E-com startupThe WHATs and the HOWs

Vivek @ IITK | 2015 1

What is required to start an

ecommerce venture?

Stand Out in the Clutter

A Brilliant Idea – Surveys vs. Serendipity?

Amazing Design and Branding

A Viral Event

Brute-Force Funding/Marketing

Without Compromising

Customer Satisfaction

(Logistics/Technology/Communication/Qu

ality etc.)

Long Term Profitability

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Vanilla Cheat Sheet Positioning

Team

Pilot

Branding

Supply Chain

Vendors, Procurement/Manufacturing, Price, Inventory, Payment Cycle, Cash Projections

Logistics

Serviceability, Partners, Returns, Controls

Platform

Try not to write any code, it hurts!

Incident Management

CRM, Policies, Complaint Management, Communication

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Stages of… Pain

1. Bootstrap: no revenue, little expense, partial product, no team

Angel: 1-3 cr @ 20-30%

Accelerator: <25L @ <10% e.g. GSF, 500 Startups, The Morpheus

Incubator: Variable @ 90%

2. Early Stage: no revenue, some expense, POC product, partial team

3. Series A: no revenue, full team, ready product

4. Series B/C/D/E: revenue but no profit, full team, advanced product

5. Sale/IPO/Exit: profitability

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Supply > Demand

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Top Indian VCs

Helion

• $605m, $2m-$10m, Tech&Consumer, Rev<$10m, MMT/Yepme/Taxi4Sure/NetAmbit

Accel

• N/A, $0.5m-$50m, N/A, babyoye/flipkart/zansaar/commonfloor

Blume

• N/A, $0.05m-$1.5, Tech, audiocompass/exotel

Sequoia

• N/A, $0.01m-$100m, India-US crossborder, prefers to be lead investor, JustDial/CCD/knowlarity

Nexus

• N/A, $0.5m-$20m, No Majority or Participation, Snapdeal/Delhivery/Housing/Pubmatic

Inventus

• N/A, $1m-$10m, Seeks board seat, Vizury/PolicyBazaar

IDG Ventures

• N/A, $0.5m-$10m, N/A, Firstcry/Yatra/Zivame/iProf

Canaan

• N/A, $0.05m-$80m, exit in 7-10 years, Bharat Matrimony/Naaptol/CarTrade

SAIF

• N/A, $0.5m-$100m, 10-40% stake, HomeShop18/BookMyShow/PayTM/JustDial

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The VC PitchIntro/Contact, Mission/Vision (if any)

Team

Market/Problem/“The Pain"

Product/Solution

How/Technology

Target Customers, Value Proposition

Marketing & Sales Strategy, Competition, Customer Acquisition Metrics

Business/Revenue Model

Status/Timelines, Funding Plans, Financials/Projections/Milestones

Summary and Call to Action

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Growth Hacking

Differentiation Simplicity

Virality Alliances

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Market Research

Secondary research is good enough for most ecommerce startups

Customers and Entrepreneurs are the same segment – your intuition is good enough

Don’t go fishing bottom of the pyramid – at least not yet

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Side bE-commerce from the customer’s viewpoint

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Consumer Behavior

System I and II

Product Search

Catalog Size and ‘Plugs’

Affective Events

Discounting

Cognitive Load / System II

Decision Making

Reviews, Trust

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Some Considerations

Privacy, Security & Personalization

Convenience & Uncertainty

Discounts, Lethargy & Opacity

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Inside e-commerceHow does this and that happen in e-commerce

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The M

achin

e

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Vendor Relations

Money FlowPayment Cycles

Inventory and Retail

FDILogistics

Marketing Controls

Examples

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Financials

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Profitability – I

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Profitability – II

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Closing Notes

We have just begun

No room for mediocrity

Capital is looking for the right people, not

vice versa

Differentiation and Customer Connect are

key

“A Startup should not think too much about

how it will Endup”

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Open HouseGood Luck!

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