Jai Anand

Zepto entering BNPL. I generally hate how startups see lending as a go-to strategy for growth - whether it is B2B marketplaces / manufacturing aggregators to Quick commerce (especially given the organic growth happening). I often wonder if it really enables true demand or ends up unduly inflating it only to bring it all down during downturns. But, in this case, I slightly differ. Consumers have historically enjoyed extended monthly settlements from their local grocers - remember, hisaab me likh lena! BNPL for Zepto eliminates another friction for customers in buying grocery online.

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Good post. Apart from what has been mentioned in the post, A/B tests don't work because companies don't invest in building quality experimentation infrastructure. 

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Watching someone struggle with something you've built is both humbling and enlightening. When Prashant and I introduced the initial version of prd2proto.ai, we thought we were onto something. Upload a PRD and boom—your prototype is ready! Made sense, right? After all, it's in the name. But as we sat down with our early access users, we noticed a sharp edge: many didn't have a PRD ready or found it a hassle to create one in another tool just to use our app. They dropped off, and we felt that sting. Garry Tan captures this perfectly: "When you make software, you have to watch at least 10 people use it. Sit next to them and say absolutely nothing... WATCH USERS AND CRINGE AND THEN FIX IT. SAND DOWN THE EDGES." We listened, we cringed, and we learned. Today, we're excited to share that we've updated prd2proto.ai with a chat interface! Now, you can talk through your ideas—think of it as a product assistant right inside the app. No barriers, no prerequisites - just a seamless way to bring your vision to life. Check out the video below to see what's changed. We've been holding off on opening prd2proto.ai to more people until we got this right. Now that we have, more invites are heading out this week! A huge thank you to everyone who's been patiently waiting on our waitlist. And if you want to be part of this journey and help shape how the product evolves, sign up here for early access: https://prd2proto.ai/ #ProductDesign #BuildInPublic #StartupJourney

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Buying gold / silver coins on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Trithiya come under low frequency - low complexity purchase category. It is a seasonal product bought generally during specific occasions. Zepto Blinkit Swiggy lapped up this opportunity and started selling this with the benefit of quick delivery. No wonder the sales picked up quite well. I wonder how much would it have impacted the sales of larger eComm players. Sales trends from swiggy is already out. I am sure the trend will be similar for Zepto - Aadit Palicha and Blinkit - Albinder Dhindsa I detailed out this approach and more in my notes - https://lnkd.in/gBmvVKy2

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Only D2C teams know how BIG a news it is that Shopify's Advanced Cash on Delivery (COD) app shut down 3 days ago With multiple brands reaching out to us for help I was contemplating how this poorly rated app has been the backbone of building the D2C ecosystem in India The Shopify India team got it built through a dev agency back in the day, because literally no other country had these problems Brands have a deep love / hate relationship with COD Why Love? - Even after a small brand gets someone interested in their products & story It is still tough for the buyer to trust the brand enough to Pre-pay online COD gives them enough comfort to give the "new kid on the block" a chance In numbers, ~60-70% of D2C orders are still COD despite high UPI penetration. Brands see non-trivial increase in conversions when they give cash on delivery Why hate? ~10-30% of COD orders are never delivered for variety of reasons - fraud, bad addresses, change in mind etc That is very expensive for a small business -- ZERO revenue from the returned order, but o Cost of sending the package back and forth o Blocked inventory o Damages to the product This app attempted to solve this by providing control on who gets to see COD based on products, order sizes, pin-codes This problems with offering COD were however much deeper, as we realized over time shopflo merchants helped us create Advanced++ COD functionality, right within our product. As brands try to keep COD problems in check, we're doing our bit by creating "Priority onboarding for those using Advanced COD" DM me if you'd like to speak to us or visit www.shopflo.com End of an era, indeed

