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Powering Digitization of Offline Merchants | Shailaz Nag @ DotPe
148 Plays4 years ago
All of you must be familiar with the phrase silver lining. Where the pandemic forced us to maintain social distancing, it has also enabled entrepreneurs to come up with innovative and disruptive business ideas.
In a candid conversation with Akshay Datt, Shailaz Nag, Co-founder and CEO, DotPe, takes us through his amazing journey of working in top corporates to building ventures like PayU and DotPe.
Shailaz fondly remembers his father’s principles and how this has guided him throughout his life and work. He co-founded PayU India in 2011, which at present, is one of the leading payment gateways in the country. He quit PayU in 2019 and started DotPe in the subsequent year with a vision to provide digital transformation and commerce solutions to brick-and-mortar stores. And within a year of launch, this offline-to-online commerce platform has raised USD 27.5 million in Series A funding from prominent investors like InfoEdge Ventures, Google, and PayU.
Tune in to this episode to hear Shailaz speak about how DotPe is disrupting and transforming the offline to online segment with its impeccable product experience and innovation.
What you must not miss!
- Three most important life lessons.
- Significance of going digital.
- O2O business model.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Founder Thesis Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Take a minute. I'm dead. I'm dead. This could be a great intro. Hi, I'm Akshay. Hi, this is Aurob. And you are listening to the Founder Thesis Podcast. We meet some of the most celebrated sort of founders in the country. And we want to learn how to build a unicorn. Hi,
Shailaz Nag's Journey in Fintech
00:00:26
Speaker
this is Shalaaz here. I'm founder of Dottet.
00:00:30
Speaker
If there's one person whom you can call as the fintech guru of India, then it would probably be Shailaz Nag. Shailaz co-founded Payu, which is one of the rare profitable fintech startups in India and is also a global behemoth. Over his eight years stint at Payu, he made Payu into a diversified and profitable business by pursuing both organic and inorganic growth opportunities. But that's not all you'll get to hear in this episode.
00:00:59
Speaker
In 2020, Shailas started his next venture, DotPay, which is focused on making offline businesses go digital and equipping them with all the tools available to their online competitors.
00:01:13
Speaker
And DotPay is already setting records, having recently closed a Series A funding round of $27.5 million from the likes of Google, InfoEdge, Payu, who all believe that the startup is going to fundamentally change the way offline entrepreneurs compete in the increasingly online-dominated world. Here,
Lessons from Family and Values
00:01:34
Speaker
Shailah is telling Akshay Dutt about growing up and understanding his father's principles.
00:01:41
Speaker
Honestly speaking, my dad passed away very early stage in my life when I was studying, very early stage of my studying career. How old were you? I think I was 20. He was the only earning member? My mom was a clerk, my dad was an assistant engineer in PHED which is Waterworks in Rastangapat.
00:02:05
Speaker
Both of them were earning, but we had, my dad had his family, old typical Indian family there, you have sisters, your brothers need to get them married, need to get them educated and everything. He had full responsibilities towards him. And same with my mom, mom was the eldest, she has three siblings and her parents also passed away when she was 10.
00:02:28
Speaker
So a lot of responsibility both of them had towards their family. Both of them were earning, but both of them had full responsibilities. Now coming back to your question on what our father did, actually what I am today because of my father's principles. It's actually, and I still tell my mom that if I would have listened to my father properly during my teenage days, I would have been a much, much better person than what I am today.
00:02:52
Speaker
What were his principles? Like, you know, what did you like? Yeah, like two, three things which is in my life is very clearly is being true to yourself very clearly. So you should not give the false hopes to yourself. You should never give a false hopes to somebody else. And don't live in a false world. Right? That's one thing which is very, very critical.
00:03:21
Speaker
Like honesty. Yeah, honesty to other people and honesty to yourself also, right? If you're honest to yourself, you'll be honest to the other person also. He was a Gandhian, like he believed in the Gandhi principle of... Yeah, I can tell you his story. Amazingly what he believed in, he actually pleased it also. So that's one second stuff which is very, very, very his relationships. See, he always fundamentally believed in relationships.
00:03:50
Speaker
And that came naturally to me also because of him. He was a very Hasmuk guy. Although I've been doing a podcast, you don't meet him in person because he's in Japan. But if you meet me, I'm a Hasmuk. I love him.
00:04:08
Speaker
He used to smile, build relationships and I saw that. You won't believe when he passed there when I was 20 years of age, my school bus driver came on his funeral. My dad's tenure before a jeep driver who used to pick him up for the office and everything came in.
00:04:33
Speaker
his labor, his peon 15 years back from Chittor came to Daputu foreign on his death, right? I saw all kinds of people from topmost to the lowest most came in on his death. So I've seen this personally what his relationship meant for him. I've seen it. I'll give you another story which I don't know whether you will want to keep it or not. But personally, I still say this to my wife.
00:05:01
Speaker
My dad passed away, he left with a loan of almost 8 lakh rupees. At that time, 8 lakh rupees was like today, 8 lakh rupees, right? This is which year, when he passed away? This is, I think 2000, I think 2009, only 1999, 2009, right? So... You must have been a student. I was doing my C8, turn that account and see. So...
00:05:26
Speaker
Look, this is what relationship matters to them. Now, if you don't have a loan, you can't have a bank. If you don't have a loan, you can't have a contract. So, if you don't have a loan, you can't have a loan. If you don't have a loan in your professional world, he took a loan and that time, for people to save taxes, they used to put the loan into their diaries. So, they would put an 8 lakh rupees in the diary, right? So that income tax, if it comes in, they don't come to know, right?
00:05:57
Speaker
No, I had no paperwork with that guy, but I had never had a paperwork with him and he passed away. And I was supposed to develop. He cannot come to us and ask us some money, right? He had no legality to ask us. My mom was very truthful to them. He said, we're going to give some money to that. So we decided to give, we started giving money back to him in the potions and he came to me.
00:06:24
Speaker
And he came to me and cried in front of me, and said, you know, that's the second thing which I learned. But the important thing is the relationship building is a very critical exercise. You live and last for your relationships. Money will keep on coming and go in life.
