StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
The subscription economy offers various products and services through a subscription-based model, providing value and convenience to consumers who can access a range of offerings with a single payment. It has expanded into various areas, including digital content, personal grooming, health, and education. This model has become increasingly popular in India, where consumers are looking for cost-effective and convenient ways to access products and services.
According to Statista, the global digital subscription economy was worth $650 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025.
For this Interview, we invited, Harshita Singh, Business Head of Times Prime and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the subscription economy.
StartupTalky: Ms Harshita Singh, please tell us about Times Prime. What was the motivation/vision behind it?
Harshita: A glimpse at your smartphone today will tell you just how many subscription-based services have pervaded our lives. Be it booking a cab, shopping, ordering food, or booking a table at a restaurant, there’s always an app for that. But at some point subscription fatigue has to become a real phenomenon right? This is where Times Prime, the super App from Times Internet, comes into play. Rapidly rising as one of the most preferred lifestyle super-apps, Times Prime offers an extensive range of benefits on a single platform, from shopping to entertainment and lifestyle, brands like Starbucks, Myntra, Uber, Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLIV, Google One, and many more. The idea is simple — instead of paying for different subscription services, pay for one and you can access all of these at once.
StartupTalky: What new services have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your service?
Harshita: To sustain this growth momentum, we will continue to launch exciting benefits and experiences that are valued by the transacting digital natives in the country. We also want to continually upgrade the app experience to better showcase the new categories and to enable discovery of the range of benefits. The beauty of a subscription offering is that people pay you for their own loyalty. As a platform that gives us a lot of leverage to be a launchpad for new subscriptions, D2C offerings, and ticketed events, thus resulting in monetization opportunities beyond the subscription paywall.
StartupTalky: How has the subscription economy changed in recent years, and how has Times Prime adapted to these changes?
Harshita: The subscription economy is growing worldwide. We have led the industry for 3 years and continued to do so last year by a far margin. Currently, we have a strong presence in the Online-To-Offline (OTO) space as some of Times Prime’s benefits and experience can only be enjoyed offline. One good example can be our Grooming & Well-being benefits. Similar to this, our members book curated Times Prime experiences & events like Purple Carpet, The Gourmet Table, History & Food Walks, Photography walks, offers on tea & coffee, and mixology sessions on the platform to enjoy them at some of the top venues with other members. We are seeing strong demand for this category and have a number of exclusive properties in the pipeline.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Harshita: We have had an exponential growth of 300% over the last 3 years. Renewals are one of the highest benchmarks, and the beauty of a subscription offering is that people pay you for their own loyalty, and we are happy with the increasing rate of renewals. Most of our early members are in their 3rd cycle with us.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges Times Prime faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
Harshita: The country was reeling with COVID last year. But it did not affect Times Prime as the bundle has great breadth and depth. We have a strong OTO portfolio with OTTs, e-commerce partners, and news & learning brands. Times Prime also introduced quite a few digital events for our members and after the first event response, we knew we were on the right track. Due to this, we had no negative impact in fact it had a positive impact on sales.
StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run Times Prime smoothly?
Harshita: Times Prime is part of the Times Internet Group of companies and this gives us access to in-house software and tools. These have given us quick access to data that is easily consumable across teams and functions.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen between India and the world?
Harshita: The world is shifting to a subscription economy and the same shift is now seen in India. India is a large and diverse country and your marketing tactics change state-wise as well as the size of a town. One shoe does not fit all.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, product, and team base in the future?
Harshita: The app has been seeing increasing demand from all regions in India. Over-the-top (OTT) and news content are consumed most often, along with services like cabs, restaurants, grooming, and curated events. Initially trying to get brands to buy into the concept was really difficult. But there is a flywheel that exists in bundles- good brands attract more good brands. We also deliver immense value to our partners – scale, user quality, and transactions, and that’s why they choose to be a part of Times Prime year after year.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with people reading this article who want to get into entrepreneurship.
Harshita: Identifying the Gap in the market is the most valuable advice to avoid misreading the market demand. Your idea should be profitable and aligned with your interests to grow.
We thank Harshita for spending her valuable time and sharing her learnings with all of us.
The EdTech industry has grown significantly in recent years as technology has become more widely available and more integrated into education. Edtech products and services are used in a variety of settings, including traditional classroom-based education, online and distance learning, and informal learning environments.
According to a MarketsandMarkets report, the Edtech and Smart Classrooms market is expected to grow from $125.3 billion in 2022 to $232.9 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 13.2% during the forecast period.
For this Interview, we invited, Anand Bhushan, CEO of EduCrack, and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the ed-tech industry.
StartupTalky: Mr Anand Bhushan, please tell us about EduCrack. What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
Anand Bhushan: The company EduCrack is a Next-Gen EdTech company empowering the Test Prep Industry to help their students to follow their dreams by providing them with best-curated content by mentors, along with unbeatable test series through Technology enabled state of an art platform. The vision behind EduCrack was to leverage Technology to bring Education, specifically Competition preparation to the reach of all aspiring students, so that they can fulfill their dreams. Our Founder Mr Neeraj Sharma has a clear vision that ‘anyone who is willing to gain knowledge should never be left behind irrespective of their geographical and socio-economic conditions.’
StartupTalky: What other products/features have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your product?
Anand Bhushan: A technology platform which is state of the art but easy to use, incorporating AI and ML, Educators who are the best mentors for their respective content and subject, unbeatable test series, and AI-enabled Interview Evaluation and Feedback for preparation of interviews.
StartupTalky: How has the ed-tech industry changed in recent years, and how has EduCrack adapted to these changes?
Anand Bhushan: The industry has changed drastically in the last few years. From an industry, which was predominantly in the physical mode of teaching, learned to go online during a pandemic and online teaching with the use of technology became paramount. Post-pandemic, there was an immediate surge of getting back offline and corrections happened for the industry. Big shake-ups happened, and those having overleveraged have suffered in terms of revenue, students, and erosion of profits. Now things are stabilizing and finding a mid-way as a Hybrid model where online is going to complement offline and vice versa. We realized that this shake-up was bound to happen and had prepared ourselves as an academic and technology solution provider to the Test Prep industry across the country so that we are part of the Hybrid, and also in sync with the vision of imparting knowledge to anyone who is willing, irrespective of geographical considerations.
StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the ed-tech industry?
Anand Bhushan: The basics remain the same. You keep your eyes open, and ears to the ground to hear the rumblings and changes around you. Industry forums are a great way to understand the developments. The web has become a big source of updating oneself with the latest trends, provided you can separate out the wheat from the chaff.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Anand Bhushan: The key metrics are both tangible and non-tangible. A few of them being the acquisition of number of students and institutes, the number of courses being added, refinement in the tech platform, usage of AI-enabled interview process, quality of the test series and what the market is saying about it, happiness quotient of the partners being associated with us and the growth in revenues and student acquisition for them.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges EduCrack faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
Anand Bhushan: With the opening up of restrictions post-pandemic, students vying more for offline classes on the rebound was a big challenge. EduCrack overcame it in two ways, one by theusage of social media for pushing in and showing to the students, the quality of our content and mentors as well as free tests for them to gauge the relevance and quality of test series. And secondly turning as an Academic and Technology Solutions provider to the predominantly offline test prep industry, so as to enable them to run a hybrid model and disseminate knowledge to more students.
StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.
Anand Bhushan: Strategies for most of the edtech companies remain the same. It is the effectivenesswith which you execute them that creates the difference in the market. One of the things which were effective for us was a six-hour marathon problem-solving session on all three sections of CAT by our mentors, in front of a live audience of students and also being streamed live directly. The program was much appreciated by our competitors as well.
StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run EduCrack smoothly?
Anand Bhushan: Without getting into the specifics, I would like to say that almost all of the digital technology EduCrack uses is developed in-house, including the LMS. We have also developed, in association with our partners, an AI-enabled Interview assessment and feedback tool, which assess on the broad parameters of verbal, and non-verbal cues and sentiment analysis. In addition, we use tools like Google meet, Google Docs, Zoom, etc.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen within states in India?
