Interstellar by Stellaris5 Feb 2025

Ep. 1 | Inside India's E-commerce Playbook with Kirti Varun | Interstellar | Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho

In the first episode of Interstellar, we sit down with Kirti Varun, former CPO of Meesho, who has worked across Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho, witnessing firsthand how Indian e-commerce has evolved.

Here's what we unpack:

How Meesho pivoted and paved their path to profitability
How does zero-commission revenue model work
What’s the right to exist for Amazon, Flipkart & Meesho
Is Quick Commerce the next wave of commerce
Product Management: Art or Science
Much More

-----

Reach Kirti Varun: X: https://x.com/kirti_varun_a LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirtivarun/

Reach Rahul Chowdhri: X: https://x.com/rchowdhri LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulchowdhri/

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Episode Summary (01:05) Welcome, Kirti Varun! (02:05) Meesho’s pivot from a reselling platform to Bharat's B2C platform (07:15) Tipping point for the pivot (08:28) Creating a shopping app for the Bharat consumer (10:35) Journey from growth-at-all-costs to profitability (12:21) Decision of right-sizing of the company (14:24) Meesho’s zero-commission revenue model (17:14) Characteristics for zero-commission model (18:46) Amazon, Flipkart & Meesho's right to exist (21:32) Quick Commerce for fashion, good idea? (24:31) Flipkart’s battle with Amazon (27:45) Differences in org culture and structure: Amazon, Flipkart & Meesho (30:33) Kirti’s transition from consulting to product manager in e-commerce (36:03) Advice to executives from large company joining startups (40:15) Product Management: consumer insight vs. instinct (43:40) Meesho’s learnings from the live-commerce experiment (45:46) Rapid Fire (52:03) Final thoughts Referenced:

Meesho fastest growing e-comm player; GMV tops $5Bn: Report - https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/meesho-fastest-growing-e-comm-player-gmv-tops-5-bn-report/107153844

Flipkart Plus launches: Similar to Amazon Prime , but without subscription fees - https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/flipkart-plus-launched-similar-to-amazon-prime-but-without-subscription-fees-4979151.html Recommended Books:

Zero to One: https://www.meesho.com/zero-to-one-by-peter-thill-with-blake-masters/p/2xnk1i?srsltid=AfmBOoopGQLn_CecGuMvXF2n-oboGq7ZrJD_tZjmiE3Uf7ZbJmbBzX4v

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse: https://www.meesho.com/siddhartha-by-hermann-hesse/p/6bohlk?srsltid=AfmBOooaNop8yo79eA5kXG6h82EuNE-zWYj56rCJN_5FtBvjaSnf12Xy

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(13)

EP 12| Why 90% of Membership Programs Fail (And How to Build One That Doesn't) | Interstellar ft. Anuj Rathi

Membership and loyalty programs are one of the most powerful growth levers in consumer businesses, yet 90-95% of them fail. Most companies treat them as a feature bolted on top of the product. The one...

11 Juni 44min

Ep. 11 | Can AI Fix the Broken Travel Industry | Ft. Deep Kalra (MakeMyTrip), Aloke Bajpai (ixigo) & Hari Ganapathy (PickYourTrail)

Travel is one of the earliest internet categories in India, yet it still feels unfinished. Millions of people book flights in seconds… but still walk into hotels to book a room. Planning a single trip...

25 Mars 1h 15min

EP. 10 | How India's Going-Out Culture is Evolving | Interstellar ft. Rahul Ganjoo

Experiences are emerging as a new layer of India’s consumer economy. From large global concerts to hyperlocal community events, consumers are increasingly stepping out not just for entertainment, but ...

26 Feb 40min

EP. 9 | How Swiggy Is Building for India’s New Consumer | Interstellar ft. Rohit Kapoor

As the world around him changed, Rohit Kapoor chose to reinvent himself. Curiosity led him into the startup world — from reimagining Indian hospitality at OYO to now powering India’s food story at Swi...

25 Nov 202551min

EP 8 | Building & Scaling Fashion Brands in India | Interstellar ft. Nandita Sinha, Myntra

Enamoured by Bangalore’s startup ecosystem, Nandita Sinha launched her own e-commerce venture in 2012. The learnings from that journey took her to Flipkart, where she rose through the ranks, leading m...

29 Sep 202559min

EP. 7 | The Next Big Bets in Quick Commerce: Deep Dive on Fashion, Baby & Kids, Beauty | Interstellar ft. Mayank Jain

Why is this a Quick Commerce category and not e-commerce or offline-first?What’s the right to exist for a vertical player - why won’t horizontal platforms win here?Does this category demand a unique b...

22 Aug 202545min

Ep. 6 | How I Built Flipkart's Mobile Business from Scratch | Interstellar ft. Smrithi Ravichandran

Switching from a coveted FMCG job to an industry that was barely taking shape was one of the riskiest career moves in 2011. But Smrithi Ravichandran took a leap of faith into ecommerce when most were ...

1 Aug 202555min

Ep. 5 | How OYO Scaled from India to the World | Interstellar with Abhinav Sinha

With an IIT KGP degree, an MBA from Harvard, and a comfortable consulting job at BCG New York, Abhinav Sinha had every reason to stay back in the US. However, in 2014, he packed his bags and returned ...

4 Juli 202550min