00:06:52
Speaker
But what you live for is relationships. So be truthful to yourself. Relationships are very important. And third, people say time is money. But he actually told me time is money. How do you wake me up at 5.30 in the morning and I have to go and play cricket?
00:07:08
Speaker
Right? And then he has to go to school, then he goes to come back to school and then it's steady and then he goes back to cricket and all of a sudden, he used to tell me time is money and how he used to preach it, very clearly he used to tell me very clearly on this. Right? Because he used to always tell me... So, three things. Truthful, relationship and time kicking.
00:07:37
Speaker
Right? Now you can correlate these things very clearly. You get time, you have a relationship, you have a truthful relationship, there is no looking back for your life. Bill Kull, that's a good formula for long term success. The time of your life is very difficult. And if you have a relationship, you have the opportunity to have a relationship.
00:08:01
Speaker
So Madhav, so at the age of 20 you are now suddenly like the man of the house with an 8 lakh rupee loan and you're also not yet qualified, you're still doing your CA. Let's give credit to mom. So second day of my dad's dad, all of my family members are sitting, my CA principals, my friends, everybody came in to meet me also in second day, third day types, right?
00:08:32
Speaker
And second day, I think it was second day. And everybody was telling that dad was a government. So he's a 52. To dad. So why don't you go and pick it that up because you don't have money now to sustain in life. Right. So how did that mom is the LDC? So she watched and she has 6,000 rupees, 7,000 rupees a month. How will you live your life? Because you have loans of home. You have loans of this stuff. And credit goes to mom. Mom said, no way.
00:09:11
Speaker
She came and told me very quickly on 3rd day that we are going to close everything on 3rd day, we are not going to do this 12th day kind of stuff because you have to study, you have exams coming up.
00:09:23
Speaker
and we're going to close it on third day, you're not going to Haridwar, Chacha is going to go Haridwar and you're going to continue your study, right? And I'm telling you if it's required, we will sell our home and we'll pay off the loan but I'll pay, I'll get your study money.
00:09:39
Speaker
So that was mom and of course I supported mom there my own way in my own which I don't want to disclose it in the market but very clearly is that she was a strong lady and she's still a strong lady and she said very clearly and she still says to me you could have studied more. She said you could have gone to Harvard and studied more. She doesn't understand what I'm up to and what I'm doing and everything but
00:10:06
Speaker
Sun has not gone to Harvard. That's his problem. That's a problem, right? So, when did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did
Career Growth and Learning in Tech
00:10:18
Speaker
you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then? When did you start earning then?
00:10:32
Speaker
So that is also learning. A lot of people have on their WhatsApp status. This too shall pass. Yes. And I've seen it. I've seen three years, four years of my life. My uncle passed away, my Dadi passed away, my Masa passed away, my Dadi passed away. My younger cousin passed away, 18 years of age. I've seen this in four years and I was failing and see it.
00:10:57
Speaker
My sisters got a pregnancy broken completely with karajuwa. Everything I've seen it in five years. But everything comes back. It's beautiful in life. Honestly, every time I had a woman supports me in my life.
00:11:20
Speaker
Before my mom, my sister, who supported me, how to study. After that, my wife came and she supported me. She's still strong and standing next to me. I have two daughters. My sister has daughters. So I've always surrounded a woman who supported me, and I grew in my life.
00:11:38
Speaker
Amazing. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. But often people don't fully appreciate but truly woven power is amazing. I've been all along. That is the smallest, smallest example. Like I got married and I used to earn 10,000. As luck had it. When did you get it? 2002 passed out on MBA, right? C-A-M-B, right? Imagine C-A-M-B, I can't remember what it was.
00:12:07
Speaker
I have been in the country for a long time and I have been in the country for a long time and I have been in the country for a long time and I have been in the country for a long time and I have been in the country for a long time and I have been in the country for a long time and I have been in the country for a long time and I have been in the country for a long time and I have been in the country for a long time
00:12:35
Speaker
This was with this Technova, I can see. Yes, you've done your homework. Maybe with LinkedIn. That's the company who gave me a scholarship and gave me a job also. It's a beautiful company to work. And Mahape, very interestingly, my wife was working. Your wife was working? No, no, she was doing an MSc nutrition.
00:13:01
Speaker
And she got her admission into AIMS for her further internships and everything. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. She didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. She didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS. So she didn't want to go to AIMS.
00:13:47
Speaker
So I shifted my sister's house. I didn't need to pay rent.
00:13:57
Speaker
Of course, I had to travel from Kandivali to Taloja by changing three buses, but that's okay. But my money saved there, right? And my wife's studies. As soon as my wife came back, my salary moved to $12,000 to $60,000, but I got a new job. Okay. This is when you joined ATIL. When I joined ATIL, right. From there, after 8 an hour, my daughter was born. The elder one.
00:14:25
Speaker
Love changed, my salary doubled and I joined Yahoo. Right? And so on and so forth, things started. You started when my younger daughter was joined. Oh well.
00:14:38
Speaker
Right? So I'd like to tell you is women have always been supportive due to all the luck to me, but honestly, they are more of a support because the kind of inputs which comes from my wife or my mom and my sisters is amazing. Even my in-laws, my mom in-laws and everybody is like amazing support. Amazing support.
00:14:59
Speaker
So, tell me about your corporate career, like what kind of work were you doing here? So, look, Technova was very interesting. It was a management training job and Technova was started as a management training where first year, very interesting. Technova started scaling it up. So, they had two factories before and they wanted to open five factories more.
00:15:29
Speaker
So techno was in a business of building printing stuff. The company had three things, which is aluminum, chemical, aluminum plate, chemicals, and printing. But the most important thing, they were expanding. So they were going from two factories to five factories. And they needed a guy who can manage their projects, financing. They managed their financing. So they put me under the finance team to manage the financial parts of the factories, the new factories, which is coming up.
00:16:00
Speaker
and have luck at it. You know, it's about dad's thinking relationship. So my first mom and me have very great relationship. He taught me Excel. He taught me how to see the data, how to build the numbers, right?
