The Neon Show Journey of Reliance acquired, Fynd with Founder, Farooq Adam
Have you ever heard about Infotel Broadband Services Limited (IBSL)?
Even if you haven’t, I’m very much sure that you can’t deny that you don’t know its current rebranded form.
I’ll give you a hint; this company currently has the largest market share in terms of wireless subscribers (i.e. telecom) in India, even greater than Airtel.
Yes, you’ve got it right, it's Jio.
Before getting rebranded as Jio, the original company IBSL, was the only company that won broadband spectrum in all 22 circles in India in the 4G auction in 2010.
And later that year Reliance Industries acquired the company.
After Jio’s official launch in September 2016, it gained the first 50 million customers in just 83 days of launch and currently has an overall subscriber base of 414.9 million customers.
“That’s the Reliance way of doing things”, quoted by Farooq Adam, during the podcast.
What he means is that at Reliance, just the sheer scale at which they launch and operate their product and make their marketing strategy, ensures the success of the product.
And when Reliance approached him in 2019 after he had raised the Series-C led by Google, this is exactly what convinced him to combine Fynd with Reliance and support the rollout of JioMart.
During the podcast, Farooq talks about the early days at Shopsense (rebranded as Fynd), getting rejected by investors during the first round, and his experience being an Angel Investor.
Notes -
01:18 - Early childhood in Kuwait; getting into IIT Bombay
05:01 - Initial stint with Adsale; adding another sale by recommendations & coupons
10:12 - Visiting Diesel (clothing store) on Juhu Tara Road (Mumbai)
14:58 - Problem statements solved by Shopsense
17:24 - Getting benchmarked against Capillary Technologies by investors
22:40 - Rebranding Shopsense as Fynd to cater to hyperlocal marketplace
31:26 - “How & when you collect your NPS is very interesting.”
32:08 - Acquired by Reliance after getting Google-led Series-C funding
51:39 - Experience as an Angel investor
52:10 - Co-investing with First Cheque VC
57:47 - Advice to his portfolio companies
59:44 - Book recommendations for founders