This was a lot of fun. Always enjoyed learning from @deepakabbot - this was quite insightful and my homie @MotwaniSuhas did a great job with the moderation. Could have been an hour or two longer and I’d still be curious and entertained.
I have some raw and unfiltered notes from the session. Drop me a DM if you want to have a look.
Quick tip: Surround yourself with smart and helpful friends.
@SparklinGuy recommended that I make a thread out of @deepakabbot 's webinar that was moderate by @MotwaniSuhas ( Shoutout to @BlumeVentures for organising )
My homie @rjtnndn cleaned up my notes. So here goes:
@SparklinGuy recommended that I make a thread out of @deepakabbot 's webinar that was moderate by @MotwaniSuhas ( Shoutout to @BlumeVentures for organising )
My homie @rjtnndn cleaned up my notes. So here goes:
Timing is key: @deepakabbot 's first stint at @Paytm was early enough in the Indian App ecosystem for customer acquisition cost and competition to be low and thanks to @vijayshekhar 's vision - there was a lot of experimentation and thus time to indulge in learning while going.
Deepak's 2nd stint at Paym started 3 years ago and a few hundred hours before our Prime Minister's scariest 8 PM address to the nation so far. #Demonetization
The overnight surge was overwhelming and it was time to ship stable stuff with minimal QA and testing or research.
The overnight surge was overwhelming and it was time to ship stable stuff with minimal QA and testing or research.
Marketing/Growth insights: Cost of ads and CAC don't really matter when you look at big picture. Higher CAC means markets are booming and that monetisation opportunities are higher. Get your unit economics right.
COVID and post COVID era presents an interesting opportunity to spend less on marketing and still get relatively high conversions.
Get creative and see if you can partner with other apps that don't compete with yours and see if you can set up an inventory sharing or traffic sharing model. There's a lot of scope to expand the pie together and then take slices.
Word of mouth usually comes from a great product experience. Try to bring about a natural referral system and not just an incentivised one.
Unorganized affiliate model works in India - look @Meesho_Official - figure out a way to create micro entrepreneurs who can earn from the comfort of their homes by leveraging their networks.
Try to figure out a way to incentive the referrer a lot more than the referee. The product should solve a real problem for the referee.
Ideally it should be 100:0 but 75:25 types is okay too.
Unless your referral program impacts your true north metric, don't incentivise both.
Ideally it should be 100:0 but 75:25 types is okay too.
Unless your referral program impacts your true north metric, don't incentivise both.
If referral is in your own internal currency, it is okay to incentivise both sides. However, if there's real cash involved and it goes ought of your pocket - Try to incentivise only the referrer.
Don't ignore App Store Optimization - it doesn't give dramatic overnight results but helps in the long run.
Industry insights: India has 450 Million Smartphones and about 140 Million feature phones - half of the latter will go smart soon. Lots of you will see a 10% increase in DAUs.
India has a language divide. Big companies can invest in localisation. Small ones gotta be creative
India has a language divide. Big companies can invest in localisation. Small ones gotta be creative
The Indian market is not ready for DIY. We require handholding.
Thanks to it being a highly fragmented market in most categories, Indian founders have some advantages in certain sectors. We just understand our users better.
Thanks to it being a highly fragmented market in most categories, Indian founders have some advantages in certain sectors. We just understand our users better.
Chinese founders understand Android and Social like no one else. Tech teams are in China and they rapidly prototype at unimaginable speeds to experiment for first 6 months.
Utility and Social are their focus areas.
Utility and Social are their focus areas.
China didn't have to compete with USA.
India had to compete with USA, China, and anyone else. Hence no Super Apps in India. Whatsapp is closest.
Chinese founders usually look to solve problems from a lens different from our "Solving for India" or "Solving for Bharat" lenses.
India had to compete with USA, China, and anyone else. Hence no Super Apps in India. Whatsapp is closest.
Chinese founders usually look to solve problems from a lens different from our "Solving for India" or "Solving for Bharat" lenses.
Deepak believes there's no major difference between Bharat and India. Average Revenue Per User in India has been and remains low. In-app revenues of 300 Million USD from 20 Billion app installs last year.
Focusing on top 10-15 cities is what gives the highest return on investment in India. He (and @MotwaniSuhas ) would be happy to be shown data that proves that this is not the case.
On Gaming industry: Deepak enjoyed his time in the gaming industry and loves gaming, but India is not a gamer nation.
If you're not a gamer by nature/birth - you can't build a gaming app that can compete globally.
If you're not a gamer by nature/birth - you can't build a gaming app that can compete globally.
Example: India's in-game spend in a game like PubG is a lot lower than many smaller nations.
There isn't much money here.
If you're building a gaming company, build for a global audience and not for Indians alone. Be patient. The money in India will come. Just not today.
There isn't much money here.
If you're building a gaming company, build for a global audience and not for Indians alone. Be patient. The money in India will come. Just not today.
Random insight on payments: Google Pay has a great product that Deepak loves, but it is solely built on UPI and if Whatsapp payments take off - Google Pay will pay the price - while players like Paytm that have other use cases may not.
Career-related notes:
Moving from large companies' product teams to smaller ones is a harder transition.
One is not better than the other. They're just different and hence require different skill sets.
Moving from large companies' product teams to smaller ones is a harder transition.
One is not better than the other. They're just different and hence require different skill sets.
At smaller companies even founders don't know what they'll end up building. It is important to be comfortable with a lot of experimentation and quickly changing course on the basis of data and customer insights.
Having an open mind is a huge necessity.
Having an open mind is a huge necessity.
At larger companies, there's less experimentation and the product people who do well are the ones who are natural leaders and are more process driven.
In both cases, a love for math and numbers is helpful. Analytics are your best friend.
In both cases, a love for math and numbers is helpful. Analytics are your best friend.
At early-stage startups, founders look for hungry and curious folks who come with an open mind and can work with small, distributed, or even outsourced tech teams.
They need to understand consumers well and have the humility to know that they may not be able to please users.
They need to understand consumers well and have the humility to know that they may not be able to please users.
We are in uncharted territory right now. Good time to pick up new skills and be more productive as well as creative. Play it safe for now and survive.
If you want to be a PM, try not to just identify problems. Come up with solutions to those problems too.
If you want to be a PM, try not to just identify problems. Come up with solutions to those problems too.
/End of thread
(Any mistakes or ambiguities are mine and not @deepakabbot 's) Please reach out to me for clarifications.
Thanks for reading and I hope you found it useful.
(Any mistakes or ambiguities are mine and not @deepakabbot 's) Please reach out to me for clarifications.
Thanks for reading and I hope you found it useful.
