#470 Solving Your Own Problem at Scale: Rahul Swaminathan’s Journey with Desertcart

What happens when a developer in Dubai decides to solve his own problem—and ends up building a 300M SKU e-commerce engine? In this episode, I speak with Rahul Swaminathan, the founder of Desertcart, one of the region’s most iconic tech-native e-commerce platforms.

We dive deep into Rahul’s 11-year journey: from building Desertcart with Ruby on Rails and web crawlers to navigating logistics, AI, and expansion into new markets like India, Saudi, and Australia. He also shares why he resisted becoming a marketplace, how GenAI is reshaping logistics, and why curiosity might be the best startup fuel.

💡 Key Takeaways

• Build for yourself first — Rahul’s journey started with a personal frustration around product availability.

• Scale follows pain — His obsession with solving delivery, logistics, and data issues led to organic growth.

• Tech as a differentiator — From using Ruby on Rails to building proprietary warehouse systems, custom code was a moat.

• E-commerce evolution — He breaks down how MENA has shifted from 10,000 SKUs online to a fully mature retail market.

• AI is not just hype — Desertcart is already leveraging GenAI in supply chain and engineering.

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📚 What You’ll Learn

• How to identify scalable startup ideas from personal problems

• The importance of founder-led engineering in early-stage ventures

• Why building custom infrastructure (vs. off-the-shelf tools) gave Desertcart an edge

• The layered evolution of e-commerce in MENA and why logistics still matters

• The future of AI in e-commerce, from customer experience to supply chain

👤 About the Guest

Rahul Swaminathan is the founder and CEO of Desertcart, a Dubai-based global e-commerce platform serving millions of users in the Middle East and beyond. With a background in computer science and a passion for solving real-world problems with code, Rahul bootstrapped the company from a personal pain point—lack of access to niche global products—to a tech-driven operation offering 300M+ products and operating across MENA, Asia, and parts of Europe and Oceania.

https://www.desertcart.ae/

🔍 Episode Highlights

[00:02:00] – Why Desertcart started with magic tricks and niche hobbies

[00:07:00] – Choosing Ruby on Rails and building the system solo

[00:10:00] – Why Rahul avoided the marketplace model

[00:14:00] – The 3 layers of modern e-commerce: instant, regional, and global

[00:22:00] – How AI is already helping logistics and engineering at Desertcart

[00:29:00] – Will AI replace coders? A nuanced view from a founder-engineer

[00:35:00] – A philosophical look at how society may adapt to AI

[00:38:00] – Rahul’s advice: follow your curiosity and start early