How to scale your startup in India
The digital age might well and truly be here, but running a business in India has never been, and will never be a doddle
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The year was 2016 when Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son made a prophecy. He heralded the startup culture in India, and claimed that it was ‘the beginning of the big bang startup boom in the country’. He also put his money where his mouth was, and invested $2 billion in the Indian economy. Two years on, Son’s prophecy has come true, and Softbank is all set to overachieve on its $10 billion target.
If there ever was a time to be an entrepreneur in India, it’s now. Being one of the fastest growing economies, and armed with over 300 million smartphone and 500 million internet users, India is the newest beast in the global market –– and major investors and financial players around the world have their lips smacking and eyes peeled.
The digital age might well and truly be here, but running a business in India has never been, and will never be a doddle. For starters, India has 29 states –– each with its many cultural nuances, hundreds of languages, and a plethora of belief systems. Then there’s the case of trust deficit. Simply put, Indians are skeptical when it comes to online shopping, and the average Indian has nowhere near the same purchasing power as customers in the West.
So the question is, how does one scale a startup in this digital, new age India? How does one build a digital product that not only solves the problems of a local customer, but also holds the potential to be scaled globally in the future?
To answer that question, we have to begin right at the inception. There are three stages of a startup: launching your idea, reaching product market fit, and finally, scaling.
Once you launch your idea, most startups aspire to reach something called ‘product market fit’. As the name itself suggests, your product has to fit the need of the market, and it must convince the customer to shell out the big bucks. If your product isn’t solving a problem, you’re bound to fail.
The third stage is called scaling, and it forms the crux of this piece. Scaling is nothing but identifying, analysing, solidifying, and zeroing in on your target audience. In layman terms, it’s finding more customers around the world. A conversation about scaling goes something like this: I have 1,000 customers today. How and where will I find 10,000 more?
Well, here’s how:
In case you’re clueless and don’t know where to begin, use Xtensio to build your first few personas.
How would you get this information? Well, researching your customers is one way to go about it. As mentioned earlier, you could either conduct this research online, or by literally speaking to them, one-on-one. Take Chumbak, for example –– one of India’s largest e-commerce stores. Chumbak does something called ‘Breakfast with Chumbak’, where they invite their most active customers to learn about their habits, what they’re thinking about, and what’s been exciting them lately.
The second part involves analysing your competition. Most businesses have at least three-four direct or indirect competitors, and keeping an eye on them will go a long way in helping your business flourish.
Furthermore, starting a marketing activity on a channel isn’t merely a simple case of creating a video for YouTube, or uploading posts with spammy hashtags on Twitter –– it’s also critical to understand the nuances of each channel. For example, say you’re on Facebook –– which is an assistant conversion channel. You upload a post with a headline that reads ‘Five Reasons Why You Should Try My Product’, but unbeknownst to you, the social networking site has decided to change an algorithm that analyses each post. If something resembles an ad, the website will immediately limit the reach of the posts. Such has been its impact, that since its inception in 2016, it has caused many startups to shut down –– the most famous example of which remains the American digital publication, Little Things.