We Lost A Lot Of Money, But The Learnings Were Worth It Ft. Rahul Gadi, Regional Growth Head, Zomato

Rahul Gadi, currently Head - Regional Growth at Zomato, MICA alum, always wanted a good career, and so he decided to do CA. However, after clearing the first two levels, he realised he found it extremely boring, and couldn't see himself doing an accountant's job for the rest of his life. He soon quit and his search for something interesting brought him to MICA. While there were a lot of things to talk about from his MBA days, the one fond memory that he has is of running the mess committee. He always had a knack for food, and found the experience extremely pleasant. Perhaps that love for food is what drove him to start his own ice-cream parlour, and ultimately took him to Zomato.  

What's This About:
This is a new series of talks that we are doing amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the lockdowns and the curfews, we are making all the efforts to ensure that you keep getting insightful and relevant content. So sit back and make the most of your social distancing with this episode of ‘Konversations in Quarantine'!

Part 2 is here. Summary of the video: In this video, Rahul talks of his stint at VIP Luggage, and the insights he got regarding customer behaviour and marketing from the same. He speaks of the ice-cream parlour that he started with his MICA batchmate and how they managed it whilst doing full-time jobs. The failure of that ice-cream parlour gave him some very important lessons on how to run a business, and he doesn't regret the money they lost.

Key Takeaways:
1. Customers don't care about the features of your product. They care about how your product benefits them.
2. You have to communicate the right message in order to make sure your customers get relevant information.
3. People from different regions have different purchase behavior. If you spend time travelling the country, you will get a 360 degree perspective on how the country behaves, and how consumers in different parts of the country have different habits. This will help you market your products to a vast demographic.
4. An essential part of any job is to manage your boss.
5. When running your own business, you are the boss. There is no one above you who can guide you. You have to figure things out on your own.
6. You will not be the best judge of your own product. If you want your product to be a success, you have to do research before launching it. For eg. the ice-cream Rahul sold was cheap according to him and his partner, but the area where their parlour was located found the pricing to be very expensive.

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