With over 200 pieces across various content types (essays, book reviews, podcast highlights, PMF or product market fit interviews) over different content categories such as the Indian startup ecosystem, the Indian consumer stack, advice to founders, education, retail etc., I understand that the site and the numerous reading choices can get a tad overwhelming. Hence this page, which lists some of my more popular pieces. You can begin with these, and should you take a fancy to some of the categories or types of content, then do dive in deeper into these.
[Do note that not all my pieces are hosted here. Most are. I hope to eventually move all my pieces here.]
On the Indian startup ecosystem
Each year, since 2022, I have co-authored and published a popular report on the Indian startup ecosystem called The Indus Valley Report. Indus Valley is our moniker for the Indian Silicon Valley. The report, 100-130 slides long, celebrates the rise of the Indian Startup Ecosystem, or Indus Valley, and its emergence as one of the centres of innovation and enterprise in the startup world. Through 150+ insightful and some, daresay provocative charts, it looks back at the rise of Indus Valley, takes stock of its evolution, and also looks ahead to what is coming. The report is published late February / early March. indusvalleyreport.com has links to 2022, 2023 and 2024 reports.
The Indus Valley Playbook (January 2021) is a long form piece, chronicling the evolution of the Indian venture + startup ecosystem, the unique forcing functions that encase + constrain the industry, and finally the unique playbooks that have emerged as a consequence of these forcing functions. It is the intellectual precursor to the Indus Valley Report.
The Indian consumer stack
I popularised the India1-India2-India3 consumer stack framework that is used by many startups for market sizing and Total Addressable Market calculations. My two writings in this space, explaining the India1-India2-India3 framework, and the implications of that for startups and venture capital firms, are below. They should be read together, ideally.
India1, Avocado Startups, and Finding Product-Market Fit (January 2019)
It is not easy for India1 startups to expand to India2 or vice versa. Finding product-market fit (PMF) in India1 doesnt mean automatic fit in India2. So what can we learn from the few startups that did achieve PMF in both markets. What do they tell us about product development and market creation?
India2, English Tax, and Building for the Next Billion Users (July 2018)
India is not one but three Indias (India1, India2 and India3). Much of our consumption is driven by India1 (<10% population but 40% of spends) but capital comes in chasing all Indias, leading to an overventured market. Meanwhile India1-focused startups are expanding to India2 but struggle with the English Tax with which their products are imbued.
Allied to the above two, is a 3rd article that looks at monetization for vernacular apps specifically. That should be useful as well.
Vernacular Apps, English Premium, and Monetizing the Next 200 Million (December 2018)
PMF, or Product Market Fit
Achieving Product Market Fit or PMF, is the single most important objective in an early stage startup. I have written extensively about PMF and how founders should understand it, and work towards it. I pioneered viewing PMF as a 2-step process 1) PPF or product to problem fit 2) MMF or motion to market fit. My framework as well as the playbook to work towards it is shared in the below pieces.
My most recent essay on PMF is The Busy Founder’s Guide to PMF (November 2024). It is a post adapted from a presentation I made on PMF to a group of founders. This link has the presentation (titled ‘PMF Primer’) on PMF made to the founders. Two similar ones, albeit with somewhat more detail in this vein are The Art and Science of PMF (April 2023) and PMF: What it is, and How to Achieve it (April 2022).
Two other, albeit older pieces on this topic, (perhaps useful for a quick review but can also be safely ignored) are linked below.
The first is How Founders Should Think About Product-Market Fit (February 2021). The thing to check out here is the founder’s role!
The second is Defining PMF (November 2021).
I also publish PMF Convos, a series of interviews with founders and operators, who have struggled with PMF (product-market fit) successfully, or unsuccessfully, with the startups they have founded or worked with (or work at) getting their takes and perspectives on the topic. Link to all the PMF Convo interview transcripts.
Advice to founders
In addition there are pieces I have written, which while not solely about PMF, provide useful frameworks and startup-building inputs. You can think of them as advice to founders. They cover topics such as
The Three Jobs of a Startup CEO (November 2020) – There are 3 core jobs of a founder-CEO in a Series A+ startup. They are prioritisation, hiring and fundraising; in that order. In this article, I unpack these 3 roles and set out why they matter and how founder-CEOs should address them.
