Udaan – Episode 2

That’s the difference between you and me. You wanna lose small, I wanna win big - Suits

Hey there!

Welcome Back.

In continuation of Episode 1, we will now explore a few notable strategies exercised by Udaan to reach where it is today.

UDAAN – EPISODE 2

The Trio

Even before Udaan, a few companies tried to become a tech-intermediary among manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, but they were not as successful as Udaan is.

There is a reason why?

The co-founders Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar, and Vaibhav Gupta were already CXO’s in Flipkart and had relevant experience in technology, operations, and finance. Also, their close network and expertise helped them quickly hire 20 people, majorly from Flipkart, to build a core team. The initial funding came to the founders well before the product launch because the investors felt that something good would emerge from the team.

Before starting Udaan, they spent six to eight months on research to understand the nuances of the market, product rates, going on the ground – talking to suppliers, retailers, and wholesalers. After starting, for one and a year half, they offered subsidized logistics rates to get the exposure of the community of retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. All these ensured that Udaan has a strong foundation.

CEO – Why is that?

Surprisingly, amongst all the theories we read of hierarchy and roles, Udaan doesn’t have titles across the organization.

NO CEOs, CTOs and CFOs!!

The benefit of this kind of setup is that it empowers every employee not on the basis of position but on the merit that they deliver. It offers an amazing level of decentralization, and no single person holds the power to control decisions which enables speedy decision making and flexibility within the organization.

Branding – What’s unique?

The television commercial is not as common in B2B setup as it is in B2C. But In 2019, Udaan released its TV commercials by collaborating with Pankaj Tripathi, a character with whom traders can resonate with. The commercial positioned Udaan as the trader’s own, safe, and secure app. The tag line – ‘customer ki kasam and munafe ka shutter’ projected Udaan as an enabler, which helps them increase their revenue in a very Indian fashion.

The fastest-growing unicorn is unique in multiple ways, but we pick these three as they fascinated us!

The real winner is the one who stands the test of time. Udaan has set its foot firm, but with the advent of the next big battleground in B2B Space with the launch of Flipkart wholesale division, Amazon B2B division, and other vertical e-commerce startups, it will be interesting to see how it thrives in the hyper-competitive environment.

Writer: Komal Kumari, Nikita Aggarwal

Let us know your thoughts on it.

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