Founding GROFERS & BLINKIT, Building ZOMATO and Reaching IIT DELHI From Tier 3 India | FULL EPISODE

Hi, thanks for stopping by! You’re watching #TheBarbershopWithShantanuS2: #RaisersEdge.

In today's episode, we have a one-on-one conversation with Albinder Dhindsa, founder of Blinkit, fka Grofers.

Stay tuned till the end of the video to know how he came up with the idea of 10-minute deliveries, and how it became a category-defining business, the Zomato acquisition, how Blinkit has changed habits for thousands of Indians, and much more!

Liked the video? Like, comment & subscribe for more!
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00:00 - Coming Up!
01:00 - Introduction TBWS and Albi
2:26 - The Insights from Grofers to Blinkit
7:35 - An App to Help Parents and Helpers at Home

8:13 - 10 Minute Delivery is About Access

9:30 - “That is in Entrepreneurship”

11:00 - Blinkit is the channel to support the new age brands which will come up inevitably in India

12:06 - The Future of Indian Cities, Urban Migration and Consumption Patterns

14:00 - From Data to Insights: Blinkit’s use of Data Science, 2023 goal of providing brands the “why” and Blinkit’s lean team.

17:30 - With Infrastructure for Customers and Insights for Brands, how does Blinkit Maintain one single DNA for the Company?

18:50 - The Blinkit Team and The Culture Across Departments

21:18 - Flesh is the Same, Needs are different: Albi on the needs from a Rider to an Engineer in Blinkit

23:00 - Zomato’s Job Descriptions and What Shantanu Wants to Learn from Their Culture For His Team

26:55 -How Does The Blinkit Team Create a helpful platform for both New-Age Start-Ups and Legacy Brands?

31:35 - India is in a Consumption Boom with Supply Constraints

34:18 - Blinkit is the digital equivalent of a Mall’s Infrastructure: They Exist so Brands can enter markets and Consumers Can Exercise Choice

35:50 - Can legacy brands be challenged by New Age Brands? Will the Consumer shift loyalties in the long run?

38:07 - Blinkit is an Urban Phenomenon and the Smart Utilisation of Cities’ Space Shortage.

39:05 - Facilating Access to Menstrual Care at Blinkit and Bombae and how young consumers think differently.

41:00- Is this India’s Tipping Point for Growth and where we lack.

43:35 - Shantanu’s Dad, American Healthcare and more.

46:45 - Albi’s Journey from Tier 3 India to ITT Delhi and Columbia.

51:19 - 2011 and The Zomato Journey
54:05 - Leaving Zomato to Begin Grofers

56:56 - Blinkit’s North Focused Approach to Now growing across India

57:13 - What is the hardest part of Entrepreneurship for Albinder?

1:00:13 - Grofers, the lessons learnt and the Founding Team.

01:05:41 On competition, consumer unloyality

01:07:10 On rebranding to Blinkit

01:10:34 Priorities changing after turning 40

01:12:44 On enjoying the process, burnout, and driving energy

01:16:36 Insights for product come from the strangest places

01:21:04 iPhone delivered in 10 minutes.

01:22:25 Building listening mechanisms and getting insights

01:24:49 Customized Gifting bundles made by Blinkit

01:25:47 What excites Albi for the next 10 years?

01:27:29 Opening Blinkit office spaces for emerging brands

01:29:30 Not wanting to lose the excitement of day 1

01:30:30 Albi's view on funding cycles

01:34:40 Final words of advice

01:35:41 Bombay Shaving Company hamper!
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ABOUT OUR CHANNEL

My name is Shantanu and I am the founder of Bombay Shaving Company and Bombae.
I LOVE entrepreneurship. Personally, I would rate myself as an average (at best) entrepreneur, but I love great ones.

The BarberShop with Shantanu S2: Raiser’s Edge goes beyond our conversations from S1 on our podcast to tangible help.

With the help of our sponsors at BSC and Bombae we have put together a season which brings together a corpus of 50+ equity seekers looking to support 20+ start-ups in their growth and success.

We will be releasing an episode every Friday at 9 pm. Tune in and hope you enjoy. :)
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CHECK OUT OUR OTHER VIDEOS

[vidy]

Albinder is such an electic entrepreneur with deep insight into his business, yet he is very clear about what he knows and what he doesn't. Love his humility about the broader business landscape. Thanks Shantanu, for this episode.

[soumendra-bultaminds]

I have been watching most of your shows Shantanu. I think consciously/unconsciously you are building a lot of budding job seekers to pursue entrepreneurship, existing entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial sights/insights into different businesses, increased awareness of their risk-taking capability (by listening to others) and more importantly a community..Kudos...Please keep sharing more...Hungry for more.

[VivekGulati]

These are the best MBA guest lectures we never had (and actually needed!) ❤

[satyanveshi]

It is so amazing to see our young gen z Indians are loving to watch and follow podcasts/interviews of these young entrepreneurs instead of looking at film heroes and tv stars. Country seems to heading in right direction

[ritikaraisinghani]

I use both zomato & swiggy. Compare costs on both & choose the one that's cheaper tbh.

[rosh]

Shantanu gives out such good, sagely (elder brother) type vibes. I love his energy...

[shubham-yjiw]

Nice podcast and specially u guys providing the platform for new startup by giving your space is commendable

[dkpcool]

I would like to thank you shantanu for such amazing content ans guest... More power to you and your entire team.

[ivanhsiavi]

this is the most under rated show, so much so that i would prefer it anyday to sharktank with exponentially less drama!

[Amitkumar-fpno]

7:15 it's really literally everyday for me too, avg 800/- per day

[sheshnagcs]

Woah what an insightful conversation. Good learning for first time entrepreneurs

[jyotid]

Why did he avoid talking about ASHNEER GROVER ? He was the one who did fund raising for them.

[vipulrojha]

Waiting for Deepinder Goyal zomato founder in detail interview

[sonitgoswamy]

User experience is pretty good on blinkit but for Indian customers the price of the products seem pretty high compared to big basket.

[RajdeepBorgohainRajdeep]

I dont know but I didn't found it as insightful as other videos. He hold his boundaries really very tight and never explain anything beyond that.

[msurya]

Scale is the game in this, they'll never make money on the products they're selling or the products they'll be selling but rather over time get a better negotiation power or exclusivity of listing on their platforms. The real cash is in memberships and that which something Costco and Amazons have been doing. Being an Indian and this being an Indian brand, I'd love to see them as a global brand one day, operating in all capital cities of the world.

[rohitgoyal]

these guys never made a rupee in profit & got bailed out by their buddies at zomato. One thing they had was a brand name which they inexplicably changed.

business model was unviable on day 1 & it is still unviable today (after burning through 5k cr+)

stop making heroes out of these "storytellers"

[techietony]

Eager to see this format interview with Ashneer ….. especially after seeing his interview with Masters union
It would be great for your channel as well the viewers 😊
Cheers … thanks for proving great value to us by every video

[abusufiyanmansuri]

Shan, looking fab. Congratulations on yet another insightful episode. will continue watching now.

[Padmanabham.]

Maturity is when you realise that, Sundar Pichai & Satya Nadella are Americans not Indians.

It's our responsibility to build enterprises like Google & Microsoft here on our soil.

Namaskāram 🙏🏽