Episode 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

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Find us on:

Spotify: spoti.fi/411wK1G

Apple Podcasts: apple.co/4hIOWm1

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Reach Kirti Varun:

X: https://x.com/kirti_varun_a

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirtivarun/

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Reach Rahul Chowdhri:

X: https://x.com/rchowdhri

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulchowdhri/

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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

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