Horn OK Please Shreyas Kadaba

Banofi Leather is a sustainable fashion startup converting banana crop waste into plant-based leather. Based in the leather district of Kolkata, the company combines cutting-edge material science with the scrappiness you’d expect from an early-stage business. My guest, Jinali Mody, is the Founder and CEO of Banofi. She started building the company as a student at Yale University and won the Hult Prize in 2023 for her efforts thus far! In this episode, we cover:


The value chain of sustainable fashion
Jinali’s experience founding Banofi as a student at Yale
Why Banofi is currently a B2B company
The paradox between durability and sustainability
The consumer’s responsibility in making fashion more sustainable

Resources


Connect with Jinali on LinkedIn
Connect with Shreyas on LinkedIn
Jinali’s take on the need for consumers to be more forgiving: link
McKinsey podcast about sustainability in the fashion industry: link

Delhivery is a titan in the Indian logistics landscape. The company started out doing hyperlocal deliveries in Gurgaon in 2011. Pretty quickly, it moved into express parcel deliveries and served as the backbone for India’s eCommerce boom in the following years. Today, as a public company with ~$900mil in revenue, Delhivery’s story demonstrates how technology can transform logistics.

To help us with this exploration, I’m joined by Kshitij Chopra. Kshitij is the Head of Product at Delhivery. He was also the company’s first product hire back in 2015 and has worn many hats since then. Together, we explore Delhivery’s business lines, the role of the government in logistics, and Kshitij’s personal journey building technology at Delhivery.

Resources


Delhivery’s Website
Latest Financials (Q4 FY23)
Connect with Kshitij on LinkedIn
Connect with Shreyas on LinkedIn

Pidge is a last-mile logistics service provider that supports small and medium enterprises with intra-city shipments. 


On the demand side, Pidge works disparate customers including D2C brands, restaurants, and medical companies. These companies either outsource their deliveries to Pidge or use Pidge’s software to manage an in-house delivery process. 
On the supply side, Pidge runs an asset-light model. Unlike quick commerce platforms such as Dunzo and Zepto, the company doesn’t maintain its own fleet of vehicles. Instead, it relies on a network of delivery partners to fulfill orders. By working with clients across an array of industries, Pidge provides a consistent level of business to its delivery partners. It also maximizes network utilization and fulfills nearly 100% of incoming requests. 

Having enabled over 5 million deliveries since 2019, the company is leaving its mark as a leading LSP and logistics tech business. To help us with this exploration, I’m joined by Ratnesh Verma. Ratnesh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pidge. Together, we explore Pidge's core value propositions, how the company addresses fluctuating customer demand, and how it maintains positive unit economics.

Resources


Pidge Website
Connect with Ratnesh on LinkedIn
Economic Times article on Pidge from Feb 17th 2023: Link

What to connect with Shreyas? Ping him on LinkedIn!

In today’s episode, we dive into Farmart. Farmart, founded in 2015, is a B2B food supply platform. The company offers software and services to simplify the lives of agri-retailers, farmers, and food production businesses alike. They've developed an innovative model to source produce from the retailers that traditionally sell seeds to farmers. It makes farm to fork possible at scale and is based on deep customer research. Farmart has raised ~$48mil to date from investors including General Catalyst and Matrix Partners India. To help us with this exploration, I’m joined by Alekh Sanghera. Alekh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Farmart. Together, we explore topics including the challenges in the agriculture sector, Farmart’s journey from being a free CRM tool to a marketplace for produce, and strategies to build products for SMEs.

Resources


Farmart Website
Alekh's LinkedIn and Twitter
Interview with Alekh and his Co-Founder Mehtab: Link

In today’s episode, we dive into the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). ONDC is a non-profit initiative by the Government of India to decentralize digital commerce. It isn’t the next Flipkart, but instead, it’s the network and protocol layer necessary to unbundle a company like Flipkart. ONDC is built on the back of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and has the potential to further transform how Indians transact. If you thought you were late to the party with understanding UPI, here’s your chance to get ahead on the “next big thing”! To help us with this exploration, I’m joined by Shireesh Joshi. Shireesh is the Chief Business Officer at ONDC. Together, we explore how ONDC is a protocol, not a platform, what it aims to accomplish, and what the e-commerce landscape will look like in a world of ONDC.

Additional Resources


To participate in the ONDC network, email team@ondc.org
Nandan Nilekani on ONDC from Startup India Innovation Week - Link
The protocol powering ONDC and other such decentralized networks - Beckn Protocol
Long form article about protocols vs platforms (albeit in a different context) - Link

In today’s episode, we dive into the track and trace industry. Track and trace (aka shipment visibility) is all about locating cargo while it’s shipped around the world. While this problem is relatively straightforward for eCommerce parcels, it’s very challenging for global, multi-modal logistics. To help us with this exploration, I’m joined by Cy Sack. Cy is the Product Lead for Supply Chain Visibility at Flexport. Together, we explore why companies care about visibility, what makes it challenging to do, and where humans fit into the picture. I hope you enjoy this exploration of track and trace.

Reference


Cy's LinkedIn Profile: Link
Cy's Blog: Rough Terrain