Solving Bharath’s mobility problems, simplifying strategy, unit economics, minimalism and much more!
Shobhit Saxena and I discuss mobility problems, simplifying strategy, unit economics, minimalism and much more!
SPEAKERS
Shobhit Saxena , Puneeth Suraana
Puneeth Suraana 00:01
INTRO:
Today we are joined by guest who's unusual because he's had a transformative journey from his childhood, as he calls it from a kung fu nerd to a responsible credit to a frugal hustler. And now a pioneering entrepreneur. He is a graduate of IBM rhonchi. He is a passionate speaker and enthusiast Olympiad back in the school days, and now he is simplifying mobility, one city at a time. Boys and girls, the Galata gang, join me in welcoming the strategist, co founder of onn bikes Shobit Saxena.
Shobhit 00:59
Thanks Puneeth Hello, everyone. Glad to be here.
Puneeth Suraana 01:05
Sure, with the usual first question I ask to most of my guests is, what were the conversations around the dinner table when you were growing up?
Shobhit 01:18
Okay, so please, uh, well, that's an interesting question. And while I was growing up, I was growing up in a city called Kanpur which is difficult to to city and growing up in a introvert family. So usually the dinner table conversations were almost muted by the sound of the television. And they were many shows that you watch, and that's how the dinner table discussions used to go. So mostly, it is all about cereals. I've voiced many conditional cereals which are quite famous. I think back in the last decade, mostly Hindi females, which is the ones that your audience would not love to hear about.
Puneeth Suraana 02:17
Was it gone? Kill us because we both do the same here. It's hard to tell people that we grew up watching those shows. And we survived. Yes. You got back a lot of memories. They must
03:00
Yeah.
Puneeth Suraana 03:03
You say you were not back in Kanpur, what kind of books were you into? Were you were you were you studious? Like before?
Shobhit 03:15
Yeah. When you the only kind of books that I was into because books and nothing else. So I was not an avid reader. I never enjoyed reading books outside my syllabus, the novel. I had one novel in my syllabus, which is great explanations topic for two years I could not finish that one books. But now I can very easily finish a book in a week. So I think life teaches you a lot of things and there are a lot of things in life that you feel that you will never be able to do. But you you can do it.
Puneeth Suraana 03:55
Isn't that ironical? I mean What a flipped?
Shobhit 04:02
Yeah, this is something that I've seen multiple times in my life. For example, reading books, never wanted to read books. And today I read books. I love to read books. Similarly, I always thought that I'll I knew he was never a runner, and I will never go for running. I would. I would rather pick up gaming or some sports but never running. Running was too boring and too mundane. But now, looking back again, for the past two years, I've been running very regularly and I'm planning to run my first marathon pretty soon. So I mean, yeah, life takes good turns.
Puneeth Suraana 04:49
Are you part of a running club already at present?
Shobhit 04:52
Yeah, running club is very helpful, but considering I live in Bangalore going to the running club was a nightmare every morning. So I've created my own tracks near my housing society. And I keep taking my different runs around that.
Puneeth Suraana 05:11
Interesting How did you promise studios not order? And that is a good word by the way listeners. It has a it has a different it had a different air back when you were in school. Well, it's got a bad reputation. Would you agree?
Shobhit 05:30
No, not at all. I would say that nerd is the new cool.
Puneeth Suraana 05:42
How do you move from being in books course books to becoming a candidate? Whether that happened
Shobhit 05:55
okay. So I think most of us Puneeth and I think lakhs and lakhs of students who just finished their 10 standard, they feel the time limit that what should they do next in their lives. And as you do your parents come forward and give you two suggestions mostly either become an engineer or become a doctor. Now, if you want to become an engineer, you have to give it to me, if you want to become a doctor, you'll have to go for CPAP or if you're too brilliant, then maybe you have to crack in. So I picked up engineering, I was I was pretty good at math, and somewhat could figure out physics and chemistry. So I picked the engineering as my choice and then signed for it.
Puneeth Suraana 06:48
Now,
Shobhit 06:49
when I was preparing for it again, I just closed myself in that room with a lot of books and somehow dragged it in the next Two years now, but not with a very good crank. And unfortunately, none of the good ideas are welcoming me. But there was one institution which used to pick candidates through idj and which was the only Marine Engineering institution or the only maritime institution in India, which was run by the government. And fortunately, it was one of the best institutions all across the world, almost 60 years old. And as an as an amateur at that age for 90 I just saw two things. One thing was that if you become a sailor, you will get good pay packages. And second thing is the uniform is pretty good. So yeah, uniform was the biggest attraction and of course, the salary was the byproduct that helped me make my quick decision to join Marine Engineering and pursue a career In my thin Navy, and that's how I turned out to be a gadget.
Puneeth Suraana 08:07
It's very interesting. A lot of entrepreneurs look back to that time when they were either an armed forces Navy, and and reflect upon the kind of learning that they hated back then, or they were just going through the drills and today's entrepreneurs, they are really appreciating. Yeah. Do you have any such?
Shobhit 08:34
Yes, yes. Puneeth I think that's something which has been helping me out what I've learned with entrepreneurship and in the past three years of the fortunate struggle that entrepreneurship has rewarded me with. Only one thing matters, which is persistence, your ideation, your intellect. These are important, but delusional. What matters in the end is your persistence. That's where you bring ideas to life. That's the winner, you drive ideas to your customers. And that's how you change lives of your consumers. Now, it's very tough when when you bring ideas to life, because it, nobody wishes, nobody easily adopts them. And it's very messy in the middle when you're pushing your ideas through and everyone is saying no, the investors, the customers, the employees, everyone is saying, no, not that's fair. what you're made up of comes to the fore. And if you have been perfect, and if you have undergone those crucible, conditions that my paramilitary training taught me and then the courier on both ships also taught me. So that's something that comes and helps me out here that the kind of resilience that was built in Those eight transformative years is what has been helping me out and keeping me through and more importantly, this cobit scenario, which is being a big struggle for most of the entrepreneurs. And I just wish to give them a very strong message here that just stand in there. Just be there, and it'll all work out. Just be there. The company needs to survive. You people need to survive this and it'll all work out.
Puneeth Suraana 10:34
Interesting, you brought up persistent and the fact that standing by there while I was searching show, but I spoke to one of his employees. And it turned out that as soon as the lockdown was announced, he actually went up to one of his employees in pony ensure that he leaves the airport so he could go back to the In time, and every employee on the call was so grateful that you know, I was just there in the organized, I'm just like 10 days old in the organization. And this is the kind of gesture that show with it. And he has set up such a culture where people care that people stand by each other.
Shobhit 11:20
So put it company is about people, by definition companies, people coming together. Now, if you are not together and if you are not standing by in your tech center, then there is no company. So, as an entrepreneur, we'll have to take care of each other and everyone has been taking good care of me. So that's what I just have to return the favor.
Puneeth Suraana 11:51
Very, very, it sounds simple and lame, but when you see it in action, it's transformative. If it makes you believe in the company and the cause, especially for the employees, because most of the listeners are entrepreneurs in the first thousand days of the venture keep this point in mind. That's some a little bit more about your time in the Marine, is it called marine or is it different for me as a marine.
Shobhit 12:28
So, this is the commercial, Navy, which is majorly involved in transportation of goods, and very rarely in transportation of passengers. And the stream of engineering that you pursue to become an engineer in the merchant navy profession is Marine Engineering.
Puneeth Suraana 12:53
So to understand it a little more, so get get you right up going across the world, by waterways. And you were in charge responsible of these massive ships loaded with essential goods. Was it correct?
13:13
Yeah, yeah.
Puneeth Suraana 13:16
You know, I've read a lot about how time in the water is very reflective. When you're traveling by the sea, do you have any reflection, right?
Shobhit 13:29
Yeah, so a lot of interesting days, I would say. More importantly, Puneeth the shipping career and almost for four and a half years, I was sailing on both ships. And that's something which has helped me a lot. There are so many things that are seen which I cannot unsee and which is something usually a civilian might never get an opportunity to see like standing on the forecastle Usually all of us would love that Titanic pose that we make. Now, imagine. Yeah, Imagine standing on the focus hill where the wind is blowing at almost 25 knots on your face through your head
14:16
and the standard like,
Shobhit 14:22
you need a partner to stand in that Titanic for unfortunately. ships are a little lonely places. But yeah, I think most of the introspection and most of the buildup that most of your practice you do in your lonely time, and when you are with people with audience, that's the time to perform. So that's what I think shipping has taught me. It has made me very friendly to myself. I love my company, and I can be with myself for long durations of time. And usually, if I am able to do that I am able to put more work on myself. I'm able to read good things, able to check out good videos, good podcast, good content, and do keep doing things which will help me out in my day to day work or even evolving as a personal or a professional. So that's what shaping has taught me. But most of all, I would say the the kind of landscape that I could see in that shipping career is something I can never forget. Yeah.
