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I Sold My House to Start Veeba After My First Business Failed | Viraj Bahl (Veeba)
169 Plays4 years ago
"I asked my wife if we could sell our house to fund something new. She said yes without blinking."
At the lowest point in his entrepreneurial journey, financially ruined by a failed business, Viraj Bahl made the ultimate bet—he sold his family home to fund one last dream. This single act of courage and conviction laid the foundation for one of India's most successful new-age food companies.
About The Guest:
Viraj Bahl is the Founder and Managing Director of VRB Consumer, the parent company of Veeba. After a major failure with his first venture, he started Veeba in 2013 by selling his house for ₹50 lakh. Today, he has built a food brand that is projected to cross ₹1,000 crore in revenue, with a presence in over 700 towns across India. A former marine engineer, Viraj is now also a judge on Shark Tank India, inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
In this conversation with your host Akshay Datt, Viraj Bahl unpacks the contrarian playbook he used to build Veeba from the ground up.
Key Insights from the Conversation:
- Failure as a Blueprint: The collapse of Viraj's restaurant chain, "Pocket Full," provided the exact lessons on frugality, quality control, and unit economics that became the foundation for Veeba's success.
- The B2B-to-B2C Pivot: Veeba deliberately started as a B2B supplier to giants like Domino's and KFC to build stable cash flow and perfect its manufacturing before entering the volatile consumer market.
- Offline Distribution as a Moat: While many new brands focus on D2C, Veeba's biggest strength is its vast offline distribution network, which reaches over 150,000 shops in more than 700 towns, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
- "Loss-Making by Choice": Viraj reveals his unconventional financial strategy of reinvesting nearly all profits back into advertising and expansion to deliberately maintain a near-zero EBITDA margin and fuel aggressive growth.
Chapters:
[00:00] - Introduction
[01:33] - The Father's Challenge & A Rebel Youth
[05:41] - From Food Tech Dreams to Marine Engineering on the High Seas
[11:13] - The Painful Lessons from His "Naked Public Failure" with 'Pocket Full'
[18:21] - Frugality: The Billion-Rupee Lesson Learned from Failure
[20:51] - Selling His House: The High-Stakes Bet to Launch Veeba
[27:22] - The Grind: How Relentless Persistence Won Domino's as the First Client
[30:37] - The B2C Pivot: Building a Loved Consumer Brand from a B2B Base
[45:12] - The Real Moat: Winning India's Kirana Stores & Tier-2/3 Cities
[59:43] - The Funding Philosophy: Choosing the Right Partners Over the Highest Valuation
Hashtags:
#FounderThesis #StartupIndia #VirajBahl #Veeba #Entrepreneurship #StartupStory #FMCG #B2B #D2C #MakeInIndia #BusinessPodcast #FoodBusiness #AkshayDatt #VentureCapital #BusinessStrategy
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Transcript
Introduction to Founder Thesis Podcast and Viraj Vail
00:00:00
Speaker
Take me on a tour, I'll take you on a tour. 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.
00:00:25
Speaker
My name is Viraj Vail. I'm the founder and managing director of Vibha food services private limited.
Viraj Vail's Business Approach and Personal Journey
00:00:36
Speaker
While the flavor of the season in consumer product startup is to be D2C, today we are talking to an entrepreneur who took a very contrarian approach to building a consumer brand. He started it off as a B2B company and then expanded into offline distribution before finally entering into the D2C space.
00:00:56
Speaker
Sounds counter-intuitive and maybe impossible. Well, what if I told you that there is a very high chance that your fridge would have his product in it. After all, their finger-licking good sauces and spreads are sold in 500 plus cities and towns in India. Yes, you guessed it right. Today, Akshay Dutt talks to Viraj Bell, the founder of the Vibha sauces and spreads.
00:01:21
Speaker
Viraj's life is no less interesting than a Bollywood movie. He sold his house to set up Viba and it took him years of hard work to make it the household name that it is today. Here's Viraj talking about how he got passionate about joining his father's business. The kid that I was is not the man that I can relate to that kid. I was an extreme
00:01:47
Speaker
Extreme pain in the ass for the school. I mean, you know, I did everything wrong that you could do wrong. My wife met me when I had, I was a completely changed personality. And I even know what happened with me. And you know, one fine day just dawned on me that I've wasted my life. And one day it changed, you know, everything changed. My takeaway as a child was, you know, I was a direct benefit.
00:02:15
Speaker
Todasa Meinatkari from a Maruti 800 car, we became a Maruti 800 and a van car. Todisi or Meinatkari, he bought a Ustempe Cielo, was a very good car. And in 1999, the business started doing slightly well. You know, slowly, slowly, that business got into sources at that point in time. And, you know, the business started doing slightly well. And supplying to Air India only. No, no, no. Retail, we had come into retail. That business had come into retail at that time.
00:02:43
Speaker
and doing well and then make all this sudden urge of joining my father's business because I got passionate. I used to hear him talk about the business and I used to love it. You know, even go to the office at times and go to the factory at times. You know, I started loving it. My first job was there's a food exhibition in Praviti, Madan. I was in 10th standard.
00:03:05
Speaker
It's still going on. It's the biggest food exhibition of the country. So maybe just to flirt with the sales girls, I don't know. That was my first job and I became really passionate about business and food in general from that time.
00:03:28
Speaker
And then I wanted to join my dad and you know, so my dad had this really long rule, boring rule. So dad had this rule that, you know, you will not be allowed to join the family business till the time you are not earning enough money to raise your family in the same standard of comfort you have been raised in.
Education and Marine Engineering Experience
00:03:53
Speaker
So the good part is the comfort of the thing because we are like totally earning level that company is starting to become a healthy company. So the kid in me realized in diet, I didn't realize that I was going to do anything. So that was the kind of a goal. But then, you know, I kind of wild away my 11th and 12th and I got something called the conditional admission.
00:04:23
Speaker
in University of New South Wales for a program of food technology. I will come to join my father's business.
00:04:53
Speaker
And you know, I was an average student to like a 70 to lay out, you know, but I swear I just did not study. And I regret being what I did, you know, those couple of years, 10th, 11th, 12th, for total must be made a 70 game with a 60 linear.
00:05:15
Speaker
so and you know that day that day I came back home obviously the family was disappointed and you know that University of New South Wales took their I did not meet their criteria so there was no nowhere I could go there and you know frankly that day I slept that night I slept in the morning when I woke up it honestly dawned on me
00:05:40
Speaker
And I'm not kidding. Actually, this is like filming style. So, I'm reading the newspaper and in the bottom of the newspaper, I see an ad from a company called AP Moeller, which is the world's largest shipping company, which is saying,
00:06:04
Speaker
We will spend for their education in India and Singapore. We will pay for the education. We will give them a job after that. And the job will
Joining and Selling Fun Foods
00:06:13
Speaker
be in AP molar group. Like either their shipping lines or their oil rigs and so on and so forth. Luckily, I have to read two newspapers a day. I have to read two newspapers a day.
