Fabric

IITs have given India some of the biggest startups today. However, it's not very common for these tech graduates to venture into the consumer product space. In the post below, we’re shining a spotlight on some of India’s up-and-coming D2C startups that are starting to make waves in the market! Open Secret: Ahana Gautam, IIT Bombay Sanfe: Archit Agarwal & Harry Sehrawat, IIT Delhi Deconstruct: Malini Adapureddy, IIT Kharagpur Happy Nature: Vikas Singh, Vishal Rastogi, IIT Roorkee Anveshan: Akhil Kansal, Aayushi Khandelwal, Kuldeep Parewa, IIT Guwahati Nestasia: Anurag Agrawal, IIT Kanpur Sid's Farm: Kishore Indukuri, IIT Kharagpur Pilgrim: Anurag Kedia, Gagandeep M., IIT Bombay

Today's consumers, especially millennials and Gen Z, prioritize sustainability and ethics when choosing brands across food, clothing, and lifestyle sectors. They seek eco-friendly practices, fair trade, and cruelty-free production. In response, new-age brands are also prioritizing environmental consciousness and supporting local communities. In the post below, we’ve highlighted some purpose-driven brands and their impactful practices. Ecoright - Udit Sood, Nikita Barmecha Sirohi - Gauri Malik Two Brothers Organic Farms® - Satyajit Hange, Ajinkya H. Shumee Toys - Meeta Sharma RASHKI - Rahul Jain, Rustam Chaudhary, Shivani Popat P-TAL (Punjabi Thathera Art Legacy) - Kirti Goel, Aditya Agrawal, Gaurav Garg Zama - Shriya Wadhwa No Nasties - Apurva Kothari

I love Arindam Paul’s posts. But what if we could bring such high quality D2C insights and tips from multiple experienced founders. This is what I’m doing next. The under appreciated foe you face in startups in uncertainty. How do you know what you are doing is right? Or that you are not missing something? Most e-commerce guides I come across are 0-1. Helping new founders figure out how to build their brand. But what about more advanced, 1-10 stuff? Things that can help a brand scale from  ₹50 lacs to ₹10 Cr monthly. Like - - maintaining high ROAS while scaling perf marketing budgets. - making strategic hires at the C, C-1 level to drive growth - channel and category expansion while remaining profitable - getting the right investors for the next phase of growth Because this is such a small niche, there’s not a lot written about these topics.  To address this, I’m launching a weekly series, called D2C School. Here, I will speak with experienced founders and operators to find actionable, razor focussed insights and frameworks for brands who already have their basics figured out. In my first conversation, I talked to Udbhava Mishra, Head of Revenue of SuperBottoms about: - how category and channel work while scaling - when to switch from performance marketing to brand marketing - the importance of marketplace expansion vs category expansion - mistakes made by marketing team in attribution - strategies to get listed on quick commerce Along with many stories about SuperBottoms and how customer feedback and knowledge of their category is at the centre of strategy for them. Drop 1 coming soon. Follow to stay tuned.

We're looking for a Founding Engineer to join us at Fabric. To be clear, we're not looking for *just about any* engineer. You'll only be a good fit if you: ✅ Are ambitious and the idea of building things from scratch excites you ✅ Want to experience the 0-1 journey of an exciting AI startup (warts and all) ✅ Are willing to fully commit at least 2 years of your life to the vision This is an opportunity to solve hard and exciting problems with a team of second-time founders who have 6+ years of experience building AI products. Let's make it big together! Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gfDVP3H4

"Bharat ke kone kone mein entrepreneurs hain" - I heard Peyush Bansal say in one of the Shark Tank episodes. I looked it up to see if it was also true for consumer brands, and sure enough, I found at least one in every state of India. Whether they're just headquartered there or working to promote the local culture, here are 28 brands (in no particular order) shaking up the D2C space in every corner of India. Can you name a D2C brand from your region? Let me know in the comment

If you're a D2C founder auditioning for Shark Tank, this is your last-minute guide to identify your ideal shark. Not just on the show, but even beyond it, "The OG Sharks" have been active investors in D2C. Nearly 40-50% of their investment portfolios are filled with D2C brands. And here's what I have found : - Aman Gupta has invested in more D2C companies than any other Shark. -No Shark operating in the D2C space heavily invests in companies similar to those they founded. -The Food and Beverages sector is the most popular among all the Sharks. One key thing every Shark considers is how well you know your numbers. So, for a limited time, we're offering 1:1 consulting to help D2C brands craft a compelling narrative for their Shark Tank pitch and ensure their numbers are spot-on with Fabric. If you're a D2C brand preparing for a Shark Tank audition, we should definitely connect. Feel free to DM or comment on this post to get in touch.

