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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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