Anand Bhushan: Growth potential and opportunities are going to be there both in India and World. Some shake-ups are bound to happen, but the resilient will stay, adapt and grow. With the coming of Web 3.0, there would be a lot of positive changes happening in the education industry, and new possibilities opening up. In India, with the NEP being implemented, changes will happen in the way the education industry is being run today. Metros as usual will be the first to react and respond to the changed behavior of the markets. In the Corporate world also, despite the talk of global recession, India hopefully will not be much impacted and growth will continue leading to more hiring and better hiring solution requirement.
StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year and how will these inform your future plans and strategies?
Anand Bhushan: The biggest lesson in the past year was that markets are going to be dynamic and fluid. Agility is going to be the key with fast decision-making and low turnaround time. Lean teams are the norm of the day and going forward too, with multitasking skills to look for in each employee.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, product, and team base in the future?
Anand Bhushan: Our expansion is going to be in two domains.
One as an Academic Content and Technology solution provider to the Test Prep industry. Providing them with a robust platform to augment their offline classes and helping them with online tests and content, so as to make it easier for them to cater to a larger student base with quality and convenience at their fingertips.
The second domain will be as a Recruitment solution provider to the Corporates, by way of providing them AI-enabled interview process for recruitment screening.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with people reading this article who want to get into entrepreneurship.
Anand Bhushan:There is never a shortcut to success. It’s going to be a long haul. Strategies get overturned, revamped, and re-executed but you have to be resilient, once you have chosen a way forward, which your research has shown to be the right path. And finally. Never ignore your gut instinct.
We thank Anand Bhushanfor spending his valuable time and sharing his learnings with all of us.
StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
Digital transformation and online presence are becoming increasingly important for businesses of all sizes. Techno-digital marketing agencies are on the rise, helping companies achieve their digital transformation goals and establish a strong online presence. These agencies offer end-to-end digital marketing communication and technology support, including services like social media optimization, digital marketing, search engine optimization, conversational marketing, and more.
With the constant need for businesses to keep up with the latest trends and developments in digital marketing, these agencies stay one step ahead of the competition by closely monitoring the latest industry trends and technologies. As the demand for digital marketing and transformation grows, these agencies are expanding their services to cater to clients on a global scale.
As per Statista, the global digital marketing industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.4% from 2021 to 2028, reaching a market size of $422.4 billion by 2028.
For this Interview, we invited, Chandan Bagwe, Founder and Managing Director of C Com Digital and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the digital marketing industry.
StartupTalky: What service does your company provide? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
Chandan: C Com Digital is a full-service techno digital marketing agency. The company helps its clients undertake digital transformation and maintain a robust and effective online presence. We create brand communication for modern businesses and help them in digital marketing to grow their Business.
The vision behind C Com Digital was to build a globally renowned digital company that offers end-to-end digital marketing communication and technology support to its clients. We have steadily expanded our capabilities to fulfill that vision.
StartupTalky: What new services have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your service?
Chandan: Our unmatched excellence in creativity, customer understanding, and technical expertise has made us stand out in the market, and we are rapidly scaling our global presence.
We offer mandatory brand hygiene services like content-focused Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Optimization, and digital marketing tech configuration. Apart from that, we also do brand awareness campaigns, PII-focused campaigns, conversational marketing campaigns, digital PR Campaigns, and advanced AI-ML integration for lead analysis and higher conversion. This delivers more significant ROI for the clients.
This year, we have entered the US markets intending to become an international provider of reliable and high-performance IT-enabled services, specifically Enterprise Mobility Solutions, Program Support, Cloud Computing, Customer Software Development, and Enterprise Data Management.
StartupTalky: How has the digital marketing industry changed in recent years, and how has your company adapted to these changes?
Chandan: In the last few years, especially since the pandemic’s start, there has been a great need for digital marketing and digital transformation across all industry segments. Having been in the techno-digital space for more than two decades, we have all the right technologies and market understanding. As the world resumed work-from-office this year, we have expanded our service offerings and services. We have expanded to the US markets to ensure that Indian techno-digital companies get visibility in international circles. We will collaborate with more western businesses to keep the growth trajectory going.
StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the digital marketing industry?
Chandan: Being in the techno-digital space and working with clients daily keeps one aware of emerging trends and needs. Our teams are constantly monitoring these needs. We also keep a tab on the US and European digital marketing trends. We use the best of creativity and technology to ensure that we can help our clients achieve all their digital transformation and communication needs conveniently and efficiently.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Chandan: For us, the parameters that matter are how our top-line and bottom-line business grows. We have constantly achieved growth through deploying cutting-edge services, acquiring the right talent, and improving and optimizing processes through integrating CRM tools. We also measure growth by measuring new business generated and the new services launched. This year marked our entry into the US markets, where we have added diverse tech solutions to our offerings. These are some of the things we focus on apart from ensuring consistency of quality and client satisfaction.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
Chandan: The significant challenges came in the form of changing expectations from the customers. They didn’t just want us to help them with their brand communication but also to provide holistic support in the digital transformation of their business. We leveraged our technological expertise and infrastructure to create the solutions the market needs. We have added various services to our portfolio to cater to the demand.
StartupTalky: Good service is something everyone is talking about in the service industry. How do you ensure that your clients are happy?
Chandan: We have built an end-to-end portfolio of services by combining top talent and advanced platform technologies. We have integrated AI, ML, and data analytics to bring the best insights for continuous process improvements. We remain ahead of the competition regarding tech enhancements and understanding the audiences for each campaign or digital marketing activity we undertake.
Further, we work closely with our clients and constantly listen to their needs and feedback. This kind of collaborative support has enabled us to ensure that our clients are happy. Thus, it helps us solve any challenges that arise or fulfill their expectations.
StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.
Chandan: Our digital marketing services for our client gives excellent results. Along with the hygiene activities as part of our services, conversational marketing, PII-focused campaigns, and Digital PR works wonders. We use the same techniques for our business growth too. We have been showcasing and presenting our successful and award-winning case studies to prospects. Case studies are the most important aspect of the growth hack.
StartupTalky: Foreign clients- this is what most of the service-based companies are looking for. What has been your experience?
Chandan: An international clientele is key to growth for any service sector enterprise. As a premier techno-digital agency, we have regularly worked with domestic and international clients. We have entered the US markets, and our experience working with international clients has been highly satisfactory, enriching, and encouraging.
StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run your business smoothly?
Chandan: We use many tools and technologies for web, cloud, and other projects. We primarily rely on Slack and Google suites for all communication needs, AWS Services for hosting and email solutions, and Adobe Suite for creative and web development services. We also undertake custom software development, using all the cutting-edge tech inputs per each project’s need. Apart from it, Various E-Commerce Partnerships and Online business partnerships are key to business success.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen between India and the world?
Chandan: The potential is enormous as almost every business, whether a startup or SME or a large global enterprise, is going for digital transformation and adoption of SaaS products and digital communication tools and capabilities. Beyond that, the growth opportunities are equally high in the domestic and world markets. Indian companies have traditionally lagged in digitization, but currently, we are witnessing an unprecedented surge in demand for solutions. Western markets have had exposure to SaaS solutions and tech-driven operations, so there is a little more clarity about the need and how things should be.
StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year, and how will these inform your future plans and strategies?
Chandan: Most importantly, we must keep ourselves abreast with the technology change. We have to keep adding new services to meet the market demand. We must keep innovating and scout for the best talent in technology, creativity, content, and influencer marketing.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, service offering, and team base in the future?
Chandan: We are a steadily growing organization, and our team base keeps increasing in proportion to business growth. We welcome quality talent in all areas that our operations cover. We entered the US market this year by unveiling our IT-enabled services. Our goal is to steadily expand the spectrum of our services and become an international provider of trustworthy, efficient, and cost-effective IT- enabled services. As an Indian company entering the US markets, we are bringing about a transformation in the techno-digital space as earlier the trend used to be of American companies entering the Indian market. This will help C Com grow better in the times ahead and enable the entire ecosystem to evolve faster.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another service company founder?
Chandan: In digital marketing, “Technology – Change is the Only constant.” Therefore, provide high-quality latest trending services to your client along with consistent performance. It is critical for business success.
We thank Chandan for spending his valuable time and sharing his learnings with all of us.
StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
In today’s digital age, content creation, and brand development are crucial components of marketing and advertising. Content creation aims to create and distribute valuable and engaging content that builds brand awareness, establishes thought leadership, and drives engagement with target audiences. On the other hand, brand creation involves extensive research, strategy development, and the creation of visual and verbal elements that accurately reflect a company’s values and mission.
