الاثنين، 7 فبراير 2022

‘Software is a global business’ – 25 quotes of the week on digital transformation

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week (see the previous edition here). This special series of quotes focuses on the increasing impact of digital media around the world. Share these 25 gems and insights with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.


See also our pick of Top Quotes of 2021 on Entrepreneurship, Investment, Digital Transformation, Storytelling, The India Opportunity, Pandemic Resilience, Failure Recovery, Design, and Art.

1

Growth of gaming-focused adtech will be exponential in the coming decade across geographies with the growth of gamers and game publishers across freemium, Web 3.0 and skill-based real money gaming. - Manish Agarwal, Nazara


Decentralised gaming metaverses are going to give autonomy through ownership to creators and users alike. - Anshul Rustaggi, Totality Corp.

In the last two years, the readership for quality, intelligent content has grown significantly. - Mohika Sharma, The Jurni

The year 2022 will see a huge increase in programmatic audio due to increasing interest of publishers and availability of proper technology and standards to provide it. - Pankil Mehta, Alchemy Group

Consumers are discovering brands, discovering products and now even transacting based on recommendations by creators. - Darpan Sanghvi, Good Glamm Group

Marketing is one of the largest spending categories for companies but many of its decisions are still driven by intuition rather than data. - Priya Saiprasad, SoftBank Investment Advisers

The inculcation of tech has enabled marketers to devise a flexible content execution strategy. It has also supercharged their marketing endeavours and forced brands to adapt to the fast-changing landscape. - Mayank Jain, Scalenut


Every other space has its own rules and regulations, but a website is a timeless artifact that people can always visit. - Ajit Sivaram, U&I

2

One of the many benefits of the internet is that this medium makes mental healthcare more approachable while also being readily accessible. - Rakesh Sharma, AtEase

Technology adoption and digitisation will lead the transformation of dental practice putting patient convenience and comfort at the centre in delivering products and services. - Ranjith Menon, Chiratae Ventures

What you will see now is more and more formal education getting digitised. - Ruchir Arora, CollegeDekho


The shift from legacy to digital processes continues to disrupt every category, including the multi-billion dollar field service management industry. - Shailesh Lakhani, Sequoia India

Both international and homegrown chain hotel brands will expand their portfolio through acquisitions and the sector will see a rise in demand for hospitality technology solutions. - Aditya Sanghi, Hotelogix

Even minor tech-driven enhancements that can save even an hour of on-road time per trip can lead to incremental savings in fuel consumption and wages, bringing the operational costs down. - Karan Shaha, Vahak

Automation, electromobility and connectivity, along with new-age business models and technologies, are transforming the future of the transport industry. - Kamal Bali, Volvo Group, India


In the agri-domain, the sample size of the problem statement is huge and requires collaborative approach to deliver large scale impact. - Shashank Kumar, DeHaat

4

Lack of financial literacy confuses ordinary citizens to make decisions on which financial assets to own. It is a complex space to understand which leads to decisions taken based on fear or greed. - Neeil Chaurushi, North Alliance


Advancements in technology have sprouted new innovations in the field of AI, blockchain, ML, robotics, and IoT – these will help in furthering the standard of next-gen digital traceability solutions like smart labeling and digital tracing. - Aarti Gill, OZiva

SaaS companies are now realising the importance of developers who could empathise with blue-collar workers and have an emotional quotient (EQ). - Naveen Asrani, AWS

Work, leisure, and social contact are becoming more intertwined as more people use digital technologies. Even after COVID-19 is over, these trends are here to stay. - Ankit Gaur, Livpure

The phrase ‘Your network is your net-worth’ couldn’t be truer in the digital age. Technology and innovation have paved way for a connected world and specialisation is our way of life. - Mohua Sengupta, Mashreq


Often businesses end up implementing processes or systems too early in their journey to measure metrics like revenue or growth. - Deepak Bala, Rocketlane


Automation is the perfect fit for businesses that require the accuracy of information. These tools ensure the data is accurate, reliable, and precise from the point of entry to the final step of the process. - Vicky Jain, uKnowva


The objective of any SaaS or cloud company, in respect of security, should be to establish and maintain the trust of the customer. - Binod PG, Atlassian

3

Developers now also have to think about how they can be more collaborative in a remote work setting. - Nikhil Nandagopal, Appsmith


When you go out and help people fix problems, it's not just the technology but how people are using it. You really get to see how technology is applied and how transformative it can be. - Matt Robinson, Raahi


Software is a global business, and no matter where you start, you need to compete against the best for creating institutions that last. - Arpit Maheshwari, Stellaris Venture Partners


YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).

Author :- Madanmohan Rao ( ) Source :- https://yourstory.com/2022/01/quotes-digital-transformation-software Date :-January 27, 2022 at 07:50AM

Inside Titan Capital’s investment thesis

Indian startups are marching towards the coveted unicorn club at an unprecedented pace, with Hyderabad-based SaaS startup Darwinbox being the latest entrant. Underneath the ever-growing list of unicorns, the valuation of early-stage startups also increased in the last two years, noted Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital. 


Since its inception in 2015, Titan Capital has identified and seed invested in more than 200 startups, including six unicorns Ola, Mamaearth, Urban Company, Razorpay, Snapdeal, and Ofbusiness.