How the Best Founders Drive Learnings at their Startup (February 2021) – The best founders ensure that their startups learn continuously, and iterate + improve their strategy, tactics and playbook constantly. They ensure this learning through three routes – customers / product interactions, interviewees / hiring process and finally investors / fundraising, in that order.
The Congruent Square (November 2021) – Startups at the pre-PMF (product market fit) stage need to have tight alignment / coupling between the four key mechanisms – product, market, GTM / Go To Market and Team; a concept I refer to as the Congruent Square. In this post I explain this better and share why a lack of alignment / congruency between these four mechanisms can be damaging.
The Revenue Equation, KPIs, and Controllable Input Metrics (October 2022) – Explains how every business can be understood in terms of a revenue equation, how that can be used to determine your KPIs / metrics, and how to derive the Controllable Input Metric (CIM) which is the most important metric to focus on. I also share how to set incentives to drive desirable behaviour re the metric.
The Three (or More) Products Founders Have to Keep in Mind (January 2023) – There is not one but as many as three (or more) products that founders need to keep in mind, and keep evolving, while they build their startup. Beyond the obvious customer product, there is also the investor product, and the content product (especially relevant for B2B companies). In addition perhaps there is the talent product (for aspiring candidates) and culture product (for internal team).
Why CM2+ Matters for Startups (November 2023) – Explains why the output metric of CM2 (Contribution Margin 2) is so critical for startups, and why getting to CM2+ (CM2 positive) is a good shorthand for getting to PMF or product-market fit.
Reflections on Strategy (March 2024) – Reflections on strategy, and culture, two of the most ill-used terms in business, and how they relate to startups. I share a definition of strategy, and drill deeper. I share that strategy is about choices and tradeoffs around where to play and how to win, and the most important choice is around where to play.
TAM: Notes & Thoughts (June 2024) – The best founders especially those building new categories go beyond TAM to look at TEM or Total Expandable Market. But more than TAM or TEM, it is thinking about TAM in a structured manner, and bringing that structured thinking to drive business operations as well as VC discussions that matters. Much like Eisenhower’s views on plans (worthless) vs planning (everything), TAM in itself is not very useful, but thinking and estimating TAM is extremely useful.
Understanding venture and how it works
Through my writings, I have tried to bring transparency to the somewhat arcane world of venture. The posts below illuminate aspects of venture that are typically invisible to outsiders, and give them greater clarity.
Exhaust Fumes, or, Understanding Startup Valuations (June 2021) explains how VCs discover the value of a startup not through DCF but by playing ‘long-term multiparty staging games’, taking the product from idea to IPO. It says that VC actions can be best understood in terms of signalling founder-friendliness and pitching themselves to elite founders.
Breaking into VC (December 2023) In the post, I share why top-tier VC is a sellside not a buyside business, why top-tier VC is best seen as a form of enterprise sales where you sell your firm’s brand of capital in turn for equity, and therefore why firms evaluate you on the basis of your ability to connect, engage and persuade rising or star founders. In addition, I share six ways to signal your abilities on this front, and stand out vis a vis other candidates.
Reflections on Completing Five Years in Venture Capital (October 2023) In this essay, my longest ever in fact, I reflect on my past five years in venture, my learnings and evolution. My evolution echoes the evolution of the Indian VC and startup landscape too, so I take a deeper look at that. In addition, I take a look at venture practices, and my sensemaking of it. Finally, I cover what I (and perhaps other venture capitalists or VCs) get asked frequently – on how we and the industry work, and nuances and trivia around this.
Tech, culture, consumer behaviour, and miscellany
In addition I also write on topics at the intersection of tech, culture, and consumer behaviour.
My most popular article in this genre is on the emergence of a new ‘caste’ of English-speaking Indians that I called Indo-Anglians.
Indo-Anglians: The newest and fastest-growing caste in India (January 2018)
Another piece in this genre was on understanding Indian society through its elite educational institutes. It is called MERIT Colleges, National Track India and Privilege Blindness, August 2020.
Two pieces on unbundling, one on unbundling humans, or human creation, and another on unbundling religion, are worth a look see.
I also ponder about creating new nation states. Here is a piece reflecting on how nations could get created.
No content or opinion stated in this blog should be taken as the official view of my employer, Blume Ventures. This blog is entirely my personal view.