00:06:33
Speaker
And I swear, I remember that day like it was yesterday, this is like now more than what, 22 years back. I saw that I had kept my finger and I said, and that is the time actually after my 12th board results is the time I actually started studying for the first time in my life. It's got an entrance exam. Three entrance exams and one interview.
00:07:01
Speaker
I studied hard for this. I really studied hard, frankly. And my parents used to be puzzled. And this was like 50 kids from India or 50 kids from all over the world? 46 kids from India.
00:07:30
Speaker
And the course was, so anyways, I suddenly heard and I got through that course. I was selected for that course. And the course was very difficult. We had first year in Chennai,
Lessons from Restaurant Chain Failure
00:07:44
Speaker
second year on High Sea, and third year, more than the third year, three and a half, like the one and a half years in Singapore, where you got your marine engineering certificate.
00:07:57
Speaker
okay sounds like an amazing course but like like high season but like you were like on the ship and like yeah yeah yeah okay actually move to work i think you know like now three and a half years in my like as an engineer my working days were eight to five on monday uh eight to five on tuesday and eight to eight on wednesday which means eight am to eight am so nine r nine r 24 r nine r nine 24 r
00:08:30
Speaker
So anyways, I did that course, the company which made me to the course and gave me a job, I started working with them. Marine engineer, I was working on merchant naval vessels and all of that.
00:08:44
Speaker
And, you know, I like engineer capital like maintenance of vessel, maintenance of vessel. I mean, it's a hard job about 51, 52 degrees temperature, you know.
00:08:58
Speaker
It's a tough job. It's very manual. But at the same time, you can't do it without immense technical knowledge. So my course was nothing but a little bit of electrical engineering, a little bit of mechanical engineering, a little bit of computer engineering, and a little bit of naval architecture crammed into three and a half years. So you were a master of none, but jack of all engineering trades.
00:09:28
Speaker
I did that and you know and then and it must be paying well they must be paying in dollars yeah they started paying in dollars and then I got a promotion very fast and just didn't make a promotion really now it's so strange actually the day I got my promotion is the day I resigned because that is the day I met my dad's criteria of Dothi Nagra pay to make an exact number here but
00:09:51
Speaker
But that life toughened me up. That life made me very serious as a person because it was a tough life. It was not an easy
Founding Vibha and Early Challenges
00:09:58
Speaker
life working on 20 people manning a 300 meter long shelf and out of home for four, five months with no holidays and all of that. So by the time I came home, whenever I used to come home for a holiday, it got tough to me. I look back at it fondly, but a very different life.
00:10:17
Speaker
So boys say the transformation from a boy to a man. So when I came here, it was very weird. We had many friends, sorry, batch mates. How old were you when you quit? I came back in five years. So I did three and a half years of college and then 18 months of job. And actually, I didn't have a lot of promotion, but I came and
00:10:44
Speaker
You know, and I, you know, I did not tell my parents I'm resigning. I just flew back to India. And when I flew back to India, my obviously parents are very happy to see me. And then the second thing was scared. So many promotion will be job. So after criteria.
00:11:09
Speaker
So now my dad had no option being a man of his word, he let me join them. But Aqur, why were you so hellbent on joining your dad's business? See, I frankly, I am really passionate about food and food business. And frankly, maybe childhood growing up, mom and dad talking about it all the time, listening to stories, it just fascinated me. And frankly, it is
00:11:39
Speaker
I don't know why, but the only thing I can think of is the moment I talk about it all the time. And that's the thing. That's it. So it felt like your own business only, in a way, basically. It was very clearly Dad's business. But I would put it like Vibha is my child. That business was probably my sibling. That's how I
Success with Domino's and B2B Establishment
00:12:08
Speaker
would
00:12:09
Speaker
Look at it. So you joined your dad's business. So that was not called Viva. So tell me that journey. I joined my dad's business immediately after that same type of saving. And I joined it in 2003. And then my dad's business was called Fun Foods.
00:12:31
Speaker
And in 2003, I joined the business and suddenly the business started doing very well. And I got a lot of credit for the success of that business. And very, very, very honestly, I mean, I'm not trying to sound humble. The business would have done equally well. If I had to put an analogy, I sat in the aeroplane just before it took off.
00:13:00
Speaker
If you remember 2003, all these big chains like Pizza, Domino's, KFC, they started opening up in India. Big Bazaar started getting aggressive. And that company at that time was very, very poised to kind of... Service all of this. Yeah, service all of this in the company group. So, may Bham was better worth all by chance or better ready. I started getting credit, no credit due to me, it was all my parents.
00:13:27
Speaker
So Fanfood was both B2B and B2C? More B2C, more B2C. I started the B2B division at Fanfoods also. It was a very good learning experience, not learning experience. From joining right at the bottom of the company to taking a leadership role in the company, the whole journey was five, six years.
00:13:51
Speaker
And
Transition to B2C and Market Expansion
00:13:52
Speaker
I did report into my father. A lot of my work ethic actually comes from my mother. And actually, that's why Biba is my mom's name, actually. And that's how I named the company. Because a lot of my work ethic comes from her. She's really diligent and very thorough with everything she does. And then in 2008 or 2009, my father
00:14:20
Speaker
2008, my father decided to sell the business. And that's why I'm saying it was always my father's business. It was never my business to sell or not sell. So my father decided to sell the business. And I remember very clearly going to him and saying, don't sell this business. And it's my calling in life. Let's not sell it.
00:14:40
Speaker
But dad, you know, see, you have to understand my dad comes from, as I said, we came from a very humble background. And my grandfather was a railway person. And my father grew up as a railway kid, you know. So he told me, Virat, see, my legacy in life is that my generation, your generation, and the generation after that will never have to worry about the kind of stresses I had. My next three generations with this much money, all of that is sorted.
00:15:10
Speaker
and this is going to be my legacy in life and you know when your father tells you something like that you can't debate it right so then then we sold the company and the day the family became rich is also probably at that time it was a very sad day for me turns out for me personally that's the best decision because all of this would not have happened so
00:15:34
Speaker
But at that time, I did not know. And I always say, God has been so kind to me. God had better plans for me. So no company, Vicky. And I had no intention of coming back into the sauce base. I started a chain of restaurants. And my restaurants were amazing products. But I did everything that you can do wrong. My first restaurant was a 120-seater in Lajpatnagar.
00:16:01
Speaker
pocket full we made pockets out of naan which was stuffed with butter chicken karai chicken you know shahi paneer and so on and so forth um very very tasty i'm a product guy you know akshay and the product was really tasty you just said eat up it uh something like that something like that but imagine there are many years before it 12 years back and and but maybe just successfully you know bread can the naan ka taste in it you know that was very difficult so uh
00:16:31
Speaker
My college was... I used to stay in GK quite near the last one.
