Stress is lethal for bootstrapping — Last week, Gaurav walked into Shack HQ. He ordered a cup of ‘long black’, a better version of Americano. While I pulled his shot, we started chatting. I found out that he has recently turned a bootstrapper. He started Devotus, a mental health service upstart. He has spent more than…

Yes, a local business will also benefit — When someone orders espresso at Shack Coffee Co., I always suspect her/him of being a bootstrapper. Yesterday was not different. V walked in and ordered for an espresso. At first, he credited CrossFit for the post workout fix. Then, he opened up. He is setting up a bakery in West…

Bricolage makes entrepreneurs resourceful endlessly — The best thing about brewing coffee in Shahpurjat is meeting fellow bootstrappers. Yesterday I met a fashion designer, who had started her boutique last month. She left her job at JJ Valaya. One of my customers at Shack Coffee is a lady, who runs a popular jewellery brand for women…

Startups trying to disrupt the food sector should think again — Tech startup founders can either be visionaries or idiots. It’s difficult to spot the difference. Langda Tyagi may help. He said in the movie Omkara ,“ The difference between a visionary and idiot is that of a string. If you pull the string, both look similar.” …

Bootstrapped businesses are the future big businesses — Bootstrappers should avoid big ambition, when starting a business. Unlike startups, bootstrappers can just focus on making a decent income. Founder of Sea Bags’ Hannah Kubiak started it to pay the bills. Its revenue is around $25mn ( INR 300cr approx.) per year. In 1999 Hannah decided to skip college…

Bootstrappers can whip #ss of big businesses — Italian bootstrappers have forced Domino’s to file for bankruptcy. Superior pizzas by local businesses, lack of demand for American styles pizzas and pandemic were the key reasons for the bankruptcy. India is Domino’s largest international market with 1495 outlets. Italian franchise E Pizza had planned to open 880 stores by…

Bootstrappers should double down on trade-shows — Last week, I visited Indian Hospitality Expo in Greater Noida. I had gone to check out machines for the espresso bar. I had to pull myself out of the place. Online is no match for in person trade shows. I met the top B2B suppliers of coffee machines such as…

The focus on customers’ need and wants will help avoiding marketing myopia — It was 2016 when I first heard the phrase ‘marketing myopia’. I had bought Clayton Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemmna. I found the book boring. I could not get half of what it said. But, it led me to the seminal article by Theodore Levit. He wrote Marketing Myopia in 1960 in…

Jobs to be done framework is helpful in building the right products — In 2014, I had launched Build Your Community. It was an online tool to audit the online communities of the brand. It also helped to plan and launch campaigns to grow the online communities. But, the brands would rather not use it. Earlier, my digital marketing firm Shack Co. helped…