Vikrant Mehra

“What startups can learn from the edtech sector is that you have got to create a revenue model. Capital is no substitute for revenue. It should be used to create technology building blocks.. but you’ve got to generate revenue. And to generate revenue, you need to find a use case. People have been substituting capital for revenue generation, and that is where we are not seeing great success." Mohandas Pai, former CFO and Board Member of Infosys, chats with YourStory Media on how startups must focus on developing effective revenue models, especially with the edtech sector hitting troubled waters. Shradha Sharma Jarshad NK More below.

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V3 Ventures Deal Announcement: Creme Castle - A tech first driven assembly line bakery for Bharat! 🔥 While I was evaluating this file, a lot of people said - bakery? There are 100s of home bakers. How is this scalable? I would have agreed, until I met Pranjay Mittal, who brought innovation from IIT-D, FMS and CarDekho Group to his mom’s humble bakery in Noida. You might remember their Shark Tank episode where his mom famously said, “Main neend mein baking kar sakti hu” 😊 That passion is exactly what we want in founders! From a small bakery in Noida to now clocking monthly sales of over 1 Cr, Creme Castle is disrupting the $12.6 billion Indian bakery industry. 🎂 Here is why we invested… ✅Changing consumer behavior from mithai → cakes & desserts India is a land of festivals and no festival is complete without mithai. However, cakes & desserts are now taking center stage in these celebrations. as the Gen Z takes over. We all know India is trading up. So, there's a growing demand for Tiramisu in Tier 2 and 3. But, we’re lacking a player. ✅The Assembly Line Model: And, we need a player that’s standardized. The biggest problem with F&B is that when you order from the 2nd and 3rd outlet - the product isn’t as good. This is the most unique part of Creme Castle. Cakes are made in 3 components in a central kitchen - base (sponge), icing and customization. At spoke kitchen it’s only about putting these parts together - thus ensuring quality! ✅This industry is regionalized and heavily fragmented: Think about it, growing up, we all had cakes from our favorite local bakery. Every city has one, but when we moved for college or work - it wasn’t there. Cakes have a nostalgia factor associated with it and so making this change is hard. With all of this Creme Castle is can offer something India hasn’t seen before: - 100% customized cakes in just 2 hours - World's highest # of flavor profiles to choose from They have >10 Lakh loyal customers with a 60% repeat rate and we’re all geared up to expand from NCR to Jaipur and Chandigarh! We’re excited to back the mother-son duo of Veena and Pranjay to disrupt India’s cake market 🎂 What’s do you order cake? PS: Delhi-NCR folks, give us a try. Even available on Blinkit! #india #investment #startup #investor #entrepreneur

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🎙️ The First Episode of Venture Vibes is here! 🎙️ Excited to share my conversation with Amay Solanki as we deep dive into how leading Indian startups have navigated changing consumer trends. 🔊 Tune in for the full breakdown on how these startups transformed challenges into opportunities in a post-COVID world! ⚡ Bonus: I’ll be sharing cuts of the episode soon for quick, digestible learnings. 🎧 Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dhB52eya (Chapters available for easy viewing) 🎯 Stay tuned for the next episode—we're diving into the big question: What game-changing opportunities lie ahead for the next decade? #VentureVibes #StartupStories #ConsumerTrends #COVID #Zomato #Nykaa #Purplle #Mamaearth #BiryaniByKilo #VentureCapital #IndianStartups #Innovation #Podcast #ISB