In a conversation with Siddhartha Ahluwalia, Founder and Host of 100x Entrepreneur Podcast, Bipin said, “Until 2019, a great startup idea with an awesome team would be valued around $2-3 million, which has now gone up to more than $10 million.”


Titan Capital’s deals were traditionally classified as Titan Seed Deals (TSD), where the valuation is less than Rs 20 crore, and High Valuations Deals (HVD) for valuations between Rs 20 crore and Rs 100 crore. And Bipin noted that most of the recent deals since mid-2021 have fallen under the HVD category, and added that the average startup in the fund’s portfolio has a valuation of Rs 40-50 crore.


He stated that Titan Capital’s approach to seed investing is purely like gardening: it takes time, stress, and focus to help portfolio companies that are not doing well. Read more.

Titan Capital

The Interview 

Ready to build your first product prototype? Sequoia India’s Anadamoy Roychowdhry shares a few tips, such as thinking about distribution early on, building to throw away, and utilising no-code tools when you’re just starting. 


Check out the first part of this series on why core loops are necessary when creating the minimum viable product (MVP).


Editor’s Pick: Pickright Technologies

When Archana Elapavuluri joined the workforce, she immediately wanted to start investing — right from her first paycheck. However, she did not find a platform that would help her choose the right type of investment.


Archana discovered there was a need for a platform that makes it effortless, easy, and efficient to manage money by helping people to invest in smart curated portfolios. This laid the foundation for Pickright Technologies, a Bengaluru-based wealthtech startup she founded with former colleague Namandeep Bhatia in 2019. Read more.

Pickright Technologies

Startup Spotlight

Buy debt instruments with Zerodha-backed Wint Wealth 


Having worked in the investment banking industry for a long time, Ajinkya Kulkarni realised there was a discernable gap between exclusive investment opportunities offered to high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), and the low-yield, traditional options offered to retail investors.


To solve this, he launched Wint Wealth in 2020, which helps retail investors buy debt instruments that were earlier exclusive to UHNIs. Over the last 1.5 years, the startup has garnered Rs 100 crore-plus in assets under management (AUM)  from users on its platform. Read more.

Wint wealth

News & Updates


  • A cross-border India-UAE VC fund to invest in startups in both these countries with a corpus of $150 million was launched from the India Pavilion at EXPO2020 Dubai. The VC fund is set up with the purpose to source, invest, and nurture promising ventures through an accelerator to fuel the growth of Indian and UAE startups. The investors in this fund will be from UAE, India, and GCC countries.



Before you go, stay inspired with… 

Puneet Chandok
“This generation has got the front row seat to the biggest technology revolution of our lifetime.” 

Puneet Chandok, President, India and South Asia, AWS



Now get the Daily Capsule in your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter today!

Author :- Team YS ( ) Source :- https://yourstory.com/2022/01/inside-titan-capitals-investment-thesis-wint-wealth-pickright-technologies Date :-January 27, 2022 at 06:00AM

[Startup Bharat] These Goa-based entrepreneurs are simplifying credit for retailers and distributors

India has approximately 6.3 crore MSMEs and over 12 million kirana stores. But, despite the gargantuan numbers, there is a vacuum of organised credit available to the sector, leading to a credit gap of $250 billion.


Hailing from a family engaged in the FMCG distribution business for over three decades cousins Sanket Shendure and Sanmati Shendure developed in-depth domain expertise along with a rich understanding of the challenges faced by Indian retailers.

The duo launched Minko in January 2021 to address this credit bottleneck through a full-stack Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) led payment product for independent distributors in the Indian retail market.

“Currently, in the FMCG segment itself in India, 90 percent of the $100 billion worth of R2D (Retailer to Distributor) payments are executed in cash. Minko’s services will enable digital adoption among grassroot retailers and distributors through a unique credit-led payment product,” Sanket tells YourStory.

The backstory

The founders started their journey with a domestic money remittance business way back in July 2017, which was facilitated by a network of retailers and kiranas who acted as agents.

These agents helped users, typically migrant labourers working away from home, send money to their loved ones. They would give the cash to these retail and kirana store owners, who then wired the money on their behalf.

The entire transaction process was being powered by ICICI Bank and Paytm Payments Bank in the background.


By 2020, Minko, then known as Minkspay, had built a distribution network of 10,000 retailers, who were processing close to half a million transactions per month.


“We have processed more than $100 million transaction value from our system altogether over these three years. But the only thing we realise is that we are just acting as a distribution channel for the banks to get their product to smaller retailers and make them agents on their network,” says Sanket.


The COVID-19 lockdown changed things as the founders realised their business was just “replaceable at any given point of time”.

“That is when we decided to build a business which adds significant value to retailers and we built it from scratch. We came across the elephant in the room — the credit challenge faced by smaller retailers after the first lockdown,” recalls Sanket.
Co-founders of Minko

Co-founders of Minko

Facing cash issues themselves, the pandemic led many distributors to reduce their credit periods to retailers to less than a week. On the other hand, retailers wanted at least two to three weeks' time.


That is where the co-founders realised that there is a big opportunity to create a BNPL stack for these distributors as well as retailers. Further, there are lenders or NBFCs that also want to bridge this credit gap.


