The Exchanges

Q And how did you, five of you split the rows among yourselves?

A Yeah, like I said, this is really where we were very, uh, fungible. I mean, we didn't really put some hard lines saying, this is you, this is you, this is you. So it was always a very, so, uh, the way I looked, um, Hari obviously as a CEO took on the entire overall responsibility, including people and making sure that, uh, the fundamental piece and Whipple clearly took on the role of making sure that the investor side and the finance was taken and marketing. So that was like, uh, uh, critical piece. Uh, Abhinai did a lot of things, including some of the new, uh, ventures we did in terms of B to B and all that, and Ramesh took care of the entire logistics.

AI assessment note: “Hari obviously as a CEO took on the entire overall responsibility”

Q But you never face the challenge of, like, 10 minute, uh, delivery, uh, like, because that has changed the behavior, right?

A No, no, it has. It has. It is a challenge, which is one of the big challenges we have faced. And, uh, I think our first reaction to this, when this started in the, uh, global economy, right? It, it's not something which started in India. It started, uh, in Europe, surprisingly. And, ah, in fact, a lot of our board members told us, you know, this is, this is one new interesting thing which seems to be scaling pretty well in Europe and all that. So we said, park it. I don't want to touch it right now because it's going to be very difficult to make money on it. Therefore, let's not go into something when it's not going to be easy to make money. So we said, unfortunately, as it turned out, When customers were told that I will not charge you more, I will not charge you a delivery fee, I will not charge you anything, and I'm going to give it to you in 10 minutes. Customer said, great, yeah, fantastic, give it to me.

AI assessment note: “No, no, it has. It has. It is a challenge”

Q And you had raised some VC money back then?

A No, no, no. We raised, uh, uh, I mean, you know, in the physical thing, we just did a kind of a bridge money and built it on a very interesting platform. We, what we did was we used the technology we built for the online to primarily make sure that the whole stock in movement management was outstanding for a store. In fact, we did some very interesting things in those days, which have become kind of quite standard now. They're very new in those days. So we used to do a, what we called as a flow through, where in the, in the main warehouse, there would be no stocks. The stocks would come and move to the stores. So the entire stocks were sitting in the stores, which did two things for us. One, the overall inventory holding became low because of which we were on a negative working capital. See, working capital is a very critical piece in any retail business. So we were on a negative working capital. Now the early people to do that. Now I think a lot of people do that. We do it in big baskets. So I think it's, it's become quite commonplace now. Those days it was very new. So we used the technology strength to build out a thing, but we did the stores on a franchise basis. So we had franchisees who invested into the store and the, and the store people. And we said, we'll provide the technology and the stocks and the whole cycle of figuring out what is selling, what is not selling, bu…

AI assessment note: “No, no, no. We raised, uh, uh, I mean, you know, in the physical thing”

Q But spending 25 years, right, uh, do you, do you attribute some part of it that, you know, you, you gave it your all for a long period of time, so it had to, to happen?

A That goes without saying. We have given it all, right? No question about it. I think we have, we have given it a lot of energy, a lot of our insights, But we've enjoyed it also. In my view, that's very critical. Don't get stressed out by it. I think enjoy the journey. There'll be stress points. There's no question about it. But most days should be good. Most days should be fine. Most days should be enjoyable. I think it has happened for us. And that is one, what really keeps you motivated to keep coming back next day morning and still at it and gives you the energy to fight the battles. And therefore, I think there's no question that we have given it all. And I think that's true for a lot of people, right? Most people, for instance, I'm sure each of you, when you look at your podcast shows, for instance, when I told you about the opportunity, immediately you said, can you please connect me? So, I mean, you're giving it everything, right? So all of us do. I'm not saying that everybody does, but a lot of us do. But a lot of us may not always necessarily find the success that we may want. And in my view, that's okay. Success is, again, in my view, like, money is a byproduct. But I think more important is to really enjoy the journey, and do what you like, and that excitement really is, in my view, that's really what differentiates working for a startup versus a very established com…

AI assessment note: “That goes without saying. We have given it all, right? No question about it.”

Q Which was more challenging, Big Basket or Fab Mall?

A Um, I mean, Fab Mall was a much shorter run. Big Basket has been a much longer run. So in phases, I think both have been challenging. In phases, both have been amazing. So I wouldn't really say this has been more or less. It's, it's just that that didn't take to the scale that this has gone to. But, uh, I would say Challenges change. That's all. As you scale, the kind of challenges you get are very different. So the kind of challenges changes, but challenges are always there. Otherwise, it gets boring also. So in fact, it's, it's like driving in India versus driving in Australia, right? So when I drove in Australia, pretty much the problem, the biggest problem was you falling asleep. There's nothing happening. And New Zealand especially. If you're driving New Zealand, you don't see anybody. Many times you don't see anything else. You're just driving, but absolutely amazingly beautiful, but nothing happening on the road. So you can potentially get fall asleep. In India, you, I mean, every 10 feet on an expressway, there's somebody jumping in. So you're, you're, you're on your, it's like running a startup.

AI assessment note: “I wouldn't really say this has been more or less.”

Q And what about profitability? Do you have any benchmarks on it?

A No, not as much data as much as I think it's something our own. And Tata's as a, as a group, as you rightly said, very clearly, they're saying, boss, we are not here to do charity. If it's a charity, it's a separate, we'll have a charitable organization. In a charitable organization, we'll do charity. But in a for profit company, we have to make profit, right? Absolutely fair. Absolutely fair. Absolutely the right way to look at things, right? So we also tell people that, I mean, I don't know whether a customer needs charity from you, right? If you can't make the customer pay for what they have to pay, that means you're not doing your job well enough. That's the only thing. So if you do your job well enough, A customer is not asking for charity. When I'm buying from Big Basket or from Flipkart or from Amazon, I'm not asking for charity, right? You don't need to do, I mean, I'm not in need for charity, of charity. So therefore, the point is finally the customer has to value that service, has to value and therefore pay for it, which is really the journey that we need. I think the one thing which has worked very well for us is the fact that it's not just Tata's, right? It's the global economy is pushing everybody across the world, not in India.

AI assessment note: “No, not as much data as much as I think it's something our own.”