Puneeth Suraana 15:43
I can I can see it in his eyes, but I can't express it in voice. I got a very important point that reminds me of the advertisement that Michael Phelps had done for Under Armour. long back. It's what you doing the doc that puts you in the light. And every time I watched it I had goosebumps on my skin and tears in my eyes. me can you actually brought it out? Really well? Was it the time when you started getting in love with books and reading through? Um Yeah.
Shobhit 16:25
Not exactly. I fell in love with before boarding a ship. But yeah, I think that's a good relationship. I've been able to upkeep since then. And shipping gave me that time. So most of the time again, you are alone and you do not have the luxuries of land, the ubiquitous smartphone, Network and Internet was not there. So what you do is either you will watch movies or you will read books, or you will play on PlayStation Or you will do something on the deck. So yeah, as as a nerd again, books was my most preferred pastime. So I got a good opportunity to read a lot while sailing on board ships
Puneeth Suraana 17:20
what what happened after the eight year mark, why did you decide to switch gears and don't move jump ship?
Shobhit 17:34
Again, so yo multiple reasons they're funny, but mostly as a sailor, I got the opportunity to visit many countries. If I can count it on my fingers, then they were around 29 countries that I could visit spanning across this
17:55
country before 24
Puneeth Suraana 17:58
Wow.
Shobhit 18:00
So that was the fun part of the profession and these countries was running across five continents. So my friends still tell me that because you didn't go to South America, you were able to quit shipping, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to. They say that that's such a beautiful country and so attractive for sailors that you will never quit shipping after going there. So yeah, fortunately, I didn't go there. That is one reason to that could, like help me out in quitting shipping. Mostly why I had to quit shipping was because I realized that there are a lot of things that we as individuals are supposed to do in our lives. And in many ways, our professions define our identities. Now, shipping was something which was defining identity. I also realized that this definition will not change for the next 3040 years, which is something I was not okay with. And I am kind of a serious experimental individual. Even in my small tenure in shipping, I sailed across five ships. And all five ships were very, very different. And usually in merchant navy professions, you go on the same ship or the sister ships, all through your tenure and your lifeline, but I sailed on very different ships with very different cargoes very different machineries. And it was very interesting. But after doing all five shifts, I realized that there is no other ship that is there to try out. So my learning curve was stalled in there. And I was already a second engineer. So the next step would have been to become a chief engineer and that's it. So your growth curve, your learning curve, everything would have been As a sailor, while as a person, you would have grown a lot. And the kind of persistence, tenacity discipline that you develop in those scenarios is tremendous. But then I realized that whatever I've learned in the short period of time, it's, it's an opportunity to bring it back to land and apply it in things that I can do better than this. There is more to me than just being a marine engineer. And I should explore myself a little more. So that was the prime reason I came back and I thought, I'll pursue management, education, and, more importantly, management education for two reasons. One is education. Definitely. Because I needed to understand how organizations work, and how do they do business. The second thing was interacting with smart individuals and with them for the period of next two years. So that's why I never picked up a one year MBA. Even after cracking Jima, I rather went for a two year MBA because I wanted that tenure, that interaction because I have been alone for very long. So that's how that transition happened.
Puneeth Suraana 21:22
Before we move forward, has there been any profound learning or a trigger moment when you are at the seas or the oceans? looking and thinking?
Shobhit 21:35
Yeah, so I would say just one thing, there were many such moments. But the most important and I would say the most relevant for the audience here would be when I was singing, and at that young age, obviously Merchant Navy is a very rewarding career financially. I only realized pretty quickly that the money that I'm making And that money was tax free, and in dollars and was good enough. So the money that I was making was not fulfilling enough, I was more happy with the pocket money that I used to get in my college. And that's where I realized that money means something, even if you're driven towards it, and that was probably one of the most important reasons for me to pick Merchant Navy, as I said, apart from the cool dress, so that was no more the driver. And that's what I realized that if we will make decisions for money, we will soon be out of charm from that those decisions. So that is one learning I always keep in my mind and even whenever I'm making a decision professionally or personally, I keep that in mind that if it is regarding money, then it is short term, not long term.
Puneeth Suraana 23:05
Just to understand you more Why Why did you have that profound enjoyment with that little money back in college and feeling hollow when you had such a good pay package? Yeah.
Shobhit 23:21
Because you were able to spend that money on things that you love. You were able to spend that money at occasions where you were needed and you were spent able to spend that money on people with whom you want to hang around while all these three things were missing while I had the money so very interesting. Yeah. So the people matter more than the money that you have in your bank account. That's what I learned and prefer to be a People then around money.
Puneeth Suraana 24:05
Yes, surround yourself with people who are like this. Who would come to you for you and not for your money. The very big shift, especially for the listeners who are tuning in right now. How is it me? I am Ron. I am raunchy. I know that there was a Toastmasters club you're a part of you're part of the operations club. The placement sell any interesting metals you found there?
Shobhit 24:41
Yeah, yeah. The time that I am was phenomenal. Two years. It went by like a breeze and we never even realized that it got over in just the span of like quick snap of a finger. But a lot of learning when I was there I am. And more importantly, there are three key learnings that I would wish to share here. First and foremost was the participation that in terms of being a place comer in terms of being the part of the operations club, and in terms of all the activities that we as the Student Committee were driving to build an institution brick by brick. Now, that was something that I cherish a lot more than the classroom education that I am imparted us, that that's where all the professionalism in me and all the things that I do in my work life today, that was developed, they're not in the classroom. So that's that's one of the most important thing from the
Puneeth Suraana 26:11
We can certainly talk about
Shobhit 26:16
Yeah, so we will again restart, restart from the question right. Cool. Then so I'll begin from the starting
Puneeth Suraana 26:29
Yeah, please. We have already started recording. Take it back we can Oh,
26:38
oh, okay.
Shobhit 26:41
Good. Okay. You say
26:44
you had okay.
Shobhit 26:50
Yeah. Okay, cool. So, yeah, the the time that I am, Ranchi was remarkable ponies. And there was Some very good learning that I would always wish to keep along with me. Our professors always used to tell us one one thing which I still remember and I would want to quote in here is take the good habit out of the institution and try to leave all the bad habits here itself. Unfortunately, I could not leave all the bad ones, still carrying most of them. But there were a lot of good things that I could carry with me as well. One of the most important thing that I learned at I am was being enterprising. Now, most of the things inside me are done by the students themselves. Beat the website, beat the branding beneath any kind of digital marketing bait, bringing in students bait, bringing in the placements, bringing in companies, everything is done by students. So all the successes that can be attributed To these items, and it is only because of the brilliant students who are a part of this community. So that's something I learned in there how to create and do things from the scratch, which was something which I was not exposed to being a marine engineer I never worked on in how the how the corporate world and how people coming together and driving things happens. That's something I never learned in my merchant navy career, because they were protocols and systems and which people used to follow ardently and they got paid for that. But how to motivate people how to bring an Amazon with them and then creating a venue where everyone perceives that with all their mind, that's something I learned that the the second most interesting thing he was that he knows about. Now, because it was rushing and
29:04
the
Shobhit 29:05
so it was a new institution, and they were things which were not ripe yet they were processes which was not developed. They were associations with organizations that which were not in Viet. And we had a legacy of items to carry, but also the immaturity of a new institution which were prevalent. So we had a legacy but we wanted to create a mark of our own and being a police comm representative and placements is what I am, are majorly known for in rest of the world. That was a huge responsibility on our shoulders. And that's where I realized that I have this keen local marketing as a function. And the third thing was that all of you preconceived notions change. So when I joined, I was pretty clear that I will be working in the operations domain and taking those subjects. But with the exposure at I am with the interaction with different students who are already professionals in different domains and then came in for the management education, and also this pursuit as a place common picking your distribution to different corporates and creating unique brand positioning. That's where I realized that I was meant for marketing, not for operations. And that's how in the second year I picked up most of the marketing electives, rather than going for operations, which was something that I pre decided. So these were the key three things at I in which I could reflect think the good habits along with you being exposed and don't stick to what you have decided there are more avenues in life that you can uncover. And third and most surprising,
Puneeth Suraana 31:14
you can climb which is new. It's very ripe as an opportunity to learn so many things.