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💔 From $22B in 2022 to ZERO today. The fall from grace of once the world’s most valuable Edtech startup and the froth that goes with growth at all costs. I shared an article from TechCrunch earlier this year of how investors were then valuing the company to be worth nothing. Now, the founder has come out and admitted that the enterprise he founded is worth ZERO. This is despite BYJU’s raising $200m early this year. Some crazy burn rates we are talking about here, not to mention all the liabilities that the company carries to fuel its growth ambition. Investment theses in tech companies, especially the Edutech ones, need a serious correction, along with other considerations like SAFEs “based on YC templates” offered by startups that operate in small markets and have never qualified to be YC candidates in the first place - I wonder if such founders are aware of whether these ‘SAFEs’ are safe for Who in the transaction. Yet, founders who have raised money from investors may have at one time or another, believed that their investors will back them up no matter what, when they were urged to go all out and all in to grow their enterprise, often at all costs. We could almost hear encouraging words like “don’t worry about burn, stay focused (on growth) and we will back you up all the way”, or in Chinese, that could sound like “敢敢去做,别担心。我们支持你”, and in BYJU’s case, “(The founder) alleged that many of his more than 100 investors had urged him to pursue aggressive expansion into as many as 40 markets. But, he added, those very investors got cold feet when global markets tumbled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sending the venture capital market into a downward spiral.” Thus, when investors back out (either for legitimate reasons or maybe they just didn’t trust the founders anymore), the deck falls and all sorts of instruments have to be called in to keep the company afloat. For BYJU’s, it was the rights issue to raise $200m this year, putting the company’s value to be $250m, from $22B just two years back. What then, is the problem here: Founder blindness? Founder arrogance? Investor frothiness? Promises broken? In any case, fingers will point, and lawsuits could fly in BYJU’s. For startup founders and business owners: - When is a suitable time to raise $? - And when they have raised the money, how should founders manage their investors and the $ they have in the bank? What are your thoughts on this? Eric Lam I help entrepreneurs scale for exit. I wrote 📙The Fast Founder: from Startup to Exit in 36 Months 📕. Delighted to have you connect with me on matters regarding startups, education & Gen-AI for the layman. #edtech #investing #fundraising #fallfromgrace #founders #accountability #investorrelations https://lnkd.in/g9TqTaHW

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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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V3 Ventures Deal Announcement: We just doubled down on Go Zero. Here’s the scoop on why: 1) The Market: When I said it the first time people said, “where’s the TAM (addressable market) for low cal zero sugar. The reality -  India is the “Diabetes Capital of the World”, with 140 million diabetics, 17% of the global population. This is totally relevant for these consumers. To add to this, the healthy population is growing and people are reading labels (credit to my friend Revant Himatsingka). I myself have been on a sugar-free for 5 But, even I crave something sweet now and then. And my go to is always - ice cream 🍦 2) Founder: There is energy and then there’s Kiran Shah! He hails from a family legacy of 50+ years in ice cream and invented one of India’s most famous ice cream innovations - the guava chilli flavor. Like me, he wanted to take his family legacy forward in a new way. Yes, maybe I’m biased to founders like him because they have a massive right to win! 3) Growth: I don’t say it often enough but, they’ve exceeded all expectations! 🍨 Grown >10x as a business  🍨 Expanded to 16 cities, 🍨 Grown 7X on quick commerce. 4) Product: In food, taste trumps everything. Over everything I absolutely love the product and so do most people who I make try it. And, the company has launched some of the most interesting flavors - from chocobar and nostalgic mango duets to a jamun sriracha pop! I remember negotiating the termsheet with Kiran the day after Aisha was born. Like her, we’ve come a long way since then :) Honored to re-invest with our partners DSG Consumer Partners and Saama. Let’s take this to the 🌙 PS - if you haven’t already - try my favorite flavor Mad Over Mango 🥭 . Available across Swiggy Zomato Zepto Blinkit and Instamart #GoZero #india #growth #fundraising

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Startup founders in India, I need your input. We're facing significant hurdles with the Google Play Store review process for our app, Queo Health. Current situation: App stuck in review for almost a month Zero feedback from Google Multiple unanswered support tickets 3-month delay in our app launch This lack of communication is severely impacting our business timeline and plans. Despite Google's promise of 48-72 hour response times, we've been waiting for weeks. Questions for the community: Has anyone else experienced such lengthy review times recently? What strategies have you used to get a response from Google Play support? How are you managing the uncertainty in your release schedules? Let's share experiences and solutions. Perhaps together I can find a way to navigate these challenges. #GooglePlayStore #AppReview #StartupChallenges #TechSupport #MobileDevelopment

