Executing at LightSpeed or Hurtling towards Disaster
Speed of Execution in Platform Businesses
Like I wrote last week, we are in tough times again. So sit tight and hang on!
As we hit move towards another peak of covid19 cases (third or more), I thought of writing about another kind of race towards customer acquisition milestones and/or valuation peaks. We have unicorns. decacorns, hectacorns or as many are calling soonicorns.
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DTW
During the Week, Reliance Retail invested 200 Million USD in Hyperlocal delivery/quick commerce firm Dunzo. With this investment, Reliance Retail would end up owning a minority stake in Dunzo which many believed to be a precursor to its acquisition. This is line with many Indian conglomerates picking up stakes in growing and ambitious e-commerce start ups like Tata’s acquiring BigBasket and Reliance picking up many firms including MilkBasket, NowFloats , NedMeds amongst others.
We seem to be getting into a rat race of making the fastest delivery times. From Amazon’s two-day delivery for Prime Members to BigBasket’s two hours delivery to Swiggy’s 20 minutes, we are now at 10 minutes grocery deliveries by Zepto. Of course, if you are just looking for the fast moving SKUs then Zepto would do but if you cook regularly and need more choices then 10,000 SKU offered by Bigbasket may make more sense.
It is well acknowledged fact that the regulations lag innovations and it is no more true than for tech platforms. Uber and others have mastered the art of spontaneous deregulation. They seems to believe in the misinterpretation of old age adage twisted as “It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission”. There have been multiple instances of companies overreacting their mandates and creative using the customer data or interaction to create opportunities when none exist. For example, many customers have raised alarm over use of data regarding their private transactions with e-commerce/online transactions by the modern gatekeepers including the new age Apartment Management Platforms like MyGate and Adda etc.
Now , MyGate and others are under tremendous investors’ pressure to grow their traction with customers but they are struck with sparse transactions mainly limited to monthly utility payments or occasional tickets related to facility management. On order to grow the engagement with their indirect users (read residents), they seemed to have taken a bypass through the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and started collecting/leveraging data about the main gate interactions of vendors serving the residents. This has helped them in two ways- one getting them access to customer buying patterns for off-platform purchases AND two, getting an opportunity to push an ad on their mobile screens as a push notification.
Whether deliberate or accidental stumbling, these acts are indicator of the Zuckerbergian mindset of “Move Fast and Break Things“ famously the internal philosophy of Facebook till 2014when they got in trouble with regulators. It also reeks of the brashness of Uber’s Travis Kalanick who famously popularised Regulatory arbitrage where the businesses move faster than regulators who are continuously playing catch up.
But the larger question remains for founders and investors is whether the light at the end of the train tunnel is actually sunlight or the headlight of an incoming train!
OTW
Over the Weekend, I hosted Dharmendra Kumar for my monthly MountainSpeak session. Dharma ,as he is fondly called, is Life Coach, Therapist, Entrepreneur, Fitness & Running Coach, Vegan, Comedian, Filmmaker. You can watch the complete recording at the following link.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_gjOV_Mb79sUP3vrnIF4sNz75W_iLnTK/view?usp=sharing
I first met Dharma during my Khardung la Challenge and was instantly in awe of his clarity and zen-like demeanour. It was even more surreal when I realised that he ran the Full Marathon in Leh as a recovery run after finishing the 72 KM Khardung la Challenge.
As a runner and coach, he believes in giving back to community and has been a mentor/coach for numerous runners. In fact, he conceptualised and directed an interesting documentary focussing on crowd support during the Mumbai Marathon called “Cheering at Peddar Road“. As somebody who has experienced this phenomenon multiple times during my Mumbai Marathon participation , I can say that the film captures the spirit perfectly.
Three Cheers for Mumbaikars for their support and encouragement.
As we start vaccinating the young adults and booster doses for the vulnerable and the frontline workers, let us encourage everybody to get vaccinated ASAP. We are now fully vaccinated (at least one dose) household as Aru also got her first covid19 vaccine shot. In the meanwhile, I would request you to avoid large gatherings and try to stay at home as much as possible.
Wear a Mask. Wash your Hands. Stay Safe
I Love You
Shailendra
OTM
Opportunities through MountainSpeak are available with AAGAAS Federation as an intern for developing their platform business model in sustainable eco-tourism, organic produce and traditional craft products.
I have also started planning for my Annual Himalayan Summer Trek 2022 from May 21st to 29th in association with AAGAAS. As usual , we would be trekking with friends and family in Garhwal Himalayas between Mandakini and Alaknanda Valley. This is primarily organised with local support to promote eco-tourism and thus may not have any luxury/paraphernalia but focuses on great experience and even better company. If you feel that a friend, colleague or a family member might be interested in this trek, please ask them to use the link to join to WhatsApp group for Annual Himalayan Trek organised by AAGAAS, Pipalkoti.