Shobhit 31:28
Yeah, I still cherish that rather than because my undergrad institution was a 60 year old, there was nothing much that we could do and much that we could change. The exposure at I am rocky was very different. And there were so many things which I am still proud of, that we're in or created when I was a part of the institution. And now Rocky is 10 years old and I'm proud of the legacy that we
Puneeth Suraana 31:59
have It's wonderful to have created. I think one thing that on this podcast I'm I'm really passionate about is the influence of extracurricular activities fest things, creating events or making something else happen while you're still in college and the impact it has had throughout the lives of the guests who come on the show. This is clearly once again guests. Once again listeners This is clearly whistle in show bits carriers when we would expect more of it in a bit. You know, the one thing that I have observed in my journey throughout ions across the country is there are so few graduates who take up entrepreneurship right after I am. The last time I checked that I am Bangalore There are just two student run ventures and they are from people who are Above 3032 and that is saddened me a part of me but why did you make that choice of starting up after I am Bangalore? Why do my choice starting right after I am done going to need and why would you have go ahead? Yeah
Shobhit 33:41
I think it all yeah it all began at Laci itself money. So I still remember one guest we invited the Chief Human Resource Officer from Tata Group, Mr. Cheetham tolia for a guest lecture and While the Tatas are already a recruiter at Ranchi, and this was one engagement session that we used to conduct at Ranchi meet the leaders were the leaders used to come to the campus and have good interaction with the students and teach them and give them a few leaves from their wisdom. So, Mr. Cheetham tolia came and visited us and while I was going back to drop him at the airport, I told him about myself and I also told him that I have a pretty unconventional career and I do not even want to have a conventional career After moving out of Ranchi as well. I prefer not to do a job and my purpose of coming in here was not to get a placement and as a place Comber as well. Well people might believe that as a please come on. You haven't as yet placements. I do not wish to leverage that as even if it is not there. So I was telling him all about it. So misophonia told me clearly that you shouldn't, it might be that your assumptions are wrong. And it might be that you are a very good fit for corporate environment. So before even taking a decision, you'll have to test your assumptions. And then you can very well take a good decision after that. So that's something that I remember. And again, two learnings from the one thing is No, I do not take decisions just from the gut. I always try to test them out, try to experiment out even when approaching a new solution for our consumers. It has to be tested out and then put as a product offering. And same thing that I applied to myself. I went for a corporate career. Do I see that? Do I fit in? Or do I not fit in, and of course, the kind of learning that it takes to create the company that last. So fortunately, I got the opportunity and privilege to work with two of the most renowned companies all across the world, automotive giants. One was Daimler and the other was Volvo. And it was a phenomenal experience working with both of them. It was very interesting. And I would admit that at a point, I almost thought that I'm meant for a corporate career.
36:40
So,
Shobhit 36:41
yeah, good enriching experience at these organizations, the way things are done there, how these companies are running in a uniform manner, and how they have lasted for almost a decade as a company which is almost 130 years old now. And they brought in the first truck, the First auto movie on this earth. So Phil's then surviving, still maintaining that elegance and that brand equity of the event.
Puneeth Suraana 37:12
So there was so enormous learnings that I got to get from these brands while I was working even though a lot of podcast is an extension of meet the mentors that you had at I am on ci, because that back at my college, we had something else meet the cxos. And after the first year, they didn't do any of that. And I was missing it and that's why it happened. But I love you, I'm gonna find a way to get the experts and that's how the podcast happened. The fact that you have, I must tell you listeners if you get a chance to drive back a guest from your college or from your company back to the airport and illustration. Do it. It's it will not show me we have had one episode you would not believe this. This is this was the episode which was recorded when we were dropping the guests back to Bangalore railway station from Korea.
Shobhit 38:29
Yeah, I think lots of good epiphanies fall on you when you are going to the airport or the railway station. On that note, the pursuit right now that I have for mobility and the concept behind on bikes was something that I got on once a journey only I was coming back from Delhi and came to Bangor airport. And usually when I'm returning from the airport, I preferred taking the bus over the cabs, I don't find them environmentally environment friendly. Second thing is when in the night time the lights in the cab are off. So you cannot read. And the third thing is of course, it is not good on the pocket. So I always prefer buses and I think Bangalore has good convenient bus service that connects you to the output sitting in the bus and I was reading one book which was completely off trajectory. And I was thinking about the exact same thing that why didn't I take a cab but I took the bus and what what what goes through when people are making these decisions of commuting and the mode they pick for commuting. So the mode they pick for commuting usually boils down to three core factors. Of course there are many more but most of the decision making is over three core factors. First of all, it is cost effectiveness. Second of all it is convenience and third of all it is certainty. So, these were the three core factors I could again an epiphany on my way back from the boat, I realized that Okay, these are the three things that consumers want. And when I say consumers, I talk about India, I don't talk about the India, I talk about the real India which is 90% of India and how the birth Yeah. So, how would they commute and how can we provide them some service some product which is cost effective, which is convenient and which is also certain, even the cap services today. Of course, they are not cost effective, but they definitely are convenient, but the fraternity has gone for a toss. So, how can we live up to all these three things and so that the consumers do not have to trade off amongst these Three while picking up commute service that's where the idea of on came to my mind. So I completely agree that the journeys to the airport and being a long one in Bangalore can remind me of
Puneeth Suraana 41:16
opportunities where angry commuter had said that it took me one hour to reach from Delhi to Bangalore airport and one and a half hours back different districts What did you do? got the idea because I think that is where most the tipping point. A lot of us get it, and then there's just the tipping point. What did you do after that? Yeah.
Shobhit 42:03
So I think this coincides with the last question that you asked. I was almost turning out to be a good corporate citizen, and a good employee at time that I was in Chennai then. And I was in love with what I was doing with Daimler. We were launching a new brand specifically meant for India barbells. And I was fixing up the go to market strategy and its product penetration in different markets across India. And that's why I used to be flying to North, the northern part of India, and Southern part as well. So, I was pretty happy with what I was doing and very energized and there was a lot of exposure to do things, try things. It was all there. But this realization was also there that you are just a small cog in the wheel, a big wheel which is rotating as its own face. You as a cog, cannot change the speed of the wheel, you'll have to adjust to the speed of the wheel and, again, move at the same pace. If you're fast, you are at the wrong place. If you are slow, they will screw you out. So that's what I realized. And I realized that while I am happy in here, and driving a Ferrari in a narrow valley right now, I should get a feel for myself. And coinciding with the epiphany that I had on my return journey from the boat by I realized that Okay, there is a transport service that commuters you need to have. It is it's
43:52
going to give us a title and
Puneeth Suraana 43:55
inside
Shobhit 44:05
So this was a book, The Golden tap. I'm not able to recollect the writer, but this was all about the hyper funded startups all across India. And there was this one very interesting code from that book, which I will always remember. Any region of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. Now, that's exactly I realized that okay, this is something which India needs, this is something I will have to give it to them, whatever it takes, and however, I will have to do it. So that's where I started working on it. I roped in few of my friends from my Marine Engineering base, and we started working on this idea together. In those days, we used to call it pedal up and we were completely focused too Where's the greener mode of transport? providing people bicycles for their short commute needs with evolution and with time with my move from Chennai to Bangalore and a stint with Volvo and then meeting my co founders namit and shanky in Bangalore on by
45:32
Yeah, okay. So yeah. Cool.
Shobhit 45:36
So yeah. Okay. Let me break it down for the audience here. So yeah, this idea was there. This idea was something which was needed by many all across India, and I had to do it. So with that decision and that determination in my mind once I reach back Puccini working on it. Now most of the work before even launching a product goes into conceptualizing the product into understanding the core value proposition into understanding the kind of operating model that you have. And more importantly, understanding the business model because you'll have to make money to sustain as a business, a business which does not make money will not sustain for long, and nobody will work for that business. So there were a lot of nut holes and loopholes that we needed to fix up. Mobility is not easy as a business. There is no company in India, in mobility. Specifically intercity, which is profitable and large. Even even you call it Ola or Uber or rapido or quick ride, everyone is burning a lot of cash. So making up and most importantly, the state transport authorities and the buses that operate Pick any mobility operator in the country, either it is subsidized, or it is lost making. Mostly. That's how it is. So making a profit making business and mobility was something that has never been done. And I have taken a challenge. As hard as that. Of course, with challenge, there comes pitfalls. And I started working with my friend. And most of my friends were sailors, marine engineers, who usually go for a long period of sailing and then come back on land for a good period. And most of them are working with me in that slum period while they were on land, and the things are going at good pace, and we were thinking alliances and patch with different companies. We were very close towards fixing of the value proposition for our consumers and also thinking about the tech stack that we'll be developing but everything goes in The conceptualization stage and nothing on the ground gate and my friends went back to sailing. So that was the time. So, again, what I thought initially was that Okay, no problem. If nobody is there, I will be able to pull it off. And I was very, very wrong. You cannot pull things off alone, you, you have to go long and you have to do big things you'll have to move along with people who you can confide with people whom you would love to hang out with people who you trust more than yourself, and people who will bring in a complimentary set of knowledge. These are the core things that I realized that should definitely be there. And then someone like me do them any
Puneeth Suraana 48:59
good Behind you getting this learning experience, want to share it? How do you when you try to run it on your own? What happened?
