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ACLR8 Founder Academy
ACLR8 Founder Academy episodes
- Episode 5: Building the operating system for D2C brands in India! Ft. Akshay Ghulati, Co-Founder, Shiprocket
Had an amazing conversation with Akshay Ghulati, Co-Founder & CBO, Shiprocket, at the ACLR8 studio! ❤️🙌
Shiprocket is building the OS for D2C brands to launch , scale and grow their business in India and go global. It is truly a made in India innovation, that is helping brands from Bharat conquer the world. 🇮🇳🚀Super excited to share this episode with our community. ❤️Akshay is a also a visiting partner at ACLR8 and works closely with our portfolio companies to help them scale! 👏💯Building the next big thing from India ? Apply to our cohort today. www.aclr8.vc/applyContent Timelines:00:00 - Pre-cap01:01 - Shiprocket intro and our goal at ACLR803:52 - Akshay's personal journey and why he decided to join Shiprocket07:40 - Shiprocket's evolution over the years16:50 - Expanding from logistics to multiple solutions for D2C brands22:00 - Optimizing for Profitability while scaling25:00 - Akshay's advice to D2C founders26:30 - Understanding PMF for D2C brands30:53 - Challenges that SMBs face and exciting opportunities for founders to build in40:20 - Trends in D2C in India46:23 - D2C brands going global & Akshay's own D2C brand52:40 - Collaboration v/s Competition. How can tech companies work together to build the ecosystem56:10 - Creators building global brands from India58:10 - Indian brands like Good Earth, Forest Essentials and Himalaya doing well globally59:10 - Building Shiprocket to a Decacorn over the next few years1:01:37 - Akshay's collaboration with ACLR81:05:30 - Whatsapp commerce in the country with @grod2c and BusinessOnBot1:07:36 - Ending remarks#podcast #podcasting #podcasts #podcastshow #trends #shiprocket #reels #reelsintagram #aclr8 #aclr8vc #reelsdaily #cashback #india #startup #entrepreneur #startupindia #entrepreneurship #business #founder1 hr 9 min - Episode 4: E-commerce for Bharat! Ft. Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder, CashKaro
From growing up in Ambala to building a company with annualized sales of INR 4000 crores! 🚀 Meet the woman who co-founded one of India’s largest e-commerce companies. 🙌 Raising money from Ratan Tata, going through a kidney transplant, supporting young founders and breaking multiple stereotypes along the way, this is Swati Bhargava's story!
Swati grew up in Ambala and was always a bright student. She secured a 100/100 in Maths in the 10th grade. 💯 Seeing a bright spark her parents encouraged her to apply for a scholarship program in Singapore which only took 25 students from all over India.Through pure hustle and a never say never attitude, Swati got selected for the program and excelled in her 2 years in Singapore. She then applied for her undergrad at London School of Economics and got a full scholarship there as well. ✅It was at LSE that Swati met the love of her life Rohan Bhargava. ❤️ Always having an urge to build something of their own the duo started Pouring Pounds in the UK and launched CashKaro in India.🙌The business saw immediate product market fit and Swati & Rohan started scaling the business sustainably. 🚀 CashKaro raised an initial investment from Vani Kola at Kalaari Capital and then also got the legendary Mr. Ratan Tata as an investor in the company. 💪 On his thesis of why Mr. Tata invested he said “in a country which loves to save, you are giving people cash back. What’s not to love about the business” 😎Over the last few years CashKaro has scaled to become one of India's largest e-commerce companies doing annualised sales of INR 4000 crores, serving 20M users and working with 1500+ partner brands. 🚀With India’s e-commerce market at 6% of overall retail, compared to 16% in the US and 30% in China, there is huge scope for CashKaro to grow. There are $B cashback sites all over the world and CashKaro is positioned to be that company for India. 🇮🇳Swati's story is one of being persistent, never giving up, taking every opportunity and always smiling along the way! On the podcast Swati also shared how she bounced back from her Kidney transplant, and how it is important for founders to take care of their health and be measured in the face of success and failures. ❤️If you are building the next big consumer business from India, apply to the ACLR8 program today. www.aclr8.vc / [email protected] ✅Content Timeline:------------------2:45: Growing up in Ambala04:00: 100% in Maths in Class 10. From Ambala to Singapore to LSE09:00: Importance of supporting young girls in their education and career.11:30: Life at Goldman Sachs13:30: Meeting Rohan and starting up in London16:00: Launching Pouring Pounds in UK17:00: Getting an acquisition offer for 1 million pounds18:43: Launching CashKaro in India20:20: Raising $750K in 72 hours21:00: CashKaro's