Ravi Subramanian’s Post

Today, I find myself reflecting on the news of Koo's closure with a mix of emotions. As an entrepreneur, it's always disheartening to see a homegrown platform like #Koo, which aimed to revolutionize social networking in India, shut down. Their vision to provide a multilingual platform for self-expression was truly inspiring. Koo's journey, marked by its resilience and innovation, serves as a powerful reminder of the entrepreneurial spirit that drives us all. Despite facing immense challenges and a prolonged funding winter, Koo managed to secure over $60 million in funding and garnered attention from high-profile investors like Tiger Global and Accel. Their rise to popularity during a crucial period of tension between Twitter and the Indian government showcased their ability to seize opportunities and adapt swiftly. Koo's expansion to Brazil and their commitment to adhering to local regulations further demonstrated their dedication to creating a compliant and user-friendly platform. While the end of Koo's journey is a poignant moment, we must celebrate their contributions and the lessons they've imparted. Their story underscores the importance of perseverance, adaptability, and the relentless pursuit of innovation. To Aprameya Radhakrishna, Mayank Bidawatka, and the entire #KooTeam – your efforts and vision have left an indelible mark on the Indian tech landscape. As we continue to push the boundaries of what's possible, let's draw inspiration from Koo's journey and strive to create more groundbreaking solutions for our diverse and dynamic market. Here's to new beginnings and the unwavering spirit of Indian entrepreneurship! #IndianStartups #KooApp

Ola Cabs founder Bhavish Aggarwal took to X today to give his 2 cents on the recent shutdown of the Indian microblogging site, Koo. He said although indigenous startups are needed, the originality of the idea must be prioritised. He added that replicating existing ideas won't lead to success. “Sad to see what happened with Koo. We need Indian social platforms but recreating what already exists won’t get us there.” Aggarwal wrote on X. He added that stating that replicating existing ideas won't lead to success. Aggarwal also expressed his belief that the future of social platforms will be open and based on DPI principles but noted that this alone may not be sufficient. Aggarwal added, “I believe future of social is going to be open and based on DPI principles. But as @joinmastodon shows, that alone will not be enough. Any thoughts?” Social media users are reacting positively to Aggarwal’s suggestion and critique of Koo and similar Indian startups. One user wrote: “Absolutely. Good products need to being good value to retain users. People will not always support something just because it is Indian. It is deep rooted within us to opt for something international. Because in our minds imported = better.” Another user commented, “Echo chambers & copy paste jobs are not the solution. There needs to be innovation.” A third user replied: “rather we need influence over the current platforms and Indian sovereign wealth funds or something alike to invest heavily into these companies not just as a investment but also as to gain influence in boards.” #startuppedia #koo #twitter #ola #olacabs #failedstartup #startup #startupnews

Koo's Journey from ₹2,260 crores to Shutdown After a whirlwind journey, Indian microblogging app Koo is shutting down. Launched as India's answer to Twitter, Koo faced a rocky road and ultimately couldn’t navigate the storm. Founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, Koo was backed by giants like Accel and Tiger Global and last valued at ₹2,260 crores. Despite raising over ₹545 crores, the app couldn't sustain the momentum. The app struggled to secure additional funding since last year. It explored potential mergers with companies like Dailyhunt, but talks fell through. "The prolonged funding of winter got the better of us," said Radhakrishna and Bidawatka. They emphasized the need for aggressive, long-term, and patient capital to bring their vision to life. What’s Next: Koo still has digital assets like cloud credits, which may be sold to potential buyers. Even companies with high valuations can face shutdowns if funds aren't managed wisely. Koo's story highlights the importance of sustainable growth and prudent financial management. Key Takeaway: It's crucial to use funding effectively, ensuring long-term viability over short-term gains. Focus on building a resilient business model that can weather financial storms. What are your thoughts on the rise and fall of Koo? Do you think there's still room for a homegrown social media app in India? Drop your comments below! 👇 #Startups #TechNews #Koo #SocialMedia #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #IndiaTech