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Which startup has achieved the best product-market fit (PMF) in the last two years? 🇮🇳 > What truly defines a successful startup goes far deeper than just a high price tag - It's about a product seamlessly integrating into users' lives, solving a real problem in a simple and impactful way. > Zepto - This quick commerce leader has skyrocketed to household name status in just two years. Their secret sauce? A perfect blend of these product-market fit ingredients: 1/ Unmatched Speed: > Zepto's 10-minute grocery delivery caters directly to the urban consumer's desire for instant gratification. 2/ Curated Convenience: > Zepto understands that speed shouldn't mean sacrificing choice. > They offer a carefully chosen range of essentials and everyday items. No more browsing overload. Just high-quality groceries for immediate needs. Makes decisions a breeze. 3/ Frictionless Experience: > Zepto's app is refreshingly simple. A few taps, groceries ordered. Integrates with popular payment options. > Frictionless experience keeps users coming back. Perfect for busy schedules or sudden needs. 4/ Strategic Network: > Zepto's secret weapon? Smartly placed dark stores. > Stock essential items for quick picking and packing. This fuels their 10-minute delivery promise. Network efficiency translates to lightning-fast groceries. - They identified a clear audience (busy urban dwellers), addressed their core need (immediate groceries), and delivered it in a way that's both convenient and personalised. ♻️ Which other companies have hit seamless product market fit in the recent years? #quickcommerce #ecommerce #startups #zepto #venturecapital #LinkedInNews

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Building Consumer Apps in India - Series 1 Currently there are about 17L apps on Playstore out of which, 13.83L do not have any rating, not even from friends and family. You can consider them to be not so serious about pushing the app. If you care about your app, you are already ahead of 77% of the apps. Then comes the apps with rating less than 3.5 which shows your tech team is not actively debugging or your app is really short lived and has no consumer utility. If you stay consistent and do even bit of user research prior to build, you would be ahead of another 1.5L apps. Staying ahead of 86% apps. The real struggle for power happens between the remaining 2.5L apps. Considering the current scenario, about 1.6% of apps are social media and 4% are shopping apps and since we are building in the intersection of them, we are head-on with 14000 apps. This is where geography and other factors come in to support, and you finally have to fight against 5% of 14000 apps, ie. you effectively are competing against 700 apps to be the best amongst them. Now comes real product play. What do you think is the reason most apps fail? (Consumer Apps) #consumerapps #koo #product #appstore #playstore #developers #apps #shopping #socialmedia #social

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Product Folks in Delhi NCR, you can't miss this! Aakash Gupta is on his India tour, and we at HelloPM are super excited to host him ❤️ Aakash has: 1. Created the popular Product Growth newsletter and grown it from scratch to 130k+ subscribers. 2. Writes the most comprehensive and in-depth content for product & growth professionals, 3. Lead as a product leader at Affirm, Apollo.io 4. Contributed to the growth of the famous game FORTNITE during his stint at EPIC games. You can register for the curated meetup here & catchup with Aakash in person: https://rzp.io/rzp/17thNov [This event is for product leaders, founders, product managers, and aspiring product professionals] WHAT TO EXPECT: ​- Intimate fireside chat with Aakash on product, growth, and building in public ​- Interactive Q&A session - get your burning questions answered ​- Network with fellow product enthusiasts over snacks ​- Exclusive insights from Aakash's decade in product ​- Take home practical strategies you can apply immediately WHY YOU CAN'T MISS THIS: ​- Direct access to Aakash's experience and insights ​- Connect with your local product community ​- Get actionable frameworks and strategies ​- Be part of an intimate, high-energy gathering ​- Network with like-minded product folks Priya Roy lets do this 💪🏼 #productmanagement #productgrowth

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The Ecosystem Community is now 3500+ members strong and 1500+ folks are in premium curated groups PS: The only problem is no one can spam here, or join random groups (If anyone follows this they are a part of the community) #Community #Startups #Investors

