Sourav Kumar Sinha

A common problem among all PMs today⬇️ A recent feature update by Zomato sparked the debate on whether features should be launched at whims and fantasies of our stakeholders or should there be a data backed need for it!!🛠️ Let me know your thoughts in comments ✅ #productmanagement #features #zomato

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Okay, I might be a bit late to the party, but Swiggy, Zomato and Zepto's new hidden bill UI? Not a fan. A couple of weeks ago, they started rolling this out, and now, instead of seeing the full breakdown of delivery fees, GST, platform charges, and other fees upfront, all we get is the final amount. But now, if you want a clear breakdown of the bill, you’ve got to hunt it down by clicking the 'expand' button. ⬇ I get it, a cleaner interface, less clutter, but at what cost? Now, let’s talk about the real kicker. These days, if I want to order 1 kg of tomatoes from Zepto, I’m paying ₹120 for the tomatoes... but guess what? That ₹120 probably includes GST, plus a delivery fee and platform charges that could cost more than the tomatoes themselves 🍅🥴! At this point, the product cost is just a garnish to the extra charges. But hey, no worries, all those fees are neatly tucked away behind the “expand” button! Because nothing screams “trustworthy” like hiding the fine print, right? I’d be lying if I said seeing the breakdown would’ve always convinced me to walk down to the grocery store . But hey, at least it would've made me think twice! Who knows, maybe, just maybe, there would've been that one rare occasion where I’d actually grab my shoes and go. 🏃‍♀️ Sure, these fees might not break the bank, but hiding them feels a bit shady. A little more honesty and transparency in the UI would go a long way. Why not display the full details upfront, or at least make the 'breakdown of charges' option more visible, instead of hiding it behind another click? 🤷‍♂️ It’s not just about the money, it’s about trust. If you’re charging me delivery and platform fees, I want to see exactly what I’m paying for, without having to go on a treasure hunt. Is that too much to ask? 😅 #Swiggy #Zepto #Zomato #HiddenFees #UIUXDesign #TransparencyMatters #CustomerExperience #FoodDelivery #TechRant #UserExperience #DigitalTransparency

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Why wouldn’t you, Swiggy ? An agent makes 5-10 rupees per Quick delivery order on average. In cases where you app picks the wrong location for an address (happens often), the agent looses time and incurs additional cost. Multiply that with the volume of quick delivery orders. I offered the agent a tip on his personal QR scanner and he refused. You should scale the “tip” feature to instamart as well. #productmanagement #pmf

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Is PW really in trouble? I don't think so. But why? 1. Just because you're making a loss doesn't mean you're not on the right track. For instance, Zomato was operating at a loss from 2008 until Q1 of 2023. Expanding into new categories requires capital. 2. Indians take time to adopt new products. Online education wasn’t a part of our roots; it only started to gain traction in 2016, whereas offline education has been integral to Indian society for centuries. We need to give edtech at least 20 years to yield significant results. I firmly believe that every edtech company that survives the next five years will be profitable. 3. Growth itself is a roller coaster ride, you can't go linear every time. So, Enjoy your job if you are in Edtech, You are learning to navigate through the tough times. #edtech #pw #hiring

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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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💡 Do you want to become a Product Manager at top companies? Here’s what Kirti Gupta, who has worked as a Product Manager in consumer tech companies like Blinkit, Cardekho, and Flip, shares the top 3 things these companies look for when hiring Product Managers: 1️⃣ User empathy: The ability to deeply understand users' pain points and craft solutions around them is key. Companies want to see how well you relate to and solve real user problems. 2️⃣ Mock interview practice: Each company has different interview formats, so the only way to prepare is to solve a variety of problems. Mock interviews are your best friend! 3️⃣ Non-linear thinking: Learn about new technologies and use insights from different industries to apply them to your own product. #productmanagement #productmanager #jobs #jobhunt #interviewtips

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🚨 Making of a billion-dollar exit 💰 Accel has sold shares worth over $300 mn in Freshworks over the last 12 months, according to research done by The Arc The VC firm had not sold any shares during the IPO in 2021. It still holds over 13% stake in the Nasdaq-listed company 👨‍💻 The returns on this will be a multi-bagger for Accel 🤑 Series A entry price - $0.05 a share Current price - $18.44 a share Accel's average price increased as it participated in follow-up rounds. More 👇 #venturecapital #software #saas #freshworks #accel #vc #exits #returns https://lnkd.in/g65TbjGR