Effective content and brand creation help businesses establish a strong online presence, increase brand recognition, and drive engagement and sales. With the increasing importance of digital marketing, the demand for these services has been growing rapidly.
According to a report by Statista, in 2021, the global advertising industry was estimated to be worth over $600 billion and is expected to continue growing at a moderate to high rate in the coming years.
For this Interview, we invited, Danisha Kohli, Eman Batliwalla, and Aaliya Amrin, Co-founders of By The Gram (BTG) and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the content and advertising industry.
StartupTalky: What service does your company provide? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
BTG Founders: BTG is a content studio – a unique intersection where creativity meets tech. Production house meets full-service creative agency.
Our vision was to build a company that did not exist yet in a market-ready and yearning for this unique hybrid.
StartupTalky: What new services have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your service?
BTG Founders: We are venturing into long-format original content with a slate of fresh young adult scripts that are currently being shopped around to platforms and production houses alike. Ultimately we are young people writing stories for young people.
StartupTalky: How has the content and advertising industry changed in recent years, and how has your company adapted to these changes?
BTG Founders: The key is to be constantly evolving and adaptive, never rigid in your services/offerings or even your company culture. The pandemic changed everything about the ad industry today, those that changed with it, were able to last.
StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the content and advertising industry?
BTG Founders: Read, a lot. Watch, a lot.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
BTG Founders: Growth in company size, client size, project size, and retention of all of the above.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
BTG Founders: The past year was neither here nor there with regard to the after-effects of the pandemic. A mix of being back in the office meets remote working and so on and so forth. As a company, we’re full of left brains and right brains trying to work together on projects which often require adequate face-to-face time. Getting back into the groove of a ‘flexible’ in-person company culture was the toughest challenge for most of us.
We remain flexible to those who are not native to Bombay and allow ourselves to pick and choose our in-office days.
StartupTalky: Good service is something everyone is talking about in the service industry. How do you ensure that your clients are happy?
BTG Founders: With the economy bouncing back, the advertising industry will boomerang aggressively. The handbrakes are coming off and brands are re-energized. BTG’s intention in the coming years is to provide future-proofing to clients. Future-proofing includes owning the brand experience and the data.
BTG thrives at the intersection of creativity and tech. Now that more and more brands are looking to go direct to consumer, the idea is to own the customer relationship and the data that goes with it (especially with a cookie-less future ahead). Through this BTG works to evolve their clients from focusing on transaction and conversion to deeper engagement, and customer loyalty.
StartupTalky: Foreign clients- this is what most service-based companies are looking for. What has been your experience?
BTG Founders: Our biggest USP to date is our ability to produce content of a high caliber globally. Our producers are all over from London and New York to Hong Kong and Dubai. We have a seamless process wherein we are able to shoot for international clients on their home turfs and even shoot for our local clients elsewhere as per their unique requirements.
With trusted A-Teams in place, we have mastered an automotive experience for our clients wherever they are.
StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run your business smoothly?
BTG Founders: Investing in the right creatives to build out a brand’s creative strategy will be instrumental in a world that is no longer ruled by algorithmic targeting. BTG’s goal is to get nifty with the privacy-friendly data available, in order to produce data-informed, clutter-breaking content – all whilst remaining personalized, relevant, and compelling.
BTG plans on investing in AI-powered creative insights to leapfrog our content performance to the next level. AI will dominate when augmented with a human touch. Until today, AI companies and content studios like BTG functioned separately, merging now and again on a token project without any long-term synergy. In the next five years, BTG hopes to bring in-house the technology, and infuse it into their day-to-day practices. With AI, agencies have an opportunity to advance digital advertising by eliminating guesswork in creativity—constantly learning and optimizing what is truly resonating with consumers. This will be step one in implementing high-end AI innovation and eventually far more exciting adoptions for agencies like BTG in the ad tech space. They recognize the competitive advantage they have, which is to pair the AI with the right human touch, for this to be done effectively and responsibly, human augmentation must play a critical role.
StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year and how will these inform your future plans and strategies?
BTG Founders: BTG was founded on the commitment to be 75% diverse and will continue to be that way years down the line. We firmly believe our women’s leadership, right from our producers and managers to our cinematographers and designers has been the secret sauce to our global large-scale productions, international presence, and our 16x growth over the last four years.
By The Gram Team
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, service offering, and team base in the future?
BTG Founders: Over the last few years, original content has become the cornerstone of entertainment, from household names to niche businesses – It’s not hard to see why – people crave originality and hate being sold to.
As an agency, BTG has always been content first. With the economy bouncing back, the advertising industry will boomerang aggressively. The handbrakes are coming off and brands are re-energized. Their primary play is already in motion. Currently, they own the short format space, with an alarming monopoly over all things short form. They have finessed their production prowess and uber-niche offerings. Earlier this year, they ventured into original content and long formats, ranging from their very own slate of eight-episode series, to buying the rights for Hindi adaptions of the best KTV has to offer.
The next two to three years will mean harnessing their existing relationships in entertainment to house our long-format vertical: BTG Films. Their think tanks and writers’ rooms are expanding, and over the course of the next five years, they see themselves with a dedicated department for long format and original content wherein we bring the writers, directors, and producers – a triple threat.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another service company founder?
BTG Founders: Too many voices reduce the quality of a conversation and complicate leadership hierarchies impede swift decision-making.
We thank Danisha Kohli, Eman Batliwalla, and Aaliya Amrin for spending their valuable time and sharing their learnings with all of us.
StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
Kaftans are a type of traditional clothing originating in the Middle East and North Africa. They are loose, flowing garments that are typically made from lightweight, breathable materials, such as cotton or silk. They are often worn as a type of formal or semi-formal dress and are often embellished with intricate embroidery, beading, or other decorative elements.
In recent years, kaftans have become popular as a fashion item in many different cultures, including those outside of the Middle East and North Africa. They are now often used as a comfortable and stylish alternative to more traditional clothing items, such as dresses or skirts.
There are many companies that specialize in the production and sale of kaftans. These companies offer a variety of kaftans in different styles, materials, and sizes, and many also offer customization options to ensure that each kaftan is as unique as the person wearing it.
For this Interview, we invited, Navin Rao, Co-founder of The Kaftan Company and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the fashion industry.
StartupTalky: Navin, what products does your company sell? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
Navin: We are India’s leading brand for Kaftans. The Kaftan Company was founded in 2016 when the market was becoming competitive with several new brands. However, this was also when many similar products filled the market, and the founders were keen to create a unique product category that would be comfortable, high-quality, and stylish.
That’s where the Co-founder Prakruti Gupta Rao came across Kaftans. She found that the dress that has been a favorite of royals and celebrities for centuries afforded the right grace, comfort, ease of wearing, and style for all women. It creates the impression of someone who is free-thinking, courageous, and open to new opportunities and experiences.
StartupTalky: What other products/features have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your products?
Navin: The Kaftan Company is the leading brand specializing in the design and creation of Kaftans in India. We have innovated and created a diverse range of loungewear, sleepwear, and kaftans for every occasion. We have expanded to loungewear, kids’ kaftans, and even a range of loungewear for men apart from traditional kaftans.
The brand’s commitment to sustainability accompanies the high quality and stylishness of The Kaftan Company’s range of kaftans. The brand has given a contemporary feel to the iconic kaftans and uses cutting-edge technology to make products that are environmentally friendly.
Departing from the conventional printing methods, TKC produces digitally printed kaftans. This helps in saving water, dyes, electricity, and even fuel. Further, it is almost a zero-waste fashion brand with ethical production practices and a constant focus on using natural fabrics that enable artisans to display traditional craftsmanship.
StartupTalky: How has the fashion industry changed in recent years, and how has your company adapted to these changes?
Navin: The fashion industry has become increasingly competitive, and in the last few years, we have seen a lot of D2C brands come up in the segment. In the wake of the pandemic, there is a greater demand for comfortable and stylish dresses to wear at home or outside with equal ease.
Further, we are witnessing much attention on eco-friendly manufacturing and growing customer demand for natural fabrics and colors that don’t harm the environment.