00:16:45
Speaker
I have tried it vaguely. Maybe. It looked like a KFC or a McDonald's. I remember. First floor was like this. Yes, exactly. Oh wow. I hope you like the product. Yeah,
Product Innovation and Consumer Feedback
00:17:00
Speaker
it was good. Thank you. So anyways, I did everything wrong. I opened my first restaurant there, started paying heavy rents. Then I, you know, the location was trying to select cities.
00:17:14
Speaker
was the only location that I really was the best location. Select City didn't give us any space and then we went to Desperation. One of them did really well in the Pacific Mall. I opened two outlets in Moment Mall. Out of Desperation, I started signing outlets and then
00:17:34
Speaker
I lost a lot of money and three, four very, very, very difficult years. I'm a failed restaurant. Why didn't you make money? What was the location issue that you didn't choose? I was coming out of the success of fun foods and maybe I overhired right in the beginning. I overhired and the corporate overhand became so high that
00:18:01
Speaker
But the reason of Vibha's success has a lot to do with the failure of Pocketful. The lessons I have learned there, I swear, without those lessons, Vibha would not have been successful. What did you learn?
00:18:24
Speaker
you know, number one lesson, to be honest, is frugality. Like, you know, not not to be penny-wise, pound-frugality, but frugality. There's a time and space for spending all the money. Let the money inflow. Do not overextend. Do not overspend at the beginning. Let your company start running. Let you spend. You know, being frugal, I think, is my biggest, biggest lesson of pocket full.
00:18:53
Speaker
that even if you have the money, don't spend it. Why is it your money? Because you don't know when immediately it will run out. So even right now, I mean, we will not frugal with our spending. I mean, the pandemic has been a shock. Yeah, the scales have changed. But at quite a few hundred crore revenue, our frugality is very different from the frugality of
00:19:20
Speaker
of pocket full at that time. But the concept remains the same. We frugal with what you have. And today, yes, pandemic has hit us hard. But I'm not worried about how will I give my salaries of my people. And I'm not worried about how will I face my people on salary day. And at least the company, yes, we will take a few punches on our face. And we will go through a tough time.
00:19:49
Speaker
But it's okay, I mean, the company will sail through. So I'm saying those lessons have kind of stayed with me. And the second is obviously product first and second. So, you know, location is
Distribution Strategy and Market Expansion
00:20:00
Speaker
equivalent, is marketing spend. First, get the product right. You can slowly grow, do not overgrow over fast. So that's the other thing. If I had patiently waited another year, maybe at that time to get a location in Saket or something like that,
00:20:18
Speaker
Don't get desperate, you know, for success overnight. So anyways, 2012, 2012 and it was clear that the restaurants are not going to do well. And I was, you know, and also restaurants are a very naked kind of a business. If you're not doing well, everybody knows you're not doing well because of the restaurants. So it's a very, you know, public naked failure, right?
00:20:42
Speaker
So, I eventually, in 2013, I took a call in Nayyar, in Nayyura, Bantkaru restaurants. And she said, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. So, you know, with no intention of ever coming back into the source space, I came back in 2013.
00:21:04
Speaker
And after that, Viva started because the restaurant business had burnt a lot of cash, went through a tough financial time.
Team Building and Vibha's Success
00:21:17
Speaker
So my wife allowed me to sell her house to start Viva.
00:21:20
Speaker
Wow. So that money is what started. So I mean, the amount of support she gave me, I mean, she continues to give it to me till today. But you know, it's very difficult to convince or not convince for a wife to agree. Selling the house is like, you know, yeah, a big step. So, so Hamneena, we got really lucky. 2008-09, we got lucky. And that 2008-2013, there was a property
00:21:49
Speaker
We don't swing, big swing. And the property doubled in five years. And that became the seed money to start Diba. And for that, I mean, not many spouses would agree to something like that. Why didn't you take from your dad?
00:22:17
Speaker
Look, he had a corpus. My dad has a corpus. In fact, my dad was very, very not unhappy. But dad did not understand that. Why am I not taking from the family? I was very clear that, you know, Viva, you know, will be I wanted to do it myself. So I always from day one wanted Viva to be, you know, an organization which is professionally run
00:22:45
Speaker
We've got high quality people and I wanted to do something different and I never wanted to be a family run operation. I did not want that. And though all of them would have made excellent working partners, I'm not saying that, but if I had a different, I don't know rightly or wrongly, but that's the vision I had.
Product Range Expansion and Health Focus
00:23:09
Speaker
How did you start? Did you straight away set up manufacturing? Did you first do contract manufacturing? Firstly, I started Veeba in 2013 with buying of a manufacturing setup. That's where all the money went. I saw this beautiful asset. When you know me, I am a product person and I am a production guy.
00:23:34
Speaker
Actually, I'm also a sales guy. You're an entrepreneur. Yeah, maybe. So I saw this beautiful property in Nimrana, a plant which was for sale. And when I saw that plant, I was like a J-plant leaner. And I will never forget, there was no company which was incorporated. I had a meeting with the owner of the plant and
00:24:02
Speaker
In the evening, in the office, we were sitting and talking in the restaurant Prali company office and I said, sir, I want to go to Jaga. And, you know, he eventually convinced him to sell. He had a lot of suitors for that. And I said, sir, you understand, Bihana. Bihana is like a token money. So I said, Bihana, how are you doing? And you have a paper to sign that Jaga made you.
00:24:26
Speaker
So he said, you know, now I did not have any money anyways. And he said, you know, you're buying this thing for so many crores and this is what you're giving me. And for that time, it was for me to buy a two and a half acre plant was a big deal. And in my mind, honestly, I was thinking,
00:25:03
Speaker
So we bought the plant then I decided the name of the company which I again say it was a running plant no it was a it was not it was a farmer plant it used to make
00:25:16
Speaker
Other things, nothing to do with us. But when I went to that plant, I could easily visualize it to convert into a food plant in five, six months. And for me, that was a big time because big time saving. Two years, two and a half years. We started that plant. The fun foods, you had seen plants. Yeah, I understood manufacturing.
00:25:44
Speaker
But the scale was bigger. So you have to understand that what I left that company at and what this, it was a different scale. But I understood manufacturing. And plus, this is where my job as a marine engineer dealing with machines and much larger equipment, that really came handy. So that was a big blessing for me.
Funding Journey and Choosing Partners
00:26:10
Speaker
And it tells you a lot about my risk speaking appetite when
00:26:14
Speaker
when I named my company on my mother's name and I convinced my wife to sell her house. So I think my risk taking ability comes from a variable of krissy or a married man. So anyway, I took the risk of kind of buying that with no money at that time. So that was a 2-3 month stress period and you know,
00:26:44
Speaker
Eventually, it went fine. We bought the property in early 2013. And as early as June, July, I think, as early as July, we were doing commercial trials in the plant. And September, we did our first sale also. So, you know, September of 2013. Like, this was B2B? Yeah, B2B, I say Soty Moty sale with the rover, you know, nothing great.