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My 1st SAAS Journey from $0 to $275k+ - Launched QuizTarget product (Quiz, Poll & Survey creator app) in Sept 2020 on JVZoo. - Made over $125k+ in just 7 days during launch. - Over the years, QuizTarget UI has been improved to make it more user-friendly. - Continued to grow QuizTarget and made over $275k+ till now only through affiliate traffic sources. - This month, we decided to move away from QuizTarget Life Time Deal to a monthly subscription model. RESULTS: 📌 QuizTarget customers: Onboarded 3,545 users. 📌 Campaigns published: 73,063 campaigns published by QuizTarget users. 📌 Leads Collected: 14,841 leads collected by our users using QuizTarget app. FUTURE ROADMAP: - Now, working on new traffic sources like Organic (SEO) and Paid. - Integrate AI to help users create campaigns in a flash. If you are also struggling to generate leads and sales for your business, try QuizTarget - https://quiztarget.com/ for free and double your leads by leveraging the true power of interactive quizzes, surveys and polls.

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If you were the Product manager of Zomato app, how would you react to the below customer pain point? ————————— Let me explain my scenario! It was about the end of lunch time (2 15 pm) when I ordered for a gravy from a restaurant 2km away from my house. The dish is an easy to prepare dish and would generally take some 5-10 mins for a restaurant to get this prepared and packed. When I placed my order the delivery time came up to 50 mins on the app. After about 10 mins a delivery partner was assigned! He was at least 8-10km away from both my home and the restaurant. To top it his map location remained stagnant for almost 15 mins. At about 30 mins mark, I started a conversation with their chat bot asking to reassign to a different delivery partner given this person hadn’t started on the 8-10km journey to hotel. Chatbot responded that changing delivery partner is not possible. I had to escalate, get on a call with a customer support executive to explain this would not be in the best interest of the delivery partner and me, asking to reassign a partner who is in the vicinity. After 5 mins of argument and convincing, the order was reassigned and the delivery happened by the next 10-15th minute. This was still 10 minutes beyond the promised timeframe of 50 mins. However if I had waited for the other delivery partner I might have had to wait for another 20-30 mins for him to reach the hotel and 10-15 more mins to deliver the item. I have faced these situations with Uber and Ola in the past as well where the driver had to travel 10 km to take me to a place that is 5-10km on a different direction. In general, when an algorithm applies a pre-built logic to arrive at decisions, especially a real-time consumer facing decision like this, should there be an option to constantly monitor and course-correct? What course of action would you take? #productmanagement #casestudy #customerfeedback #customerpainpoint

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Waiting at Chaayos, where ordering tea feels like signing up for a home loan. Multiple clicks to sign up, log in, and build a cart—all just to order my chai. I’ll think twice before entering their shop again. Seems like their PM traded growth for vanity metrics, like collecting email IDs. Simplicity is key, not chaos! Maybe it's time to rebrand as ChaaOos! #OverEngineering #UXMatters #ProductManagement #ChaaOos #CustomerExperience #KeepItSimple

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Designers & PMs building consumer products should assume that users are in an imperfect environment 1. Users are time-crunched when they use your product - ⌛ Ex: They have opened your app while waiting for a cab to kill few mins of waiting time 2. Users are distracted when they use your product - 📵 Ex: They have opened your app after 1 hour of Reels and won't have any attention when they use your product 3. Users won't read but skim text. Assume an avg user reads 20-30% of text in a screen - 📖 Ex: Users scroll quickly and look at only certain keywords which they are familiar with 4. Users have muted all Push Notifications - 🔔 Ex: The first few PNs were irritating & not useful, so users have muted all PNs 5. Users won't remember your product after install/sign up - 📝 Ex: First experience was not highly memorable to remember 6. Users will drop out of a flow as soon as they feel confused or nervous - 🏃‍♂️ Ex: Goal of product is not clear, no labels or defaults, no contrast between options 7. Users are guided by emotions rather than logic - 🫡 Ex: Users wont do cost benefit analysis of using your product, they will rather use your product if a trusted person endorses you Build for imperfect environment and you will capture users in both perfect & imperfect environment Build for perfect environment and you won't even fully capture the perfect environment users (This is the problem with most consumer apps today even after amazing design / product efforts)