At TKC, we have already been following a manufacturing process that minimizes raw material waste through digital design and printing. We use natural fabrics in our products and this emphasis on comfort and sustainability has made TKC a market-leading brand.
StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the fashion industry?
Navin: We constantly follow global fashion trends and keep an eye on what style, pattern, or design dominates the popular international and domestic markets. We read style guides and fashion roundups and follow the fashion trends and leading magazines to remain updated. At the same time, we also regularly focus on innovating and creating new trends based on the kaftans.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Navin: There are multiple metrics we look at when considering the company’s growth and performance. The standard and basic ones include various revenue-based metrics. Being a digital-only brand, we look at various metrics within the digital marketing space. These include monitoring the average revenue per user, lifetime value, customer acquisition costs, repeat purchase rate, etc. Ultimately customer loyalty program and their measurement also plays a significant part in understanding the preference of our customers.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
Navin: As we continue to grow and evolve as a brand, our messaging to customers was getting confusing with the various categories and names associated with our group of sleepwear and loungewear kaftans. (Women’s, Maternity, Kids, Men’s, etc…) As a result, we spent a lot of time consolidating and identifying a consistent image to portray to our customers in recognition of our brand. This meant creating new standardized logos, taglines, and essentially a corporate identity with relevant guidelines in place. We look forward to maintaining this image and providing consistency so our customers easily identify with our brand as we continue to appreciate their loyalty and support.
StartupTalky: Repeat purchase is one of the most important parameters on which most e-commerce brands are betting. How do you keep your customer engaged to stop churn?
Navin: Modern customers are very conscious of the quality, comfort, and value they get from the products they purchase. They are more focused on getting an enhanced all-around experience with the products they buy. Happy customers make repeat purchases and are most likely to help the brand grow organically. By creating, innovative, high-quality, comfortable, and competitively priced kaftans and other dress items for women, kids, and men, we have managed to deliver on all these parameters.
StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.
Navin: We are an eCommerce platform specializing in fashionable kaftans. We use social media marketing and search engine marketing to promote the products. Further, our most significant focus is on content marketing. We have a high-traffic website where we regularly publish fashion blogs, daily wear guides, and information pieces about innovations and new developments in the world of kaftans.
Further, we leverage influencer marketing by collaborating with celebrities and social media influencers. A key growth hack for TKC has been the focus on quality which has led the brand to a more substantial repeat clientele and word-of-mouth publicity.
StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run your business smoothly?
Navin: We use the latest eCommerce, digital design and printing tools, and various relevant software to keep operations lean, eco-friendly, and smooth.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen within states in India?
Navin: India has vast market potential, and as awareness about sustainable, comfortable, and high-quality fashion grows, we are witnessing a rapid growth in demand for kaftans. When we started in 2016, there were only a few options to buy kaftans in India, and they were usually uninspiring and costly.
The Kaftan Company was the first brand to formally retail kaftans as its core offering in the country, and the growth has been spectacular. The market is rapidly growing in India and globally, and kaftans have become the core upon which loungewear, maternity wear, beach wear, etc., is now based. India is a vast country with diverse cultures and fashion sensibilities in each.
Some regions are very warm to kaftans, and others where we see very little awareness about the kaftans. However, the market is opening up through sustained content marketing and user experience for kaftans. Several new brands have come into the arena. Even though they don’t match our kaftans in quality or creativity, these brands are helping build a competitive and national market for kaftans.
StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year, and how will these inform your plans and strategies?
Navin: Our team has learned to handle adversity and change in the past year. The continued impact and uncertainty of current times combined with the continuous change in the digital landscape means no two days are ever the same. The team has understood that sustaining through the current business environment isn’t easy, and one must always be ready to embrace change in order to continue to grow.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, SKUs, and team base in the future?
Navin: We regularly introduce new designs and have been expanding our presence in the domestic and international markets through the eCommerce channel; we have also introduced a wide range of product categories such as kaftans pants, maternity wear, kids wear, and menswear, etc. The team is also steadily growing in sync with the rise in demand after the pandemic. We currently have more than 500 SKUs, and the numbers will keep increasing as we go along.
StartupTalky: With so much hype around D2C brands spending on ads, what will be your growth strategy, organic or inorganic? How to plan to work around SEO and content marketing?
Navin: SEO and content marketing are two of our key marketing channels. The Kaftan Company has benefited from content marketing, and it will remain pivotal to our brand. Consumers not only want to browse through the diversity of products but are also keen to know why they should choose a product like a kaftan. They want to know about the various options, the manufacturing process, and the quality of the dresses on offer. Through regular usage of content marketing, we advise our audience on what kind of dresses or kaftans they should wear on different occasions and in different seasons.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another D2C founder?
Navin: Embrace the changes in an uncertain business environment, and always be aiming far ahead while also learning from the past.
We thank Navin for spending his valuable time and sharing his learnings with all of us.
StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
The saree industry is a significant sector in the textile industry of India and other South Asian countries. It encompasses the production of raw materials, such as cotton and silk, as well as the manufacturing and distribution of sarees. The industry provides employment to millions of people, particularly in rural areas, and generates significant revenue.
However, the industry has been impacted in recent years by increased competition from fast fashion and other modern forms of clothing. Nevertheless, the saree remains a popular traditional garment, and the industry continues to thrive.
The online saree market provides a platform for saree retailers to reach a wider audience, both domestically and globally, and offer a more convenient shopping experience for customers. The Indian saree market size is expected to grow by USD 4.14 billion during 2021–2025, progressing at a CAGR of over 6% during the forecast period.
For this Interview, we invited Sasha Revankar, Founder of One Minute Saree, and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the saree industry.
StartupTalky: Sasha, what products does your company sell? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
Sasha: We sell the saree of the future. It is designed in-house and so easy to wear that anyone, anywhere can order and wear it without any hassles.
StartupTalky: What other products/features have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your products?
Sasha: We launched this year itself and we have introduced blouses as well. The USP of our sarees is that they maintain the look and feel of traditional sarees but are so easy to wear, it’s a no-brainer! Other ready-to-wear sarees are like dresses, we use real sarees and maintain the feel and elegance of the 6-yard saree.
StartupTalky: How has the saree industry changed in recent years and how has your company adapted to these changes?
Sasha: We originally planned to launch in March 2020 and of course, those plans got put on hold and we finally launched in Jan 2022. The good news, however, is that during this time our customers adapted more to purchasing ethnic clothing online, so it made our launch all the more impactful.
StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the saree industry?
Sasha: It’s important to talk to other people in the industry and share experiences, as well as listen to your customers. Relevant industry publications and tracking the industry leaders are also important.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Sasha: We track our month-on-month revenue growth as well as our repeat customer rate and return on ad spend and conversion rate as key drivers.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
Sasha: As this was our first year we faced many startup challenges, many of which had to do with our product and achieving consistent quality since we launched as a made-to-order product. We compensated customers whenever there were issues and worked towards correcting them. To get full control we set up our in-house production unit.
StartupTalky: Repeat purchase is one of the most important parameters on which most e-commerce brands are betting. How do you keep your customer engaged to stop churn?
Sasha: Proper customer service is very key, answering the customers and providing useful solutions. Keeping communication on new launches and engaging them through social media is also effective.
StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.
Sasha: We target niche customers and this has given us a loyal customer base to build from.
StarupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run your business smoothly?
Sasha: We use a collaboration calendar to get our marketing/catalog/social teams in sync. We also have various in-house tools to help with our order flow.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen within states in India?
Sasha: We have just started and the opportunity is vast. Although we are online and D2C, there is huge scope and value in bringing our products to stores.
StatupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year and how will these inform your plans and strategies?
Sasha: We have to get granular when it comes to the user experience, it’s the number one thing you can’t take for granted.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, SKUs, and team base in the future?
Sasha: Since dealing in sarees we are planning to source more diverse types of sarees and also design in-house exclusive collections.
StartupTalky: With so much hype around D2C brands spending on ads, What will be your growth strategy organic or inorganic? How to plan to work around SEO and content marketing?
Sasha: Long-term SEO is essential. Relying on paid ads is a long road to profitability.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another d2c founder?
Sasha: Research your product demand and competitors especially using free tools that Google offers. Get enough info to work out where you may have an advantage and estimate your realistic price point. This can help estimate your ad spend needed for your target conversion and investment requirements.
