place an order for Vim liquid every month and a laptop every three years. You can also be confident that they will aggressively defend their key categories, such as electronics. New category-focused QC ventures will face significant challenges in competing with them. D2Cs (Mamaearth/Licious/Akshayakalpa) may succeed by targeting specific market segments that value unique attributes (organic, premium, etc.). However, they'll find it difficult to expand beyond their niche. Mass-market capture will remain a broad QC play. Thoughts?

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I'm Just reading Zerodha's Daily Newsletter (Today's edition) and find these points truly appropriate. Introduction of the 'Product Suitability Framework' can filter out most of the unfit participants from the market. Also, make them eager to upskill, well-trained first then participate directly in the market. This can make a habit, and then the habit turns into an ecosystem. Who can participate and where to participate! Only tax hikes and trading framework changes can lead individual players out of the market. And that should be wrong for the broader Indian economy.

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Consulting is... 30% Excel 30% PPT 30% Frameworks and Models 3% Impossible deadlines 3% Panache 3% Industry expertise But 1% that truly separates the good from the best in the industry is the ability to learn quickly and be an expert in whatever the client needs you to be an expert in.

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2021: Only grocery delivery app in India with 10 minutes delivery 2024: Competitor chasing the '10 minute' brand segment Zepto is the only player sticking to its original promise - and is clearly acing it Scaling up a grocery delivery business is particularly challenging in India. And adding up a unique attribute, as huge as this –  has clearly been game changing for Zepto. Success didn’t come easy to Zepto too, There was a time when all the Q-commerce players faced backlash & people questioned the safety of drivers. Some brands stopped claiming the delivery time altogether, from “groceries in 15-30 minutes”, they went to “groceries in minutes” But Zepto didn’t, it went on to install a myriad of dark stores across locations, and is already serving superfast deliveries in 10 cities. Top 3 factors that helped Zepto drive exceptional growth over a very short span of time: - Captivating Customer Experience: The platform served a deeply engaging user experience and the service promise was being consistently fulfilled – a powerful combo. - Outstanding Retention: All thanks to near-perfect buying journey, Zepto achieved a retention rate which was considered only to be a fantasy for the industry earlier. - Not slowing down: More dark stores and continuous geographical expansion at the same time helped the startup acquire customers in huge numbers. Zepto cracked the key to scale in the quick commerce space by constantly growing at the same pace, and not compromising customer satisfaction at the same time – simple yet not easy. A perfect example of go big, go fast – it is surely a fascinating study for the space creators. No matter the circumstances, the brand didn’t let go of its biggest differentiator, eliminating all the question marks experts had put to its launch. What do you think is going to be the future of grocery delivery space in India? #casestudy #growth #startup

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