00:16:16
Speaker
And you won't believe, the guy was not even a qualified chatter, he was a simple graduate. But the guy had tremendous knowledge of doing things and he taught me excel, he taught me data, how to see the data, how to live the life also, right? So, and his name is Atul Kulkarni and I'm not in touch with him regularly now, I do it once in four years, twice whenever it happens. But I owe to him because he taught me a lot of stuff during that first year.
00:16:45
Speaker
Right? And then the CFO of Technova, Mr. RK, who hired me during that. And he also used to give me a lot of inputs, how to see the data, how to see the research. So that's where being a number guide, they taught me business.
00:17:04
Speaker
how to live the business, how to do business and then how to get the finances and everything. So, you know, initial days, if you have a great boss and you join a company who's in the startup phase or an expanding phase, you learn. Right. You learn, you move up fast. Yes, you learn, you move up fast. And after two years, he only came and told me, Shalaaz, I think here you won't get money much because I didn't sell it. I didn't sell it. I didn't sell it.
00:17:40
Speaker
They called up 20 people in the office and called my wife in the evening and they did a small function. So I feel home, that kind of relationship. They only came to me and told me, you should move on.
00:18:01
Speaker
And you need money. If there is a salary, you need money, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar, you need solar,
00:18:32
Speaker
There is no office, there is no computer, there is no internet, there is no slot, there is no internet. I will link this story to you, because I am not an info-age venture investor, it is for you. There is no internet, there is no internet, there is no internet.
00:18:59
Speaker
Right? And you have to pay attention to the IT head of the company. You know what I mean? You have to pay attention to the IT head of the company. You have to pay attention to the IT head of the company. You have to pay attention to the IT head of the company. You have to pay attention to the IT head of the company. You have to pay attention to the IT head of the company.
00:19:25
Speaker
It's all relationships and everything come together and you won't believe these are the guys, his IT guy called me at home for a dinner before leaving because we used to live in the same society where he used to live and he called me for a dinner for my favourite.
00:19:46
Speaker
And these are still in my Facebook, I wish them on their annuaries or birthdays and everything. But what I'm trying to tell you, this is what you live for in life, right? And from there, I moved to Airtel. Yeah. So Airtel was a small state. What did you expect from Airtel? Airtel was a small state. What did you expect from Airtel? What did you expect from Airtel? What did you expect from Airtel? What did you expect from Airtel? What did you expect from Airtel?
00:20:16
Speaker
We have bought stories actually. Eyeball years. My sister moved to Bombay and my brother-in-law was working in Nokia. And Nokia was a provider to etel, all the technology and switches and everything. So my brother-in-law's customer was Eder.
00:20:43
Speaker
Now he used to go to Airtel every day, work from there and everything. And I was looking for a job. And he became friendly with the pals there and everything. And then he said to one of the friends that my brother-in-law is looking for a job for me. And he's this experience. There's a job which has come internally called business intelligence, head of business intelligence for it and everything. He should apply. And I, you know, internal reference, you get it and everything. He took my TV, gave it to him.
00:21:12
Speaker
He applied. I got an interview call. Now, luck had it. Interview call, which I received from HR, this lady was a part-timer doing MBA from L. England. She should have managed where I passed off from. She figured it out. She used to meet her in the evening, in the college days, and everything. My boss was Sudhil Mishra there.
00:21:42
Speaker
He shortlisted me and after that interview shortlisted, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told me, this lady told
00:22:04
Speaker
So then I moved, so this is where I got the job there. And then I moved it, Sunilvish again, you know, the relationship, the great boss, the great mentor, Sunilvish supported me throughout the whole year. And as luck had it, I was, I was, I was like, I turned around a lot minister, I increased the revenues of Ettar Bhutani. Now I'll tell you the story of this Ettar.
00:22:30
Speaker
Now, Lakhya Khan, ATEL came as a fourth operator in Bombay that year. Vodafone, H.O.Gara, Q.D.O.M.I.N.C.E.B.A.H.A.H.A.H.B.P.L.A.H.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A.R.A
00:22:58
Speaker
Now, you have been part of a company in Technoma which wanted to expand crazily from 200 crore to 1000 crore of revenue. Airtel who came here a year before and wanted to become a number one this year. So, always been part of a growth journey. So, our growth journey, scale journey and everything in life and I have seen that scale.
00:23:20
Speaker
And luck, how did I learned a lot? The way this Jayanth Khosla, who's the CEO of Bombay Circle that time, ran this campaign of creating a million customers in this country, the way he gets people, all the company along with this campaign, right, was amazing. Amazing. And he made everybody feel special during that time, after having one million. So I learned a lot how to
00:23:47
Speaker
build product, then build a campaign around it, take people along and then after achieving the success, how do you treat people after that also? So, this was an amazing journey of scaling up for me as a business. What was your specific work? Like your finance team?
00:24:07
Speaker
So my job was to see the data and give my strategic inputs to acquisition of the customers, retention of the customer or increasing the R2 of the customer. That was my role. And this was not the role available before in Italy. And I was the only one who joined as a Bombay Circle and they opened me within three months full India for me. Right? Because of the practice discipline.
00:24:34
Speaker
So imagine a project finance guy, FPN guy, business guys from there to move to head of business intelligence. That was an interesting proposition for me. And I saw the scale. Amazing scale I saw there. And so life has been a phenomenal journey for me too far. So why didn't you continue with that? Why didn't you switch to a short stint?
00:25:01
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
00:25:29
Speaker
And I did a phenomenal job in Italy. I got a lot of awards there and everything. So it was a lot of work together. So Yahoo! India is a business, right? Was it like ads business also? Yeah, Yahoo! is a historian. So Yahoo! I joined Yahoo! because of the salary and I didn't know what Yahoo! was. It was an internet company that had a lot of interest in it. So I got a lot of interest in Yahoo! and I got a lot of interest in Google. So I got a lot of interest in Google, right?
00:25:56
Speaker
I used to join the Yahoo joint, I joined the Yahoo joint, but if you don't join the Yahoo office, I used to chain two trains to reach the office and go to the office. It was interesting that I joined the Yahoo joint. I joined the Yahoo joint.