We thank Sasha Revankarfor spending her valuable time and sharing her learnings with all of us.
StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
The gig economy refers to an economic system in which people work as independent contractors or freelancers rather than as employees in traditional jobs. In this type of economy, people offer their services on a project or task basis, often through online platforms or app-based companies.
This type of work arrangement provides workers with flexibility and the ability to choose when and where they work, but can also result in a lack of job security, benefits, and protections that come with traditional employment.
According to a report published by Maple Capital Advisors, the Indian gig economy was valued at approximately $20 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the coming years. This growth is driven by several factors, including the increasing penetration of the internet and mobile technology, the growing demand for flexible work arrangements, and the increasing number of people looking for alternative sources of income. As a result, the Indian gig economy is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17% between 2021 and 2025 and reach a valuation of approximately $35 billion by 2025.
However, it is important to note that the gig economy in India, like in many other countries, is still in its early stages of development and faces several challenges, such as a lack of clear regulations and protections for gig workers. Nevertheless, the overall outlook for the gig economy in India is positive, and it is expected to continue to grow at a significant rate in the coming years.
For this Interview, we invited, Kajal Malik, Co-founder and CSO of PickMyWork and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the Gig Economy.
StartupTalky: Kajal, what service does your company provide? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
Kajal: With the vision to create a platform where unemployed youth could register, complete sales gigs, and earn commissions, I (Kajal Malik) along with my friends Vidyarthi Baddireddy, and Utsav Bhattacharjee founded PickMyWork in 2019.
We embarked on this mission only after discovering that, despite developing great product lines, internet companies struggle to expand and attract new customers. They depend heavily on two channels which are outdated and unreliable. Online channels are costly and do not result in transactional customers for internet service providers. Managing in-house sales teams on the ground to sell the product to end users is time-consuming and inefficient. It is more expensive, produces slower results, and is not intended for hype scaling. By-passing these alternatives, we established PickMyWork to facilitate plug & play networking solutions for hyper scaling and creating meaningful value for internet companies. On the other side, PickMyWork presents itself as an income platform for gig workers that promises 3X earnings per hour of effort when compared to delivery gigs.
Co-founders – PickmyWork
StartupTalky: What new features have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your service?
Kajal: Many consumer tech companies are collaborating with us to improve ROI and achieve faster results in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, where businesses face difficulties in penetrating the market. We freely allow consumer tech firms to concentrate on what they do best, which is creating technological solutions, while we leverage our on-field gig partner network to facilitate the customer/merchant onboarding process.
For Internet companies, this model turns out to be 1/10th cheaper compared to online marketing or having in-house sales teams. Enabling sales gigs at an affordable cost is therefore our USP.
StartupTalky: How has the gig industry changed in recent years, and how has your company adapted to these changes?
Kajal: Disruptive innovations had already infiltrated the gig industry prior to Covid-19, but the pandemic accelerated their growth and mass acceptance. Businesses that initially believed that face-to-face interactions were the only way to execute business were forced to abruptly alter their strategy and become more flexible and dynamic in their customer service. While the global pandemic-inspired digital transformation is constantly revamping the marketing landscape, we at PickMyWork are increasingly educating our workers on marketing tactics to meet client demands. By providing gig workers with various skill sets, attractive payment options, and giving companies access to a larger market via a readily available network of on-demand gig workers, we have garnered a lot of interest in our offerings from different states across India.
StartupTalk: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the gig industry?
Kajal: We stay current on market trends affecting the gig workforce and the gig economy. We particularly intend to meet the needs and aspirations of all segments of society, from Generation Z to Millennials, who are looking for an opportunity to embrace alternative ways of working and put their entrepreneurial skills to use.
We’re also interested in deeper technological integration, which can lead to greater automation of work for tech platforms. Furthermore, we are constantly looking for ways to upskill our employees and provide work flexibility that traditional full-time employment does not provide.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Kajal: As our business model grows in a variety of channels, including revenue, client base, and conversion rate, we use multiple metrics to track our growth and performance. Analyzing the company’s sales allows us to determine how well our gig services are functioning in the sector and whether our marketing strategies are paying off or not. In addition, we track the number of visitors to our company’s website each month in order to assess the demand for our services as well as to assess the reputation of our brand.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
Kajal: While many businesses stagnated during the unprecedented times of Covid-19, the gig economy grew exponentially, owing to a massive need for cost-effective solutions and freelance workers.
Also, digital businesses and brands that used to emphasize long-term goals, such as meeting yearly milestones, had to shift their focus toward short-term targets. With such growing trends, we had to readjust our platform and expand our potential by hiring ambitious youth and enthusiastic gig workers that could drive the growth of internet companies.
To upskill them, we undertook initiatives such as live webinars and made use of pre-recorded training videos with an end test for each product to further improve the understanding of the gig agents to work on new gigs and challenging situations.
StartupTalky: Trust among all the stakeholders is very important for a marketplace. How do you ensure it?
Kajal: At PickMyWork we believe in the philosophy of honesty and clarity to build trust with stakeholders. Communication too is critical to be on the same page when it comes to expectations from each other. Direct communication also holds true in situations when coursework and priorities change. Keeping shareholders engaged in the project and taking their inputs seriously works for the long run.
StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.
Kajal: As a growth-stage startup, we use marketing strategies and growth hacks in the most optimized way. We heavily focus on the CAC, ROI, and RoAS. We focus on different channels of marketing: we use 6 social media platforms which form a major chunk of our marketing. We have a small community of influencers who create awareness and drive user acquisition for us. Other than this we have SMS, WA, and Email as additional tools to reach out to our partners on a regular basis. We maintain our user acquisition with in-app marketing campaigns and giveaways for our partners. Growth hack which worked for us: doing webinars and live sessions with industry leaders on our socials to create awareness on relevant topics without directly focusing on marketing our product. Talk about important day-to-day issues regarding finances. This acts as a consideration stage and a credibility tool for us, establishing us as Key Thought Leaders in our chosen sector. In addition to these, the meme marketing and our office BTS videos have acted as a bridge between the PickMyWork employees and our on-field network of partners, giving a personalized touch by focusing on the PickMyWork team members working behind the scenes to make this gig platform go from strength to strength.
StartupTalky: Keeping up with supply and demand is important. How do you keep both in order?
Kajal: Companies in India are increasingly looking for gig workers to fill roles in business development. To keep the supply and demand for gig workers balanced, we use cutting-edge technology to find, train, and manage agents for digital companies. Our mobile app lists internet products that need to be sold to end users (individual users/shop owners). Any interested youth who wants to earn extra money can download the PickMyWork mobile app from the Google Play store and begin earning when a sale is completed successfully.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen between India and the world?
Kajal: The gig economy has been growing not only in India but around the world, and it is estimated to outperform pre-pandemic projections due to an influx of gig workers switching from full-time employment.
Since India has been quick to adopt gig trends, domestic gig employment models are expected to become more flexible than ever before. To be able to provide for themselves, workers no longer have to rely solely on traditional 9-to-5 employment to make ends meet.
Although gig work is not yet prevalent across all sectors of the economy, it has the potential to become so in the coming years. The gig economy will include both traditional jobs that have adapted to gig platforms and new jobs that are being created in the industry. Similarly, because gig work is more gender-inclusive, women will be able to take on gig work while continuing to fulfill their other responsibilities.
StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year and how will these inform your future plans and strategies?
Kajal: While we had started out to build solutions for certain kinds of gig opportunities, it became clear with each passing month that there was a tremendous amount of demand from multiple segments of the population for a variety of gig opportunities.
Therefore, with this huge appetite being clearly visible to us, we are now foraying into sourcing and providing various kinds of gig opportunities that we can design and deliver to the ever-increasing number of gig workers registering with PickMyWork. Therefore, allowing the market to guide us on the path ahead instead of restricting ourselves to a predetermined plan, has been one of the biggest lessons learned in 2022.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, service offering, and team base in the future?
Kajal: At PickMyWork we are working diligently to grow and expand into new geographies, upskill our gig workers, and build a solid foundational model for our clients to scale up and acquire customers. As new-age startups emerge in the Fintech, D2C, and Social Commerce spaces, we continue to build more operational muscle and expertise in various domains via the gig model: we aspire to be the preferred distribution channel for all emerging startups. Additionally, we aim to have 10 million agents on our digital distribution network by the end of 2023 as well as build the largest plug-and-play network of its kind to facilitate the hyper-scaling of internet companies.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another marketplace company founder?
