Takeaways :

• Good framework on how to think about an idea — According to Aditya, the key in brainstorming an idea is to know "what NOT to do & have one core feature" that is sticky in the product. In the context of Kaapi, Aditya says that they decided to not build a fast growing VC fundable business and focus on building a slow sustainable business.
• How to move from an idea to a product - Aditya mentions that the key from idea to product is to find a core set of beta users and then use them to build out your core MVP. Ideally your first customers should also come from these beta customers.
• Possible to escape the fundraise cycles - Media around us these days is only talking about large fundraises, which often makes us glorify raising more money as the end goal. Aditya presents a very refreshing take of breaking away from this mould of how he got tired of this. He proposes the idea of growing to $1000/mo and building a Company of One which is very fascinating.

About Aditya : Co-founded superchooha and LocalOye (raised $5M from Lightspeed & Tiger Global); Early employee at Jombay & Belong.

Notes

1. How to to think about an idea : This is largely what Aditya did for Kaapi but can be applied overall in ideation as well.

   Decide 'What you will NOT DO" : In Kaapi's case - Aditya said they were clear they did not want to do fast growth VC funded businesses —→ this eliminated category creation work and B2C. They instead focussed on markets which are already huge & aimed at just being 1% better. They aimed their research around "Finding out which problems already exist".

   Given Aditya's interest in HR tech space (domain focus) + remote teams (co-founder was and is remote) they landed on the problem statement of "helping managers become better leaders via employee engagement & feedback in a remote-first world"

2. Building blocks for Idea → Product: This is largely how Aditya focussed on with Kaapi, but can be extended to general thoughts as well.

   Early users are very important — Kaapi had 9 beta users and Aditya built out the product with their feedback / support. Added things like timezone support. First paid customers also came from there. Never underestimate the power of building on top of platforms to start with.

   Kaapi started with building for teams on Slack — reduced their MVP time significantly.

   <aside> 💡 Important to have ONE CORE feature / use-case that you're best known for.

   </aside>

3. Story behind "The Hardcore Year" blogpost :Link here for reference. Would recommend the reader goes to read that post before listening to the podcast.

   Aditya spent 10-11 years trying to find a rocketship. Either done a early-stage startup or joined an early-stage startup. (See About Aditya above). He realised that he was not enjoying the 'fast-paced' growth path & that he's not good at it anymore. He realised there were people who learnt coding & built real businesses with a 2-3 member team + that if you are building a global product, earning INR 5L/month in a SaaS business is totally doable. This was the inspiration behind wanting to build Kaapi. According to Aditya, getting to $1000/mo is the tipping point that covers all expenses + bills & that's his aim with Kaapi (he's currently at $240 MRR at the time of this podcast).

   <aside> 💡 "Doing things that you love, and doing it for life"

   </aside>

4. Trial to conversion Ratio: Aditya's insights are for a DIY product like Kaapi, which are in the $5-20/mo price range

   8-9% trial to conversion ratio good enough if you have a DIY product. Different sources work differently - Google & Word of mouth give good conversion rates. Staying in touch with your customers is KEY in those 30 days. 90% of the customers are with Aditya on WhatsApp - connecting with them on places where they are more comfortable. Aditya also talks about having one thing that people can identify you for.

5. Other nuggets by Aditya:

India doesn't have the right heros. They are always people who raise millions of $$ in money. 2nd time entreprenuers who have seen a bunch of failures may probably see things better.

His Role Models :

• On Twitter : Peter Levels, Andrey Asimov
• In India : Superlemon, SendX