business model29:30: Scaling to INR 4500 crore annual sales. CashKaro's current metrics34:00: Growth of e-commerce from Tier-2/3 cities37:00: Launching EarnKaro and 3 other brands in the CashKaro umbrella37:45: Building a billion dollar business over the next few years40:45: Tapping 150K Kirana Store network to scale assisted shopping42:00: Selling a luxury brand product through Kirana stores43:30: Scaling profitably and sustainably47:30: Trends in D2C ecosystem in India52:15: Raising money from Mr. Ratan Tata1:00:00: Scaling from good to great1:03:00: Hiring the best founding team1:05:50: Advice to couple preneurs1:07:10: Importance for founders to build a personal brand1:09:40: Bouncing back from Kidney transplant and striking a balance between work and health1:12:30: Rapid fire with Swati Bhargava1:17:10: Where can ACLR8 add value to founders1:18:18: Partner Testimonial Ft. @grod2c .#podcast #podcasting #podcasts #podcastshow #trends #cashkaro #swatibhargava #aclr8 #aclr8vc #cashback #india #startup #entrepreneur #startupindia #entrepreneurship #business #founder1 hr 21 min - Episode 3: Building India's fastest growing consumer appliances brand. Ft. Bharat Kalia, Co-Founder, Lifelong Online
Building an INR 500cr D2C consumer appliances brand for Bharat! 🇮🇳🚀
Had an amazing conversation with Bharat Kalia, Co-Founder, Lifelong Online, on his journey of building one of the most disruptive D2C brands in the country. ❤️🔥
We talked about:
- ✅ How to think customer backward and identify large categories
- ✅ Selling to the value conscious Bharat consumer! Lifelong reaches 1cr+ households in the country.
- ✅ 3R’s (Reviews, Ratings, Rankings) of building demand on marketplaces.
- ✅ Optimizing for “Acha Product , Acha Price, Exceptional Service”
- ✅ Hiring influencers like Milind Soman who live the brand
- ✅ Scaling on modern trade and offline channels
- ✅ Building with a profitability mindset from Day 1
We also talked about importance of focussing on one’s health while running a buisness 🙌🧘♂️ and the importance of being measured in the face of failures and keep executing. 💯👌
Bharat is a visiting partner at ACLR8 and works closely with our portfolio companies to help build large consumer brands from India. 🇮🇳🚀 Apply to the ACLR8 S24 cohort today and skyrocket your business. Application Deadline: 31st Jan 📝 ✅ Website: www.aclr8.vc
Content Timeline:
------------------
- 00:00: Intro
- 02:45: Bharat's personal journey and what led him to starting up
- 06:45: Let's simplify starting up
- 09:30: Why consumer appliances as a category. How can founders identify categories while starting up
- 12:50: Starting businesses where you have a leverage in
- 17:16: Importance of talking to consumer and doing primary research
- 18:10: Holy trinity for any D2C brands - AOV, Gross Margin, Retention
- 19:50: Lifelong's current scale
- 22:00: Importance of marketing that converts
- 23:20: Traits of a Bharat consumer
- 26:25: How do you define PMF for a D2C brand
- 31:00: How can founders scale on Marketplaces
- 40:00: Decathlon case study and how they scaled to INR 4000 crores in India
- 51:15: Make in India push with Boat, Noise and Atomberg
- 1:00:00: Thrassio case-study and their investment in Lifelong
- 1:06:10: Rapid-fire with Bharat
- 1:12:15: Bharat's collaboration with ACLR8 and mentoring founders to build large brands
- 1:14:18: Partner testimonial for @grod2c - Business on Bot
- 1:15:50: Closing remarks
#funding #enterpreneurship #aclr8 #aclr8vc #startup #startupindia
1 hr 17 min - Episode 2: Fintech for Bharat. Ft. Ankit Agrawal, Founder & CEO, Insurance Dekho
Financial Inclusion for 100cr Indians with Ankit Agrawal, Founder & CEO, InsuranceDekho 🇮🇳🚀
Insurance Dekho is one of the fastest growing insurance companies in India solving for “Bima, Bharosa, Berozgari, Bimari,” 💯
Some of things we discussed were:
- ✅ How it is important to not celebrate fund raise and really focus on your business, team and providing long term value to your customer. 💯
- ✅ How to build products that reach millions of households and solve real problems. ❤️
- ✅ Systems, processes & people training required to setup organisations that last a 100 years and churn out amazing leaders. 🚀
- ✅ Importance of being on-ground and focus on execution! Not be a “social media founder”. 💪
- ✅ Hiring folks who have the right attitude to learn and persistence to keep executing, rather than just looking at work experience, college or skill set. 🔥
- ✅ Exciting opportunities in fintech and financial services for young Indian founders in the next few years. 🚀
Thank you Ankit for your time and sharing your learnings of building one of the most disruptive companies in India. 👏 You have inspired lacs of founders to dream big and never give up. ❤️
Content Timeline:
------------------ 00:00 - Intro
- 02:17 - Time-management while running such a large business and ruthless prioritisation.