Kajal: Solve for the side of the marketplace that is harder to solve. The other side(s) become progressively easier to solve after that.
We thank Kajalfor spending her valuable time and sharing her learnings with all of us.
StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
India is known for its diverse and flavorful street food, with each region offering its own unique dishes and flavors. Among them, kulcha is a popular street food and a staple of North Indian cuisine. It is a type of leavened bread that is traditionally made with a mixture of refined flour, yogurt, and ghee.
In India, street food is a popular and integral part of the country’s food culture, and it is widely available in cities and towns across the country. With the growing popularity of street food and the increasing demand for quick and affordable food options, it is likely that the street food industry in India will continue to grow in the future.
However, it is important to note that the growth of the street food industry in India may be impacted by various factors, such as food safety concerns, competition from other food businesses, and government regulations. According to a report published in Business Standard, India’s food service market is expected to reach $79.65 billion by 2028.
For this Interview, we invited, Manas Wadhwa, founder of क se Kulcha and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the food industry.
StartupTalky: Manas, what does your company do? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
Manas: Amidst covid and its dynamic temper people are inevitably missing finger-licking, spicy street food. Interestingly, “क se kulcha” found the key to the stumbling block without weighing heavy on your pockets. Where ‘Good and Healthy Food’ comes along with the taste, the place is no other than क se kulcha!
Our object of the exercise is to bring the essence from the streets of India, the taste you can’t impede right into your plate and in your slice of the budget. After the hammer-like hit of Covid 19, we came across the reluctant nature among the masses where they wanted to enjoy street spices like before the new normal came into existence but the agitation of getting infected was honest to goodness high or the cost of falling sick was such that they are forced to avoid their liking in this sphere. Keeping this thought in mind “क se kulcha” was born, with almost 100 dishes to choose from, so you don’t have to stay aloof from your most liked street kulchas.
StartupTalky: What is/are the USP/s of your products?
Manas: Rich aromatic gravies, spicy vegetable stir-fries, moist and tender slow-cooked meat, and sinful desserts each dish shut a unique and different flavor at K se Kulcha but among all, Multigrain Kulcha with delicious mouth-watering chole holds a favorite spot in most people’s hearts.
Our Unique Selling Product (USP) is the multigrain kulcha bread which is served along with delicious, smokey Punjabi-style chole. We also offer varieties of kulcha that are not just healthy and tasty but also rich in essential nutrients. Our field professionals, working behind the screen (in the kitchen) make sure to maintain a healthy balance of ingredients. Options in Kulcha bread are most liked by the consumers, as traditionally it is made with flour but at क se kulcha we offer 5 distinctive bread options that are tasty and healthy. For instance, we have multigrain kulcha, whole wheat kulcha, herbs kulcha, and likewise.
StartupTalky: How has the food industry changed in recent years, and how has your company adapted to these changes?
Manas: There has been no journey if it was challenging yet enjoyable. Recently, a change in consumer demand for vegan options has been observed. Increasing demand will be met across the industry with new items on the menus, and an attempt to offer vegan and plant-based dishes as a staple and not as a limited option for those with alternative diets.
StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the food industry?
Manas: Our R&D team actively works on observing the latest taste and preferences of the consumers which further helps us in keeping up in the competitive environment. We maintain close relations with our team members and offer refresher courses to sharpen team skills. Web organizes periodic workshops in coordination with the best trainers in the industries to stay updated. Other than this we constantly upgrade our services and menu observing the customers’ feedback.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Manas: I keep a close check on KPIs like sales, labor cost, food cost or cost of goods, and turnover rate as it shows how the restaurant is doing over time. Food is a substantial cost for any restaurant. One good way to keep food costs under control is by tracking your food cost percentage. High staff turnover is another challenge, so keep an eye out for ways to decrease the costs of labor while increasing retention.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
Manas: The main challenge we faced while establishing this concept of क se kulcha, was to find the right field professionals. Usually, on the streets, we see a stall serving a particular kind of dish but here, we have a plethora of dishes to choose from and find chefs who were trained enough to bring out the traditional flavors along with trying out new combinations was the greatest hurdle we faced while establishing this outlet.
StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.
Manas: In today’s time, to cope and excel in a highly competitive environment one has to stay up to date. We understand that social media plays a vital role in both building a brand presence and staying updated and here, at क se kulcha we collaborate with several food bloggers from time and time to maintain relevance amid the changing food trends.
We are also present across various social media platforms like Instagram, and Facebook that provide us with knowledge of the newest food trends. Lastly, customer feedback is a major source of information that motivates us to always do better and be at our best.
StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run your business smoothly?
Manas: For the success of a restaurant, it’s imperative to stay technically updated, and we at क se kulcha have always equipped us with the latest and most effective technology applications. For instance, installation of point-of-sale software for guest billing, customer database, in cashier cage. The cage is also the center point for handling all phone calls and mail. Furthermore, the kitchen is divided into four parts: the receiving dock, storage (dry, fresh, temporizer controlled), preparation area, and cooking area.
Every space is equipped with the newest gadgets and technology for optimum functioning. For example, an MMS terminal and weighing scales are installed in the receiving area. In addition, the kitchen has biometric access. Thus no one without their biometrics can enter this area.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen within states in India?
Manas: QSR has been very famous in foreign countries for a long time, but it has now entered the Indian market and has a vast scope for development. QSR format is exploding in India post covid with new concepts, and the masses are positively looking forward to this concept.
The foodies of India, especially the students and office employees, are keen to range over food/meal options that are fast prepared, quickly served, and economical. These options help satiate your hunger in a timely fashion. The younger crowd especially shows their interest in the QSR segment, low-priced food, and easy-to-go menu and dining option.
We all know that Indian cuisine is most loved; however, very few restaurants are able to magically pack and serve it in the QSR format. But now, the race has begun, and the market is set to explore and explode with innovative Indian QSR models.
StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year and how will these inform your future plans and strategies?
Manas: One of the most important lessons that I have learned and will always be with me is to focus on networking and staying updated, not just in the case of technology but in every aspect. The industry is always changing, and you need to keep up with those changes as best you can. Networking can enlighten you, help with your challenges, and find you friends who can relate to what you’re going through. It can be uncomfortable initially, but connecting with people over LinkedIn and Twitter can be a great start. Conferences and events are other great places to form connections.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, product, and team base in the future?
Manas: Talking about business expansion plans, being a first-generation company we have very aggressive expansion plans. We are eagerly looking for business growth partners who would like to shake hands with us. Furthermore, we plan to focus on the Delhi NCR market only.
We are in process of developing various formats for our outlets which could be further branched out into market-specific locations. In simple words, Kiosks for food courts in malls, and full-service sit-down outlets for high street markets. We are mainly focusing on the FOCO (Franchise Owned Company Operated) Business Model, where we and investment will operate outlets sought from a franchise partner.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with people reading this article who want to get into entrepreneurship?
Manas: In my view, there’s no one said solution or tip behind every entrepreneur’s success but the magic lies in getting started and facing your fears. Fears exist for a reason, but they’re never unconquerable. You may feel reassured to know that many entrepreneurs start a little hesitant and fearful. It certainly is a good time for a passionate food entrepreneur. With thorough groundwork, before venturing into the business brings good results later. Even the best businesses occasionally face financial challenges. Maybe your first marketing strategy didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean you should quit. When taking on new projects, you must keep your costs and budgets in mind to prepare yourself for any challenges you might face.
We thank Manasfor spending his valuable time and sharing his learnings with all of us.
StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
AI-based services refer to services that leverage artificial intelligence technology to perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to play a significant role in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of homeland security operations.
AI can be used to analyze vast amounts of data from multiple sources, including social media, satellite imagery, and sensor networks, to identify potential security threats and prevent them before they occur. AI is helping different sectors, including manufacturing and real estate, improve products and services.
The AI industry in India is growing rapidly and has the potential to play a significant role in the country’s economic growth. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry in India is expected to be high in the coming years. According to a report by NASSCOM and EY, the AI industry in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 20–25% from 2019 to 2025.
