MANAGING GUEST EDITOR PARTNER, FIRESIDE Kanwaljit Singh VENTURES RNI No. HARENG/2011/39608-L-2/FBD/286/18-20 SMALL MEDIUM www.entrepreneur.com May 2021 l `200 l INDIA EDITION The Makers Co Meet the Doyens of D2C Bala Sarda, Vineeta Singh, Varun Alagh, Aman Gupta, Founder, Co-founder & CEO, Co-founder, Co-founder, Vahdam India SUGAR Cosmetics Mamaearth boAt Editor’s Note THE MAKERS OF NEW CPG t was just two years back Our current issue of The when I was casually Makers Co is dedicated to a talking to an Institutional new generation of disruptive IFund investor at the IReC entrepreneurs who are event about the Future of D2C blending CPG and technology e-commerce. He answered that and are shaking up retail as investors if a D2C Brand with direct-to-consumer reaches Rs.100 crores, we e-commerce companies that Our current issue also shares equate them similar to a tech build, market, sell, and ship how Kunal Bahl is turning the unicorn. This was also the their products themselves. wheels of growth for consumer- time when no D2C Brand had In the process, these brands, facing startups through his crossed the 100 crore mark spanning everything from food fund Titan capital. There is also and today with one normal to footwear, are drastically focus on why ESOP buyouts are year and one pandemic year resetting consumer preferences becoming the talk of the town. - India has a new League of and expectations. The 20+ In Our next issue, we look direct-to-consumer (D2C) companies featured in the into how Co-working spaces eCommerce entrepreneurs who Makers Co list were born will become hot once again as are challenging the traditional mostly in the last 5 years and pandemic has unleashed the online marketplaces. India have been the beneficiaries trend of WFH, and corporates already boasts of as many of platforms Like Amazon, and mid-sized organizations as 600 D2C brands and Facebook, Google, Instagram, are today happy to carry on more than 16 brands with an and Flipkart. With a dominant with the hybrid trend in the annual turnover of more than presence in Google’s search post-pandemic era. Stay with $60 million and a couple of results, turning Instagram us to learn about new trends them almost achieving the followers into micro- in co-working and also the top celebrated Unicorn badge. The influencers, and using highly co-working spaces that are Avendus report further says targeted Facebook ads to grow capitalizing on the new working the country’s D2C business is their audiences, they’ve shown trends. going to be worth $100 billion extraordinary resilience amid in five years. So powerful is the the Covid-19 pandemic and model of D2C that during 2020 have grown several times over. almost all big FMCG companies It will be interesting to see globally have switched over in how D2C founders will take Ritu Marya one form or the other towards their business presence global Editor in chief D2C to capture the consumer particularly once the pandemic E-mail me at: directly. eases. [email protected] MAY 2021 l ENTREPRENEUR l 3 Guest Editor Note BUILDING THE VALUE OF GOOD fter spending three decades in and around this their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the space, I can safely say that there’s no better environment. Or Patagonia, which has been using Black time to build a consumer brand in India. Just Friday as a rallying point to reduce mindless consumption, Alook around and you will see a new breed of and raises funds for grassroots non-profits working to brands – built for, by, and of a completely new generation protect the environment. of entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are creating Closer home, Shumee has been making innovative for consumers just like themselves – They are always learning toys from natural wood – miles away from “on.’’ They have extremely high expectations. They are toxic paint, plastic, or batteries. Brands ranging from responsible citizens of the world. They are very responsive. Mamaearth to NoNasties have been planting a tree for And much more. every order they ship. Vahdam Teas has been working The pandemic has accelerated several trends like digital to educate the children of workers on tea estates. Raw consumption, health and wellness, remote working, and at- Pressery has been recycling – RAWcycling – their plastic home experiences. The result is a degree of consumer focus bottles to create T-shirts. The Plated Project has been and community-building that feeding 50 children for every art-printed plate it sells. Just we have never seen before from the other day, I read about Air-Ink, which converts carbon popular brands. About half soot from auto and factory emissions, and converts it into The all-pervasiveness of of our own high-quality printing ink. digital has been critical for the portfolio The UN says that by 2050, we will need the equivalent creation of these brands, but in companies of almost three planets to provide the natural resources the Indian context, D2C is often have women needed to sustain current lifestyles. Today’s brands are a misnomer. Most of these new founders or keenly respectful of our natural resources. and emerging consumer brands co-founders, There are many other ways in which this new generation are digital-first, but employ an and a much of brands do things differently, and diversity is a case in omnichannel approach – they larger number point. About half of our own portfolio companies have meet their consumers where have women women founders or co-founders, and a much larger number they are. as part of their have women as part of their core teams. At Fireside, we often talk core teams. The more you see of new consumer brands and their about the Value of Good, creators, the more you realize that we are right in the because today’s brands are purpose-driven at the core. middle of a very exciting landscape where meaningful Responsible Consumption and Production is one of the brands will thrive and flourish. You could call it a win-win- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – it also win – for consumers and investors, of course, but also for describes to a T what today’s entrepreneurs are aiming to society at large. achieve, either through ethical sourcing, or clean label, or minimal packaging, or the use of new materials. Look at Allbirds – it’s a registered B Corp, legally Kanwaljit Singh - Managing Partner, required to consider the impact of their products on Fireside Ventures 4 l ENTREPRENEUR l MAY 2021 MAY 2021 l ENTREPRENEUR l 5 The p.20 Makers O The Builders C of India’s New CPG COVER STORY COVER 6 l ENTREPRENEUR l MAY 2021 CONTENTS MAY 2021 EXPERT S P E A KS 12 13 14 15 Digitization is The Digitalising Six Leadership Role of security Solution for India’s the Lending Lessons Startups can protections for small MSMEs to Survive in a Landscape learn from the jungle businesses in today’s Post-Pandemic World. BY PRAMOD BHASIN, BY SREEDHAR BEVARA, world Here’s Why CHAIRMAN, CLIX AUTHOR, THE ROARING BY NIKHIL ARORA, CAPITAL LAMBS BY PUSHKAR MUKEWAR, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER AND CO-CEO, VICE PRESIDENT, GODADDY DRIP CAPITAL INDIA TRENDS & GROWTH TECH LIFESTYLE UPDATES 1O HAPPENINGS 48 STRATEGY 62 GEEK TALK 74 Charlotte Tilbury on COVID-19 unearths new cyber Why the best defense ShareChat Is Changing The Midas Touch threats for businesses is a good offense. How Next Billion Users Will Interact On Internet 76 Top 5 Apps on my phone 50 JOURNEY STARTUP Taking a Break at 40, This 77 Top 3 Apps to help Entrepreneur Went On To FEATURES Boost your Business Produce First Unicorn in Spa 16 OPPORTUNITY & Salon Space 78 Entrepreneurs who THE FUTURE OF HR 64 Join the Clubhouse kept themselves fit while TECH 52 DIALOGUE 70 The Creative working from home D2C a realistic alternative to Process starts with 44 Where is Indian traditional business process 80 5 homegrown startups Startup Sector Heading? helping Indian farmers with 54 RESOURCES advance technology-based Why Are Indian intelligent farming solutions Startups on an ESOP p.16 Buyback Spree 81 BOOKS Akash Gehani, Co-founder 58 IN CONVERSATION and COO, Instamojo on B2B and B2C Not Moving from Books to Comparable; Execution Kindle Matters says Kunal Bahl p.62 82 WHAT INSPIRES ME The Shoes I Stood Back Up In MAY 2021 l ENTREPRENEUR l 7 WHAT’S ON ENTREPRENEUR.COM? 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