00:27:09
Speaker
like two restaurants and yeah yeah when I said I'm talking about really shorty sale September like that but very happy with myself you know I'm set I'm now a bona fide entrepreneur and all of that and little did I know that 2013 September given one year is going to be that one of the toughest
00:27:32
Speaker
Why is it? I started hiring people. We opened a beautiful plant, we hired well and there was no business. Every day I used to go, you know, because business is round the corner, business is round the corner, but business never came. Like McDonald's and... Domino's the most. I used to go to the Domino's office. I'm not exaggerating at least four times a week. At least four times a week.
00:28:01
Speaker
And I remember people feeling sorry for me. I had nothing else to do. Dominoes people were very nice. I made some really good friends because I used to go there every day. But the thing was business never came. And we're still supplying to Dominoes. But I can't tell you that in our
00:28:26
Speaker
story so far, or if you can call it a success story or not, but in a story so far, Domino's played a very important role because one year after that September, maybe August or July of 2014, finally we got one order. See, when you supply to Domino's, it's a given that your quality and your quality sandwich and your plant, that has to be world class. Otherwise, it's a non-starter. Eventually, business came and I'll never forget this.
00:28:55
Speaker
Sattar tunka dominoes ka P.O.I. Sattar tun was like good. I see that maybe half an hour is less production for Veeva, much less than half an hour. But at that time, Sattar tun was like, my God, it means Sattar tun. And you know, that 70 tons is what made our business stand. And then something happened dominoes. So when I started Veeva, I was very clear, Veeva will be a
00:29:23
Speaker
a B2C company. But B2C takes time to build and it takes money. So I
Brand Strategy and Future Growth Plans
00:29:30
Speaker
said volume of scale, as if it was easy. But B2C became very successful in B2B after 3-3.5 years. And then we became very successful in B2B.
00:29:53
Speaker
You use that leverage for other brands? Then the others saw that this company has got, you know, we became a major supplier to Dominoes, not the largest. It took us about a year to become the largest source supplier or largest, you know, yeah. But, or at least one of the largest. But when others realized that Pizza Hut gave us work, KFC gave us work.
00:30:18
Speaker
I've seen very nice people at KFC. Very nice people at Taco Bell. They all gave us work and then Starbucks, Cafe Coffee Day, all of which, name it, everybody. Everybody started. And then we became pretty successful over there. And then I finally said, the company reaches a revenue, I don't know what it is, I don't know what it is, I don't know what it is, I don't know what it is, I don't know what it is, I don't know what it is.
00:30:48
Speaker
I'm very, you know, I can tell you the number, but I'm superstitious about talking about my present revenue and everything. At that time, I thought, okay, there are 100 crores of revenue coming in from retail. So when we did 100 crores, I decided to enter retail. So this was about 18 ks plus, 17. We are about four years, 17. So, 16, 17, 33 and a half years after we were started.
00:31:17
Speaker
So 2016 and 2017 really right in the beginning of 2017. You decided to get into retail. And now here is what I don't know what happened. I have no answer. The consumers gave us so much love, so much love. God has been so kind to us. I mean, now today we are present in more than 500 towns. We are present in, I don't know how many, I mean, so many shops. I mean,
00:31:46
Speaker
Obviously, we are really, really good looking if you go to Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Pune, you know, but Viva strength comes from the fact that you will find us in all our glory in a Kodai Canal or a Jalandhar, Ludhiana, you know, Hushyarpur or
00:32:06
Speaker
you know, Baroda obviously is a big city, but what I'm trying to say is tier two, tier three. So we are present in 550 towns, approximately 550 towns and, and the consumers, I mean, I remember one modern trade partner telling us that, and imagine how many FMCG companies will give the, you know, so much to get what we have. Diba sells more, if you also open your fridge and if you're a Diba consumer, you will always find more than
00:32:36
Speaker
two or more variants of Vibha in your fridge. So more customers buy two, then one bottle of Vibha. So two, one, and then three. That was, and you know, that is something that you can, you can never plan
Reflections on Entrepreneurial Journey
00:32:50
Speaker
for it. It just happened. Yeah, but it's maybe Aapke Kosh learning that what made retail successful. Like you must have invested a lot in branding, packaging. No, first of all, the most that we invested in was in R&D.
00:33:05
Speaker
We started researching on retail products in 2013, even though we launched in 2016 and 17. Retail, I was very clear, it's the best product, but the best product.
00:33:23
Speaker
So I was very clear that is how I will go to the customer. I am yet to meet a mother or a father or a girlfriend or a boyfriend or an uncle who says, we were mostly expensive than our honorable opposition, but we were also
00:33:47
Speaker
very high on value. So, that was one big consumer learning for me that the customer, Indian customer, Indian customer, Indian customer value conscious. So, Indian customer, and the success of Viva purely and firmly
00:34:14
Speaker
approves this point, the Indian customer is not conduced, they are value conscious. And the amount of love we got from our customers and you know, you can't manage it.
00:34:36
Speaker
When I am stressed, when I am stressed about work, what is my de-stressing? I go to Veeba's Facebook and Instagram page and I read our comments. I mean, 99 out of 100 comments are really nice and positive. Or just negative comments are usually used in the product, like bottle toot, cap toot, which are things not in Veeba's control. It is a third party.
00:35:06
Speaker
But these are the only negatives. For me, I'll tell you my nightmare. My nightmare is I meet you socially outside in a meeting or at a party or something. And you ask me, K.R. Viraj, what do you do?
00:35:22
Speaker
And I say, you know, I make, you know, sauces. And if you say, oh shit, that is my nightmare. I want people to love Viva the way I love Viva. And I, the amount of energy we spend in our product
00:35:41
Speaker
I'm yet to come across anyone who says, okay, you know, so usually the reaction I get when I go is, what do you do? Vibha. Oh, Vibha. Let me call my wife, she loves her, she loves my, you know, let me call my friend. So this is, this is frankly, what really excites me when customers love my products as much as I love my products.
00:36:06
Speaker
What kind of, what was your early age? So we started with, you know, so the gap that I saw in the market at that time that India may go in a low fat dressings. So Muni's has roughly typically 60, 70% fat. And I said, and fat gives richness and creaminess to the sauce.
00:36:33
Speaker
to the may or any other emulsion. So I said, why can't we do something with 20% fat or one third or one fourth of fat and yet have the same amount of creaminess and richness. So with that, it took us a few years to develop that product line. And anyways, there was no hurry because I would not have launched till the time we had some scale. So with product perfect, so we launched the range of low fat salad blessings and low fat emulsions like southwest chipotle, olive oil, mayonnaise, sweet onion sauce,
00:37:03
Speaker
I mean, Satra products, I can name all of them in Boro. So, that was how we entered retail. And then every year with little bit success, we penetrated a bit more in the country and we penetrated a bit more on the product. So we would, you know, learn something which is a bit, I will never forget this.