For this Interview, we invited, Atul Rai, Co-founder and CEO of Staqu Technologies and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the AI and analytics industry.
StartupTalky: Atul, what service does your company provide? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
Atul: I (Atul Rai) along with my friends Anurag, and Pankaj Co-founded Staqu in 2015, which is an award-winning AI research startup with more than 7 years of experience to solve the problem of automation in the audio-video data management domain through our product JARVIS.Our vision is to facilitate a seamless solution for any problem involving image analysis and information extraction.
JARVIS technology was initially developed for homeland security, but after achieving exceptional outcomes, we subsequently spread our wings to other public and private sectors, including Real Estate, Manufacturing, and Retail, as well as undertakings like smart cities, infrastructure, and Covid-19 solutions. Cameras armed with Staqu’s advanced video analytics tool JARVIS can offer valuable insights while supervising all parameters in object detection, crowd analytics, footfall analytics, queue management, heatmap analysis, violence detection, fire & smoke detection, smart parking management, traffic congestion detection and behavioral changes that traditional cameras cannot evaluate or foresee.
On direct lines, we have over 100 companies working with us, including some of the top brands such as Raymond, Café Coffee Day, Starbucks, Chaayos, Crocs, GMR, JK Cement, Agrocel, and others. In addition, nine state police forces are collaborating with us to meet their needs for safety and security monitoring and criminal identification.
StartupTalky: What new features have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your SaaS?
Atul: When it comes to enabling safety and data analytics through fully integrated technology, we are miles ahead of any competitor in this segment. The first advantage is that the JARVIS platform is plug-and-play, which means that if you have a camera, you are not required to install any hardware; all that is necessary is a working internet connection. Second, in addition to the video stream, we are analyzing the audio data from the CCTV. This means that scenes will be analyzed using both audio and video data (bimodal data), leaving no gaps. Lastly, we provide video management software that permits users to aggregate all feeds from various locations and view them all in real-time while also receiving real-time alerts. So, while our competing companies show post-event analysis or day-by-day reporting, we, on the other hand, enable real-time feeds. Furthermore, we target not only CCTV cameras but also drones, and the Jarvis platform can even analyze mobile streams.
StartupTalky: How has the AI and analytics industry changed in recent years and how has your company adapted to these changes?
Atul: In recent years, changes in analytics technologies have been rapid and widespread. Data and analytics had grown in importance to the point where it was being referred to as the new oil or gold.
In today’s hypercompetitive marketplace, modern businesses have begun to recognize the value of data analytics, as they depend heavily on data-driven solutions rather than dominant narratives or instincts to make more precise choices, maximize efficiency and be more intelligent. It’s no surprise that companies are heavily investing in visual data analytics to improve everything from retailing and manufacturing operations to security.
With cutting-edge image recognition technology and smart monitoring of objects, crowds, perimeters, and vehicles, JARVIS has proven to be one of the simplest highly configurable AI-based Video Analytics Engines. JARVIS offers a user-friendly dashboard that enables clients to track critical incidents and respond appropriately. The Video Wall panel facilitates centralized monitoring of all cameras from different locations on a single screen. Additionally, JARVIS Video Analytics provides dependable, dynamic, and comprehensive solutions with over 40 use cases. Furthermore, insights from 85+ analytics dramatically improve operational intelligence and accelerate situational awareness.
StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the AI and analytics industry?
Atul: At Staqu, we keep up to date on all technological and industry trends. We enjoy reading the most recent research papers in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) domains that have a good number of citations. On Twitter, we also follow some researchers and technologists who share very insightful perspectives on AI. In addition, our team enjoys listening to podcasts and following the lives of creators in the technology industry on YouTube.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Atul: Revenue is among the most insightful business metrics that we track regularly at Staqu. By analyzing our company’s sales, we can determine how well our products and services are performing in the sector and whether our marketing tactics are effective. We also like to track the number of visitors to our company’s website each month because it is a great way to assess the hype of our product offerings and the overall public image of the company. Furthermore, we monitor our customer satisfaction index regularly through feedback and surveys to guarantee that they are pleased with our offerings.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past years and how did you overcome them?
Atul: The toughest challenge was dealing with the marketing of artificial intelligence, which was a novel idea in 2015. When AI was first introduced, most people thought of it in terms of robots that could perform human tasks. However, as the market developed and the right investors got involved, this barrier was effectively addressed. Furthermore, India falls short behind regarding the infrastructure of camera systems that are less than 5 megapixels in most places. As a consequence, we’ve had to develop features to handle low-resolution video feeds, multi-camera trafficking, and other issues. Like any other business we had to encounter other challenges as well, but fortunately, we have a dedicated team of employees who see every obstacle as an opportunity for the company’s overall growth.
StartupTalky: Customer Success has become more important than ever. How do you keep your customer engaged to stop churn?
Atul: In the AI domain, if the user experience with software or applications is sluggish, glitchy, or otherwise complicated for them to implement, they are less likely to deploy it or build expertise with it, increasing the likelihood that they will not remain loyal. Customers want to feel valued and accepted by the communities they support, and if they have negative interactions with the company, they will leave.
Therefore, at Staqu we employ proactive customer service, which actively seeks to identify and resolve issues before they negatively impact the customer experience. We also improve customer experience through other channels of communication, such as marketing content and social media channels, to reduce customer churn.
StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.
Atul: A well-thought-out marketing strategy demands powerful insight, dedication, and research, as well as a time and energy investment. Staqu has a sturdy roadmap in place to ensure that all marketing strategies continue to be integrated with our product portfolio. The first step in expanding our business into new customer geographies is to be able to reach the right target customers through the right mediums at the right time. We also keep track of our customers’ insights, which outline market values, potential, and prospects. Furthermore, we keep our marketing strategy up to date by analyzing our campaign performance. This also allows us to tweak and modify our approach as the business and market evolve and change.
StartupTalky: Content marketing and Community building are something everyone is talking about in SaaS, how do you plan to leverage that?
Atul: Almost every SaaS business (both B2C and B2B) is now utilizing content as part of its branding strategy to orient itself as a specialized thought leader by providing its audiences with valuable, insightful resources. It necessitates a lot of effort to create remarkable content, but it is well worth the investment, notably if it is evergreen and can boost conversions and profits in the long term. Since each SaaS solution has attributed keywords, we initiate our compelling content by considering the terms users search on Google when looking for an AI data analytics product or service. We believe in designing content that provides actionable information to the reader and persuades a potential customer to sign up for our SaaS product/service.
StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run your business smoothly?
Atul: Software tools are critical for simplifying both internal and external work. Salesforce, Keka, and Slack are a few tools we use to streamline our business processes. We’re also experimenting with Eddy AI for email automation.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen between India and the world?
Atul: Billions of cameras are used for monitoring around the world. Add to that- there are billions of cameras implanted in smartphones and other personal gadgets, and we have a mind-boggling ecosystem yielding incomprehensible amounts of video data every minute. Therefore, video analytics is a rapidly evolving field around the world, and it will continue to expand in the coming years as data volumes grow exponentially year after year. As a consequence, we have to constantly update our resources to engage with big data. At the same time, what distinguishes this field is that it applies to the evolution of every business in the world. It’s also a thriving industry for young prospective students to enter because there’s a lot of unstructured data, which means there are a lot of interesting job opportunities.
StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year and how will these inform your plans and strategies?
Atul: Working in the AI field has taught us the value of listening to and receiving client feedback. This enables us to innovate, renovate, and make constant adjustments and modifications based on clients’ use cases and preferences. Besides focusing on our product portfolio and clients we also realized the importance of investing in our employees because they are the most valuable assets one can have.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, product features, and team base in the future?
Atul: Growth and expansion are major considerations for all business owners and entrepreneurs. For us, expansion encompasses not only improving business traction and offering new products or services, but also optimizing employee and shareholder values, ramping up marketing efforts, forming partnerships, merging with or acquiring another company, and advancing online. With video and image data accounting for 60-70% of all data on the internet, our growth strategy is to maximize on all fronts. The key, however, will be to serve as many industries as possible by deploying JARVIS to automate their internal operations.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another SaaS founder?