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Not many people know the amount of focus we have on Tech at GGI. I am part of a generation in which Edtech has a bad name. I genuinely think the honest objective with which Edtech started has been lost somewhere in the rounds of #funding, exits, youtubers bashing each other game. Edtech was started to ensure the child without books, infrastructure or desk studies realizes her full potential - because of the power of internet. In a world where majority of Edtech are now investing in offline centres -(too much on the name of Edtech). We at GGI are continously building larger and purposeful technology to teach #Reimagined Management and Public Policy to those who are in the remotest corner of not just India but the globe. It's been 4 years since we are building and rebuilding #TheTrinity by GGI (link in comment). It hosts few of the top masterclasses by legendary CEOs and Chairman on our internal platform (BlackRock Asia Chairman, McKinsey & Company Global CEO, BCG Chairman etc). And I always tell our scholars to not do Netflix and chill. Replace it with Trinity and chill while at GGI. Why ? Because getting entertained is easy but getting educated is tough. I am very proud of the tech interns who have contributed to our mission to only later join Google, Bain and Amazon. Hence to bring Edtech on the main map again- We need players who are focussed on mission and not driven by IRRs or short term investor game. (nothing wrong with investors if you can stay true to your long term mission). And we at GGI are proud to be contributing to India's 🇮🇳 Management and Policy #Education story with one Good Tech at a time!

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{New pod 🎤} "𝐆𝐓𝐌 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐔𝐒-𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐁2𝐁 𝐒𝐚𝐚𝐒 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬" This episode explores GTM strategies and learnings for US-India B2B SaaS startups. We cover everything from finding design partners in the US, scoping MVPs, figuring out what ICP to focus on, navigating the unique challenges of early PMF, GTM hiring in the US, and finally, working towards creating M&A exit options. Joining me for this discussion is Satya Ganni, an experienced SaaS founder and operator who has successfully built and sold five companies and led two acquisitions as a buyer. He is currently serving as CEO of Beamer and Userflow. Beamer is developing a cutting-edge product-led growth toolkit tailored to product leaders at SaaS and digital-first companies. They recently acquired Userflow to augment the business. TIME STAMPS: (01:15) Satya’s journey as a repeat US-India SaaS founder and operator (04:38) [Case Study: 0-to-1] Finding US design partners (11:09) Scoping B2B SaaS MVPs (15:42) [Case Study: $10k-100k ARR] Identifying which ICP to focus on - SMB vs mid-market vs enterprise (22:23) [Case Study: $100k-$1Mn ARR] Navigating the unique challenges of early PMF (27:18) [Case Study: $1-5Mn ARR] Building a US leadership team post-PMF (34:33) [Case Study: $5-20Mn ARR] Working towards creating M&A exit options  (38:46) Learning to become a proactive relationship builder YouTube - https://lnkd.in/guGQeBwA Spotify - https://lnkd.in/gAg7XeF4 Apple Podcasts - https://lnkd.in/gkYEDpED An Operator's Blog - https://lnkd.in/ggGbzSKY

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#SaaSeries2: Freshworks Q2 FY24 Results. Here are the key highlights: - Total customers in Q2 FY24 grew by 4% to 68.8K YOY. - Customers with ARR >USD 5K grew by 14% YOY, accounting for 90% of the ARR. - Customers with ARR > USD 50K grew by 30% YOY, making up 50% of the ARR. In terms of key metrics: - Revenue saw a 20% growth to 174 Mn in Q2 FY24, with the US market contributing 45%. The growth was also driven by acquisition of Device42 signaling the saturation in US market for key offerings. - Net Dollar Retention stands at 106%. - #ACV is at #USD10K, while the gross margin remains high at 85%. - #FCF USD 32.8 Mn in Q2 FY 24 Few observations: 1) The #Enterprise segment is the fastest-growing, maintaining its trend QoQ. 2) The #SMB segment, constituting ~10%, is critical for expansion despite being the least growing segment. Special focus areas include #GenAI solutions like #Freddycopilot and #Freshchat, with a 40% attachment rate, aimed at enhancing #agentproductivity. #SaaS #GenAI #Freshworks #SaaSUnicorn #AIagents #AIAssistants #conversationintelligence #venturecapital #privateequity #investments