Shobhit 49:15
Yeah, yeah. So first of all your you your self determination goes down because you do not have people running along with you. And it's almost like a marathon with a lot of participants and running alone. When you are really running alone, your mind plays tricks to yourself. It tells you that okay, it's enough you have done very good now stop, take rest, take a breather, enjoy. Get something to gratify yourself. That's what happens and you mind plays tricks with with yourself. And that's what I realized. And learn more about myself there that I need a partner beat in the gym beat on the racetrack or within business. need a partner to keep working along with me where I can drive him or he can drive me it's almost like that cricket partnership, where a while one is flogging, the other one is taking singles and keeping the image stronger. And then once this the other person reaches essentially the loop and this person starts robbing a bank kind of a partnership is supposed to the builder, and then only you can create an innings. You cannot create an image with wickets falling on one end, and you standing on the other end. So that's something I realized. And then I almost changed the idea. I thought that okay, probably it is not meant to be and there were personal responsibilities as well. And there were bills to be paid. So I thought, okay, I'll move to Bangalore and maybe once I go to Bangalore, there might be some opportunities that will strike my way. And then I made the made the move to Volvo from them and moved to Bangalore with my family. And since then I started staying in Bangalore and completely shell this idea, somewhere in the corner of my heart and forgot about it, and started deleting a normal corporate life, the nine to five days of working and weekends of living. And so, it was it was not good. It was not good Mondays used to haunt me. And Fridays, never were also not as exciting as they should have been. And with time, after a period of one year, I know that whatever it is, and however it is, I'll have to move back. I'll have to fight back and I'll have to do things that you Biblis I'm just trying to do, I might not be able to do it, but I'll have to
Puneeth Suraana 52:04
trust you doing them. I'm just curious
Shobhit 52:07
and with my papers, and I think it was. So this is another learning that I have learned and I would wish to share with the audience that nothing else can push you. Remember, if anything else is pushing you, it is not long lasting. There were things that were pushing me earlier, and they didn't last long. What will last is the internal push, and they will be with you for long. Now getting that internal push is very tough, and it might not even come. If it is there. It will come one day. And once it comes, then you don't have to look back again. So that internal push which came forward when I realized that okay, Normal nine to five, it has to be 24 seven. I would wish to devote all my energies, all my crane capabilities, and whatever I can do I would wish to devote to this one idea of simplifying mobility for everyone making life easier for everyone.
53:19
Interesting. And
Shobhit 53:20
I put down my
Puneeth Suraana 53:24
internal push. And I've been reading and a lot of featured sports women who come on the show as well. And one of the things that has happened is to keep the internal fire going the they have the use some other other means. It could be a bad review the newspaper that they frame it in front of them. That's okay. It's okay because we can always edit this out. No. Drinking water is a human right, please. Yes. What do you use yourself? Is it critiques? Is it people who have put you down? Is it what to God? Do you have to keep that fire in you burning consistently, especially during the days when you don't want to get up and get to work?
Shobhit 54:37
Yeah, and those days become become very frequently. I think more than the critiques and let's say, the people who are turning you down, they are not a part of my life and more importantly they are a passing phase. So rather than depending on them, I think what keeps pushing me is the people who are working along. Fortunately add on we have so such an energetic feel good bunch of individuals who are in here to create that kind of a change that we want to have in the mobility landscape of this country. and D are the guys who keep pushing me. If I'm late to office one day, I'll I'll see a pile of work which is on my platter. And that's where I realized that Okay, I have to bulk up I have to leave it up. I'll have to be on the go always. Because the people working with me.
Puneeth Suraana 55:45
Yes. I remember reading it in a book by Jim Ron who said, the first few years you run the business and after that the business runs you
56:08
Yeah,
Shobhit 56:09
the wheel has fortunately studied.
Puneeth Suraana 56:12
Interestingly, a lot of individuals drop off before the wheels start running and what What kept you going and hoping that the wheels will start turning your efforts will start snowballing.
Shobhit 56:33
I would say we were still hopeful. The wheel has started rotating but the speed at which the wheel should rotate is far from what for far from our imagination. We want to be the most fastest growing mobility company in India. The kind of proposition that we are trying to bring four people and the kind of massive market that we have in our vision and the product that we are bringing in. We want to be going as fast as possible, something which will be unbeatable for ages. Now, we still see and this is something that I've been to from Jeff Bezos, from Amazon. It's still a demon. It's doozy. And we have just started. We've just started the journey and we have
Puneeth Suraana 57:27
I love that concept of fire. One, it makes you look at things in such a different way. All the accolades, the awards, the accomplishments, the Payton's the money. All of that fades away, and you come back to the day.
Shobhit 57:53
Yes, and you have to make the best use of the day. How do you do it? Your record out of it
Puneeth Suraana 58:00
leaves.
Shobhit 58:08
Yeah, the I think there's one hat that I learned with time and it's very simple. Sleep only. If you are able to sleep early, actually the last few hours of your day are the most inefficient are where you your energy is down your creative energy needs and your focus, everything is down, you're off guard. And in those few hours, you will only waste time you will consume some audio visual content or maybe chat over the phone or do some social media. So rather than wasting their sleep early, you sleep early, you'll automatically wake up early, you'll automatically wake up early. You'll have few more hours in your day. Now just multiply these few more hours. In one day, through a year, you almost have one month extra. For you. I
Puneeth Suraana 59:07
think this is a very This is a change made in my lifestyle recently, and I can I've been the guy who has been saying people you know what? My name too to 4pm you're at the office or you're at your college but 6pm to 2am you work on the startup or you work on building the business. And now I'm I'm as I am going and transforming I realize wait 6pm to 9pm is sufficient. You can pick it up from 4am to 7am. And that has become transformative for me personally, we're in for him to seven has been massively productive, focused time and that's why you would not believe so with most of the Galata podcast interviews they happen at that time. You don't believe just match me when I get a guest. Come at 6am they are so much more reflective and it just astounds both of us. Yeah.
Shobhit 60:26
You are more of yourself contaminated.
BRAND TUNE
Puneeth Suraana 60:34
What happened after I went on this lone wolf kind of a journey of building it, and how did you seek out partners? Where did you find Nami and shanky she
Shobhit 61:03 –
It was a pleasant surprise for me as well. So I was a lone wolf. And I wanted to build up something for covering these three key factors of mobility, and very specifically on two wheels. So I thought that rather than reinventing the wheel, let me talk to people who have already tried doing it. So while number 20, and key were already playing in the space, they had a bike rental company, which was already in Bangalore and expanding to few other cities across India. Now, they were completely and majorly dealing with bike rentals. And obviously, they also had a vision to take this company long and far. So it all started with a message on LinkedIn that I dropped to shanky That was to meet up and understand what you guys are doing. And shanky being his humble self obliged and asked me to lead up on a Monday. And unfortunately for me, I couldn't turn up on Monday. So I told shanky that okay, Frankie, I will not be able to come up today. Get Can we meet on Tuesday, and Frankie says no, Tuesday will not be possible but let's do it on Wednesday. Now that Wednesday was the D day where I met he and we had good quick interaction of half an hour. shanky is a bigger word than me. A typical coder complete geek. There is anything that you can imagine shanky has already done in tech. Be it? image recognition the creating the front end application bead, creating tech architecture from the scratch We blockchain anything you just think of it you are shanky and chunky. We'll give you an example. So that so shank is a core technical be very silent. We met and we interacted for a very short while again because Frankie is an introvert. But I liked that interaction, and even shanky also loved it. So then I met namit. And then we spoke at length about how the mobility landscape is changing and what all can we do, what I had in my mind what they had in their minds, what they were trying to do, and if there is an opportunity there, where we can collaborate together, know that so this interaction happened, and then I came back and I left it at that because usually you have many interactions with many individuals which are very exciting and energizing But usually things do not move in that manner. But once I came back, I got a message from namit. And then I also responded back and then a week later I got a call from him about how can we work together and how can we make ends meet. But let's let's join hands and ride creating the future of mobility together. So that was exciting for me. And more importantly, as I told you, the few key features that we'll try finding one of these features that I got with spanking and namit non normal. Yeah, okay. So, I told you the first one is having complimentary set of talent. Now I come with a business, business, mind and core education, and also the Background understanding how automobile industry is working and where the sweet spots where value can be created nomic comes in with financial knowledge he is a CPA by education and profession. Now he calculates money where it can be maintained out which is something which I'm definitely not very good at. I'm more of a value yeah perfect my wedding. So, he comes in with that kind of a energy which I lack a lot and the third is chunky chunky brings in that complimentary set of technology, the coding the software background, which is something which if I will try to do there will be a steep learning curve to do that. So, both of these things they will they will be very steep learning curve and even if I do that, I will turn out to be a mediocre. So that's that's how I identified that okay, we As a trial, we'll make a perfect team. And we can definitely together change the future of mobility in India. So that's what I realized.
