Advice for founders in the consumer tech space in India
During the last 9 and a half odd years at CaratLane, I ran the product management function and also happened to possibly be the most active CaratLaner on LinkedIn. As a result I have received lots of pitches for consumer tech products. I have spoken to many of these people. I have noticed a few things. I have given this feedback to the people pitching to me. Sometimes the pitch would turn into an advisory session.
In the last couple of months, I have met or spoken to many founders building in consumer tech. I have noticed the same things. I have given them the same feedback.
So now I am sharing the same feedback for the larger audience of consumer tech builders in India. I am doing this because I really want you guys to succeed and help consumer businesses grow faster and more profitable.
So here goes.
A little consumer speak please. Don’t just tell me what you are building and all the cool technology you are using. Please tell me what problems you can solve and how my business will benefit from it. Saying I am creating a personalisation solution using AI might sound great in your head but it means nothing to me.
To do this well, you need to pick your categories and go deep. Tech is not sector agnostic. Will help you make a better product and make a sharper pitch.
Some company context as well. If you are making the same pitch to every company you have a serious problem. If your pitch sounds exactly like all your competitors, then it’s not going to register.
How do you solve for this ?
It’s simple. You are pitching to a B2C company. Try being their customer and go through the full journey. You will notice things which can be better. Use this in your pitch. This kind of insight will always get you the attention of the decision makers. The understanding which comes from going deep. in the categories that you have picked will also help.
Finally, but in my mind most importantly, decide which part of the organisation do you want to build this product for. Essentially which part of the organisation is going to pay for it. It’s super important. Their budgets will. decide how big your TAM is and how much money you can make if you solve their problems. You could be building an imaging solution but if it solves a cataloging problem it comes from the merchandise budget. But if you solve a marketing problem like CTR you get a piece of a much bigger budget.
If you are building in consumer tech, I am happy to help in whatever way I can. No strings attached. DM me a proper pitch of your product. Refer to the points mentioned above. If it’s interesting, we will surely have a chat.