00:37:31
Speaker
So when you are selling things which people are using every day, it's very easy to hire promoters. So I was talking to one promoter.
00:37:55
Speaker
So it was a concept which was so kind of, you know, alien to him that he thought of amusing him. Then I showed him the bottle.
00:38:10
Speaker
You know that is where we started from today and I can see I can take probably a lot of credit for this Chipotle dressing has become at least an SCCA and B plus it's become common terminology. And you must have spent time on packaging research also because your packaging is also very unique.
00:38:34
Speaker
a lot of time on packaging research. Other companies have also done flip-top cap, but not in their main range. For me, it was all about not what other companies are doing, but how can I give maximum convenience to... I'll tell you a very strange thing. I wanted the product to be rich and thick and creamy, but at the same time, I wanted the product
00:39:05
Speaker
I wanted to make a tastiest sauce, a thick and creamy sauce, but at the same time, squeezing bottles in the customer would be a problem. Then that problem was eventually solved almost two years later when we launched these thick emulsions, thick sauces in a top-down bottle.
00:39:32
Speaker
Even though the product was doing very well at that time, I was still not 100% satisfied because I thought, yeah, I can give more to the customer.
00:39:56
Speaker
So, listen to the customer. I have many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many
00:40:20
Speaker
I mean, yes, we've spent a lot of money on these consumer groups. And we sit behind a wall and we hear 30 people talking about our product. But what works for me the most, not as the founder of the company or head of the company, how we participate a lot in exhibitions and consumer stalls and all of that, as a normal
00:40:45
Speaker
Like, not as a customer, as an employee, I frankly love doing that. But that is the time I really get to hear what the customer is saying. Like two women will be talking and one will say, this type of change.
00:41:11
Speaker
So me, I feel exhibitions really work and you get a direct one-on-one from the customer like nothing else. Because these are real customers buying customers. Candid genuine feedback. Candid genuine feedback. And these are not 20 women sitting in a room where they know what they are doing. So they all want to sound a bit more than they are. But the customer is...
00:41:41
Speaker
Like, I remember we were desperate for revenue to, you know, our honorable opposition had a good control in some of the larger cities. Who do you call as your honorable opposition? There are lots of them. I mean, you know. Kremika? Yes, definitely them. Del Monte, my father's erstwhile company. Then, you know, some of the big boys have also come in our space and all of that.
00:42:09
Speaker
So I treat frankly, this is very weird, but I treat all our competitors with utmost respect. I learned a lot from them. You will never hear me in the office. But in the office, also you'll never hear me ever talking within the team, saying, you know, I don't want to talk to you.
00:42:36
Speaker
It is always a good company. So we have to deal with them with respect and be respectful towards them. But in one of these tasting sessions, we were in a small town in Punjab. And this lady came and said, Carrot cucumber sandwich.
00:43:05
Speaker
spreads in a bread with the carrot to come with the sandwich. So this lady and I mean I'm really sorry I say this in the utmost respect but I'm just saying it to describe her. She was rural looking lady you know she was not like a like a South Delhi person kind of a thing.
00:43:27
Speaker
So she said, I don't believe you.
00:43:53
Speaker
So she said,
00:44:14
Speaker
And I was like, my god, 12 bottles she's buying. And I remember that lesson staying with me. I mean, nobody in India has, in our segment, I'm not talking about teas and soaps and all of that. In our segment, nobody has gone to the smaller centers and given importance to this customer base.
00:44:38
Speaker
So we had a solid golden opportunity and that one discussion with that one lady made us open numerous amounts of tier 2 tier 3 which probably gives more than 20-25% of our revenue today. So you know that really kind of that one I mean that lady doesn't know or will never know how important road she played in in our growth story.
00:45:03
Speaker
But that is what direct touch with the customer gives you. OK. So how did you set up distribution? Retail is a challenging distribution. Luckily, we have a video called Ruti. So we realized that I am a young guy, but I am a bald, totally gray. I am a bald, gray, slick, with distribution set.
00:45:34
Speaker
If you ask me the two biggest strengths Niba has, one is our product innovation and production like the product and second is our distribution. I know companies which are much, much, much older than us, companies which are far bigger than us, but they don't have a national distribution might of Niba. That is something that we have today.
00:45:59
Speaker
more than 90% of our revenue comes from our distribution business. And that is our biggest strength. So let's say tomorrow Akshay
00:46:12
Speaker
decides to open a source company, you know, you can definitely go and pitch your product to, let's say, big bazaar. These guys, if your quality and your plants are world class standard, they might even look at you seriously. But how will you ever compete with me over hundreds and thousands of clients and customers across the country? That is what sets us apart from our audible opposition.
00:46:41
Speaker
Okay. But tell me the secrets of it. Like how did you set it up? It was a secret. It was a desperate message. It was a struggle. And basically that is it. There was no... I mean, today I can think back and say, I did this and I did not do anything. It was just that I had to pay for the revenue. I had to pay for the revenue.
00:47:10
Speaker
And yes, as soon as we could start affording advertising, we started advertising and all of that helped in due course. You set up a team who would go to distributors and sign them up and then... Yeah, absolutely. We have a large, very large... So one of Vibha's biggest or one of my personal biggest successes
00:47:37
Speaker
is my team. Veebus team is not a team of, I don't know if you can call Veebus startup anymore because we are fairly mature as a, you know, this thing. But if you look at our team, I kid you not, it will humble the top organization of the country, top FMCG organization of the country. That's how solid our team is. I have spent a lot of time
00:48:03
Speaker
I joke with our CFO a lot that I have wooed you much more than I've wooed my wife. But at that time, people did not want to join us two years ago, five years back. And now he's an integral part of Viva and a good friend. And I can't even think about Viva without him. But at that time, I had to woo him. I had to date him. I had to take him for coffee and short of taking him for dinner. But I did everything else.
00:48:33
Speaker
And now talent, top class talent wants to join Viva. So that is one big personal success of mine. What is your headcount now? Roughly 1,600 people or so. And it's McAspreter. Blue collar would be roughly the plant team. Plant blue collar team would be about 700.
00:49:01
Speaker
And the plant, food engineers and all of that, plant engineers, plant maintainer, all of that would be 100. So, Baki, head office, to sales sales, only about 500 plus people, 500 to 600 people. Okay. So, I think sales team, you know, I think this would be like a key for distribution success to have a strong sales team.
00:49:28
Speaker
Actually, it's a very difficult thing. It's a chicken and egg thing. So along the line, some really good people joined us. And along the way, we did something right.