00:26:18
Speaker
I still remember the name of the HR lady. And she came and told me, have you told him that he needs to shift to Bangalore?
00:26:45
Speaker
As luck had it, these are the timings of life. Yahoo started thinking Google started growing from there. Yahoo wanted to launch Yahoo search in this country. My role was business analyst role to improve Yahoo search business and increase the revenues and everything.
00:27:17
Speaker
Now it is about you. How do you close your time? That's what dad told you, right?
00:27:28
Speaker
If you look at Yahoo Global, Japan, Australia, China, USA, you can see the presentations. You can see it on the internet. You can see the data, you can see the presentations, you can see the segmentation, you can see it. Right? That's very important learning. All those advertising works.
00:27:56
Speaker
But this backyard thing for a year made me learn to industry. And then the beauty part is my daughter was born and when she was two to three months I got his Yahoo job. So I spent quality amount of time for a year when she was growing up. That one year was tremendously good for me as a family also.
00:28:22
Speaker
So my daughter was growing up. I was enjoying with her. I had time to play with her. I was learning at the back end. It was like a college for me. I was learning at the back end. I was learning at the back end. I was learning at the back end. I was learning at the back end. I was learning at the back end. I was learning at the back end. I was learning at the back end. I was learning at the back end.
00:28:45
Speaker
One of the guys from Yahoo moved to Ibibo, which is Ashish Keshap's, right? It was time for Mr. Ruivogue, I guess. In the early states, right? In the early states, when we joined, the team came to us. So they called me up. Ashish took my interview for 15 minutes. I said, no, I love the guy. And the time is what? First 10, 15 people, right?
00:29:13
Speaker
I think it's salary and everything. I said, I can travel, take care of mom also and everything. And I joined there and
00:29:44
Speaker
I think it was a great start for my life. I bought it tremendously. I bought it from a local search business, to a gaming business, to a travel business. Everything he tried it out and I was part of all the businesses of his life. It did start with travel, right? No, no. It started with a local search engine called Doar.
00:30:14
Speaker
That's right, like a just dial type. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, right. Okay. And then I was helping them in M&A also because I was helping them in finance background in the countries, I was helping them also.
00:30:40
Speaker
It's a start-up, you know everything, right? Yes, especially early team members of both of them. Yes, yes, right. So, there is a side of the IPO, which is like a cork-ut. But, Facebook has a lot of things to do with it. There are a lot of IPO games, right?
00:31:00
Speaker
IBO games are very good. IBO games are very good. Beyond IBO games, revenue is very high. The scale is very high. Mobile is very high. There are no smart phones and everything. But you are trying on a laptop, mobile, laptop is very high. You have a desktop is very high. You have like in Hindustani, the penetration is very high. Right? The penetration is very high.
00:31:26
Speaker
and Ashish started travel because he had consumer base that time of ibibo.com, right? And we'll get the name goibibo. And I was of course for the people team which he created separately and created a separate project, silently without knowing as to know about it and we started. Okay. And what was the focus like flight tickets? Initially it was flight ticket only.
00:31:52
Speaker
I mean, if you don't agree with the flight ticket, often the market is going to discount the price. Okay, Galileo and Oigdo have that. Galileo is the one who has that. Why not not come to the company? I don't know.
00:32:08
Speaker
From there, you know, from there to today what Guwai Bhu sold it out at $600 million to, $650 million to make my trip. But the beauty started then that Guwai Bhu chalanik hai salwar paar. NASPA wanted to do payments in India and they were looking for people. And they gave responsibility to Ashish. For Guwai Bhu, payments ma dekta ba. As a part of poor group, I've divided the jobs, the payment was all right.
00:32:38
Speaker
I was part of the finance team by the way, I used to report to the CFO. I was part of the finance team by the way, I used to report to the CFO. I was part of the finance team by the way, I used to report to the CFO. I was part of the finance team by the way, I used to report to the CFO.
00:32:56
Speaker
Then I went to Ashish in February and said, okay, I'll take it up. I said, you always want to do extraordinary life. So a portrait is taking on your life. But you think you need to cut down your salary, your stocks. There are disadvantages also in this life. But I took a decision and then when I went to Ashish, Ashish is going to take me to the CFO. But after that, I went to the audit.
00:33:26
Speaker
I said, okay, I left finance, started working on that name for IPO Pay initially, and then fully decided to become Change Pay You.
Building PayU and Integrating Citrus
00:33:40
Speaker
And I can continue the story, but you can ask questions, but pay is where it is today. What was the stake that you had in it, like when you started? Right.
00:33:59
Speaker
I still don't run after money. So I never ran after money in my life. I still don't run after money. But the only thing was the fun of building something, right? And money becomes derivative. We never cared about it. But when we can pay you, that time I started thinking, I would have made billion dollars.
00:34:22
Speaker
So I never thought of this, but I'm kind enough by Naspus and Ashish, they keep on increasing my stake in the company. Okay. Okay. What was the initial thesis? And how did that evolve? Interesting. So they go, pay you, start with the thesis that you are building this country will have a lot of internet penetration, which will come. Okay.
00:34:52
Speaker
And when it comes to internet, commerce is a very critical part of internet. When commerce is a very critical part of internet, commerce without payment doesn't work. And worldwide, if you go more than commerce companies, payment companies are more valued in the world. And PayPal was an example. PayPal is much, much more valued than eBay.
00:35:16
Speaker
You start working on payments, right? And at that time, honestly, NASPER started Traders also in this country with Ashish, which finally goes down in the country. But it was making a lot of sense to the payments square root and build the payments around it. So that was the whole objective.
00:35:36
Speaker
And after we start, we will do a separate pay you entry. And we will wrap our shallots on it. So we'll start. We'll be separated within a year and a half. And after that, three to four years down, we acquired citrus. And from there, the journey. And that's also a very fantastic journey, which I'll also talk about it. But interestingly, actually,
00:36:03
Speaker
In nine years with pay you building. I've seen all the things I've seen it's talking from scratch to separation from my people of rather tough one Then why was that tough like the separation?