- 04:14 - Fintech opportunity in India over the next decade.
- 07:02 - Why is Insurance such a massive opportunity in India.
- 10:30 - How do young founders identify large opportunities in Fintech.
- 13:10 - Importance of not celebrating fund raising but focussing on execution.
- 15:04 - Right idea, right time, right team.
- 16:52 - Importance of personal experience in building a successful business.
- 17:52 - How did Ankit identify the initial business model of @InsuranceDekho
- 19:40 - Importance of founders being on-ground to solve a problem.
- 21:15 - Insurance Dekho growth strategy in the next few years.
- 24:36 - Running a gig economy company at scale.
- 28:57 - An insurance advisor is a family doctor for your savings.
- 30:00 - Solving for trust and information asymmetry at scale.
- 33:00 - How does a founder hire their initial team?
- 36:25 - Don't hire social media founders.
- 40:25 - How is @InsuranceDekho becoming a house of founders.
- 43:17 - Building institutions like @icicibankICICI, HUL and HDFC.
- 45:20 - India is a land of opportunities.
- 47:10 - Ankit on collaborating with ACLR8 to build the best early stage program for founders in India!
- 50:30 - Importance of building profitably while having a growth mindset.
- 52:39 - (Partner Testimonial) Whatsapp commerce in the country with Business on Bot.
- 53:40 - Ending statements.
#startup #funding #entrepreneurship #fundraising #startupindia #accelerator #incubator #aclr8 #aclr8vc #insurance #insurancedekho55 min - Episode 1: Fundraising 101 for early stage founders. Ft. Apurva Chamaria, Head of Startup & VC, Google India
Raise fast, raise effectively and raise from the best! Learn the secrets of fundraising from one of India's best early stage investors, Apurva Chamaria. Apurva heads Startup & VC at Google India, and has invested in 100+ companies over the last 10 years.
In this episode of the ACLR8 Founder Academy, Karan Jindal and Apurva Chamaria discuss everything that a founder needs to raise fast, raise effectively and raise from the best.
Some key concepts discussed in this podcast are:
- Mindset of a founder while building a Billion dollar company.
- Understanding what type of businesses require funding.
- Traits of successful founders who have built large, venture funded, companies.
- Does being from an IIT / IIM impact your chances of fundraise?
- Can a founder from a Tier - 2/3 city, raise as effectively?
- Understanding when to raise, how much to raise, and who to raise from?
- Key elements to a perfect elevator pitch and the perfect pitch deck.
- How to build and cultivate a strong network.
- Closing the deal fast and effectively.Understanding a no from an investor and dealing with it.
If you are building the next big thing from India, and need support in raising funds, mentorship from unicorn founders, access, route to market, partnerships then apply to our cohort today.
Website: www.aclr8.vc
Application Link: www.aclr8.vc/apply
Content Timeline:
-----------------
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:36 - Founder mindset for a Billion dollar company v/s Million dollar company
- 07:37 - Do all ventures require funding?
- 10:35 - VC expectations while funding companies.
- 13:00 - Exciting sectors to build in for founders.
- 20:52 - Don't be an air conditioned office founder.
- 22:04 - Traits of successful founders from Apurva's portfolio.
- 29:36 - Does being from an IIT / IIM background increase funding success?
- 32:15 - How can founders who are not from IIT / IIM raise funding?
- 36:29 - When is the right time to raise money?
- 42:34 - How much to raise? How to value your company? And who to raise from?
- 47:39 - Ideal founding team structure to build a large venture.
- 54:14 - Building the perfect elevator pitch and pitch deck.
- 1:02:42 - Closing a deal with an investor.
- 1:06:37 - What if you are not able to raise money.
- 1:16:40 - Ending statements.
#startup #funding #entrepreneurship #fundraising #startupindia #accelerator #incubator #aclr8 #aclr8vc
1 hr 19 min
About ACLR8 Founder Academy
From the publisher's feed
At ACLR8, our goal is to build the best early stage accelerator program in the world, helping founders from Bharat build large, generational and iconic companies.
Founder Academy is our exclusive podcast featuring the top startup founders, investors and operators in the country. Our goal is to help build the best resource for any early stage founder to learn from and connect with the best folks from India's startup ecosystem.