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Wondering if Splitwise Inc. should re-evaluate its Pro subscription, currently priced at INR 149/month (INR 999/year) Here is pricing for a few other popular subscriptions in India: Netflix at INR 149/month (Mobile) Swiggy One at INR 75/month (starting) JioCinema at INR 999/year Assuming that primary target segment of Splitwise Inc. is bachelors, either in college or recently employed, is current pricing really the most optimal? Splitwise Inc. has 100M+ downloads on Android, so clearly it has resonated well with users However, recent reviews on Android play store show that users are not willing to convert to customers at current pricing. And they dislike the daily limits and Ads What can Splitwise Inc. do? Not to overstep, but I can think of a few things: 1) re-evaluate pricing - while revenue per customer will go down but more customers and hence higher overall revenue may make up for it (there are services such as Licious that ask for nominal subscription fee, offer significant value in return and keep you hooked) 2) offer group plans - splitting expenses is a group thing, why keep plans for individuals (not straightforward but can be worked out) 3) communicate benefits better - currently "Unlimited expenses" seem to be the only perceptible benefit, value of rest of the benefits can be communicated better (if users indeed see those as benefits) PS: all of this is based on very high level assumptions #product #monetization #pricing #subscription

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It happened way sooner than I predicted. Bootstrapper mindset is the new default: > small & efficient teams > organic growth & profitability > less features & more focus > pleasing the users instead of investors > automating is better than hiring This will happen next: Investors still want to own equity in these companies. - bootstrapped founders will be selling their equity instead of raising money for the startup - Someone who makes a marketplace for secondaries in bootstrapped (or VC backed, who don't plan to raise again) will make a huge upside. - The rev-share models will surge, too, where investors won't buy equity but a % of the revenue. - These secondaries will even turn into NFT-like tradable assets. - Indie Makers will sell rev-share of their entire output. Not the company, but them as an individual. Imagine owning 1% of rev share of everything that Marc Loe, Pieter Levels or other good makers produce (not for life, e.g. for 5 years). - VC money (unless u need to buy GPUs) will rather look negative on a startup than positive. YC will still be positive. It's not about the money, but rather a network and a "medal". - Startup incubators will collapse as a business model, except top 1%. Being on X brings 100x more value than any average incubator. - Holdcos will be the best new way to become rich. I see them as little monopolies that aren't illegal (for now). - Influencers will all ship lots of apps, sites, saas, marketplaces and other digital products (in addition to physical products, courses, events and things they did in the past). - the bar to build and ship tech product is so low, one need no coding skills at all with tools like V0, Bolt, Replit, Cursor. At first we will see simple products being shipped this way, but it complexity will grow as the models improve. - whitelabel model will have it's new renaissance. I bet on it myself. Have more than 10 partners working with me now to launch whitelabeled version of my tools to other markets or niches. Let's revisit this prediction in 20 months.

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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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In Q1 FY25, Zomato and Swiggy highlighted their contrasting growth paths. Here's a breakdown: 1. Zomato   - Revenue: ₹4,206 Cr (up by 18%)   - Profit: ₹253 Cr (up by 44%)   - Blinkit Revenue: ₹942 Cr (up by 22.5%) 2. Swiggy   - Revenue: ₹3,222 Cr (up by 34.8%)   - Loss: ₹611 Cr (up by 8.3%)   - Instamart Revenue: ₹374 Cr (up by 108%) While Zomato is showing significant gains in both revenue and profitability, Swiggy’s high revenue growth in Instamart stands out, even as losses rise. The competitive landscape continues to evolve, with each player focusing on different avenues for growth. #ZomatoVsSwiggy #Q1FY25 #FoodTech #QuickCommerce #IndianStartups

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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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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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Hey PMs, Zepto added Vicks Drops to carts for free. But why? 🤔 The Cart Product Manager at Zepto must have targeted the below metrics 👇 1. Customer Retention & Loyalty: Free samples enhance shopping experiences, fostering repeat purchases. 2. Average Order Value (AOV): Increased perceived value nudges customers to add more items. 3. Conversion Rate: Free items can push hesitant shoppers to complete purchases. 4. Product Awareness: Introduces new products cost-effectively. Why it Works: 1. Promotional Partnerships: Leveraging brand collaborations to add value. 2. User Engagement: Surprising customers with freebies creates positive experiences. 3. Inventory Management: Efficient way to clear stock and promote new items. Kindly ensure it enhances user experience without being intrusive. 📈 What's the takeaway for you ? Let's discuss! Have you implemented similar strategies? Share your thoughts! 💬👇 #ProductManagement #Ecommerce #CustomerExperience #GrowthHacking #Metrics #UserEngagement