The duo pivoted completely to a credit model, and rebranded to Minko in January 2021, ​​to primarily focus on building a formalised BNPL.

How does it work

The Minko platform allows FMCG and pharma companies and their distributors to save on cash collections costs along with lowering follow-up costs for payments, which are now digital and settled automatically online.

Minko offers credit limits between Rs 5,000 and Rs 2 lakh for a period of 5-30 days depending on the retailer's choice.
Minko

YS Design Team

Sanket says, “NBFCs cannot source these borrowers and retailers on their platform just for a loan of Rs 10,000 for 40 days because the operational costs would be massive. We realised we can only solve this by becoming an aggregator or solving this problem end-to-end for all three stakeholders — retailers, distributors, and NBFCs. This is where we came in to give the kind of experience that Flipkart and Amazon have given us with the kind of buy now pay later experiences since last two to three years.”

The startup launched its flagship product Minko Credits and built a mobile app.

First, a distributor comes onboard the platform and asks its retailers to use Minko’s mobile app. And then, NBFC or lenders facilitate the credit line to the retailers.


At present, more than four NBFCs are working with the startup.


With a 30-member team handling a network of 100+ distributors with 10,000+ retailers, Sanket (CEO) handles product, tech, and fundraising while Sanmati (Co-founder) leads sales and business development.

Differentiated product line

Apart from its flagship product, the startup added three new products within the last six months — Minko Invoices, Minko QR Code, and Minko Gold.


Through Minko Gold, every time a retailer makes a payment to the distributor, Minko helps them get a cash discount or cashback in the form of gold, which will help these retailers to generate a kind of SIP of digital gold.

“Eventually, they can withdraw one gram or five gram or 10 grams of gold as and when that kind of accumulation of gold happens and we have partnered with SafeGold in the background,” says Sanket.

Minko QR code is for users less likely to use internet banking apps or any digital banking apps for transacting or transferring money to their distributors in a digital form. Through Minko QR code or a QR card, retailers can make a payment to their distributor by scanning the code.


Minko Invoices helps retailers get a digital copy of the invoice once the retailer makes the payment either on credits or otherwise.


“We give you a Minko stack, to distributors, which they need to download and sign up and connect with their ERP system. And as soon as they go live as a distributor in the platform, not just the retailer who takes on credit but remaining retailers who actually get the physical copy of invoices can now start receiving a digital copy of invoices via Minko,” states Sanket.

Minko generates revenue by facilitating the BNPL transactions on its platform from different stakeholders right now.

“For Minko Invoices, we collect transaction fees on a per turn transaction, from the distributors. In the case of Minko Credit, NBFCs share a certain set of interest rates with us as the platform fee and that is how we generate revenue right now,” adds the co-founder.


Without disclosing exact figures, Sanket adds, “We have processed more than 4,000 credit transactions in just last eight months and we have disbursed more than a $2 million worth of credit (over Rs 15 crore) from our platform to for more than 110 suppliers and distributors in four states of India — Goa, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka.”

Funding and way ahead

The retail fintech platform had raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by LC Nueva AIF, an India domiciled Category II AIF Fund, where LC Nueva Investment Partners LLP is the Investment Manager with participation from, LetsVenture Founder and CEO Shanti Mohan, and Kunal Shah, Founder of CRED.


Over the last six months, Minko has onboarded 10,000+ retailers and distributors of reputed brands, including Unilever, Parle Agro, Coca-Cola, Haldirams, Britannia, etc. Other players operating in a similar market include Rupifi and ePayLater.


From its current presence in Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Bihar, the company aims to expand to other states in India in the coming year and expects to onboard over one lakh retailers and distributors.


Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta

Author :- Trisha Medhi ( ) Source :- https://yourstory.com/2022/01/goa-credit-facilitating-startup-minko-retailer-distributor Date :-January 27, 2022 at 06:55AM

Inside Titan Capital’s ‘gardening’ approach to investing in early-stage startups

Indian startups are marching towards the coveted unicorn club at an unprecedented pace, with Hyderabad-based SaaS startup Darwinbox being the latest entrant. Underneath the ever-growing list of unicorns, the valuation of early-stage startups also increased in the last two years, noted Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital.


Since its inception in 2015, Titan Capital has identified and seed invested in more than 200 startups including six unicorns Ola, Mamaearth Urban Company Razorpay Snapdeal and Ofbusiness

In a conversation with Siddhartha Ahluwalia, Founder and Host of 100x Entrepreneur Podcast, Bipin said, “Until 2019, a great startup idea with an awesome team would be valued around $2-3 million, which has now gone up to more than $10 million.”

Gardening early-stage startups

Titan Capital’s deals were traditionally classified as Titan Seed Deals (TSD) where the valuation is less than Rs 20 crore and High Valuations Deals (HVD) for valuations between Rs 20 crore and Rs 100 crore.


“By mid of 2021, our TSDs were zero that year and it was all HVDs every month. So, we had to remove that demarcation because you hardly get companies with valuation of Rs 13-14 crore. Recently, when I was studying all our portfolio performance, the average valuation for startups invested in the last four or five months was around Rs 40-41 crore,” Bipin explained.


Through LinkedIn and emails, as well as on-going internal reviews, Titan Capital has reviewed over 3,500 startups last year. Out of this, Bipin went through a funnel of 500 startups and Titan Capital made over 90 investments with an average check size of Rs 75-80 lakh.