Atul: Looking at the market as a whole, developing software is becoming increasingly easier to set up, and the industry is becoming increasingly congested. We now have more available skills, more advanced technologies, and so on, all of which lower the impediment to entry for developing software. What will set you apart is your brand and your ability to discover and connect with potential clients. Most importantly, every successful business must address problems and gaps that no other brands are currently addressing.
We thank Atulfor spending his valuable time and sharing his learnings with all of us.
StartupTalky presents Recap’22. This is a series of interviews in which we conduct in-depth discussions with founders & industry leaders to understand their growth in 2022 and their predictions for the future.
Handcrafted metal artifacts refer to metal objects that are created by skilled artisans using traditional techniques and tools. These can include a wide range of products, such as jewelry, decorative objects, utensils, and more. Handcrafted metal artifacts are a popular and traditional form of art in India, and they are in high demand both locally and internationally.
The demand for handcrafted metal artifacts has been growing in recent years due to the increasing popularity of traditional and artisanal products. This trend is likely to continue, driven by a growing appreciation for unique and high-quality products as well as a desire for sustainability and a connection to local cultures.
According to IMARC Group, the global handcrafts market size reached US$ 752.2 Billion in 2022. Looking ahead, the market is expected to reach US$ 1,296.6 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.1% from 2023 to 2028.
For this Interview, we invited, Palash Agrawal, Founder and Director of Vedas Exports, and we talked about the growth, challenges, insights, and future opportunities in the handicraft industry.
StartupTalky: Palash, what products does your company sell? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?
Palash: Vedas exports is a renowned name in the domestic as well as export markets when it comes to handcrafted metal artifacts. We design and manufacture all our products in-house. My vision behind the company was to build a global enterprise that offers décor products showcasing India’s rich cultural heritage and excellence of metal handcraft. We have been able to make a mark on the global market within a short duration due to our emphasis on quality, excellence of customer service, and commitment to giving a contemporary touch to classic décor items.
StartupTalky: What other products/features have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of your products?
Palash: We have been regularly introducing new designs and products. Some of our new additions in 2022 include various nature-inspired products such as trees, leaves, birds, and nature or garden-themed products. What makes our products stand out is the high quality of materials used in producing them. Recycled metals match the handcrafted excellence of our artisans to create sustainable artwork. The colors that we use are environmentally friendly and safe. Further, we have an unmatched customer service mechanism with options to replace the products and other such customer-centric initiatives, which make Vedas Exports a preferred brand for the customers.
StartupTalky: How has the handicraft industry changed in recent years, and how has your company adapted to these changes?
Palash: India is a prominent handicraft exporting country in the world, and the overall handicraft market was estimated to be over $4.35 billion in 2021/22. Recently, we have been witnessing very strong demand in countries like the US, UK, UAE, Australia, and other European nations. The handicraft export market in India is highly evolved and structured. Today, the country exports almost every type of décor products ranging from metal artifacts and carpets to wooden craft. However, our core category, which is metal home décor products, is witnessing even stronger growth since the demand is not only strong from overseas markets but also from domestic buyers. We have been focusing on the growing trends and have steadily revamped our product offerings to ensure the continuous availability of creative and high-quality artifacts for the audience.
StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the handicraft industry?
Palash: I regularly read about the various developments and emerging trends in the global arena. At Vedas, the emphasis has been on creating unique designs based on the heritage Indian metal handicraft. We also constantly listen to customer feedback and expectations and design our products as per the changing preferences of the buyers.
StartupTalky: What key metrics do you track to check the company’s growth and performance?
Palash: Our focus is on providing assured support and sharing information that the customers don’t generally get elsewhere. Thus, we can achieve greater customer retention and organic publicity through customer recommendations. Repeat purchase and word of mouth are parameters that we count on too.
StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges your company faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?
Palash: There were a lot of challenges, and we had to constantly adapt to the changing market scenarios and keep our customers engaged. We have overcome the market challenges by always focusing on creating art that has its own story to tell. We also envision the creation of décor pieces that can be effortlessly integrated into any décor or part of the interiors of a home, office, or restaurant. Sustainable manufacturing practices, appealing designs, and excellence in customer service have been a part of our strategy to maintain our position in the market.
StartupTalky: Repeat purchase is one of the most important parameters on which most e-commerce brands are betting. How do you keep your customer engaged to stop churn?
Palash: Instead of focusing too much on marketing activities and gimmicks to engage the customer, our focus has been on ensuring high-quality standards, and a customer-centric sales and support process. Our customers feel related to the products they buy and appreciate the best-in-class support, leading to superior customer retention and engagement consistently.
StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack which you pulled off.
Palash: We rely on content marketing as our primary channel to reach out to our audiences and we have achieved significant success with it. The growth hack that Vedas Exports has leveraged is to build a customer-centric business where our customers love the products as well as the service on offer. As a result, we enjoy higher customer retention than most other brands and also a lot of organic growth through word-of-mouth publicity.
StartupTalky: What are the important tools and software you use to run your business smoothly?
Palash: Need Inputs For billing and maintaining the stock, we have a CRM system associated with a private company. For Accounting we use Tally. For other daily office tasks which include entering data manually, video conferencing, etc, we rely on Google since it is one of the most secure systems out there. Microsoft Excel is also one of the most used software in the office. Again, we do have a separate CRM system for online.
StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in your industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen within states in India?
Palash: The economy right now is a bit slow due to rising oil and petrol prices but if we have to discuss in terms of the decor industry we are witnessing a growing trend. Consumers are increasingly looking into buying home decor items with changing times. With workplaces becoming remote and work-from-home mode getting adopted, a huge chunk of people is looking into buying home decor pieces to adorn their workspaces with.
Talking about market behavior across different states in India, we may notice that the classy and subtle designs sell more in North India while South India opts for more colorful, gold vibrant patterns. On the Eastern side of the country, markets are full of wooden pieces. States like Goa prefer a modernized touch to their pieces while urban cities like Mumbai with smaller houses prefer minimalistic designs. Places with huge villas prefer a lot more items to fill their houses with The world economy is suffering due to the ongoing war but once everything is settled we could experience a lot of opportunities for the home decor industry.
StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year and how will these inform your plans and strategies?
Palash: Today, we are paying a lot of attention to feedback and customer grievance. Vedas also does a follow-up call with the buyers to understand their experience with the products. We integrate the feedback received by further refining our products. Earlier, we focused more on offline sales through partner stores, but in the last year, our emphasis has been on growing an online presence. We have a full-fledged e-commerce website and are now able to offer a hybrid shopping experience across offline as well as online channels.
StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the Customers, SKUs, and team base in the future?
Palash: Expansion of the product range and the team is an ongoing process with Vedas. We have an in-house design and manufacturing facility, and every few months, we add new products to the portfolio alongside training more artisans to join our team and earn a healthy and respectful income for themselves. We are planning to train more female artists who will not only add a new dimension to our team’s creative approach, but also bring about inclusivity. Our products are sustainable and made from recycled metals, eco-friendly colors, and so on. We are aiming to drive customer awareness through content marketing and sharing of insights on our products as well as the emerging trends and how Vedas’ products are the right fit for every need.
We have been working to expand our footprint and our aim is to become the top brand in the Indian as well as a global metal handicraft market. The goal is to have at least 400 sister stores throughout India, and long terming-term, we will establish a worldwide presence. My vision is to reach a level where every residential or commercial property would have at least one Vedas product as a part of its interior décor.
StartupTalky: With so much hype around D2C brands spending on ads, what will be your growth strategy organic or inorganic? How to plan to work around SEO and content marketing?
Palash: As a growing brand with domestic as well as international markets to cater to, we are focusing on digital and content marketing to drive awareness about our products and their USPs. The key for us is to make every customer happy by offering the right product and uniqueness as well as superior quality. Happy customers lead to a lot of organic growth as they proudly recommend Vedas to other buyers. As far as our content marketing strategy and SEO is concerned, the first thing to focus is on creating a compelling story for each product. When the customer is able to see the picture and relate to it, sales conversions happen. The SEO activities revolve around the most trending keywords such as product types to drive the audience to our online store.
StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another D2C founder?
Palash:
Focus on your goals and what you want to achieve in the long term
Always balance out the expense and selling. Expenditure should never cross your selling/spending power in business
Watch out for competitors and always practice forward engineering.
We thank Palash for spending his valuable time and sharing his learnings with all of us.
Pratyusha Srivastava
