Thread by @thefaadguy

Meet the woman who sold her snack bar startup to ITC for 500 crores. (A thread 🧵)

1. In 2012, Suhasini Sampath was in New York with her sister, Anindita Sampath. Both were eating an energy bar after completing their yoga session. And that is when the thought struck: an energy bar was commonly available in the US but non-existent in India. Not knowing if it… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

2. In 2014, Suhasini was working at McKinsey as a management consultant. She saw the problem herself: 40% of Indians skipped breakfast meals. Having been one of that 40%, she decided to leave the company and start executing the Yoga Bar idea with her sisters.

3. The idea was simple. What if Indians could get a 20-gram multigrain energy bar for Rs 40? And that too made with natural ingredients like oats, almonds, dates, and honey? Indians can have it on the go, wouldn't skip breakfast, and eat healthily. With the initial investment by… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

4. Suhasini started manufacturing these bars with professional bakers and selling them in stores and yoga studios across Bangalore. She wanted quality assurance and direct contact with customers. And the results started showing: Yoga Bar was now selling in more than 2000 stores… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

5. VCs started noticing the growth, and the company raised 70 crore over multiple rounds. Out of the 70, 20 Crores was to set up a manufacturing facility to build quality bars. This razor-sharp focus generated a revenue of 32 crore in 2019–20. For the first time, business was… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

6.Everything was going great, but then COVID happened. How would you sell now, Suhasini? You have just 10% of your business online, and 90% is offline. Offline business contributes 90% of revenue and 70% of sales. Can you pivot now?

7. And Yogabar will be revamped into an online brand within 2–3 months. The company started selling more products through its websites and e-commerce platforms. The sales started going through the roof, and the company grew to 68 CR in revenue when COVID subsided. Little did… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

8. The company never stopped and grew with multiple products like muesli, cereals, oats, etc. Yoga Bar was now a 100-CR+ revenue company. Nestle, ITC, Dabur—everybody wanted to acquire Yoga Bar. ITC bought the 39% stake for 175 CR and will add Yogabar to its line of healthy… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

With no marketing team, no market for healthy bars in 2012 in India, and growth in COVID, Suhasini has seen and done it all. She is an inspiration for all of us.