After watching 100+ Shark Tank India pitches, we've picked up some key lessons from D2C brands that were promising, and still thriving, but didn't land a deal. For a limited time, at Fabric, we’re offering D2C founders appearing on Shark Tank some guidance to refine their pitches. We’ll help you with the numbers and data to ensure you’re fully prepared for auditions. Got a Shark Tank audition coming up? Let’s chat! Drop a DM or comment on this post to connect.

Despite running a D2C brand with strong fundamentals, you might still face REJECTION on Shark Tank due to this reason - Anyone who has watched Shark Tank knows how much the Sharks focus on a brand's numbers. Once you falter in your numbers, you'll quickly find yourself going home empty-handed. But what most founders don’t realise is that their numbers don’t have to be “bad” to get rejected; it’s the lack of narrative and clarity around those numbers that hurts them more. What does that mean? Let’s take three examples - 1. Founders with Profitable Brands/Traditional Business: "Dhandha" minded D2C founders mostly focus on profits and cash flow. Even though they excel in running their business, they often struggle with questions about contribution margins and unit economics. 2. Founders who haven’t raised funding before: Most founders on Shark Tank often lack prior funding experience, which means they haven't been grilled by investors about their data. As a result, they lack experience in highlighting their strong numbers during pitches and are often not able to present their numbers well. 3. Founders who are unaware of their numbers: Absolutely no judgments here. Running a D2C business is challenging, specially in earlier stages. Many founders don’t come from a tech background, and they haven't reached a data-driven stage with their brand yet. At Fabric, we have spoken with multiple brands who have faced this issue in the past seasons and are facing it now in this season’s audition. So, for a limited time, we're helping D2C brands with 1:1 consulting to build a strong narrative for their Shark Tank pitch and get their numbers right with Fabric. Fabric connects with the Indian D2C stack and is trusted by multiple Shark Tank brands. If you are a D2C brand with an upcoming audition for Shark Tank, we should definitely talk. You can DM or comment on the post to get in touch.

India boasts over 345 million digital buyers, making it the third-largest online shopper base in the world. While legacy companies dominate much of the market, the growing preference for online shopping has empowered D2C companies to challenge these established giants in their respective segments. Here are some emerging D2C brands and their founders that we believe can make a difference and become popular choices: The Clownfish: Mahesh Subbiah, Kushal Bhansali Forbidden Foods (BRB Popped Chips): Anuj Krishan, Tanmoy Mukherjee, Abhishek Agarwal Anveshan: Kuldeep Parewa, Aayushi Khandelwal, Akhil Kansal Gramiyaa: Sibi Manivannan, Mohamed Yaseen, Naveenrajamaran RL Country Bean: Aditi Somani Satnaliwala, Aneesh Satnaliwala NAT HABIT: Swagatika Das, Gaurav Agarwal GIVA : Ishendra Agarwal, Nikita Prasad

From the seasoned 44-year-old Rohan Bopanna to the young and talented 14-year-old Dhinidhi Desinghu, 85 athletes will be representing India at the Paris Olympics, kicking off today! Off the field, some of these athletes have been trailblazers in advancing a few D2C brands. Here's a little something about them, sprinkled with some fun athlete trivia! Earthraga (Founder: Ganesh Kamath), GoodDot (Founder: Abhishek Sinha), hoop (Founders: Saharsh Agarwal, Twinkle Uppal), Noise ( Founder: Gaurav Khatri), Fast & Up (Founders: Vijayaraghavan Venugopal, Shilpa Khanna Thakkar, Snehal Champaklal, Varun Khanna)