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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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Zomato vs Swiggy war is getting intense! In the last 2 months, both Zomato and Swiggy have rolled out really great features Below is a compilation of some of the new features: Zomato / Blinkit [1] 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 Schedule your order beforehand so that it doesn’t get missed out when you are in a meeting [2] 𝗭𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀/𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 This is more like a new territory to capture wallet of discretionary spend from users’ pocket [3] 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 Share the link of your cart with friends and you can order together from the same account [4] 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 Could definitely help in improving the recommendations and restaurant search for a user [5] 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 (𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀) Pre-order your food and take away from restaurants [6] 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗭𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 This could help in increasing stickiness and some working capital to the company (though the amount could be small) [7] 𝗕𝘂𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗠𝗜 𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗥𝘀 2,999 This could help in driving high ticket items on the platforms, given that a lot of focus is on adding electronics, phones, etc. Swiggy [1] 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 10 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘀 Really good thing to do and much needed but many operational challenges could emerge from this [2] 𝗨𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 Add products to cart from handwritten notes or Whatsapp chats - seems really nice thing to have - definitely see merit at a personal level [3] 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗴𝗴𝘆 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝘁 Get food delivered from popular chains in 10 minutes [4] 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗻 Order food for your loved ones in India even if you are outside India (in 27 countries) [5] 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗴𝗴𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 Moved ‘Reorder’ CTA to the bottom Navbar - not that you couldn't reorder earlier but this reduces cognitive load for users Which one of these did you like the most? Liked this? Follow Vishal Bagla for more. #Zomato #Swiggy #Blinkit #ProductManagers Image credits: Finshots

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Stripe processed $1Trillion in 2023 and generated ~$17Bn in Revenue. PhonePe processed $1Trillion in 2023 and generated ~$350Mn in Revenue. Razorpay processed $150Bn in 2023 and generated ~ $273Mn in Revenue Large TAM is insufficient. Take rates matters. It defines how much value you can capture in a market. Stripe's TAM can technically be the US's GDP. PhonePe & RazorPays TAM can technically be India's GDP. And yet it's the take rates which influences revenues. Take rate is influenced by a variety of factors - competition, cost structures, regulation, value add etc. Understand what governs your market's take rate and not get biased only by TAM. #productmanagement #strategy #businessmodel

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The Cashback Strategy is Not Gonna Work Anymore! Here's why Remember the excitement surrounding GPay's launch and its cashback scratch cards? Feels like forever ago seeing the cashback, right? Back in 2017, the UPI market share looked like this: BHIM - 52%, PhonePe - 16%, Google Pay - 12%, Paytm - 4% Within a year, by 2018, here's how the market share changed: GPay - 39%, BHIM - 34%, PhonePe - 14%, Paytm - 6% It's all the transformation that happened because of the referral strategy and cashback offers; they played a significant role in GPay's user base growth in 2018. Referral incentives likely attracted new users, and cashbacks encouraged existing ones to make repeat transactions. So, the change in 2018. Now, CRED enters the market with the same strategy of cashback, coupons, and great ad concepts that are everywhere. Three and a half years later, this is the state today: PhonePe - 50%, GPay - 35%, Paytm - 9%, Cred - 1%, Others - 5% The reasons for Cred to be at that state of a bare 1%, even after providing great cashback, are multiple. Here are a few: ▶ Cred is only for users with more than 750 credit scores (top 5% of the Indian audience). ▶ Cred's UI is pretty complicated for regular users. ▶ Most of their users belong to India-1; they care about product efficiency, not cashback. If these are the reasons for Cred, here are the other reasons why cashback doesn't work anymore: ▶ Users value transaction success rate more than cashback. Users need the UPI which even works at very low signals; PhonePe is the name I hear often that it even works on 2G. ▶ It's hard to teach a new UI to India-2&3. Once they get used to the product, they don't like to change often because of trust issues. ▶ Indian 2&3 don't know much about coupons as they don't know these new brands, which is the major percentage in the market share. So, with all these points, isn't the Indian UPI market looking saturated? With these observations, do you think Jupiter has any scope of entering and making an impact on the market share? I don't think so. I will soon share a detailed analysis of why it's hard for Jupiter or any new platform to create a change in the UPI market. Liked the above read? Follow Chaitanya Athukuri for valuable insights in business and product management. #marketshare #referralstrategy #cashback #Cred #PhonePe #Paytm #credit score #UI #transaction #India #coupons #Jupiter #marketanalysis

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