Interstellar by Stellaris

Ep. 1 | Inside India's E-commerce Playbook with Kirti Varun | Interstellar | Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho

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In the first episode of Interstellar, we sit down with Kirti Varun, former CPO of Meesho, who has worked across Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho, witnessing firsthand how Indian e-commerce has evolved.


Here's what we unpack:

  • How Meesho pivoted and paved their path to profitability
  • How does zero-commission revenue model work
  • What’s the right to exist for Amazon, Flipkart & Meesho
  • Is Quick Commerce the next wave of commerce
  • Product Management: Art or Science
  • Much More


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    Reach Kirti Varun:

    X: https://x.com/kirti_varun_a
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirtivarun/

    Reach Rahul Chowdhri:

    X: https://x.com/rchowdhri
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulchowdhri/

    In this episode, we cover:

    (00:00) Episode Summary

    (01:05) Welcome, Kirti Varun!
    (02:05) Meesho’s pivot from a reselling platform to Bharat's B2C platform
    (07:15) Tipping point for the pivot
    (08:28) Creating a shopping app for the Bharat consumer
    (10:35) Journey from growth-at-all-costs to profitability
    (12:21) Decision of right-sizing of the company
    (14:24) Meesho’s zero-commission revenue model
    (17:14) Characteristics for zero-commission model
    (18:46) Amazon, Flipkart & Meesho's right to exist
    (21:32) Quick Commerce for fashion, good idea?
    (24:31) Flipkart’s battle with Amazon
    (27:45) Differences in org culture and structure: Amazon, Flipkart & Meesho
    (30:33) Kirti’s transition from consulting to product manager in e-commerce
    (36:03) Advice to executives from large company joining startups
    (40:15) Product Management: consumer insight vs. instinct
    (43:40) Meesho’s learnings from the live-commerce experiment
    (45:46) Rapid Fire
    (52:03) Final thoughts
    Referenced:

    Meesho fastest growing e-comm player; GMV tops $5Bn: Report - https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/meesho-fastest-growing-e-comm-player-gmv-tops-5-bn-report/107153844

    Flipkart Plus launches: Similar to Amazon Prime , but without subscription fees - https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/flipkart-plus-launched-similar-to-amazon-prime-but-without-subscription-fees-4979151.html

    Recommended Books:

    Zero to One: https://www.meesho.com/zero-to-one-by-peter-thill-with-blake-masters/p/2xnk1i?srsltid=AfmBOoopGQLn_CecGuMvXF2n-oboGq7ZrJD_tZjmiE3Uf7ZbJmbBzX4v

    Siddhartha by Herman Hesse: https://www.meesho.com/siddhartha-by-hermann-hesse/p/6bohlk?srsltid=AfmBOooaNop8yo79eA5kXG6h82EuNE-zWYj56rCJN_5FtBvjaSnf12Xy

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    Interstellar by StellarisBy Stellaris Venture Partners