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The only three ways to hit the S-curve on your marketing 1. Broad based marketing like TV ads or physical ads. 2. Email and SMS. More retention focused. 3. Build a brand. Google ads, Meta / Instagram ads, YouTube channel, WhatsApp marketing etc cannot help you scale beyond a point. But cannot be ignored either. TV / Physical ads may be expensive for a startup so only at much later stages. Email / SMS for retention and building your brand to be memorable both take time but needs to be done from Day 1.

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CleverTap and Braze have taken the lead in the first two polls, showcasing community preferences. Make your vote count! Check out the full article <https://lnkd.in/dKCfTH2W> and join the voting here <https://lnkd.in/duJ_dMEs>.

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If you want to understand more about the Indian startup and venture ecosystem, then the best place to start is the "Indus Valley Report" by Sajith Pai, Anurag Pagaria and Nachammai Savithiri R of Blume Ventures - https://lnkd.in/gj-7hjGq You can expect lots of insights about India's GDP, consumption by different types of customers in India, Digital Infra achievements, venture funding trends, Indian IPO market, and Indus Valley Playbook. My favorites in 2024 report 1. India123 - Slides 26-30 2. Storefront as a Service for Digital Native Brands - Slide 101 What do I expect in the 2025 report : How Indian startup and venture ecosystems are powering global Gen AI growth !!!

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📢 Is a fan equal to a stale vegetable? Zepto's chatbot surely thinks so! 😂 When I ordered some veggies and reported them as stale, Zepto asked me to upload a photo. I uploaded a photo of a fan, and to my surprise, I got the refund! 🎉 Zepto, a top player in quick commerce, faced hilarious yet costly frauds where customers got refunds by submitting irrelevant images like fans instead of spoiled veggies 🥬 To address this issue, implementing AI-driven image recognition can help distinguish between genuine and fake claims, ensuring only legitimate refunds are processed. Check out the full case study and proposed solutions here: Zepto Customer-Led Frauds https://lnkd.in/guNaf3xs Zepto #AI #FraudPrevention #Innovation #CustomerService #TechSolutions

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To my fellow startup founders: this is honestly the best article on PMF I have ever come across: https://lnkd.in/d-ABgq2e Thanks again for reminding me of this gem Melinda Elmborg!

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From scaling Apollo.io to $1B+ to building Product Growth to 140K subscribers, I've learned one thing: Real growth happens in real conversations. India, let's create those moments together 🇮🇳 DELHI NCR: • Event with topmate.io (Nov 16, 6 PM onwards) Zero to Scale: Frameworks Behind Growth Curated for: - Enterprise product strategists - Growth-focused founders - Scale-up leadership teams • Event with HelloPM (Nov 17, 3 PM onwards) Product Insights + Live Q&A Experience Designed for: - Senior product leaders - Strategic growth architects - Innovation drivers BENGALURU: • Creators Meetup (Nov 19, 7 PM onwards) Building in Public: From Content to Community Perfect for: - Strategic content architects - Community visionaries - Monetization strategists • Leaders Meetup (Nov 20, 7 PM onwards) Beyond Frameworks: Real Product Stories Exclusive for: - Product leadership teams - Strategic decision makers - Innovation catalysts MUMBAI: • ProductTank Fireside (Nov 23, 11 AM onwards) Growth Playbooks: From Vision to Impact Crafted for: - Enterprise growth leaders - Product strategists - Scaling specialists The Experience: • Intimate leadership discussions • Strategic growth frameworks • Enterprise scaling insights • Vision-to-execution playbooks Limited seats - for focused, high-impact conversations. Share your city below for exclusive access

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