While they may not be huge checks, Bipin said entrepreneurs seek Titan Capital’s backing for their network and guidance, revealed most founders shared in their feedback surveys.


“We are very clear as a joint consensus that our team needs to be available for our portfolio companies wherever they need and we are not someone who forces founders to do board meetings or impose our thesis. In fact, Titan’s thesis is not to join any board as a director and we generally join as observers and remain very silent,” he added.


He stated that Titan Capital’s approach to seed investing is purely like gardening: it takes the time, stress, and focus to help portfolio companies that are not doing well.

Lessons in startup investing

When most of his peers were happy landing roles as financial analyst and consultants at global brands, Bipin pursued his interest in startups and worked with Susanto Mitra in the angel investing field after graduating from IIT Bombay in 2013, where he served at the Entrepreneurship Cell for two years during college.


From there began his journey of scanning through startups and there has been no looking back. Bipin said his learning is to jump at the right time and to work with founders who are truly passionate about their ventures.


He added that this decade truly belongs to entrepreneurs in India and startups across sectors are going global.

To know more, listen to the podcast here:

01:18 – Joining Titan Capital


06:10 – Finding soonicorns and unicorns


08:27 – How did Titan Capital manage to make 90+ investments in a year?


12:02 – What support does Titan Capital offer to portfolio companies?


15:58 – Thesis: Focus on bottom 50 percent of companies


28:10 – Change in valuation at the seed-stage


31:20 – Learnings in the last six years as an investor


Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta

Author :- Tenzin Norzom ( ) Source :- https://yourstory.com/2022/01/titan-capital-seed-funding-investment-early-stage-startups-valuation-unicorn Date :-January 27, 2022 at 05:50AM

Using Customer Insights to Drive Growth and Build Loyalty

Is there anything in this world more satisfying than a good, old-fashioned assumption? Someone asks you a question that you have no business answering, yet a response just tumbles out of your mouth. Most of us have probably made multiple assumptions today about benign things like the weather, which team will win a sporting event, or whether the mail has been delivered yet or not.

But assumptions are far less innocent in the business world. They can lead to irrelevant products, poorly priced services, ineffective advertisements, and unsatisfactory customer service. In fact, it’s possible to assume yourself right out of business.

Slightly tweaking the old saying, “The road to hell is paved with good assumptions.”

Customer Data: A Case Study

So what’s the alternative to assumptions? Cold, hard data. For example, let’s say your company sells sunglasses and you have a hunch that the majority of your customers live in Australia. Based on legitimate trends you’ve noticed, this assumption has some value. By evaluating the shipping information in your delivery system, however, you could deduce that 23% of your business’s paying customers live in Queensland, 10% live in regions of the country outside of Queensland, 33% live in New Zealand, and the remaining 34% live in other parts of the world.

See the difference? Your assumption got you moving in the right direction but was ultimately flawed. The majority of your customers don’t live in Australia. But it’s fascinating to learn that so many of your customers reside in Queensland. And 33% live in Australia as a whole, which is nothing to sniff at. Combined with the 33% that live in New Zealand, you’ve clearly got a region of the globe that’s passionate about your sunglasses.

The next steps would be to ascertain why Queensland residents are driving such a huge portion of your sales. Is there something about that area that makes your products more helpful to customers? Or is it some sort of cultural element?

To answer these bigger questions, you’ll need to dig deeper. You’ve already undertaken the first part of gathering customer data. You looked at the addresses of recipients to pinpoint their location on the map. While these quantitative discoveries are awesome, they only tell part of the story.

What you need is some qualitative research to round out your understanding. An ethnographic study could shed light on why customers in one part of the world are so passionate about your products. But if you lack the time and budget to have researchers travel to Queensland for such a study, you could go straight to the primary source for your qualitative data.

In other words, ask the customer.

Stacey Wonder is a big proponent of this method of data collection. As she explains:

All that research, all that speculation, all the analytics, all those avatars. Oh, the things we do to understand what our audiences want from us. Here’s a bright idea—why don’t we just ask them? Surveys may seem a little old-fashioned, but they remain one of the most effective and efficient tools in marketing, as they help you understand how to develop your marketing strategy and how to attract and convert new customers by getting to know your audience better.

Let’s say you send a survey to all customers in Australia and New Zealand who have purchased your sunglasses in the past 3 months. You ask how they first heard about your brand, what prompted them to make their purchase, and how they’ve felt about your product since receiving it.

Survey responses begin pouring in and you’re able to identify trends in the responses. Lo and behold, your research reveals that most of your customers in those countries love your sunglasses because of their durability. Your customers in Australia and New Zealand are particularly active outdoors, and many of them assert that your brand is the first they’ve tried that can handle the rigors of their lifestyle.

It took quantitative and qualitative research to come to this point. But now you understand a key product benefit that can be highlighted in your advertising in those countries.

And these discoveries are scalable. Perhaps you send out a follow-up email asking your customers in Australia and New Zealand to share their top 5 outdoor activities. Using the data you get back, you could identify other regions of the world where those activities are also popular. Then you’d be able to advertise the ruggedness of your sunglasses to additional audiences that will potentially be keen to hear it.