00:36:20
Speaker
Emotionally, very, very drained out. I worked with Ashish for long, right? And the security support system. The security was a big issue. And secondly, Ashish's hand over on the top of his life is worth making a difference because you can go to Ashish and speak to him and everything. But that was emotionally draining. It is like, if you don't know Ashish, you have to take care of him.
00:37:09
Speaker
So, how many people co-founded this?
00:37:15
Speaker
So me and Nitin were the co-founders. So I want to, Ashish did it, Ashish made Nitin join in May. Okay. And then he said that you guys are the two co-founders here who will build this company. Okay. And what you were building was essentially like what, say, Razorpay and all of these, like you were integrating with banks and then allowing startups to, or like online websites. Ajkitaarik, pay you is,
00:37:43
Speaker
Okay, worst of the people, which is what is the most worst thing which I don't like in my life is people don't misunderstands pay you a lot. Pay you is the best fintech company in this country. Let me tell you how and how please tell me how pay you has the biggest payments getter, which is profitable. And it is used by the top margin in the country, the lowest margin in the country, right? You have the credit business on a consumer side, which is the laser, which is profitable at a scale.
00:38:12
Speaker
PEU has a PEU credit business, which is lending business to merchant and consumer both. That is also doing phenomenally well for them. PEU owns 40 banks back end in this country, which is called BIMO, which they acquired in the country. So they have BIMO. PEU has investments in two other companies in the country. One is DOTPE, which is mine. And the other one is, I forgot the name, which is a wealth management company.
00:38:43
Speaker
And trust me, imagine these guys have payments, which is the biggest. There's a consumer lending and a merchant lending, which is much bigger than any fintech companies in the country, by the way. Then they have investments in offline space, which is .pay. And then they have wealth management also as a category. So if you really see fintech point of view, they have everything.
00:39:12
Speaker
And the only thing is they don't have right now NIO bank, which may they come in, maybe they announce it in the next two, three months. I don't know. Right. What I'm trying to tell you, it's an interesting proposal with nobody talks about it in the market. That's true. I guess market instead of funding led news. Yeah, absolutely. Sort of like funding your own news. Pay you process almost 50 to $60 billion a year.
00:39:37
Speaker
So tell me about how you built up PayU and these individual additional initiatives like lazy pay and pay you credit. So look, when I was in India, I had a relationship with them. So, PayU is the start of the market.
00:40:08
Speaker
and who's Go-Ivo, Ashish was, and Go-Ivo was growing. So, Go-Ivo, Go-Kah, Bayshah, Ashish, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah, Bayshah
00:40:32
Speaker
We created an ecosystem. We didn't create a payment gate of business. We said there are 60 banks in this country, 60 payment options in this country and there are millions of merchants in this country, right? How do we get these aggregated done and give it to these merchants? That was the one thing. But concept of how we do it is very, very different. Today, the public is saying that the bank payment gate will be here and
00:41:02
Speaker
How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing? How is it different from what others were doing?
00:41:50
Speaker
This is the whole process works, right? How many of you have started the process?
00:42:11
Speaker
So, we become a real ecosystem provider to bank.
00:42:38
Speaker
So as a result, it was faster, less failure.
00:42:45
Speaker
So, we made a backward integration with Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of Bank of
00:43:15
Speaker
The technology for bank was SaaS type stuff. Yes, yes, yes. Enterprise SaaS. Right from the early days, you were doing both SaaS also and payment gate also. We never did it. To make payment problem into different layers, it took time. It took time for two years, two and a half years to figure it out and then
00:43:44
Speaker
Moving this big elephants like banks in this country was a problem. Now it's easy for everybody to talk about fintech in the world, but the time which we started fintech, it was difficult to move to the banks, right? So it took time to convince the banks to move the technology to us and the predefined and everything. So two and a half years of learning and then deciding what to do, then it took us
00:44:05
Speaker
3 years to build this, 4 years to build it. And then from there, you saw that it's all about converting numbers. When Citrus and Payu combinedly came together, we were combinedly as an entity, we were doing 2000 crore and when I left Payu, we were doing 12000 crore a month. Wow. Tell me about that Citrus acquisition. Yeah, a big story. Who are our audience actually by the way? Because if this is unfunded people hear this story, they'll reply to it.
00:44:35
Speaker
Because it's nothing to hide, right? Okay guys, I keep... Citra's equation came as a shock to me. Because we didn't do it and actually Naspus who did the Citra equation, right? And they wanted us too much. They did a fair job. I'm not saying they didn't do a fair job. But the point was my co-founder decided to move. And I had another two founders who were joining me.
00:45:06
Speaker
from Citras. And there were three guys. So I was afraid of not two people, another two people to join in my life. That's one. Secondly, where the business will go, I don't know. What will be my role within the three founders, three people? Everything. But again, now, it's again dad's philosophy, relationship. These two gentlemen came from Citras. We kicked off from 18th one. And today also we have another, three of us are very good friends.
00:45:37
Speaker
They are still with pay you? No, no, no, they like all of them are doing their own stuff now. All three of us have moved out and doing our own stuff. So so honestly speaking, that came as a shock to me in my life. But actually, these two gentlemen and we are kicked off in day one. And then they told me this is your company. You need to run it. We have already exited in our own foundership.
00:46:06
Speaker
For us, it's a job now. For you, it is your own company. You will run the company, not us. So if that kind of relationship we build from day one, you have to practice. And from there, you took the control of the company, and you do whatever you want. And then that's where it all started transferring from 3,000 crore to 12,000 crore in a month to from a 250 crore profit to become a 50 crore loss in a year to become a 50 crore profit, right?
00:46:33
Speaker
There is a whole story on this Akshay. Forbes has covered a 7 page story on it. Shalaaz, taxi entrepreneur, transformed from 250 crore to become 35 crores of profit. And it was a tough journey. We had 1200 people, when we had 250 crore, when we had 35 crores of profit, we were like 650 odd people. So you cut costs? We didn't cut the cost. We didn't fire anybody.
