The Neon Show What Went Wrong Before iD Fresh Worked | For the First Time Co-Founders Tell Their Story
Where did the journey of iD Fresh start?
It began when a 19-year-old Abdul Nazer decided to run away from home to Bangalore with ₹100 in his pocket. He did any job that came his way: cook, cleaner, conductor and sold anything he could, from clothes and vegetables to spices and peanuts. Along the way, he brought his three brothers to Bangalore.
Even with huge losses in business, they never stopped looking for new opportunities. Their first real glimpse of success came from a tea stall run out of a rented room that cost ₹80 a month. Despite strong demand, the tea business was still running at a loss. The turning point came when they started opening the stall at 2 in the morning: a disruptive business model, says PC. Those ₹2 cups of tea taught them lessons they would carry forward.
Abdul Nazer and PC Mustafa together share these stories for the first time. Their journey reminds us that no success is overnight, especially not for these brothers. It was at their kirana store in Indiranagar that the idea of iD Fresh was born. Five brothers with no background in food technology spent six months experimenting with recipes before finding their hero product.
This is the story of five founders who pushed past their circumstances. Today, iD Fresh is at a scale the founders never dreamed of growing up in Wayanad.
00:00 – Trailer
00:55 – Dropping out of studies
02:32 – 19 Year Old that Runaway to Bangalore
04:35 – First job as a cook
11:25 – When Nazer decided to become an entrepreneur
14:01 – Huge loss in Vegetable business
16:15 – Starting the kirana store that led to iD
18:00 – On the verge of shutting down
20:10 – How Lambu Tea Stall became profitable
24:16 – When PC decided to do business with Nazer
25:14 – All the (failed) businesses that led to iD
27:04 – Why PC decided to come back to India
28:23 – The origin story of the idli batter idea
31:40 – The first $50k investment
32:57 – Cracking the batter without any food tech expertise
34:38 – The first recipe that became iD’s hero product
35:35 – Why iD failed to sell 100 packets in 6 Months
41:15 – The first customer approval
43:06 – Building awareness was the biggest challenge
44:35 – Lack of cold storage in supermarkets
45:22 – The inventory model of iD
46:25 – How the initial team was built
48:35 – Story of team spirit
50:15 – When iD Fresh Chennai & Mumbai Failed
52:27 – How the chemistry worked between the five brothers
56:52 – The buyout offer of ₹20+ crores
57:35 – How founders build the mindset to hire experts
1:00:50 – Did the runaway child achieve his dream?
1:03:09 – How Nazer’s choices directly led to iD
1:04:45 – Building within value systems
1:07:26 – Summary: what really worked for iD Fresh
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This video is for informational purposes only. The