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𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩. Most often, founders of early-stage startups feel that it is too early for them to start defining culture for their company. They feel that culture is something that needs to be built when the company matures. However, in this insightful session that Sandeep Sinha conducted for our portfolio companies, he emphasised the need and importance of creating a culture right at the onset of an entrepreneurial journey and at the very beginning of a startup's life. Read a summary of this insightful session on this link https://bit.ly/3ZRoYHv Sandeep Sinha Pankaj Bansal (पंकज बंसल) Karann Mittal

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Very often, early stage founders talk about "shortly launching our app". During a convo with Vikul Goyal of Bimaplan, we discussed better options to "launching an app" Indian consumer behaviour suggests that unless your app delivers your core business proposition (game, content streaming, ecomm catalogue, etc), or customers open 2+ times EVERY week, the use case for an app is weak. An app isn't just about compiling the .apk file or getting it approved on the play store. The real cost of an app is getting users to download it, install it, update it, and make sure they don't uninstall it. What's the alternative? Unless your customer *needs* to open your app more than twice a week, you should be making a WhatsApp bot as your first customer facing UI. Indians have taken to chat (like most other consumers globally), and taking advantage of consumer behaviour shifts is the path of least resistance and lowest CAC for startups. 1) Buying Metro tickets in India on whatsapp is seamless 2) ICICI support on whatsapp is fast Can you think of at least a few apps that should have instead been a WhatsApp bot? #startups #entrepreneurship #venturecapital

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Just a few short years ago, Ed-Tech was a golden space with unicorns galore and mammoths growing faster than ever. Crazy bullish outlooks on the sector propelled investment and marketing burns. The firms hired entire armies, and for a while there, it seemed like they were unstoppable! . . Cut to today, the picture looks a lot different, doesn't it? A few things I learned when I look back... 1—Just because you got funded doesn't mean you need to increase your marketing budgets wildly. 2—Re-consider expanding headcount 10 times or even 20 times before creating that JD and rolling it out. Maybe the money would be better spent improving your product features. 3—The externality-driven tail winds (like COVID) will fizzle out. What is your real "right to win" needs to be identified and obsessed over. 4—The acquisition game is fierce, and a cap-out is inevitable. How you leverage your acquired pool of customers and delight them is what will set you apart. 5- No fancy app or sponsoring magnificent offline events can replace "Trust" in any sector. Especially in a sector like Ed-tech where futures are at stake , drilling down on "trust" is a non-negotiable. What do you think went wrong in Ed-tech and what should new-age Ed-tech startups focus on to learn from history? #edtech #startuplessons #buildingbrands

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🚀 Swiggy Set to Make Waves with ₹11,300 Crore IPO: Key Details and Market Implications 🌐 Swiggy, India's food delivery giant, is set to go public with an IPO launching on November 6, 2024, aiming to raise around ₹11,327 crore (~$1.35B). Shares will be priced at ₹371-₹390 each (around $4.64), with trading expected to start on November 13, 2024. IPO Highlights: Price Range: ₹371-₹390 per share Funds Allocation: Expanding logistics and quick commerce operations This IPO is launching amidst rising tech-driven competition in India’s market. By securing capital, Swiggy plans to advance its quick commerce capabilities, aiming to gain a strategic edge over competitors like Zomato. Market Impact: Swiggy’s IPO offers a unique investment opportunity with strong growth potential, balancing between established dominance in food delivery and quick commerce expansion. Investor Insight: With a grey market premium around ₹25, sentiment is optimistic. As Swiggy steps into the public sphere, it's poised to redefine India's fast-paced delivery ecosystem. #IPO #SwiggyIPO #Investment https://lnkd.in/eyHRRPXh