00:47:01
Speaker
Again, this is the beauty of our life. We didn't hire anybody. So, look what we had, we had one or two businesses which were heavily lost making businesses for us, right. Out of 250 crore, 150 crore must be going on that side of the story, right. What business was it? Payment pause business was a major one. Like a physical pause. Yes, physical pause. Consumer wallet was another one, right. Atchaa. You had a consumer wallet also, okay. Your money was a consumer wallet. Atchaa, okay.
00:47:31
Speaker
Now, critically, how many people have been fired? How many people have been fired? How many people have been in the business? How many people have been in the second party? How many people have been in the second party? How many people have been in the second party? How many people have been in the second party?
00:47:50
Speaker
So, we get home, we got home for almost 200-300 people from paying to some other place and we go with the confirmation that unknowingly somebody does a fraud or a very poor performance. They were right to stay there for a year. What I am trying to tell you, this is the deal which we did. We didn't ask money for our businesses. We said that give us one rupee but take care of these people. I think this is the right thing which I did at that time.
00:48:19
Speaker
Right. So, so, so that's one of the thing which we did. Second is consumer wallet, which slowly, slowly started dipping in consumer wallet people. And we moved consumer wallet people to a lazy pay because that was going to consumer lending. Right. We didn't hire people from there to move to consumer lending now. So, lazy pay idea came from Citrus, which is depends on it. And he started on it and we started supporting him from there and he built it up.
00:48:47
Speaker
Right. It was his idea and it was his execution. So how big is Daisy Pay today? I'm hoping Daisy Pay is almost 25 to 30 million unique customers, which is not a small number. It's a very big number. All are honestly saying they are profitable. And pay you credit? So pay you credit was we wanted to do since the beginning and then Jitane started working on it and we supported him and then Naspus acquired PaySense.
00:49:15
Speaker
and from their patients Prashant joined I think the Pay You credit and from there Pay You credit grew significantly higher. What was PaySense and why was that acquired? I think PaySense had a great credit platform which we wanted to utilize. Okay, okay. But the PaySense was a lending company basically. It's a lending company, yeah. Okay, okay. And Pay You credit is essentially like merchant lending based on... Merchant and customer lending both, yeah. It's an NDFC.
00:49:43
Speaker
So I should not comment on that because I'm no more with Payu. But I don't know what they are doing up to on all these things. So what is the structure going on? But honestly speaking, it is them. They're growing significantly higher in the country, right? OK. So then what made you finally transition out of Payu?
00:50:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think very clearly in my mind, I think I had not much role to play in being. OK. And I was feeling that there are people, the companies who can do all things on their own. There are people who can do all things on their own. There are people who can do all things on their own. There are people who can do all things on their own. There are people who can do all things on their own. There are people who can do all things on their own.
00:50:42
Speaker
Yeah, M&A, Haru. We are related here. I haven't been here. Young but now, execution is current. Execution is current now. So, yes, it's mainly important. So, I think, execution is currently a team. They were, every department has its own people. They were doing everything on their own. I never used to interfere in between them. So, it's a clear-cut mindset here.
00:51:10
Speaker
Did you have an idea when you quit? Did you have an idea when you quit first and then thought? Good first and thought. Did you have an idea when you quit first and then thought? Did you have an idea when you quit first and then thought? Did you have an idea when you quit first and then thought? Did you have an idea when you quit first and then thought? Did you have an idea when you quit first and then thought? Did you have an idea when you quit first and then thought?
00:51:38
Speaker
The idea is that you have to have offline space in the detail commerce build. To
DotPay's Impact on Digital Commerce
00:51:45
Speaker
give you a perspective, the idea is that consumers have moved to the smartphone, but they are offline. They don't even know the consumers well. Their consumers have moved to the smartphone and they are not even reaching out to the consumer to the smartphone.
00:52:02
Speaker
So, they also become powerful like an Amazon or a Ziggy or a Zamato or a Big basket in life, right? They may not do it because they will do it but at least they become powerful technologically, right? And if somebody has to use that power, they will use it, right? My God, again I am telling you the guy has been, God has been kind to us. Whatever it is all fucked till now.
00:52:32
Speaker
Right. So we tried before pandemic February, we took the funding in February, we launched it in the end, we tried QR code based ordering and payment solution in a restaurant industry and it dropped. We did 1.2 million orders in the month of March, last March. That's phenomenal for a commerce company. Right.
00:52:56
Speaker
We are digital showroom as a space to a small merchants or a brick and mortar missions to become digitize their catalog and start sharing on what to start accepting order. We have five million merchants today on it. Right. Third, we started what's a based ordering and delivery ecosystem completely. That's available. That's available today. That's happening today. We do almost what in pandemic time on a food side, we are doing almost 10,000 delivery every day.
00:53:27
Speaker
So I want to understand each of these better. The first thing you did was a QR code like for restaurant, like a digital menu and payment. That was what it was.
00:53:49
Speaker
Right? You have to have a family member, girlfriend, etc. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number. You have to have a number.
00:54:34
Speaker
You come back and you eat it and then go. And if you want to reorder it, you will think twice.
00:54:43
Speaker
What did they did? Where did the light go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple? Where did the lights go simple?
00:55:14
Speaker
If the system is integrated, then the catalog can be used. The catalog looks like an app, right? So, the catalog can be used to select a product. So, if the bank offers the Amazon, then the Amazon can be used. If the bank offers the HDFC, then the payment can be used. If the bank offers the access, then the payment can be used. If the bank offers the access, then the payment can be used. If the bank offers the access, then the payment can be used.
00:55:43
Speaker
It's not an offer, it's a car trade, suddenly it's a car trade, it's not a charge, but it's a charge. Cross selling, upselling. It's not a charge, but it's not a charge, it's not an order, it's not an order, but it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order, it's not an order
00:56:11
Speaker
That's it. That's a cross-shell thing, right? If you look at the payment, if you look at the payment, if you look at the Google Pay phone, if you look at the BTM banks, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click on the bank, if you click
00:56:42
Speaker
or if we don't have any whatsapp, then we have to reorder it and then we have to go to whatsapp. And whatsapp will become a pseudo app for us. So we will have to download it. So we will have to go to whatsapp and then we will have to go to whatsapp. And whatsapp offers will be available. Instead of push notification, we can use whatsapp. Yes, automatically we will have 10% delivery of whatsapp.