Puneeth Suraana 66:09
This is what we are doing together finding patterns. Aviles that you then pivoted. Is it correct? You then pivoted?
Shobhit 66:30
No, not exactly finished. So we were dealing with single ride bookings for our consumers. So we were providing them single ride bookings for two to four hours to eight to 10 days or even 14 days up to a limit of 14 days. But that's what we are providing to the consumers. Now this single ride once you book, you get the bike, then there is no reason for you to come back on the plane. at all, it was kind of booking platform. And that's it. Now what we wanted was we wanted to make mobility, more cost effective, more convenient and more certain for our consumers not just be a bike rental company. Now, how what are the better ways of providing these bikes to our consumers, not just from the single point of view, but also why not track ownership for them. Now, that's where we started evolving. While we were providing renters to our consumers for single ride booking and short rides. We also realize that ownership is something which has not yet been grabbed in India. And it is it is a big bottleneck for many. So it as a whole, almost
67:51
100 control
Shobhit 67:55
of the population of India commutes on a daily basis and everyone needs to Some mode of community. Now, out of the hundred current population, only 18 korone have their access or their hands upon a vehicle by the rest of the 82 group do not have a vehicle. Now, there are various underlying reasons behind it. First of all, obviously, it is not in their purchase limits, their disposable income does not permit them to own a vehicle. Many times even if their disposable income permits them to own a vehicle, there is an upfront cost challenge that is involved when you're purchasing a vehicle. Now that is a big, big bottleneck for many of us. The third thing is when you own a vehicle, there are a lot of upkeep issues with the vehicle that we'll have to go through. And there are many other challenges. It's almost so whenever you will buy a vehicle you will always buy a second grade vehicle. Do what you've always imagined that It's a fact that the Senate bill Binney, which we understood after I do a huge set of consumer me, let's test it out. I'm lucky.
Puneeth Suraana 69:08
I've been gifted the car and the bike I wasn't involved.
69:21
Okay, so even if you
Shobhit 69:25
what is the vibe? Haha, good so you don't feel good. So the axis that he owns is the bike that you want to own.
Puneeth Suraana 69:45
I had a dream of owning a welcome s but now it isn't. Thanks to like on bikes where I can just go and get whichever bike I want. get you to decompiling in segments and I can still buy a welcome. So yeah, I make money out of it.
Shobhit 70:23
Yeah, we can think over it. Okay, so now while you were buying this excess, where you are, were you involved in the decision making of picking this bike or it was just gifted to you. Okay. Just gifted to you. Okay. Cool. So, definitely when it was gifted to you, you might have thought that Okay, can I exchange this bike and get myself a Vulcan or maybe an inferior or something like that while you wouldn't have
Puneeth Suraana 70:56
time exception or we have two likes You can have those boys that succeed riding bikes. Last time I rode a bike going five kilometres in just the first year. A few experiences like that and I was like I'm done with bass.
Shobhit 71:28
Okay, so you belong to India. With Barak many of us have to go down on our decisions while we wish to buy an Enfield we end up buying a cd 100 that's usually what happens. Again, buying a house buying a car, buying a vehicle, you always get a second tier vehicle or a house, then what you always imagine that that's always the case. So that's we also realize that our consumers are there. Actually compromising while they're buying the vehicles. So this complete purchase decision making if I can break it down into three parts, one is the upfront challenges. Second is the buying. Third is the upkeep. Now, all of these three were challenging for our consumers and not just challenging for them. And they were problem in all the three aspects. It was not even cost effective. It is very, very costly when you own a bike. Let's take the example of an activity. When you own an activity. You're almost paying 5000 rupees a month for using this bike for hardly two hours a day. And that's what it is. Imagine what is your per our cost for using this activity. It's it's very high. But while this activity nobody tells you that now, every year two grown consumers are buying these vehicles and paying this hefty price. We Thought that okay, we can create a technology driven model, which can bring this cost drastically down, and it can increase and get more consumers on the platform to use the same number of bikes. This Think about it. A bike is hard we use for two hours a day because it is humanly impossible to use the bike for more than that. You cannot drive a bike for 10 hours in traffic, you can maximum use a bike for two to three hours on an average a bike gets used for one one and a half hours a day. No rest of the 22 hours the bike is lying, idle, unused waste. Why there are 82 grown consumers who are not able to get their hands up on a bike. There are 18 grown consumers who are holding these bikes which are lying idle in their parking spaces, occupying space, paying for parking and depreciating. So This This was a dichotomy that we identified. And we have been building the product for to solve this
Puneeth Suraana 74:06
question. I think that when learning the natural world 98 or 96% 96.8% of vehicles, the time they are their habits are stagnant. It's only two to 4% that we really use them. Interesting.
Shobhit 74:30
Yeah. And that in a country like India, where our results with our finances are limited
Puneeth Suraana 74:36
at this point, you're still at the rental model, if I'm right. And then
74:48
yeah, yes.
Shobhit 74:51
So with the rental model, now we're building up the stack over and above what we have created. So we have more than seven and a half lack a 750, a loving consumers already. And we're building up with that over and above what we have already provided to our consumers. Now they are not just taking a single right? They can take a subscription as well. Hmm. you're sharing the cars, even us sharing as well on our platform.
Puneeth Suraana 75:21
Yeah, one thing I love about while researching you is the kind of strategies that you've built up and you've simplified it through and through like, more mile per bike or even simplifying mobility. You've got these catchphrases. Sure. But one thing that I realize is your strategy person. Tell us how do you go about walk us through? How do you go about thinking these strategies? What's your thought flow like for these
76:04
Okay,
Shobhit 76:08
it's more about making the right choices and picking the right sequence Puneeth. That's what I've learned. If you're able to put things in perspective, and then sequence it rightly, it will create music. Otherwise, it will just be noise. So that's, if I can oversimplify strategy. That's, that's what it is. We all know solutions. We all have access to technology that can drive solutions for many, but if we are able to orchestrate it in the right sequence and give it to people, that's where it works out. Otherwise, it's just noise. So, and more importantly, I have he loved this, the philosophy of simplification and minimalism if you're able to simply If I think if you are able to bring it down into simple phrases, it it becomes viral at least inside the organization and many times find the organization. Now that virality is very important, while most of the times and coming from big OEM and shipping background, I have realized that strategies do not reach the ground. They never read the foot soldiers and why they do not reach the foot soldiers is because they're not easy to comprehend. They're so complicated and created in those corner offices and confidential. That's why that's why me we always say that our strategy was good, our execution was bad, but the executors never understood what you created as a strategy. So that's always what we are Try doing it on we try simplifying our strategies. Finally, of course, we're trying to simplify mobility for our consumers. So, we have very simple phrases, very simple thought process, so that everyone from the delivery executive delivery partner, to even the cxos of the organization, we talk the same language all across the organization. Our purpose is to deliver more bike per bike by more bytes per bike doing more economic activity per bike. More value, more convenience, more fun
Puneeth Suraana 78:37
by before we go deep. Right, a
Shobhit 78:48
lot of them but Okay, so yeah. I think lift lifts Do more by club like that. hear from
Puneeth Suraana 79:07
me walk through how you build it. That's the only reason I'm asking.