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Merak MeetStreet in Gurgaon was one for the books! 💯 Reflecting on our journey with MeetStreet, we've now hosted 5 events across 5 different cities, shortlisting 52 businesses from a large pool of registrations. Each edition has highlighted the innovative spirit of early-stage founders, yet some challenges resonate universally. A few key hurdles we've observed: ➡️ Hiring: The first few hires are crucial lifelines for any business. Founders often find this process daunting as these early team members can significantly influence the trajectory of the business. Are there any firms (or even better, early-stage businesses) that specialise in assisting with these critical early hires across multiple functions? ➡️ Working Capital & Supply Chain Financing: A perennial challenge for businesses (more so, B2B ones), which we have observed getting mitigated with time (and scale). Despite its importance, solutions remain limited for early-stage companies. Founders, how have you navigated this tightrope? ➡️ Tech Roadmap & Development: For non-tech founders, establishing a tech foundation can feel like navigating unchartered waters. Until you find a permanent tech co-founder, where do you start? Are there any consultants who specialise in guiding early-stage startups? ➡️ Fundraising: The classic conundrum! It's often why many founders attend MeetStreet, hoping to unlock funding opportunities. But let's face it, early-stage fundraising might be more of an art than a science. How are you creatively approaching fundraising beyond the traditional VC route? MeetStreet isn't only about funding; it's about building a community where founders can share insights & explore solutions together. The learnings from these sessions have been tremendous & there's so much more to uncover as we continue this journey with many more gatherings to come. ✨ Merak Ventures #VentureCapital #Business #Startups #India #EarlyStage #Founders #MerakMeetStreet #VC

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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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Co-lead a workshop (with Sumathi my business partner and Komal lath of Tute Consult) on branding and communication and why/how its' strategic & important for the portfolio companies of an early stage growth focused PE fund in Mumbai this noon. very interactive session. lots of takeaways. one of the biggest benefits of doing such workshops with founders and CXOs of growth companies is that you get to first hand understand their pain points and priorities. which makes you realize there is a long road ahead laden with great opportunity for those in PR & comms if we take off our hats and look at it from their perspective.

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Sow Seeds of Financial Abundance At ODIGITAL Startup Drivers, we know that investing in early-stage, high-growth, technology-driven startups is a proven way of sowing seeds of future financial abundance and wealth. This is an asset class that delivers great returns on investment (ROI) for stakeholders and has consistently outperformed hyperinflation and local currency weaknesses in global markets. We have partnered with Tekedia Capital to give you the opportunity to co-invest a minimum of $250 in their early-stage, technology startup investment deals. We have an ongoing investment round that will close on November 10, with a rigorously selected group of 15 of the world's best investment deals. And you have the opportunity to get your equity in any of these ventures and position yourself for future profitable exits. These ventures operate in varied sectors and markets such as B2B Commerce for African fashion, B2B Export for Africa, AI operating systems for chemical manufacturing, construction, property management, hardware design, insurance infrastructure with carriers license, supply chain management, medical billing as well as AI Infrastructure for non Nvidia Chips and Quantum Chip design, Diversified global investing for Indians, global payments for travellers in China and South East Asia and Stablecoin based remittance. If you want to join us to sow seeds that will deliver a future of financial abundance and wealth for you and your generations, then hurry and connect with us via any of the options below to get started. * Send me a direct message * Email - [email protected] * Click - https://lnkd.in/dHd8K9ZN - to join our WhatsApp group. Share and repost for the benefit of your network. And follow me for more posts like this.

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Profitability vs Growth: Which Way Should a Startup Go? When we first started Urvann, there was little data available on gardening trends, and very few brands were doing anything significant in this space. Like any other startup, we grappled with the question of whether to focus on growth or profitability. Our initial priority was to determine if our product had the right market fit. To do that, we needed customer feedback—fast. We knew it wouldn’t help if, after a year, we realized we have created a business no one needs, so we went all in on growth. Yes, this meant spending heavily on customer acquisition and marketing, but it gave us the data we needed to understand how big the market was, how much people loved plants, and whether we were solving a real problem. What we discovered was that delivering fresh, local plants directly to customers was a real need, and people were more than willing to pay for this service. This was our eureka moment—a clear sign that we had found PMF. Now, as we continue to grow, our focus has shifted. It’s not just about acquiring more customers but ensuring we maintain unit economics that lead to profitability. While rapid growth is crucial in the early stages to refine your offering and validate PMF, the key to sustainable success is steady growth combined with providing a great customer experience that retains those early adopters. Grow fast. Scale smart. 🌿 #startupgrowth #profitability #productmarketfit #entrepreneurjourney #Urvann #gardening PS This one is from our early days, when we used to conduct lot of online workshops to speak directly to our customers, and understand their pain points better.

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