00:57:12
Speaker
How do you know if you have a payment option or not? Before showing the menu, you ask people to log in or something. How do you know how to do this? Mobile number? That's right. How do you know how to log in? Mobile number is IP address.
00:57:41
Speaker
There are various ways you come to know. Like, second way of customer, you can come to know from a right user. So, there are various ways. So, that's the way it is. Now, the beauty of it
00:58:08
Speaker
The revenue of merchant grew by 22% because of this. Average ticket size of ordering through this and average ticket size of ordering on a counter is 22% of it. Now obviously, this is much easier to order. Yes. You can change your mind. You can order more or less. What is the flexibility for this? Yes, you can order more or less. You can order more or less. You can order more or less. You can order more or less. You can order more or less. You can order more or less. You can order more or less. You can order more or less.
00:58:38
Speaker
If you want to consume a franchise, you can say PTM, Phone Pay, Google Pay, Payzap, anywhere. How much is it? How much is it that you want to order? If you want to put an ecosystem like this, Google Pay, Google My Maps, Google My Business, Google Pay, PTM, Phone Pay, Payzap, anywhere he is available, Haldiram now will be available to us. I'm just making an example here. Haldiram McDonald, one of the merchants.
00:59:04
Speaker
So we are helping him with discoverability, we are helping in engagement, we are helping in commerce and at the same time we ordered, we aggregated delivery partners for him also. So we've become a commerce ecosystem for his life completely. So this is largely for big, like big chains or is it also for like a, just say, small chains also. Everything, from the beauty of our businesses, top merchant to the lowest merchant, everybody can use it.
00:59:34
Speaker
Right? So, what does that mean, building horizontally? What does that mean, building horizontally? So, it's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple.
01:00:04
Speaker
Or what is your job? You become powerful, right? Right? That's the second step. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant. Now go to the smallest merchant.
01:00:28
Speaker
And if you have a preview launcher, you have a mobile set. If you have a mobile set, within 15 minutes, you will have to put your website on the website. If you have a website, you will have payment, you will have delivery, you will have domain.
01:00:44
Speaker
So basically, he can sign up and like a lot of women sell jewelry and... Yeah, he can sign up and like a lot of women sell jewelry and like a lot of women sell jewelry and like a lot of women sell jewelry and like a lot of women sell jewelry and like a lot of women sell jewelry and like a lot of women sell jewelry and like a lot of women sell jewelry and
01:01:13
Speaker
I want to talk about hardware, shops and websites. Okay. And you are a self-service model. Self-service model. DIY. I want to talk about it. Hindustan is not a country of a desktop or a laptop. It is a country of mobile. Mobile is a country of website. Are they responsible?
01:01:36
Speaker
Laptop, mobile, etc. Chrome, etc. It's an iPad, etc. It's a responsibility. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete commerce ecosystem. So we are giving complete market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market ecosystem. So we are giving market
01:02:06
Speaker
It is powerful. Right, it is absolutely. It's a market of $500 billion and at revenue, it comes to pass billions of dollars. This is powerful though. This is so much powerful. Yes. Basically, Pura, offline world is the playing field here in a way. Offline world or home.
01:02:35
Speaker
who are home-bakers and they are creating websites. Or as ladies who are selling, like I have one lady who is buying clothes from Karol Bagh and selling in Gurgaon. She is creating websites. Okay. So, do you have a store friend who has a domain? If we have a domain launch, you can buy your own domain also.
01:03:03
Speaker
you can buy your old car also which is going to be launched in next 10 to 15 days. And it may be always same Whatsapp integration I like. But if somebody wants to change the charge of Whatsapp we are more than happy to give. So these are like different pricing options.
01:03:26
Speaker
So, how much does this cost? Again, taking that example of lady selling... Okay, one-time cost.
01:03:49
Speaker
Right, right. But from a, like, you know, subscription, like, you know, I'm trying to understand from a revenue perspective, like, what all ways do you monetize it?
01:04:07
Speaker
Initially, subscription revenue went up. So, this is not a game of subscription only. This is a game of subscription plus transactions plus financial services plus advertising. What do you mean by advertising? Who will help them in getting a better advertising done?
01:04:33
Speaker
we will because we have a lot of database, a lot of ways of reaching out which is the right way of advertising, which is not the right way, we will give you the platform, right? So if someone spends 100 rupees on advertising, 5 rupees will come to you basically.
01:04:59
Speaker
And financial services would be like lending, like credit. Lending, payments. So this business is like AWS, Microsoft. These are fast companies, right? Then third is basically fintech companies like
01:05:26
Speaker
Lending, banking, these are the payments. This business is all the three. This business has all the three stuff which is available. SaaS, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your right, advertising, which is your
01:05:52
Speaker
And you are also a funded company, right? So tell me about that journey. This is what relationships are
Investor Support and Future Opportunities
01:06:01
Speaker
also. When we were in NASP, when I was telling NASP that I want to exit within 15 minutes, NASP has told me that we want to fund you because we want to back you up.
01:06:09
Speaker
The NAS code is backing me again, then we have info-age. Like I told, knock.com is the best way to do it. This is the best way to do it. The second, third is Google is also invested in this. Okay. So how did the Google funding happen? That's like, must have been a journey of its own. No, you have to put it in a simple way.
01:06:37
Speaker
They have a product with distribution. It's a cool, amazing. Tough agreement. Google is much more easy, let me tell you. I think they are fundamentally very, very good people.
01:07:01
Speaker
If you have the numbers, like if you have traction, it is not that difficult, you are saying. It is not that difficult. Right space, right traction. I don't see any challenges there. Okay. So help me understand this market or con players, this market, like the offline, co-online career. Yeah, media life is more different theory. I never looked at competition from a competition angle. Okay.
01:07:30
Speaker
I think in India there are opportunities for this reason. I don't know. It is lesser than Bangladesh. Okay. Or it may be equivalent to Bangladesh, right? If we have an upside in our life, a lot.
01:07:58
Speaker
Then that means the opportunity in life. What do you mean by internal competition?