Shobhit 79:17
Okay, okay, cool. So, again, to simplify things, you'll have to think in multiple directions, you'll have to divert and then converge. So that's the approach we follow at on. Whenever we're thinking about the problem. We go very, very deep into the problem. Then we go very deep into the mindset of the consumer, we empathize with the consumer, try to understand what are the challenges that he's facing? What are the kind of interactions that he is having with the problem? What are the kind of objects that he is using while he's facing the problem? So we try to understand the consumer from a 360 degree view. More about the problem. So it's like we spend more of our time on the problem, then the solution, given an hour, we would spend 15 minutes on the problem thinking about the problem breaking it down bit by bit, part by part, divert as much as possible on the problem itself. That's what we do first. And then once we have diverse enough on the problem, we try to converge again, we try to prioritize. So there are so many things, there is too much pain all across the world, you cannot eradicate all you have to pick the most biggest pain, which can serve many. And that's what we do with the list of problems that we have in our hands. We pick up the four big problems that are impacting most of our consumers. And that's where we create our problem statement and then we start solving and of course, or good statements
Puneeth Suraana 80:57
Logan life. It true The team is there. Is there an instance because I see I have a lot of strategies of yours right in front of me. I remember, allow me pick the one where you guys found out a niche, whether freshers or tech parts and with hotels and you tied up with them. That's resume. Yes, no, maybe.
Shobhit 81:31
Yeah, so that's one of our approaches Vialli. So, most of the businesses they do not fail because of the idea they fail because they are not able to get the right market. And it's not about just about the minimum viable product. It's more about the minimum viable segment that your targeting if you're not able to hit the minimum viable segment you will finish Have your own way and die down while you had the best idea in the world. So that's what again is of prime importance for us at on, we give more focus to the market than the product, we give more focus to the problem, then the solution. Now, identifying this niche at the tech Park and collaborating with hotels, we realize that the core problem that we're trying to solve is for a limited set of audience, which again, in our language, we call them young white collars. So these are students, these are freshers. These are the only professionals who have just started their professional careers. Now, where would we find them? Now, these are the places the textbooks and the CO working spaces. There they are not just found individually but found in clusters and groups. So these are the answers will be explored and interacted with them. And now even going because this is magnetically at the doorstep in these places.
Puneeth Suraana 83:12
Interestingly, you know, when I was researching about on, I went back and looked at the history of electric bikes. And it turns out that back in 2003, when there were stars in China, all the electric bike back then I don't think they're aggregators. They're more friends on rent basis. their businesses just sold up. I mean, 1998 there were 40,000 electric bikes, and you would not believe by 2004 they were 10 million. Thanks to SARS and forth. There's a lot of hot summer time also, but how are you experiencing that growth now? Are you experiencing
Shobhit 84:04
So there are two sides of this coin beneath the the growth that demand is shooting up. But that shoot up will only happen once the lockdown opens up. Now the challenge is people are locked down in their houses. But once this lockdown ends and people come out of their homes, they will need to commute. Mobility is a universal demand. They will need to commute Now how would they come in there are three ways they can pick up transit or buses. They can take hailing in tax policy by taxi or auto directions, or they choose options which are self ridden. Now the challenge with transit and hailing is that transit has many people come together. You wouldn't want to be in a bus or in a metro and then Somebody sneezes and that's it, you're in for your life. And you also wouldn't want to travel in a shared cab where you do not have even the breathing space. And not even a cab where you don't know who traveled before you are an order richer. Now that's where self right comes into the picture where people would want to have a vehicle by this side in these scenarios. So we are predicting a lot of options in the demand majorly for our subscriptions. But again, all it happened once though,
Puneeth Suraana 85:34
now, I want to ask you another question. Ah, I love this tagline of one. One shared Wakil replaces 11. give us a sense of how you had a strategy or concept or an observation and then you took from there and executed it because I think there's a huge chasm between strategizing and execution a lot of strategies to stand up remaining on frames or papers.
Shobhit 86:40
So, now there is something interesting that we have been working on which is power beyond ownership. Now, when I say power beyond ownership, everyone has been using a vehicle but there is so much more that you can do with your vehicle. That that's what we realized with time. Now how we realize that is by speaking to our consumers. So again, there was an epiphany that we had. While all of us know that food is a demand, water is our demand and there are so many goods, products and services that we consume and there is huge demand for all of them. We used to think that mobility is also a demand. But we understood after speaking to our consumers that mobility is not a it is a derived demand. You don't move to move. Nobody wishes to move up. You go to office because you're supposed to go to office, you go to a meeting because you're supposed to go to the meeting and for that, you move, you move from your house and you reach that place of business. So that's where we realized that mobility is a derived demand. And there are two that you're supposed to do. There are jobs that are supposed to be done. And for that you move. Now, according to the job, the mode that you will pick changes, the choice of mode, the choice of timing, the context, the things that you carry changes completely according to the job that you're supposed to do. Now, from there, what we realize is that mobility will always be accompanied with a job, the job might be occupational, the job might be to consume from services, the job might be recreational, but mobility will always have a job by its side. So that's where we kind of have concept of x plus mobility, no mobility always have a job assigned to it. Now, this works, if you make this x exciting for the consumer, you prefer your mobility product. So that That's something again, it's a completely under wraps, but we are all guns over it to create this power beyond ownership product. So yeah, again, it all it all comes from the consumers. It's all it all boils down to that interaction with the consumers going to the earth them, talking to them getting those minor insights from them, then bringing it back to the drawing board breaking it down, then collecting it back again converging.
Puneeth Suraana 89:33
And that's where
Shobhit 89:34
the lively minds or exploits mobility comes out. Yep, yeah. Again, I would take a leaf from a word that Bezos says and he wishes that Amazon turns out to be the world's most customer centric company. Now, why he wishes that to happen and why he wants Amazon to be the most customer centric company is because he says that consumers are never satisfied, you will give them seven star they will want it sir You will give them a star they would want nine star. Now, if you rather put in focus on the competition or the supply innovation, if you just put your focus on the consumers, they will keep demanding. When they keep demanding, you'll come back to the drawing board and we keep innovating. They keep innovating will keep creating values, you create value, you give it back to the consumers will demand more, they will demand more you'll have to come back. So that's how you remain in business. So again, we also wish to follow the same footsteps, right that is the most possibility company if possible on our No, no funny I think So, entrepreneurship is a multiplication of multiple factors. And then there is this last key factor, which also comes into the picture. Now one is your hard work. Second is your determination. Third is your funding for the deal. Finding the right team. Fifth is the right idea six is the right market. So there are so many factors if they are all falling in place, and then the last key factor of luck, if all of them then you turn out to be a Steve Jobs.
Puneeth Suraana 91:34
Otherwise, that's an interesting formula to it and then you put an uncertain variable. There is the fun that you're having back at on with electric bikes. And what's that journey been so far?
Shobhit 92:00
Okay, so electric is the next logical progression that any any mobility operator will have. This is a step that nobody can skip. Fortunately for us at on, we're taking this step too early in the market, where the ecosystem is still in its nascent embryonic stage, we are able to create this ecosystem. with ease, what we have realized is that it's not easy. It's not easy for the suppliers. It's not easy for the consumers. And it's not easy to distribute as well, because there is a charging infrastructure which is required. And it's a completely new technology. It's It's where vehicles are getting reinvented. I would say it's it's kind of a transformation what happened back in 2007, when feature phones became smartphones. Now this is exactly the same transformation which is happening with buyers. Where the conventional feature ice or gasoline bikes are becoming smarter and connected. Now electric bikes are not just electric, they're connected as well, because they come with a huge battery. Now this huge battery gives you the power to connect this bike. This bike talks to the cloud, this bike talks to the consumers in this way talks to the back end. So again, this not just brings in challenges just also opens up.
Puneeth Suraana 93:26
What are some assumptions are made initially and we are all on the go or go big on electric bikes or ebikes. And you're
Shobhit 93:44
okay, well, I think this this complete move again, came from the consumers now, we were looking at our consumer feedback data, and we just thinking about it that what is the biggest pain for consumers, and the biggest pain most often that our consumers face is the service of the bike, the quality of the bike. Again, it's a very subjective factor. However value service or by the consumer might perceive that this bike is not serviced well. Now the biggest reason behind this is that there are 30,000 running parts in a gasoline vehicle. Now, however, the Goodyear service setup is and your repair mechanisms are and replacement of these spare parts that you do their the list something which is troubling to the consumer. Now, that's what we realized that okay, this is one big challenge that the consumers are facing. And more importantly, this was another big challenge that we as a supplier of mobility services were facing, maintaining these bikes and the cost that was going into maintaining these bikes, the kind of spare part consumption, the inventory management Everything was very troublesome. Now, that's where we wanted to change this now Is there something is like, one shot and killing two birds. So that's where we realized that okay, electric bikes actually solve both of these things. And not just both of these things, it opens a new era of business or new set of offerings that we can give to our consumers. Now with electric bike, there are hardly 30 running parts, which from 30,000 year just brought it down to 30 running parts. Now as soon as that happens, servicing these bikes becomes easier. The experience of the component becomes a breeze. So that's what drove us to move to electric bikes. And since then, this has been one rewarding journey. There are so many interesting opportunities that we have been able to unlock. And now we are all working towards that. I can
Puneeth Suraana 96:03
do that as soon as possible. I love the fact that you know, electric prices really half electric vehicles are really half your price. And they have two weeks your margin. Can you explain us? You kind of unit economics that on focuses on.