How Reddit, Inc. reach compares to #facebook, #YouTube, #Instagram, #TikTok, #Snapchat, #Twitter, #LinkedIn 👉 Is it time to establish your brand on #Reddit? 👇 📸 Statista v/ Segundo Ramos #SocialMedia #Marketing #innovation #tech #IPO #success #entrepreneur #startup #VC #VentureCapital

Who would invest in founders who have wasted $50M? Koo, an Indian microblogging platform, recently shut shop after raising $50M in capital. Everyone has their views on why Koo failed. IMO, the biggest reason behind its failure was a lack of PMF (Product Market Fit). Koo spent much money on marketing and didn’t build a product people wanted. It kept harping on nationalism, a Twitter for Indians, made in #India. This approach failed. However, this doesn’t mean Koo’s founders aren’t smart or intelligent. I wrote in an earlier post that we shouldn’t be surprised if Koo’s founders raise fresh capital for a new startup. To many of us, this might seem grossly unfair. Millions of smart, hardworking founders are struggling to raise capital while investors are backing failed founders who have wasted millions of dollars. How is that fair? It confirms the widely held belief that the #venturecapital industry is broken and corrupt where a few people with the right connections get all the capital while others don’t see a dime. It shows that the VC industry is a closed group, a cabal where who you know matters more than anything. While these are just complaints, most people who criticise VCs don’t understand how startup investing works. VCs welcome failures. They embrace them because they know failures are inevitable. When VCs invest in 20 #startups, they know 15 will fail. The goal is to invest in startups that can give them a 100x return. Failures are part of the game. They are unavoidable. The aim is to back founders who can build such 100x return companies. Hence, failures are not looked down upon in the VC industry. It’s similar to the American culture where society appreciates the people who take risks, and it easily accepts personal bankruptcies that result from this risk-taking approach. There’s no taboo in failing in the USA and the VC industry. I’m sure Koo’s founders have learnt from their mistakes. It’s an expensive mistake and not everyone is so lucky to have this luxury to spend $50M on their education. ;) However, most VCs will back Koo’s #founders because these founders know how to raise capital and they know how to not build and scale tech companies. Their past failures have improved their chances of future success. In the VC industry, Failure is Good.

Are all startup founders on Instagram? What's your guess?? 💤 Yes... We found out that most of the startup founders are indeed on Instagram. Not just the early-stage ones, those with just an idea to those running ₹5 cr+ turnover businesses are active on Instagram too! Our recent reel went viral on Instagram 🔥 We got a mind-blowing response on our reel from founders with over 330k+ views, 5000 comments, and 250+ story mentions. We have given 12-months Swipe's premium subscription for free to hundreds of startup founders who commented on our reel and met the eligibility criteria. That's worth more than ₹7.5 lakh giveaway. We are not done yet. We have kept the campaign live till 30th April 2024, so if you haven't commented yet and got your free subscription, it is time you do it now! It was super fun, as I interacted with many founders over Instagram DM's and learned more about their startups. Some had really a creative way to catch our attention. At a point in time, it was too overwhelming to reply to everyone as only two of us were managing this campaign. But we made sure no comment was missed. This was our full-time work, 24x7, day and night. We enjoyed every bit. Their appreciation and gratitude really touched us! We're always here to help them in their startup journey. Here are a few comments by founders on our reel! Have a look. Reel link: https://lnkd.in/g_8dYtZ9 #startups #founders #swipebilling #free #instagram #reel #viral #india Swipe (YC S21)