Six months later, your efforts have led to a 30% increase in global sales. The simplest assessment would be that your recent success has come because you had a hunch that most of your sunglasses customers were based in Australia. But that information was incomplete. You needed to invest time and energy into research before you had the actionable customer insights that enabled you to thrive.

Build your business button

What Is Customer Data and Insights?

Is there anything more fickle than human behavior? Think about how often your own mind changes. That sweater you were so proud of last winter? Now it seems tacky and you never wear it. The song you couldn’t stop humming last summer is now the bane of your existence and you get annoyed every time you hear it.

So it can be difficult to tap into your customers’ wants and needs and to decipher their motivations.

If you rely solely on the quantitative side of things, you’ll get data that fits beautifully into a spreadsheet. The age range of your ideal customer. The geographic areas most likely to return your products after a purchase. The socio-economic status of those who most often purchase your upsells.

These facts give you the “what.” And we should never discount the significance of these types of answers. But human nature is more about the “why.” And it’s those mercurial discoveries that can take a business from surviving to thriving.

So what is customer insight? It’s the nugget of truth that allows you to peel back the accumulated layers of established assumptions and find the convergence between “what” and “why.” Customer insights reveal why certain products are beloved while others flounder. What types of experiences create lifelong customers and which experiences lead them to ditch you like a bad prom date.

Empathy: The Secret Ingredient for Customer Experiences

As your quantitative and qualitative research uncovers more about your customers, you’ll begin to understand what they’re craving and why it matters to them. A cynic might look at this scenario and think that it enables business owners to do disingenuous things just to coax more purchases from their customers.

But the ultimate emotion you should feel from your customer insights is empathy. You started your business because you had an idea that you wanted to share with the world. You saw an existing need and developed a solution. That in and of itself is a noble pursuit.

And when you invest time, energy, and resources into understanding more about your customers, it shows that you care about them. Yes, it’s possible to simultaneously care about sales numbers and the customers behind them.

Guided by the customer data you’ve painstakingly gathered, you’ll be better able to deliver what they want. And the things that your customers most crave are distinct experiences with your brand. The kinds of positive interactions that can provide a little pick-me-up during a difficult day. The moments of delight that are so unexpected, your customers can’t help but share them with their friends.

Pratik Dholakiya quantifies just what brand experiences can do for your bottom line:

Customers value experiences. A recent report from PWC reveals that 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a brand that offers a great customer experience. Yet another study found that customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. No wonder delivering the best experience has become the topmost priority for ecommerce stores. A great customer experience (CX) can profoundly influence your audience’s purchase behavior, improve brand reputation, and give you an edge over your competitors. More than 50% of businesses worldwide have redirected their investments to CX, and more brands are appreciating the importance of customer experience as a customer retention strategy.

The two-edged sword of positive customer experiences is that they have the power to distinguish your brand and prompt sales more than perhaps any other element. But positive customer experiences are also becoming standard. So make no mistake, your competitors are focusing right now on providing the best customer experiences.

It’s not an arms race, as that term has a negative connotation, but more of a heart race. Who can deliver the most delightful and impactful moments for customers? Who can do the little things that communicate how much they care? Who can find the most innovative ways to meet customer needs?

We all want to provide such experiences. But without insightful data, you’re just throwing out random ideas in the hopes that one will stick.

If you really want to gain an edge on the competition and acquire some real estate in the hearts of your customers, your CX efforts must be as targeted as possible.

YouTube Video

How to Gather Your Customer Insights

As mentioned earlier, surveys are a simple and effective way to collect customer insights. Whether you’re asking 2 key questions or seeking answers to a dozen queries, surveys allow you to seek direct input from the VIPs who keep your business, well, in business.

But you should be aware that there are potential limitations to the accuracy of surveys. First, surveys draw upon the memories of customers. And even the most brilliant individual might have a hard time remembering all the details you’re seeking.

For example, let’s say your survey asks questions about the checkout process on your website. If the customer completed a transaction in the last couple of days, they could likely share some specific insights. But if the checkout occurred further in the past, you could get vague responses that don’t do much for your understanding.

Go ahead and think of the most recent purchase you made from a website. Assuming it was within the last few days, you can probably picture the checkout process in your mind. But as an entrepreneur, you’re more likely to pay attention to those kinds of things than the average consumer.

Now try to think back to your third most recent online purchase. What was that checkout process like? Do you remember how intuitive the button placement was? Or the readability of the confirmation page? Probably not.

Another element of surveys is that they rely on accurate opinions that the customer might not have in ready supply. Joshua Lisec describes the issue:

Step one, ask your customers what they want. Step two, give it to them. Step three, let the profits roll in. If this summarizes your understanding of market research, you are dead wrong. Since the start of ecommerce way back in 1994, entrepreneurs and marketers have followed these three common-sense steps or some variation on them. In actuality, these steps lead you away from understanding customers’ true desires and profiting as a result. The reason for this, the fatal flaw of most feedback-driven marketing, is that customers don’t actually know what they want—and are horrifically bad at accurately reporting their desires.

How do you get around this issue of customers not knowing what they want? Lisec recommends asking customers what they don’t want, as this taps into emotions that are more consistent and reliable.