00:49:51
Speaker
And slowly, slowly. So again, I said pocket full lesson was it's okay. After B2B business, of course, success money, right? So we started with, you know, the usual suspects. Then when we hit a ceiling, so we went to the smaller centers. So we went to the smaller centers.
00:50:17
Speaker
And then slowly, slowly a team became good. Did you first hire like a national sales head like an NSM and then built a team under him or was it more opportunistic? No, no, not at all. It was like I hired a
00:50:38
Speaker
In fact, national sales head, national NSM hired and very shortly after that the NSM for modern trade was also hired. So two NSMs.
00:50:48
Speaker
then after that and these would be like industry veterans who yeah yeah yeah with more than 25 years experience each uh so two in a sense they but with very clear thinking because we will not be able to afford big teams under you so you will have to pick up a lot of the weight yourself
00:51:16
Speaker
I mean, today those two NSMs have a chief sales officer on top of them, multiple RSMs, ASMs, and below them their teams. But at that time, a lot of the heavy lifting, a lot of the heavy lifting was done by these two NSMs. A lot means a lot. They're really over excelled. So today we have CSO, two NSMs, two lonal heads, multiple RSMs for each region.
00:51:47
Speaker
And I don't know how many ASMs, but a lot of ASMs. Do you generally hire for experience or higher for attitude? What I definitely don't hire for is education. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against education. But I have a lot of students who are from IMS, MB&E, MB&E,
00:52:15
Speaker
In fact, very strange story, I was talking to someone and then, I said, I called up one of these, his name is Hemant Sharma. So I called up Hemant, I said,
00:52:36
Speaker
He tried Viva right in the beginning in 2013 or 2014. So I called him like last year during my meeting. And even I was meeting, he was confused about my career. And the human says, he is a graduate. So I was not even sure he was a graduate. So for me, experience and
00:52:58
Speaker
common sense and willing to hard work. These are the three things which in a particular order I would say hard work, common sense and love for Viva. These are the three things which I value the most. How do you judge your willingness to work hard?
00:53:19
Speaker
We hire from, how do I say, word of mouth. So someone who's working in our organization will, I would say more than 70% of our hiring has happened that way. I'm not talking about blue collar, obviously I'm talking about white collar, but buddy system hiring. So if someone within the organization can vouch for someone, that is given very heavy scores over a consultant bringing someone else.
00:53:45
Speaker
Yes, the CXO is obviously because we need CXOs and that's a very, very long process. I mean hiring one CXO will take six months of my deep involvement and that person's deep involvement. So that usually happens to consultants. But you know, yeah.
00:54:06
Speaker
I remember meeting one person, you know, a chief like head of supply CSC, chief supply chain officer. So both the plants and the supply chain reports into him purchase. So like I remember him telling him a plan. So a personality like that will never fit into Viva because Viva
00:54:30
Speaker
We all work hard and we all lead by example. So if my chief supply chain officer is not going to the plant, he's replacing me. Now, ever since he's joined, I hardly go to the plant. But because I was going aggressively to the plant, and he was replacing me and that. So the person who says, I don't know what to do with my laptop or software, I don't know what to do with my laptop.
00:54:58
Speaker
So, you know, anyway, the person like that will never fit into Viva, you know, like that. Okay. So how has your product range evolved now? Like you started with 17 products. So that, that continues to be a very important part of our business. Then we went slightly main, main market. Like, you know, if this product was at 130, the low five dressings were at 130.
00:55:21
Speaker
140 rupees, we launched something at almost half the price, like 70, 80, 90 kind of a price point. Like ketchup at all? No, no. Again, muonis, but not the low fat ones, the normal jars, credible sandwich spreads and salsa and cheese dips and all of that. Then we even launched 34 rupees muonis to break into the lower segment of the tier two, tier three markets.
00:55:48
Speaker
and then we launched a range of ketchups, first Indian company to make preservative free tomato ketchup. So any product of Viva that you pick up, and I can challenge you on this, any product that you pick up of Viva, I have only two tests for a product to go to market. A, it has to be better for you. So that means better than what is available in the market in terms of health and second case
00:56:20
Speaker
So how do you make a peanut butter which is already healthy and make it healthier? You basically, so our peanut butter is fortified with calcium, iron, vitamin A and vitamin D. So, you know, we do things like that, that every product we have one thing more, which I, you know, call better for you or reason to buy that, why would this lady buy our product? So, you know, and
00:56:47
Speaker
That has been, I would say, so in all parts, like right now we launched a massive campaign, we've launched tomato ketchup in a big way. So why would someone leave a leading brand of the country and why we lost tomato ketchup? Because you're saying they're very tasty. But you can say taste is subjective.
00:57:07
Speaker
By the way, just putting it out there. Taste is subjective. Science is not subjective. So if I am clean, I am very tasty. And scientifically speaking, I am preservative free. You can't sing maybe preservative.
00:57:31
Speaker
So we have launched the first Indian company to bring preservative free tomato ketchup, hot and sweet sauce, hot sweet sauce, tomato ketchup and Imli, Imli chutney. And it's doing really well, again, the customer. Maybe we are slightly expensive in the leading brands, but the customer is saying here, valuably I'm a preservative. No preservative likhawwa.
00:57:59
Speaker
So there is no star or asterisk to it. It is no preservatives added to Malab. There is no preservatives with this. And it has resonated with the customer. At least in the metros, it has immediately resonated. My wife, so if you're married, you know, your wife will immediately resonate with a preservative.
00:58:23
Speaker
So it was just a, just a wonderful fit. Suddenly it fit with the customer. At a similar price as regular ketchup. Yeah, maybe 2% or 3% more expensive. So everybody is, you know, and there's a lot of science attached to it. We work hard technology improvement, formulation improvement.
00:58:52
Speaker
But it saddens me that it took a viva in 2021 to be India's first, and actually in my mind, I don't know any other Indian company which is doing preservation free ketchup, but to be in retail, to be a preservation free ketchup in retail. I mean, why haven't companies who have been dominating the space since 30, 40 years
00:59:18
Speaker
I mean, nobody is giving importance to our country. And that needs to change. If a company can sell preservative-free ketchup in America, why doesn't it sell preservative-free ketchup in India? So that is the thing. I'm a very proud Indian, frankly. And I really want to, in a very small way, nobody cares about sources. But in a very small way, I want to make India proud in what I do.
00:59:40
Speaker
So tell me about your funding journey. 17, you also took on funding. This was for your B2C expansion. Funding journey I started taking from 2013 only. So right in the beginning, I had a fund called DSG. DSG is basically
01:00:04
Speaker
FMCD. Yeah, they're big in FMCD. They're led by a guy called Deepak. So Deepak was our first investor and Viva was his first company. And Deepak, we used to spend a lot of time together and today is one of my closest friends. So Deepak came in in the beginning in 2013.
