Opinion
Sudhakar: India's major weakness is poor process orientation
“And if you really look at in an Indian context, one of the weaknesses we have as a country is our process orientation, right? Very poor process orientation.”
What-if
Sudhakar: UPI Adoption Would Not Have Happened Without Reliance Jio
“Without the UBI wouldn't have happened. A lot of things wouldn't have happened. I think it's a phenomenal change in technology landscape itself because of that.”
Insight
Sudhakar: Founders claiming success came purely from merit are fooling themselves
“Anybody who says, I've become successful purely on the basis of my merit alone, I think fooling themselves, because I think God has to be with you, and you have to have a lot of luck. Whether you call it luck, God, fate, whatever you want to call it, I think t…”
Disclosure
Sudhakar: All older BigBasket business lines are order-profitable before HQ costs
“See, the good thing is all our businesses, especially the older businesses make money on a, If you take that business, you know, per order, I mean, it makes money at a, other than corporate costs, right? Everybody makes money. All the older businesses. That's …”
What-if
Sudhakar: E-Commerce in India Would Not Have Boomed Without Jio
“I don't think e-commerce would have boomed as much as it has without that one big revolution that happened.”
Insight
Sudhakar: Walmart's Flipkart Acquisition Opened Floodgates for Indian Startups
“Flipkart-Walmart deal didn't, what it did was, I think it suddenly Open the gates to startups. Yeah. I think suddenly a lot of people said, wow, this is like big money.”
Insight
Sudhakar: Startup capital availability strictly follows a recurring sine wave cycle
“People will suddenly throw in money after literally like there's no tomorrow, and then after five years, there'll be one huge scarcity for money. Then again, there'll be, after three years, there'll be again one huge glut. So I think it's a matter of, I think …”
Insight
Sudhakar: Retail franchises win when founders centralize stock management and procurement
“Because franchisees, finally their money is made when they, when the store does well. And when you take out all the things which they are not good at, which is managing stocks, managing what to buy, how much to buy, You know, suddenly it just eases their time …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sudhakar: Tata's acquisition of BigBasket closed without a single in-person meeting
“The crazy thing is, this is such a complex and a very large deal. And all of it happened without one meeting, because this is the time when COVID was just, right? Outstanding how a deal of this size we could do without actually meeting.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
BigBasket's Web-To-App Revenue Mix Flipped 80/20 In One Year
“Till about 1617 80% of our business used to come from our website. 20% used to come from apps. And within a year, it went to exactly the reverse.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sudhakar: BigBasket evolved out of advising startups half a day weekly
“We used to commit half a day a week with each startup. We did about five. No, in fact, one of the known names is what has become Big Basket.”
Assertion Supported
Sudhakar: BigBasket's Corporate Office Was Just 2,000 Sq Ft Until 2017
“And I remember in, in our old office, we used to, for a long time, our corporate office was one on which is one floor of 2000 square feet. Okay. Till about, what, 2017 in, by which time we had become reasonably big.”
Assertion Supported
Sudhakar: BigBasket's team size is around 30,000 to 35,000 employees
“More now, now it's closer to about 30, 35,000.”
Insight
Sudhakar: Supplier leverage flips once a retailer reaches massive scale
“When the early days, you know, like I keep saying, like if you look at the top FMCG companies, you would go there, right? When you become reasonable size, somewhere you'll meet in between. Once you're very large, they come to you. So that's really what scale d…”
Disclosure
Sudhakar: BigBasket works directly with 15,000 to 20,000 Indian farmers
“Today we're about, I think, 15, 20,000 farmers.”
Assertion Partly supported
Sudhakar: Farmers selling to BigBasket earn 6–7% more within two days
“So one we get almost six to seven percent more than what we would have got otherwise. And we get our money in two days and without follow up.”
Disclosure
Sudhakar: BigBasket supplies all Taj Hotels within Tata Group
“For instance, we sell to all the Tada Hotels, right? The Taj Hotels.”
