The Exchanges

Q What did your dad do? I remember meeting him.

A Yeah, so, so basically my, my dad migrated to the States, I think it was 1979. And so he was part of that, I think, like initial wave of engineers pre Valley boom and, you know, pre sort of internet era and the dot-com era and He went from, I mean, the story goes, he went from Hyderabad to Iowa, which is like, I don't think you could find the more opposite, you know, environment, right? Like horn fields and 10 feet of snow and, you know, and I think it was like him and like some, like a bunch of people from Hyderabad and Punjab and like Iran, and there was like this group of like Brown people basically that showed up to become like, do double E at the time, like electrical engineering in Iowa. So he, I don't think he was a particularly good engineer, but he, um, was, was like fairly entrepreneurial in spirit. So he, He, uh, graduated, and then he moved to California, and I guess there was a lot of buzz about, like, semiconductors and things at the time, and, um, so he sort of, you know, he ended up working at this company, um, called Synopsys at one point, which is semiconductors, and got into that semiconductor space, and then that sort of, like, so he's, he's become sort of like a serial entrepreneur for the last, 30 odd years now, been in, been in the valley, and that's where I was born. So I was born in, in the heart of the valley, actually, a place called Fremont. Um, not …

AI assessment note: “he ended up working at this company, um, called Synopsys”

Q Does it make a difference to you guys?

A It does, because I mean, both of our brands, I, I get what Matt's saying in terms of there's some, like, absorption that we can do when it comes to the per cup cost, but as soon as you start getting into, let's say, the cost of a canned coffee, right, a ready to drink beverage, or a box of beans that you want to freshly brew at home, or, um, a two kilo sack you want to sell, sell institutionally, then suddenly your margins are, Are getting shrunk. So I think from that, from that point of view, the supply chain shock really can impact the business in a, in a major way. Um, but if you're, you know, fortunately, Matt has this incredible array of cafes across the country and with, with that kind of distribution model for him, I mean, yeah, I guess it's less impactful.

AI assessment note: “It does, because I mean, both of our brands”

Q What else? Rahul, do you want to say something about niche and mass niche?

A Look, I, I think Lutokai has changed The palette of coffee consumption in India. And that's, I mean, without that having happened, Subco wouldn't have had a shot, to be honest. So, and that's not just because Matt's sitting here. I've, I've, I genuinely believe that. Um, I think we're different in a couple of key ways. Like Matt said, we started off as being like, okay, we're going to try to, the way we can premiumize this segment was we, we felt we had to provide value addition on top of something Matt was already doing well. So I think he was, he was serving a much better cup of coffee in a much better environment than it existed earlier. And we said, okay, so let's try our best to produce, to source the best coffee we can, roast it the best way we can. But then two key things that had to differentiate us further were building a very deep commitment to what a global Indic design language may look like. And baking in conjunction with roasting coffee. And to me, that was the next step, because if we wanted to really justify a higher price point and a more experiential sort of, you know, coffee brand, I felt that, um, what's pairs really well with it are really world-class baked goods. Um, and I wanted to kind of bring both of those two things together and try to construct that, um, in unison. So I think the design language and then having the bakehouse kind of like, um, be co-c…

AI assessment note: “the way we can premiumize this segment was we, we felt we had to provide value addition”

Q So do you like being here more because of that?

A I think, I think for me, the story ended up being embracing My roots while also understanding that I would, I would never, I would never be, I would always be neither here nor there, but that I had such strong roots to lean on and that I wanted to make a contribution back to where my roots were. And so that's why I sort of ended up later in my life as an adult gravitating towards moving here, um, moving back here. But, but yeah, I think it is, and this is, you know, I'm kind of jumping around in the story, but In later on in my life, I, I think what I always wondered was with all of the little bit of the jibes and, and, you know, I think Being Indian or being South Asian went through phases. So first it was just kind of lame and just very much not cool. Then sort of the valley happened and the valley was like a lot of brown people and they were like killing it. Right. So then it was like, okay, you guys are just like nerdy and you guys go to Harvard and you guys go to Stanford and you're all like engineers and doctors. And, and that, that was like another layer of pressure on me. Cause I was like, shit, like, I don't think I can do this. I'm not wired quite that way. I was much more into the humanities and like IR and like political economy and stuff like that. And so I think from that evolution, it ended up becoming, hey, well, you know, Can I study international affairs and c…

AI assessment note: “that's why I sort of ended up later in my life as an adult gravitating towards”

Q I mean, there was some rumor that Starbucks is shutting down. Then they came and clarified that it's fake. But how is it actually doing?

A But, but I was gonna, I don't have any data on how they're doing. What I would say though, Nikhil, is that when you say speciality, this is an interesting one. So Starbucks' perception differs heavily based on which country it's in. Right? Which means what? Which means in India, Starbucks is the biggest specialty coffee brand. Even though me and Matt would not refer to it as a specialty coffee brand, which is kind of fascinating. Cause price point wise, Starbucks is even at times more expensive than we are. And well, they are, they are who they are. They have the brand that they have and you have to respect that. Um, but that's, that's interesting to me.

AI assessment note: “I don't have any data on how they're doing. What I would say though”

Q And when you say reacting, what are they doing?

A I mean, it's like, what is that? And they have this like terrible food that they're eating, right? Like some like, like terrible, like white bread sandwich or something. And like, you know, that's one visceral reaction or when your parents come to pick you up and you know, their accent's a little different, right? Their accent, Desi accent and whatever. No matter how long they live, their accent stays, right? Typically. Um, and so, you know, stuff like that. So I think a little bit of shame initially, I mean, I think that there's like two camps, like people then try to overcompensate and then sort of become like, hey, I'm, you know what, like I'm brown, but like, I'm not really brown. I'm like more of like a coconut, right? So like, I'm like brown on the outside, white on the inside. Yeah, yeah. There's people that kind of like aspire to be a coconut, right? And I'm like, okay, you do you. Uh, that was never me. I, I, and I think the turning point for me was we, my dad at one point, um, just before the whole Y-K fiasco, my dad, 97 to 2000, here's my Bangalore connection. I moved to Bangalore. So I, I, I was going, so throughout my childhood, I, we would go to Hyderabad every single summer. My, my, my mama, my tata, my grandparents stayed. We're all there still, like half my family was still in India, so we actually, like compared to a lot of people I grew up with.

AI assessment note: “I mean, it's like, what is that? And they have this like terrible food”