Late last year, Mihir Dalal created waves with his reporting when he launched his first book, Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story, sharing behind the scenes of India’s most successful unicorn story. In this episode we caught up with Mihir to dive deep into how the company was born, the scandals that happened and the ups and downs in creating a company that would change the face of retail in India.
Timestamps:
00:50: Amazon’s influence on early Flipkart, Two Pizza team culture
06:00: Taking risks even when there isn’t a lot of visibility, turning down early acquisition offers
11:00: On pompous Venture Capital Lords and Flipkart
15:00: Enter the Tiger, Lee Fixel and Deep Kalra
19:00: With $10 million, Flipkart powers ahead
20:01: Flipkart’s official sex appeal bringer
25:00: Iyappa, the Human ERP at Flipkart
29:00: Cash on Delivery as a game changer
32:00: How to hold inventory without inventory
33:00: Sujeet Kumar- the man who got things done
37:20: Competition heats up as Amazon enters India
39:00 General Atlantic shocker and emergency funding
41:03: Fixing the broken bits: Kalyan Krishnamurthy
48:30: After the funding boom, Snapdeal and other rivals
51:15: Mihir reads out a chapter! Enter Softbank!
64:30: Market consolidation, exits and acquisitions
Repost: Behind the scenes at Flipkart