Go ahead and test this theory for yourself. Name your 2 least favorite bands in the world. That’s not a hard task, right? You might say Nickelback, Creed, Limp Bizkit, Imagine Dragons, Phish, or some other band entirely. Point is, when it comes to music, we know what we don’t like.

What about your 2 favorite bands? This is a tougher question. You might have an all-time favorite band that automatically rises to the top, but there are so many other bands to choose from that it’s hard to narrow the options down to only 2. It’s likely that your favorites might vary according to your mood or your stage of life.

But your least favorite is probably more static. Other bands come and go, but you’ll always detest [insert least favorite band here].

To be clear, the potential issues of not remembering things clearly or not knowing exactly what one wants don’t mean surveys aren’t an effective way to gather insights from your customers. You’ll just need to keep them in mind as you structure the questions and determine the audience for your surveys.

If you’re interested in a real-time method for gathering insights that reduce the fallibility of opinions, try remote usability testing. Rather than asking customers about their recollections and feelings, you get to watch your customers interact with your brand in a more native environment. For example, they might be using your website from the comfort of their own home, while software enables you to observe their actions.

Here are some of the advantages that remote usability testing offers when compared to focus groups and other in-person methods for collecting insights:

  • You don’t need to be in the same location as the test participants
  • Participants don’t feel like they’re being observed in a lab
  • It’s inexpensive to run these tests
  • They enable you to simultaneously test users from various regions of the world

While remote usability testing is an exciting innovation in the world of customer data, it’s not a perfect solution. Potential drawbacks include:

  • Inability to observe body language and other nonverbal cues from participants
  • Participants might struggle to install the necessary software
  • Participants might also feel uneasy about installing the software
  • Possibility of security issues with the data transmission

Your challenge as an entrepreneur is to review the available methods for gathering insights and determine which are ideal for your business. In addition to surveys and remote usability testing, your options include:

  1. Reviews: Anytime a customer leaves a review of your business, treat it as thoughtfully as you would a response received during a focus group. These are real opinions being shared in real-time. If you’re not currently tracking your customer reviews, you need to prioritize it immediately.
  2. Web analytics: All your websites and social accounts should provide analytics for where customers are going and what they’re doing. For example, you might learn that one of your landing pages gets a lot of user engagement until the bottom third of the page. Since this is apparently a departure point for users, you could consider adding a call to action (CTA) button prior to this point and then reassess the content to make it more compelling.
  3. A/B testing: While remote usability testing involves an established connection between you and the participant, you can glean similar data simply by testing 2 different options on your web properties and seeing which gets the better response. When it comes to crucial elements such as headlines, images, and calls to action, you should always conduct tests to identify the top performers.
  4. Customer support: One final avenue for customer insights are tickets submitted to your customer support team. They’ll help you identify trends that reveal which elements of your business are confusing or frustrating your customers.

If you’d like to get additional strategies for making your business more customer-focused, head over to our library of free business courses. You’ll learn crucial skills, such as how to build an online community, how to find relevant products that build customer loyalty, and how to write copy that connects with your audience.

Exclusive free training

The post Using Customer Insights to Drive Growth and Build Loyalty appeared first on Foundr.

Author :- Grant Olsen Source :- https://foundr.com/articles/marketing/customer-insights Date :-January 26, 2022 at 01:09AM

How to Start an Import Business in India in 2022? (Complete Guide)

How to Start an Import Business in India in 2022? (Complete Guide)

With the advent of globalization, there has been a massive growth in the import business of our country. Moreover, there is no denying that it is one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world. For the unversed, consumers are the ones who drive the economies including the production, marketing, and distribution.

People in India are crazy about imported items. So, it becomes a lucrative business option for many aspiring entrepreneurs. There is no denying that you can earn whopping amounts by doing import business. But how well do you know India's import business? We have curated some facts below for you to brush up on your knowledge.

The production scale in India has also gone up in the past few decades. It is because Indian goods have a great demand in the foreign market. That is why more goods and services are exported to other countries at present times. The result of these exports is an increase in income generation and foreign exchange. This, in turn, helps the Indian economy to grow further.

Now, keeping this in mind, some of you might have planned to start an import business of your own. However, before diving in, you must understand that this business has its own set of challenges that you will have to face in the course of time. You need to familiarize yourself with everything including the guidelines, rules, and regulations to properly govern import business. Moreover, information about the same is scanty, so you need to be careful when investigating the same. So, Here's a complete guide on how to start an import business in India in 2022.

Why is India Imports Rising?
A Complete Guide to Starting an Import Business in India
Top Imported Products of India
Top Trading Partners of India
FAQ

Why is India Imports Rising?

Rising demands

Consumers’ demands are increasing daily in today’s world. So, the imports help bridge the gap between domestic supply and domestic demand.

All about quality

There is no denying that imported goods are of better quality as compared to domestic goods. So, the consumers who can afford the product will always go for imported goods.

Cheaper price

In some cases, the imported goods come at a much cheaper price. The reason behind this is the larger production capacity of the foreign producer as compared to domestic producers.

A Complete Guide to Starting an Import Business in India

Select a Business Model

You need to choose the most effective business model for your franchise. It is important for you to select the business entity that you want to work on in the future. It will help you decide the financial expenses, manpower, and other factors required to start the business.

