Vidit Aatrey is cofounder and CEO of Meesho. Meesho is a platform in India that allows people to resell products using their social networks. They were in the Summer 2016 batch of YC and you can check them out at Meesho.com.
Adora Cheung is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC she cofounded Homejoy.
You can find Vidit on Twitter @viditaatrey and Adora is @nolimits.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
01:20 - What is Meesho?
3:20 - Why not just sell directly to consumers?
5:05 - What are the macro trends in Meesho's favor in India?
7:30 - A trust deficit market
8:55 - How does Meesho help users get online and start selling?
11:45 - Most impactful user stories
13:50 - Growth drivers
15:50 - Balancing growth and quality
17:25 - What if Facebook copies Meesho?
18:50 - When did Vidit and his cofounder know they wanted to start a startup?
21:20 - Their first startup idea and the inspiration for Meesho
25:40 - When did they know Meesho was working?
27:20 - How hard was it to pivot the business and how did they manage it?
30:05 - As a CEO how does he stay in touch with users?
34:50 - How has Vidit's role changed over time?
36:55 - How has he learned to be a CEO?
38:30 - What mistakes have they made?
39:35 - What was his best decision?
40:15 - What's a strong opinion he had about running a startup that he's changed since running Meesho?
41:45 - How has the Indian startup ecosystem evolved?
43:20 - Big problems worth solving in India
43:05 - Can foreigners come to India and start a startup?
45:10 - Best advice for aspiring Indian founders
46:20 - After Meesho, what's the most exciting startup in India?
47:20 - Why is Delhi the best IIT?
48:15 - What's a must read book and why?
49:10 - What's a startup idea he'd be working on if Meesho didn't happen?
49:25 - In 100 years, what does he hope Meesho is?