01:08:13
Speaker
inefficiencies within the company, non-communication in the company, no single goal in the company, no clarities in the company. This is where it loses the life, not outside. The internal competition is much bigger in life as compared to external. This is why we have to continuously focus on the product.
01:08:54
Speaker
It is very important. Internal competition is much tougher than external competition, let me tell you. So, build your company.
01:09:12
Speaker
with internal people, not with external people. Internal people, if you take along with your life, you will definitely win the external market. Right? Secondly, which I say obsession is bigger than the passion. What is the difference of obsession or passion? How do you define care? Passion is basically your interest.
01:09:34
Speaker
This is your proper interest. This is all your interest. Obsession and your interest, you don't think 24 by 7. Obsession is such a thing which you think 24 by 7. You're obsessed about it. You are just thinking about that 24 by 7. Passion is your interest. You do it for four hours a day or five hours a day, six hours a day, right? Obsession is you think about it 24 by 7.
01:10:00
Speaker
So, if you are obsessive about solving the problem, you will solve it and you will make it big. If you are not obsessive about it and you are only passionate about it, there are chances of you not to solve it at all. Is the space something which you are passionate about and obsessed with or is it about building a large organization? No, I am not obsessed about building a large organization. I am obsessed about solving a large problem.
01:10:26
Speaker
This is the difference. Obsessed about solving a problem and obsessed about solving a large problem. These are two different things. Obsessed for a day about it or two days about it or four days about it. I'm just thinking for like seven days to solve this problem. But if I have a large problem, I'm obsessed about solving a large problem which has a large impact. So to question your answers,
01:10:55
Speaker
Are you obsessed about building on it? No, I am not. I am obsessed about solving a larger problem and the derivative is that you have to build a larger, you have to create a more larger impact on it. So, all the right thing, results are derivative of it. What is Google? Google is a search engine.
01:11:16
Speaker
Sponsored search is a derivative of the search engine, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What is the primary goal of Google is? Information to like... Search engine, search information. Organized information. Organized, every is a derivative of it, right? Same way, solving a larger problem is a problem statement for me. Becoming a bigger organization or a better organization is a part of that.
01:11:45
Speaker
And for you, that problem statement is to empower offline businesses. Absolutely. To empower businesses digitally. We can go on and on. But I think fundamentally, if you're not digital today, you will be left behind. You may not survive after two years or three years. What is it that you are excited about today in terms of next few years?
01:12:17
Speaker
Personally and professionally both, I'll tell you. OK? Personally, I am very much excited that this world has opened up with much bigger opportunities than it was before the pandemic. In what way? To what people were doing before pandemic and what people are doing after pandemic is going to be totally opposite or different, right?
01:12:46
Speaker
The way people were doing things before pandemic, the way people are going to do after pandemic, it's going to get different, right? Things become digital. Is that what you're saying? That's one part of the story. Even wearing a mask is not a digital, but you're wearing a mask, right? Large gathering will happen digitally. That's a different story, right? So what I'm trying to tell you is
01:13:12
Speaker
What I am more excited about is the opportunity which opens up in the market for new people and new entrepreneurs to cover. Because the old way of doing business is going to go away. Old way of living a life is going to go away. Old way of eating food is going to go away. It is all going to be very different.
01:13:34
Speaker
in life what was before and that opens up a new big opportunities for internet and what does it mean? Let me just drill it down for you. The drill down here is that the businesses which are old and supplying things on an old brick and mortar way
01:13:54
Speaker
may not survive, they have to shut down their business and think about their business in a new fashion. Now when they have to think about their business in a new fashion, it opens up either they do it or somebody else will come and do it and it opens up a new door for somebody or open a new door for them. So it creates a new entrepreneurship in the world now.
01:14:19
Speaker
Taylor's mask is going to become his biggest business. Mask as a fashion accessory. Similarly, there is a mobile shop here. There is a digital catalog. You can't make appointments like that.
01:14:49
Speaker
Like even restaurant social distancing, contactless ordering. Yeah, so I am saying everything in the world is going to get changed now. Right? How you order your grocery next door is going to get changed. Right?
01:15:08
Speaker
drives, how you're going to drive on the road is going to, I'm honestly telling you previously, you may see a less traffic, you may see a less traffic depends on how long people will continue at home. You will see people buying more home furniture the way they buy office furniture, the office furniture will go home furniture. So you'll have office furniture definition may change to become office come home furniture or office furniture in a home way.
01:15:39
Speaker
You can't really open it up. Like I need a table and chair in a home, which it looks like an office and I get a feel of office and everything. So, your way of furniture will come, which will rise in the office. People may shift from urban areas to rural areas now, as compared to what it was happening to rural to urban areas. Because the way of living life is changed now, you can work from home.
01:16:07
Speaker
So rural areas become accepted, why to be in the bad air? We can be in the good air also. So a lot of things are going to get changed in the way you do things. A lot of new industries will open it up. A lot of new companies will come in. And I'm more excited about it. And that opens a lot of opportunities for my children. I'm personally excited about my children also. That opens a lot of opportunities for them. OK. So this is at the personal front. And at the professional front, what are you excited about?
01:16:36
Speaker
My business is personally not pay is opening up lot of doors and opportunities for us because now he has to go digital and we provide the commerce ecosystem. So we have a great future. Right. There's no doubt about it. Great future. Are you looking at also doing acquisitions and like, is that part of your roadmap? Yeah. Roadmap and how much is that? We are more than happy to do.
01:17:10
Speaker
Not that we are openly going into the market and we are an M&A guy who is constantly looking out for an M&A, no, we don't have. If we find something good which is strategically fit to us, we are more than happy to buy it. Not a merger, buy it off, very clearly. No, no, that would happen. Whether it's a product or distribution, anything.
01:17:37
Speaker
If you're an entrepreneur looking for digital solutions, then do check out how DotPay can be your partner in your digital journey at dotpay.in.
01:17:48
Speaker
If you like the Founder Thesis Podcast, then do check out our other shows on subjects like Marketing, Technology, Career Advice, Books and Drama. Visit the Bodham.in that is T-H-E-P-O-D-I-U-N.I-N for a complete list of all our shows.