Let’s Dunzo it!
India’s answer to efficient smart cities of the future- a blitzkrieg intracity postal service
Indian airspace is cracking with unicorns nowadays. E-commerce, Fintech, Foodtech are on the rise. This is no less than a bedtime fairy tale for the to-be entrepreneurs. The success stories not only motivate others to follow but there is another much overlooked benefit to the ecosystem- The Entrepreneurship cascade. It has been observed that a lot many folks who join these early age companies end up starting their own venture in the later stage of their careers. A stage that often gets masked behind the starry billion-dollar valuations is the humble beginnings that the company and its founders generally go through. Many of these tech startups didn’t even had a mobile app when they started. Isn’t it, bizarre and interesting at the same time! Dunzo is a prime example of it. Never heard about it? Let's go deep.
Entrepreneurship cascade: A result of Indian startup boom
My first encounter with Dunzo
When I joined my first job in Bangalore, I could see bike riders wearing dark blue-green jackets across the city. They slice through the Bangalore traffic just like a smooth butter knife would. They knew all the tricks of the trade, they were ruling these streets. One thing that surprised me is that they used to keep a close eye on the mobile screen fixed on their bikes. All these riders seem to be in a hurry as if they had to meet a deadline. But so is the case, with almost everyone living in a metro city like Bangalore. I noticed the same dark blue-green color theme on a nearby billboard with a quirky tagline written on it- “Forgot condoms? Dunzo it”. Now, I understood everything. These riders ensure horny couples get their rubber on time. With the passage of time, I got to know that it delivers not just condoms and targets not just horny couples.
Dunzo: A condom delivery service?
Dunzo’s core philosophy
With the click of a button, customers should be able to get anything delivered from point A to point B, irrespective of what it is.
The great thing about the above-mentioned core philosophy that Dunzo follows is its “customer-centricity”. Although it is the second most misused word in business communities after the word “strategy”. Does any company claim not to be customer-centric? How many actually follow it? But there’s one big difference- the way in which Dunzo empowers people.
Most of the other companies have the philosophy of Ohh! food deliveries are happening around the world, grocery deliveries are happening around the world, Let’s build something similar for India. In the case of Dunzo, it shifts this power in the hands of the user where he is the one who decides what he wants to be delivered at his doorstep. It is more accommodative in nature and in a way, it helps in making our cities more efficient which is the ultimate goal. The average delivery time that Dunzo takes to fulfill an order comes down to approx 24 minutes which is great even by global standards.
Dunzo empowering customers to choose as per their convenience
A tech company with no app in place
When Dunzo started there was no mobile app built for the purpose. Instead, Kabeer Biswas, its founder used WhatsApp to take orders and all the cofounders used to go themselves to deliver it. So their day used to start not with the shiny VC offices but with crowded BMTC buses and traffic. And their services were available 24/7. All the customers needed to do was drop in a text mentioning the item details along with pickup and drop location and the rest was taken care of by these four young lads. Meesho, a social commerce company, shares a similar story where Whastapp groups acted as marketplaces and not play store apps.
Remember the Humble beginnings: Meesho & Dunzo
Big boys’ God Syndrome
Dunzo’s plan doesn’t sound too revolutionary, right? Four young lads trying to ship a package from point A to point B for less than a dollar under 30 minutes. And how would they stand when the Big boys step in? To an extent, they already have and failed miserably. Remember Uber eats? It was sold off to Zomato when it could not compete in the hyperlocal food-delivery space.
Big companies are often diagnosed with a God syndrome in which they assume themselves to be too powerful and end up overestimating their abilities. Let's take the classic case of Uber vs Zomato in Indian food tech. Zomato was founded in 2008 while UberEats was launched in India in 2017. Uber was already a late entrant and started playing the game of Catch-up by offering heavy discounts to new users. Customer acquisition costs soared and not much heed was paid to customer retention. The food-delivery segment looked no less than a war with almost every other company bleeding. UberEats and Foodpanda were the first ones to die leaving the battleground open for two players standing: Zomato and Swiggy.
Remember the winners: Why big companies often lose?
Small boys’ tried and tired
Okay, the big boys failed but what if another heavily VC-backed hyperlocal delivery startup emerges. Well, this has already happened. TinyOwl and PepperTap are a few of them. Both were backed by the mighty Sequoia Capital. TinyOwl expanded vigorously operating in 11 cities within 2 years of its operations while PepperTap focused on feasibility and started with small-sized Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities promising them under 2 hours delivery. The company missed to look at the trickle-down effect: Developing countries follow Developed countries with lag and Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities follow Tier-1 cities with a lag. It is not easy to reverse the order.
Remember the order: Who is followed by whom?
Dunzo’s Secret Sauce
Kabeer on the other hand is not selling a story coz he is a salesperson but coz he is trying to do something very interesting. Although the company is still not in the black and its losses are mounting quarter after quarter, Kabeer is hopeful of turning the company profitable. The onslaught of pandemic and everyone keeping a safe distance has helped the company in pressing the pedal and showing a solid topline growth.
The quirky ads that I used to see on the Bangalore billboards still run deep into Dunzo’s DNA. Every time I see their wordplay in my app notifications I get reminded of a few of the first journeys I took when I started working.
Remember the DNA: Dunzo’s Quirkiness