This post is a great example of BS in the purest form. Read it carefully so you can recognise it later. Not taking anything away from founders of Koo and their experiences. Failure is indeed extremely valuable. I hope and pray that they succeed this time. If they have a good idea, the odds will be in their favour. So help them god. But to say that this particular incident doesn’t confirm the value of relationships and connections in the VC ecosystem and the game of fundraising is just false equivalence and intellectual dishonesty. It’s a lie. A total falsehood. A good point to ponder would be why this gentleman would write multiple posts to deny that personal relationships indeed affect fundraising trajectories. Is it not logical that VC investing has a lot to do with betting on people you can TRUST, and personal relationships make it easier on that on that front? VC investing is essentially betting on people. Would it not be obvious for a VC to trust and assess a person he personally knows, or someone who’s coming through a great referral, than someone who comes off as a complete stranger? Yes, it is obvious. And that’s how it happens in majority of the cases. Yet the author knowingly writes such BS, to posture VC investing as a meritocracy. Probably to gain some respectability amongst the larger audience as an intellect of some kind. A “thought leader”. But refuting something crystal clear and obvious to do that? Giving young founders a blatant misdirection? That’s terrible. A good message, in business and in life, is to always focus on relationships. Nothing compounds like good relationships that grow over time. This fact obviously is glaringly obvious in VC investing, but it works in all businesses and industries quite equally. Obviously, your relationships can’t be substitutes for good work. So efforts in doing “good work” should be sacrosanct. But anyone who says that relationships don’t matter, is flat out lying and peddling intellectual dishonesty. Never forget that. As I said in the beginning, this post may be the perfect example of BS. Read it carefully so you can recognise it later.

The recent 𝘀𝗵𝘂𝘁𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗞𝗼𝗼 after raising $𝟲𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 raises a critical question: 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲? Despite significant potential and government support, Indian social media, search, and e-commerce ventures face considerable challenges. The most prominent challenges I have seen as a founder myself are : 📍 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗚𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀: -> International platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have deep roots in India, offering extensive features and seamless user experiences. -> Local alternatives like Chingari and TakaTak emerged after TikTok's ban but struggled to maintain user engagement. -> Koo, seen as India's alternative to Twitter, faced financial difficulties and couldn't retain a critical mass of active users. 📍 𝗘-𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲: -> Amazon and Flipkart dominate the Indian market with extensive logistics networks and vast product ranges. -> Indian e-commerce ventures often lack the infrastructure and financial resources to compete, making it hard to gain significant market share. 📍 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥&𝗗: -> Chinese tech giants invest heavily in R&D, leading to continuous innovation. -> Indian companies, despite being innovative, often struggle with lower R&D budgets and less advanced technology, hampering their ability to stay competitive. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀? Well, some strategies that I believe can do wonders for these companies are: 📌 Focus on creating cutting-edge technology and innovation. 📌 Streamline policies and provide direct support for tech companies. 📌 Prioritize user-friendly interfaces and continuous improvement. 📌 Learn from global leaders and tailor strategies to local and international markets. 📌 Provide seed funding to innovative startups. 📌 Invest in companies prioritizing research and development. My heart goes out to the Koo team, especially Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka. The news of Koo's discontinuation is a stark reminder of the challenges we face in the startup world. Koo's journey was nothing short of impressive. Achieving a 10% like ratio, 7-10 times that of Twitter, is a testament to their innovative approach and deep understanding of the Indian market. To come so close to surpassing a global giant in their home turf is an achievement worth celebrating. But beyond the numbers, I can only imagine the passion, late nights, and sacrifices that went into building Koo. Every founder pours their heart and soul into their venture, and seeing it come to an end is undoubtedly heart-wrenching. How can Indian tech companies leverage their unique strengths and cultural insights to create a competitive edge against global giants? #entreprenuers #startup #koo

The most common mistake startups make. Not understanding the power of incumbents. Merely offering a superior product or technology is not enough. - At its peak, Koo saw 2.1 million daily active users and about 10 million monthly active users. Firstly, Koo underestimated the power of incumbency, said Singh. “Twitter might have ‘wild’ user-generated content, but it also has a critical mass of users and established network effects. To be honest, people go where the people are. - Focusing solely on tech edge wasn’t enough to lure users away,” she said. Secondly, Koo’s “build it and they will come” strategy proved naive. Thirdly, their funding woes highlight the double-edged sword that VC funding is all about. Every startup has to solve a genuine problem that no incumbent is solving and ensure a UNIQUE product market fit. I feel sorry a genuine Indian initiative like Koo has been unsuccessful. But if other startups and even investors can draw learning from their efforts, it will help the ecosystem tremendously. Wish the Koo team all the best in their next adventure. https://lnkd.in/gE8CDK34