Shobhit 96:33
Okay. Yeah. So one of the core values add on is
96:39
prudent.
Shobhit 96:40
Now, when I say prudent, I mean, financially prudent, I also mean, prudent in all sorts of decision making in all sorts of actions that we take and how we portray ourselves. So, financially, financially prudent being financially prudent is one of the most important aspects of business art on whenever we take any decision, it has to be profitable, because it's very easy to flip your path and become a non profitable growing company, very specifically in the mobility space. And we have seen so many companies die down. We know what happened to ofoh. a unicorn valued at almost no just valued funded with almost 2 billion USD and dead even so many companies have achieved the same fate. And we know the kind of layoffs that Uber has been doing recently, what Ola has been doing and what bird in US has been doing. So we do not want to follow that path. We want to carve our own path and a part of profitability. We do not want to be just a fast growing company, we want to hit an IPO, you want to ring that bell at the VHA 10. Six, that's what is the objective at on so we always keep profits at our focus. Now, profits can be designed through the business model that you are creating. Now, the consumers always need not pay the money for the product that they are consuming. There are various ways of getting that money. But at the end of the day, the cost of goods sold should combined on margin. That's what we always have in all our calculations whenever we are providing these services. Now, with ice makers as well. We have 42% gross margins. with electric vehicles, these margins become much more because again, with electric vehicles the demand is also very high because it's cheaper for the consumer to drive there is no fuel consumption that is involved and the battery charging costs are covered by on. So that spikes the demand. The second thing is from operations angle as well the maintenance cost goes down the charging cost is ridiculous the per kilometer cost is almost one 10th of what it is for a gasoline vehicle. So, it all comes back and impact the unit economics. Again unit economics is is a very complicated function. It depends on the longevity of the vehicle it became depends on the utilization of the vehicle, it depends on the operational expense on the vehicles, the maintenance cost on the vehicle. So there are so many factors that are going in, but rest assured that I will
Puneeth Suraana 99:52
always in profit.
Shobhit 99:55
There will always be margins coming back. It's
Puneeth Suraana 99:57
so radical compared to profits can be squeezed or profits can be made which are taught in the NBS. prophets tell us more. There was more you must have. Yeah, and your leveling has happened. mx
Shobhit 100:28
one one. I think more than a learning it was learning that comes to my mind when when we talk about a learning. So creating a startup is is a very complicated journey where you are supposed to have a definite competitive advantage and you have to create something that your consumers love. Now, again, this is dichotomy you are creating something that consumers would love and you have to have a competitive advantage. That's something that consumers love. And a massive amount of consumers to love cannot be a secret. If people love something, it cannot be. You know what you love, right? You cannot love something that you don't know about. So, it cannot be a secret and if it is not a secret, it will not be a competitive advantage. Now, you generally act when when you're building a company, when you're driving a startup, you have to find out those competitive advantage. Advantages you have to find out things that people will love before they know about those things. Now, this is something that the most cliched and the most well known brand operators very, very well. They give you things that you will keep discovering, keep discovering and loving. There are still features that you uncover on a daily basis when you use these Apple devices. Now, why are they able to pull it off? It's all bad on a lot of research that they do a lot of understanding that they have of humans that humans individually do not have of themselves. So that's the pursuit, majorly, at most of the companies which want to have a good competitive advantage for the long run, and very specifically for startups. So we get on we believe in academia a lot. We believe in research a lot. We believe in learning a lot. And learning always starts with unlearning. There are so many dogmas that we have in our minds, we have to eradicate them and get fresh learnings and then there will be a point then when we will have to go and flesh them out and again, take new things in various Specifically in the current COVID scenario, now all the principles of doing business have changed. The companies do not just need financial backing today they need complete redesign of their operating and business models to help out consumers going forward in the post Cold War era. So whatever you have learned in the past
Puneeth Suraana 103:23
there are two perspectives and the listener has happened right now and let's clarify it for them. Yeah. So we just discussing about strategies and how most of the ideas that you've been built on have come from the customer and this other perspective that he just shared of Chubut idea I think you frozen Hello sure with Hello Hello. Hello. Hello.
104:06
Hello.
Puneeth Suraana 104:36
were my first interview. I remember my guess was my sister, Dr. Harsha and we did the entire interview and I forgot to hit record.
Shobhit 104:54
Okay, so we will wind up in some time.
Puneeth Suraana 105:00
Yes, indeed, I think we're going to be hitting the mark in four minutes. I think it's going to take another five to eight minutes. But yeah, I was I was just clarifying this perspective of getting insights from customers, through feedbacks, and through listening in and building products accordingly, versus the Steve Jobs, cliche of, you know, build it for them. And then they'll realize that, oh, I actually needed this. And this is a dichotomy that I find a lot of contradiction between Which one do you think has worked for you because you brought it up? We might as well discuss it and
Shobhit 105:46
I think both have to be worked on Puneeth. Now, again, the time to market will be different, where you were or something that the consumers rich and need right now or gently Something that can be marketed right now. viral, there are some things that you might know that okay, the consumers need, but they do not need it right now. We'll have to wait for the time. So the timing matters a lot. There have been so many good products that have came into the market earlier than they were expected and they failed. And then when the right timing was there, and when the right infrastructure was there, the right demand was there. There are companies which we know how they are today. So before Facebook, there was my spill overs or many other examples are there. So the timing is very, very relevant and timing is decided by the consumer, the markets. So what they need right now is what do you have to give them right now, but of course, you'll have to keep
Puneeth Suraana 106:48
researching
Shobhit 106:50
and moving forward. So it's almost like having a microscope and a telescope in both of your hands.
Puneeth Suraana 107:01
That's a very good analogy. I think electric bikes is something that everybody's talking about that hey, you know what I think now is the time for going towards electric. And a lot of factors have contributed to it. Interestingly, India is a decade late to the electric game. And there I did a lot of went through a lot of research that has happened in the China Chinese mobility space and American mobility space. And one one key aspect that kept coming back are three things which is the accident rates that went up after these bikes were introduced into the market, because the traffic got mixed, you have two wheelers, and then you have cars. And the second was that the lead pollution that is being caused by these batteries and the fact that there's now there's no proper recycling infrastructure for these batteries. And the third was that the traffic speeds are reducing. And so a lot of cities across the world have become anti bikes kind of cities where they don't want the average traffic speed to reduce. So while you're building something like this, how are you addressing these scenarios
Shobhit 108:23
here. So, these three scenarios Puneeth are very, very relevant. And of course, we have also faced the same Brunt. Now, most of these are not in our hands, but again, we are answerable to our consumers, and we have to find a solution to them. Now, the first thing was the rate of accidents that has arisen because of the shift to the bikes, electric bikes, that was not majorly because of the shift to the electric bikes. It was majorly because electric bikes are silent. There Do not make the kind of noise that your bullet engine makes or other gasoline vehicles make. So electric bikes are so silent. And because of that, when you're going on the road people do not know where you're coming. That
Puneeth Suraana 109:18
was a major aspects of today's researches was very interesting. I thought the same thing. And it turns out that because the ownership is so fluid, people are abusing the ownership because it isn't clear who the ownership is. They are they're using it recklessly. They are even they've been damaging the vehicle to a point yeah. And and that is why there have been a lot of accidents that have happened reckless usage, outright abuse of the very pink.
Shobhit 109:56
Yeah. So that that's a philosophy that we Completely stand against pony. It's like imagine if that is happening to the vehicles in China and USA what will happen to the vehicles in India we are yet to be we are a developing countries while both of these countries are developed economically and infrastructure wise and even in terms of the regulations and avoidance of law, India is nowhere close. So, we act on we also thought about the model that these companies are pursuing and we are completely against this model the modeling of dock lessness the model where the bikes are present on the road, blocking the road anyone can pick up anyone can drop anywhere. It belongs to who none. People do not have any responsibility towards these. I have never seen a public asset In India run successfully or in good condition never are respected. Yeah. So we don't want to create a product which is not respected by consumers. Rather we believe in sharing, rather responsible sharing. We want consumers to take the ownership feel the ownership ship of these, just like you own a product, you have all the rights on it, but you also have all the liabilities on it. Why Why would you stay away from the liabilities while exercise all your rights plus the rights that you do not have. So that's why we did not and will never get into dockless kind of model, which many companies in India are also trying out learning from the channel from the International counterparts at on we will never do that. We will stick to what we do vest. We will try to solve ownership problems for our consumers.