01:00:31
Speaker
How did you cross that hurdle of the first investor coming in? So the thing is, for me,
01:00:54
Speaker
And, you know, this is very honestly and all my three investors know this very clearly. I have never and I can go and record on this. I mean, this is something which I'm really, really proud of. I have never taken the highest number. I've done quite a few fundraisers. I've never taken the highest number. I have always taken the right partner.
01:01:28
Speaker
But I have always chosen the right partner over the highest number. And the amount that has helped me, I can't begin to tell you. So Deepak also came into the company, me and Deepak were in touch for a long time. And Deepak, he said three days ago we both will go to Sula. Sula was one of his previous companies and he said we will go to Sula. So three days,
01:01:40
Speaker
over the highest number.
01:01:59
Speaker
And he said, if I can get along with you over three days of alcohol, and I can understand your vibe, and your passion, and all of that, then I will make that. So we got along like a house on fire. I mean, it was amazing. Three days. From sources to the presidential elections of USA, there was no topic which was not covered.
01:02:25
Speaker
And at that time, President of United said, well, not a hot topic like it is now. So we spoke about everything under the sun. And he said, I can get along with you. I said, I can get along with you. And he's like a brother to me. And I tell people, OK, what you did with me, if you could do with your other entrepreneurs, now he doesn't have time. Yeah, obviously. So now he doesn't have the time. But those three days, and we knew that at the end of three days that we'll be friends for life.
01:02:55
Speaker
So Deepak came in in 2013, which was not that difficult. In 2015, I went on a wild goose chase because I always hate Deepak for making me do that. There was a fund called, there is a fund called Sama. Ash Lulani is the head of that fund. They showed interest in us. But Deepak, I had a lot of interest.
01:03:18
Speaker
you check out the whole market and literally you don't want to go and stay in a five-star hotel for two days. But since you've come to raise money, you can't even go and stay in a two-star hotel or three-star hotel. So, you know, you say you can't stay in a five-star hotel, but you can't stay in a five-star hotel for two days.
01:03:41
Speaker
So Jhula Leike Jagai Jagai, I remember, again, can't take that fund's name, but I remember that guy, and I think consumer was not hot in 2014-15. How did you see the Thai news there? The consumer was hot. I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me, I remember this one investor telling me,
01:04:08
Speaker
So now he knows who I'm talking about, but I can't take it. If he listens to this, he'll know I'm talking about him. So, I'm going to leave it. I'm going to leave it. Dot com is going to be a special event. He is. In 2014, he really wanted to address and leave it, but it couldn't happen. Then, then after this whole, you know, ragam role of going from door to door with a Jhola asking for money, eventually I, my wavelength matched the most with Ash.
01:04:38
Speaker
and I went to ash again, not the highest number, the highest number was some other fund but ash was the right wavelength with a slightly lower number and I went to ash and I went to ash and I went to ash and then ash came in 2013 and then ash came in 2015 I can call both of them at 3 in the night we are like
01:05:07
Speaker
very, very close friends. And, you know, I say this to any startup founder, you know, if you can get money from DSG or Sama, you will do yourselves a favor, because a lot of people say they'll send by you during the bad times and they don't, or they're never tested. These guys are personally tested by me. They stood by me in the bad times and jam off people.
01:05:33
Speaker
And then finally, 2017, when the company became slightly bigger, that is when this Whirl Invest came in, the big daddy. And Whirl Invest is run by, the issue office is run by a guy called Arjun. And Arjun is also extension of me Deepak and Ash. So I can't call you, but if I could have called you to one of our board meetings, you would realize how nice our board meetings are. This is four friends talking about
01:06:03
Speaker
Yes, we do have our business, some points to discuss. Arjun is one of the nicest people you'll come across. Deepak, Ashmi, Arjun, and four of us, our board meetings are... I know so many CEOs and founders who really say, oh, shit, you're a board meeting, Aria. I really look forward to it.
01:06:30
Speaker
And I hope these guys too. But so it's one hell of a boardroom. And if I had to draw a lesson from this now, it would be simply clear the right partner is much more important than momentarily the highest figure at that time. And last two years has kind of proved me right again. The right partner.
01:07:00
Speaker
during this pandemic time is how Berlin this is a large fund right they before Viva they had only one investment in India which was big bazaar then Viva Sula they they invest in large companies and not that I'm saying I'm very large I'm just saying they invest in a certain size and above so these guys you know they have they are long-term partners like long vision long term so
01:07:29
Speaker
they might not always get the highest number. But in a time like today, I can say I have the best investors in the world. But I've heard some really horror stories about certain investors. It's because of the CEO also, maybe some people, you know, it works both ways. But I think right partners. And again, I would say it's something like a marriage. If you can't see yourself getting along with these investors that you potentially want to have.
01:07:57
Speaker
better not to kind of deeper kick buddy favorite line. Life is too short to deal with assholes. Again, we will not use the word assholes when you air this. So let's deal with like minded people, people who we can get along with. And it always helps. And that's my investment journey. More than the numbers, it's more about the people, these three wonderful people.
01:08:27
Speaker
And then we've got two other small investors, also very nice people, very, very nice people. Okay. So currently, what is your split between B2B and B2C? Our distribution business is roughly 90% of our company.
01:08:43
Speaker
Oh, okay. Distribution means like your retail, basically the direct to consumer world. Our distribution is divided into two parts. One is, so one is B2B, which is, you know, the Burger King Dominoes, that Starbucks, that business, that is roughly 8% of our revenue. The remaining is the split is distribution business. Distribution is further divided into. Modern trade and. No, modern trade and general trade, but also small pack and large pack.
01:09:13
Speaker
So for example, if there's a bakery near your house, he's not a burger king, but he's a sandwich man. So what is the, you know, like today, like D2C is like the flavor of the season where companies are like,
01:09:34
Speaker
making the whole purchase process online. Is that in your radar that something which you are also working on? No, not really. So we are actually, very honestly, we are a kind of a traditional kind of a startup. So we are trying to build a traditional
01:09:56
Speaker
FMCG company. So if I talk to you about my retail revenue more than 70% of my retail revenue comes from general trade and the remaining 30% comes from modern trade and online. So it's eating more from the modern trade and less from the GT because we are growing our GTI distribution footprint far and wide
01:10:20
Speaker
And online is becoming bigger. But our GT is also becoming big at the same scale. Sometimes I do feel that our online is increasing at the cost of our empty, like our modern trade, which basically means Jubaandapelle, Spencer, Big Bazaar, Reliance Jaratha, maybe Big Basket Jarai, Grover's Jarai, Reliance Smart Bajarai.
01:10:49
Speaker
D Marka business is still very strong, but I do feel that online, maybe I'm totally wrong, but maybe a decade from now, we all say that online came at a cost of the empty business and not necessarily the GT business. I think the neighborhood friendly Kirana shop is thriving. And during the pandemic, one thing we've seen is it's thrived even more.