Final documentation process

You must settle the final documentation before beginning the business. Right from a PAN card to a trade license - you must make note of everything to avoid last-minute hassles or issues. It is necessary for businessmen to possess every legal document required for their business.

Compliance with rules

You must be aware of the rules and compliances associated with import business. Guidelines are a way of making people comply with the law and order. Once you are well-versed with the same, you can start your business smoothly.

Shipping the order

You need to ship your first order as soon as possible to get the business off the ground. Making connections with other dealers is another way of moving a step further to flourishing your import business.

You need to know effectively about learning to grow and navigate your business. You can take assistance from learned professionals or experienced persons in this regard. The mentorship and guidance that you will get from these people will help you discover a better version of yourself.

Pan Card is a Must

A PAN card is one of the most important documents that you need to possess when doing business. You must have a valid identity and address proof for all transactions and verifications. It is mandatory for everyone involved in businesses to apply for a PAN card at the Income Tax department in India.

Choose the Type of Business Entity

You need to choose the type of business entity you want to be a part of in the future. In this case, you need to choose from company types like LLP, private limited, partnership firm, and more. Your decision will depend on the structure of ownership of the said business. Also, do not forget to choose a unique name for your business entity.

Open a Current Account at the Bank

You must open a current account at the bank which will be used as your business account for all future purposes. This particular account is always used by business entities in the bank. Moreover, you will always need a current account to deal with other businesses or vendors.

Get the IEC and DGFT

You should also not forget about getting the Import Export Code (IEC). The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issues this unique registration code for all businesses. Moreover, you also need to produce various supporting documents with the same.

Choose the Right Product or Service

You must make sure to choose the correct product or service that suits your business needs. You need to keep various factors in mind when doing the same. It includes profitability, trade barriers, demand for the product, etc.

Find the Perfect Market and Buyers

You need to find the perfect market and buyers to sell your products or services at reliable profits. You should select your buyer only after having decided on the product and the market for the same.

Make sure your Finances are in Place

You also need to ensure that your finances are in place to help your business prosper further. Businesses are unlikely to take off without initial funding. So, make sure you estimate your business's financial requirements before starting with anything else.


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How to Start an Import Business in India in 2022? (Complete Guide)

Top Imported Products of India

Here are the top 10 commodities imported by India in 2020-2021.

  1. Coal, coke, and briquettes - 4.7%
  2. Crude petroleum - 21.6%
  3. Electric machinery and equipment - 2.3%
  4. Electronic components - 3.4%
  5. Gold - 5.9%
  6. Industrial machinery - 2.5%
  7. Organic chemicals - 2.5%
  8. Pearl, precious, and semi-precious stones - 4.7%
  9. Petroleum products - 5.8%
  10. Telecom instruments - 3%

Top Trading Partners of India

List of Top trading partners from where India imported commodities in 2020-2021.

  1. China - 13.7%
  2. Hong Kong - 3.5%
  3. Iraq - 5%
  4. Indonesia - 3.1%
  5. Saudi Arabia - 5.6%
  6. Singapore - 3.1%
  7. South Korea - 3.3%
  8. Switzerland - 3.5%
  9. United Arab Emirates - 6.3%
  10. United States of America - 7.5%

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How to Start an Import Business in India in 2022? (Complete Guide)

Conclusion

Import business has a great demand in India. Even the COVID-19 wave of 2020 could not dim the spirits of this business that flourished at its own pace. In fact, the country's foreign trade relies heavily on imports. It has led the government to encourage domestic exports and manufacturing. However, India will still be dependent on imports for the long term as it is necessary for its export ambitions. So, if you are waiting to start your import business, now is the right time to do so.

FAQ

What is the best import products in India?

Jewellery and precious stones, Shoes, Perfumes, Electronics, Heavy machinery, Silk import, and Oil import are some of the best products you can import.

Which country does India import most?

China, the United States, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are some of the top countries India imports the most.

How do I find international buyers?

Visit Trade fairs and exhibitions, Approach Government bodies like Export Promotion Councils or Embassies, and Market research about companies.

Author :- S N Source :- https://startuptalky.com/start-import-business-india-guide/ Date :-January 26, 2022 at 11:38PM

الأحد، 6 فبراير 2022

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States

{fullWidth}Ever heard of a unicorn? If you are imagining the beautiful mythical creature then you are wrong! Today’s generation has a different understanding of unicorns, thanks to Mr Aileen Lee, who popularized the term in 2013. So, what exactly is a unicorn? It is a private startup company that has a valuation of over $1 billion.

What is more shocking is that there are more than 900 unicorns across the world as recorded till December 2021. It makes you think the world is rich, isn’t it? Some of the former popular unicorns around the world are Facebook, Google, and Airbnb. Did it ring a bell? Well, it should! These unicorns later went on to become some of the largest companies in the world. We are here to look into the unicorns that are currently ruling the US.

Given below is a list of the top unicorns in the United States. We have curated a list of the best startup companies that have made a mark in the US market in a very short period.

1. SpaceX
2. Stripe
3. Epic Games
4. Instacart
5. Databricks
6. Chime
7. Fanatics
8. Gopuff
9. Plaid Technologies
10. Grammarly
11. Faire
12. Brex
13. JUUL Labs
FAQ

1. SpaceX

Country- USA

Valuation- $100 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2012

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
SpaceX Logo

SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. Its headquarters are in Hawthorne, California. Musk founded SpaceX with the aim to reduce space transportation costs and to conduct the colonization of the planet Mars. The company has developed a liquid propellent rocket, a spacecraft, and an orbital rocket among its many products. It is on the verge of creating a mega constellation named Starlink for providing commercial internet services.