Puneeth Suraana 112:00
But other than dockless stations or dogs or these biking parking stations, is that is that is that used to make sure that those who are taking these bikes are having ownership? Hmm, exactly. response.
Shobhit 112:25
Yeah, so act on every bike and every booking. So every consumer who picks up the picks the bike from owners liable for the bike and the upkeep of the bike while the bike is in his hands. And that's what gets attributed to the consumer. You cannot use it recklessly. Because why if you use it recklessly, you will be pushed away from the platform. Because while you are doing this recklessness, you are showing disrespect to the next consumer who is coming on the platform and also the platform itself. Which is trying to provide you a good solution. So that's something which is not permitted and not taken lightly at all. Of course, we are customer centric here, of course, we understand the challenges that our consumers might face and try to solve them. Give them the roadside assistance and on. But if you're reckless, then we do not have any mercy for reckless consumers. Now, IoT has come in very strongly to help us here. With the accelerometer fitted on the vehicles, we know how the individual is riding the vehicle, if he's riding safely, if he's putting heartbreaks, or if he's dealing with the bike or jumping on Spring Breakers, everything we get to know and accordingly right score is calculated, and the good riders are rewarded. The bad ones are punished.
Puneeth Suraana 113:54
Hasn't hasn't created or shift or significant shift that you've noticed It's a good strategy. But
Shobhit 114:04
that's there are two ways to look at it. The amount of penalties that we usually take on so that that's one revenue matrix which we want to want to minimize. We don't want penalties from our consumers. We weren't good consumers on the platform. So good for us. Our personalities have been on a recurring manner reducing, and I believe that's because good consumers are on the platform.
Puneeth Suraana 114:32
Hmm, another example of profits can be designed. Get out there. What about lead pollution? I asked you this because I realized that when we had horse driven carriages, the problem was the crowding and the horse dung and the smell of it, piling them on the road. And then you have these the engine revolution. The steam age of the gas or petroleum and then the pollution because of it. And the fact that all of these resources have not are not recyclable. I think they should have electric bikes will also have a problem along with it which is of the lead pollution. You have already started creating infrastructure for or addressing it in a way.
115:27
Okay, because I think the
Shobhit 115:29
solution is very important part of the solution. And it is definitely there in our long term roadmap when it when we are here in the market to change the way people own their bikes and obviously, leverage the ecosystem going forward. We have this in our mind, but right now, not in our focus. Right now we are completely focusing on solving mobility for our consumers. While this is something this is a problem which is not just within electric bikes is the problem with all electronic devices that we use and consume on an everyday basis. So it's it's more of a macro economic problem than just an industrial problem. And we believe that, of course, we will have to put our energies to find a solution to it. There are many big giants already pulling and pushing their energies to find a solution to it. While we are focusing on the problem of mobility, and other good things that in incomes disposal, the electric bikes that we have on the platform, the because of the longevity of the vehicle, they will come back for disposal four years down the line. So we still have a breather of at least three years. And we are very hopeful that we will have a good solution by them.
Puneeth Suraana 116:46
Yes, I think I think you'll find one that actually works for the world and for the people in it. Have you because now I think you're in nine cities or 53 cities that you had initially listed. is the fact correct? Because that's the most recent one I found.
Shobhit 117:06
Yeah, so we are already not just in nine, but in 11 cities we are operating. While out of these 11 cities, six cities, we have our b2c platform operations where consumers can come in and use the app to book the bike. And the rest of the five cities we have already put in the bikes and infrastructure in place. Right now it is being used by delivery boys, but soon we'll be launching our b2c operations.
Puneeth Suraana 117:33
You know, audience, I want to point out an interesting strategy that's been applied here. When they enter a new city, they take the b2b route and build it for six to nine months and then they move to the b2c route. Sure, but why don't you walk us through it because I think this is an approach that a lot of us miss out on.
Shobhit 117:56
Okay, that this is an approach to ponytail. Not advice to the audience at all, but of course, it is working out for on very well. Now, why do we take b2b approach while entering a new city is because setting up the infrastructure at the New City is the cost, there are overheads involved there are employees that will have to recruit there are operations that you will have to set up and for that you need cash flow or either you will have to burn it from your working capital. Now, for that we go to bw. Now, b2b gives you those stable cash flows as soon as you launch operations, because there is always delivery in every city that we will we go and we will ever go into. Now, because of that the stable cash flow start coming in for which we are able to support an office infrastructure and the employee base there. We are able to set up all of our infrastructure around it, and then we launch our b2c operations. So that's how we get into the market but I will Yeah. Yeah, that's a very sound approach. But again, it is a short term and a quick hack that the add on has have developed. But it will not be relevant for most of the industries First of all, second of all, approach has a big caveat where it might push you away from your core consumers. Now, as I told you, the target segment that we have on the on platform is young white collars. Now, once you start serving a different segment of consumers, you get confused and these confusions keep coming your way very often. So it's good to stay away as much as possible from these lucrative confusions.
Puneeth Suraana 119:54
Simplify again, some environments I like how we have actually taken minimally And not limited to just things but concepts in your mind then actions and principles through your company. If not, no, you should write one book on mobility. This time.
Shobhit 120:20
I'm afraid that once one day when I will write a book the book I will not even read.
Puneeth Suraana 120:29
Why not? Okay, we're hitting the 10 minute mark. So let me ask you, how can listeners reach out to you before as the final question?
Shobhit 120:49
I think technology has given us that power to reach out to anyone anytime, and I'm very approachable. very specifically on LinkedIn as a platform, the other social platforms I do not use So yeah, I can be reached out at LinkedIn definitely open for any help and any solution that any of the audience would wish wherever I can help wherever I can question Anyone is welcome.
Puneeth Suraana 121:30
Fantastic his hat his LinkedIn hammy will be mentioned in the soul short, his LinkedIn handle will be mentioned in the show description below to reach out to him. Coming to the final question, what is the purpose that you seek to make? Okay Okay. The back that you seek to make in
Shobhit 122:08
Okay, so, every every one of us, when we come on this planet, we have a purpose to serve. And that's the pursuit that I have been having to identify the purpose that I came on this planet with. No, of course I do not have a precise purpose in mind. But this is some introspection that you keep doing on a very regular basis, to streamline more and to have a more specific purpose in life. But what I've understood is that our purpose majorly and it's very genuine, not very specific to me. We we are always privileged awarded with a few gifts from God, there are a few things which are very, very unique to us. And the purpose in our lives is to distribute those gifts to as many as possible. Now, how to do it to as many as possible is something that I've been figuring out. And what I've learned is that there is nothing better than smartphone technology, which is present in almost every pocket right now. So the medium of distribution of your ability, your talent, your intellect, will definitely be smartphones, or something else that comes out in the future. But now what you're supposed to do is something that we'll have to identify. So when I was undergoing this journey, the first thing that I tried identifying was the industry that I would be a part of, because more often in life, it's not the domain that you are a part of. It's the industry. It has to be interesting for you. Because domains you can shuffle, if you have a learning mindset, you will keep learning new things, keep doing new things. But industry is something that you should be in love with. Otherwise you will fall out of it very soon. So, that's, that's what I've decided I somehow the complicated three, the professional trajectory that I had, it got connected together to mobility be for a beat for a truck beat for a car. And now wait for buy to bid for electric bike. It's all getting connected. It's about making things more. It's about driving progress. It's about making a human or superhuman, while a human would work at six kilometers per hour, but when he is on the bike, he can move at 60 kilometers per hour. That's that's like an extra flow. Going to individuals I have been driving and that's what my purpose is that I want to I want to give everyone this power. I want to make this individual. And let's see the macro economic progression faster by providing people easy mobility, so that they can move easily. And if they will be able to move easily, they'll be able to get opportunities easily.
Puneeth Suraana 125:31
Very interesting. I think this is one of those companies that is being built for our I'm very happy that it's been progressing such amazingly, it has been such an unusually interesting conversation. I left your curiosity and your experiments and your approaches. Thank you.
Shobhit 125:57
Thanks for needed. It was very nice. interaction with you. And it was very helpful for me as well. There were interesting questions that I had to think about myself and then tell you so next and I hope it was also interesting for the audience.
Puneeth Suraana 126:16
Definitely. Now, go and make some Galata.