01:11:14
Speaker
I mean, people are very friendly towards their Kirana shops, Kirana shops. That does not mean that we are not listed in every online format that there is, or D2C is not their Kaavamari website. You can go to viba.in and buy whatever you want and be delivered to your house.
01:11:39
Speaker
So that is also there, but it is very, very small numbers as a percentage of the overall business. Okay. So from 17 to now, what kind of growth have you seen? Like, have you like, like three, four X, like, you know, what, what has been the... See, obviously, when the base was smaller, we were doubling every year. But once the base became slightly bigger, we, like, we're going in excess of
01:12:09
Speaker
40-50% year-on-year. I hope to continue to do that for some time. And like, you know, what is like a five-year vision that you have, you know, like you want to get into new segments? So Viva 2025 will be multiple, like maybe six categories over three brands. As you know, we've got one health brand called Venerish.
01:12:38
Speaker
this children's nutrition for which we hired Shahrukh Khan and that was a big deal for me. So Veena Rush is our entry into health platform. Something like that. Something like that. It was actually launched last year and then bad. It was basically doctor prescribed but it got badly hit by the pandemic because doctors didn't have the opportunity to do this.
01:13:05
Speaker
So we might kind of relaunch it again. So Veeva will be the mainstay of our company and Veeva is the aspirational mass market brand. Then we will have a health brand and maybe one more brand. So three brands, six categories.
01:13:27
Speaker
But there is a lot of revenue, cash splits, etc. I don't know what to do with the product. The product is a long-cutting product. Why did you hire Sarukha for VNARIS? It was a childhood demand. There are not many people
01:13:54
Speaker
I don't have any role models, so to say. But there are some people I look up to, and he's one of them. And not because he's SRK, the superstar. I mean, the conversations you have with him, he's like intelligent, self-made, brilliant. Hard-working. Hard-working, like, how? During the shoot. And so I wanted someone India trusts. And the ad at that time was also, you know,
01:14:24
Speaker
Like the script was, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I do sell a lot of things, but this is for the children, so I'm not selling it. You try it and you see if you like it or not, you know. So that actually gave us a lot of kind of eyeballs and suddenly the brand went from zero to 100 very fast. And the three, four months before the pandemic hit, it was doing really well. I mean, we thought, Hampto, super hit.
01:14:52
Speaker
But for a doctor prescribed product, we got more success from the doctors because it was much more expensive than the mass market brand. It was almost 2x the mass market brand.
01:15:11
Speaker
So this was like an alternative to PDF show rather than a hard leg. Yeah. You can say that, but I would like to believe it had better, you know, signs to it. But yes, in that market, I would say. Got it. Okay. Okay. And then doctors, but the pandemic kind of killed overnight.
01:15:33
Speaker
So yeah, that's why Shah Rukh Khan, people trusted him. We wanted someone who speaks to the mom and not to the dad. And who better than SRK to speak to the mother? So that's why SRK. And I would also look back and say, great decision. SRK was a great decision.
01:15:52
Speaker
But maybe, you know, I stopped listening to myself on the pocketful lesson. Go slightly slow, let the brand take time to build. With SRK, we gave a big kind of a superstar push. Okay, but it's a good revision of an old lesson then. Yes, very good revision. Very, very good revision. And very good revision. Yeah.
01:16:18
Speaker
OK, why stick to what you know in the sense you don't earn money again? OK. So my last question to you, have you made up to your wife? So as soon as Vibha started doing well, the first thing I did was buy her a house. And bought her a house much, much, much better than what we sold.
01:16:48
Speaker
So that is something I was living with for many, many years. But the house we bought was frankly much better than the house we sold. So I hope I made it up to her. But she continues to do something more every day.
01:17:06
Speaker
So we treat Vibha for Rajveer, then Vibha and then Ranveer. So that's the thing. Because my wife has everything else, I can do everything that is Vibha. So that is how the responsibility. So we have a lot to do. She keeps doing a lot for me to make up for.
01:17:28
Speaker
And I always say this, you know, entrepreneur, nobody becomes an entrepreneur alone. The whole family becomes an entrepreneur because, you know, you're away from the kids, you're away from the wife, you're away from family, per se, because it's not easy.
01:17:58
Speaker
Surumakti, you must have been spending Barapandrag and Teghnimrana in the plant. Yeah, or spending the night there only to avoid up and down. But Oskibada, our second plant came up, which is like five times the size of Neemrana. But at that time now, I mean... Where is your second plant? It's in an area called Keshvana. It's near Neemrana. It's half an hour from Neemrana.
01:18:25
Speaker
But the amount of time I spent at the new, the big plant is probably one tenth of nirana because the kuja ke banana paltata hardly, you know, this process, as I said, there are good people that professionally run really good team, you know,
01:18:44
Speaker
But what is it like running a manufacturing business in India? Most founders I speak to are on the digital side. You are one of the few founders who are actually manufacturing in India. Is it very painful? I would say the pulse of India.
01:19:04
Speaker
is manufacturing. So if an entrepreneur like and with a lot of respect towards, I think a lot of respect, they're better than me to be in a manufacturing, they're doing good revenue. But manufacturing, you know, we are dealing at, I, one of the biggest sources of joy for me, the biggest source of joy is the employment that we generate at the grassroots level. That means, you have a blue collar or
01:19:33
Speaker
Some of our suppliers, from whom we're buying thousands and thousands of tons worth of raw material, the employment that they generate at the farm level. I mean, that gives me so much joy, I can't tell you. Now that a third party manufacturing setup or a digital sales company will never get.
01:19:53
Speaker
It is incredible. And what happened at the grassroot level of India is very different from what happens in Gurgaon and so on and so forth. But I think manufacturing Vibha would be, I would say, incomplete without manufacturing. It will be incomplete without the whole aspect of running our own plants, controlling our own quality, controlling our own processes. I am never, ever answerable to a third party manufacturer.
01:20:22
Speaker
you know, okay, we are shipment equality or something like that. Everything we do is in our hand and we can manage our quality. There might be a time five years from today that our volumes become so big that there are people who put plants only for us, which are manned and audited by us. That is a good position to be in. But startups, the biggest thing is when you need your plants the most, like when you need
01:20:50
Speaker
third party manufacturers make cloud the most is the time you have the least cloud because you're so not important for them. It was very simple. So today 99% of our revenue is is
01:21:14
Speaker
manufactured by VIGA, 1% we have started outsourcing where we have significant volume and significant cloud to outsource. So that means we can have our own people posted there or quality audited stuff. If you found Viraj's journey as fascinating as we did, then do check out their entire range of sources and spreads at vbar.in.
01:21:43
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 thepodium.in that is T-H-E-P-O-D-I-U-N dot I-N for a complete list of all our shows.