2. Stripe

Country- United States

Valuation- $95 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2014

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Stripe Logo

Stripe is a financial services company that is headquartered in San Francisco. However, it also has another headquarter in Dublin, Ireland. Stripe usually works with e-commerce websites and mobile applications. One of its major achievements includes the introduction of Radar, an anti-fraud tool to block fraud transactions.

3. Epic Games

Country- United States

Valuation- $42 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2018

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Epic Games Logo

Epic Games is a popular video game and software development company is headquartered in Cary, California. This unicorn was founded by Tim Sweeney in 1991. It was earlier named Potomac Computer Systems. Its first commercial video game release was ZZT in 1991. It is mostly known for developing the commercially available game engine, Unreal Engine. It is also used to power internally developed video games.

4. Instacart

Country- United States

Valuation- $39 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2014

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Instacart Logo

This popular retail company operates both in the US and Canada. Instacart operates a grocery delivery service and a pickup service in both countries. The company’s services are offered through its web and mobile app.

5. Databricks

Country- United States

Valuation- $38 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2019

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Databricks Logo

Databricks is a popular software company that was founded in 2013. The creators of Apache Spark created this unicorn with the aim of creating multiple open-source projects. Most of them spin around data science, data engineering, and machine learning. It mostly develops and sells cloud data platforms.


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List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States

6. Chime

Country- United States

Valuation- $25 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2019

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Chime Logo

This financial technology company provides free mobile banking services owned and provided by Central National Bank or The Bankcorp Bank. It issues Visa debit cards to the account holders and they also get access to the online banking system. The company earns a majority of its revenue through the collection of interchange fees.

7. Fanatics

Country- United States

Valuation- $18 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2012

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Fanatics logo

This popular American retailer unicorn, Fanatics was developed in 1995 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It mostly deals with sports merchandise, equipment, and sportswear. Founded by Alan Trager, Fanatics proudly boasts of having connections with over 1080 product vendors and companies like Majestic, Adidas, Reebok, Nike, and more.

8. Gopuff

Country- United States

Valuation- $15 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2020

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Gopuff Logo

This food delivery company operates not only in the US but also in England. Its headquarters are currently in Philadelphia. The unicorn boasts of operating in over 650 cities in the US. You will also be shocked to know that the company's worth as of 2021 is $15 billion. It makes for a huge amount, isn't it?

9. Plaid Technologies

Valuation- $13.4 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2018

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Plaid Technologies Logo

This is also a fintech startup that is headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is responsible for building a data transfer network that is known to power Fintech and other digital finance products. The company also hosts a technology platform that enables the applications to connect with the bank accounts of the users. Apart from the US, Plaid Technologies also operates in the UK, Canada, Spain, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

10. Grammarly

Valuation- $13 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2019

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Grammarly Logo

Who doesn't know Grammarly? This popular cloud-based writing assistant has helped millions of users around the world correct their grammar and tone. It uses a special AI method to identify mistakes and search for an alternative for those words in the platform. It was initially released in 2009 and remains one of the most popular writing assistants in today's world. Right from reviewing spellings, punctuation, grammar, engagement, and clarity, it looks for everything in content.


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List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States

11. Faire

Valuation- $12.4 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2019

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Faire Logo

It is another popular eCommerce platform based out of the US. Users can shop from over 40,o00 independent brands through Faire's website. It acts as a wholesale marketplace for both brands and retailers. It mostly helps the retailers find and buy unique merchandise as per their demands or requirements.

12. Brex

Valuation- $12.3 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2018

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Brex Logo

This technology company deals in financial services and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. It not only offers cash management accounts but also business credit cards to other technology companies who require them. The cards offered by Brex are business charge cards and are issued by the Emigrant Bank.

13. JUUL Labs

Valuation- $12 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2017

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States
Juul Labs Logo

It is an electronic cigarette company that was carved out of Pax Labs a few years ago in 2017. The electronic cigarette made by JUUL labs atomizes the nicotine salts that are derived from tobacco. Moreover, one-time-use cartridges are used to provide the products for the same. This popular company headquarters is in San Francisco. If you are not aware, JUUL even became the most popular e-cigarette in the US back in 2017.

Conclusion

With the advent of growing competition in the market, unicorns are striving hard and leaving no stone unturned to remain in the field. This is happening in every part of the world and the US seems to be leading the way here. Multiple unicorns have already reached heights of success while a few others have just entered the market. Only time will tell what lies in the fate of these non-mythical, real unicorns that are currently running for success and fame.

FAQ

How many unicorns are there in the United States?

There are approximately 487 Unicorns in the USA.

Which city has the most unicorns in the United States?

San Francisco has the most unicorns with a total count of 203 unicorns.

How many unicorns are there in the world?

As of January 2022, there are more than 1000 unicorns in the world.

Author :- S N Source :- https://startuptalky.com/top-unicorn-startups-united-states/ Date :-January 26, 2022 at 10:22PM{fullWidth}