Founder Hari Menon on BigBasket- the largest Grocery platfrom, Culture & being part of Tata Group

If you’re a startup enthusiasts, its highly likely that you would have read or atleast heard about the book - Saying No to Jugaad: The Making of Bigbasket by by T. N. Hari & M. S. Subramanian.

In today’s episode we have Hari Menon, BigBasket’s founder sharing the his experience in the Indian Ecommerce Ecosystem over the last two decades. 

In May 2021, Tata Digital invested $375 Mn in BigBasket. They have also recently launched their quick commerce vertical called BBNow and will now compete alongside the existing players such as Swiggy, Blinkit, Zepto and Dunzo.

During the episode, catch Hari talking about his learning from his first venture, his thoughts on the current market and the investment slowdown, and much more. 

Notes - 

02:20 - Building India’s online grocery market in the last two decades

14:37 - Starting BigBasket at the age of 50

21:16 - Dividing equity between the founders

21:42 - Mistakes & Biases which got carried from his first venture

24:15 - Becoming a part of Tata Group and growing bigger

27:16 - Top learnings and observations from Tata Group

29:30 - His thoughts on “10-minute delivery”

33:14 - Any similar patterns between June 2022 and 1999 boom and bust?

35:14 - Business which are not building a profitable model will suffer the most

38:22 - Indian Startup Ecosystem in the next 5-10 years

40:20 - Framework to identify large opportunities: Scale & Profitability

42:36 - Culture at BigBasket which keeps people from moving out

46:45 - Growing with the business as CEO

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