Chhotu – The Logistics Startup (Part 1)

This blog is first in a series of Human Stories about Startups.

These Human Stories are created using a combination of interviews with founders, understanding the back-story, digging out mundane yet critical details, creating a picture of the market they operate in and unfortunately my own analysis (prejudices). These are not about numbers and targets, but about the path which a bunch of fantastic people decide to take. My focus on these Human stories stems from the fact that most of the available material on Indian Startups is replete with insufficient research, restricted by word count, lots of Masala (Startup commentators usually miss out on the meat of the story) and just not enough commitment to telling a story.

In short, I endeavour to write about the journey of a Startup. Past, Present and Future.

This is the first part of a two part blog post on Chhotu.

Introduction

My meeting was at an nondescript society, one of many that have mushroomed up all over Rohini. I was finally going to meet two guys who had been talking to me over the phone and through emails for the last 4-5 months. I was really kicked, a hundred questions being formed and discarded simultaneously in my mind.

Here were two really young ambitious guys who had decided to create a startup which ventures into an area considered ‘messy’ ‘unsexy’ ‘over-crowded’ by scores of other aspiring entrepreneurs. They are creating value and finding solutions to real world problems when others are using the CCP (Cut Copy Paste) approach to build startups in the name of innovation.

 Walking into their building on a lazy sunday evening, I was surrounded by flats with ageing couples, chattering housewives, carpenters building cupboards and the odd snoring watchman. I wondered how anyone could get any serious work done in such a place. After seeing my share of Startup cafes, Office Spaces, Meets and Workspaces, I understood the value of Ambient Energy.

As I entered the flat-converted-to-an-office, I realised how wrong I was. With the average age lesser than the legal drinking limit of Delhi (25 for the uninitiated), the place was filled with energy. At 4 in the evening. On a Sunday.    

And then I met Navneet and Aadhar, Co-Founders of the logistics startup Chhotu.

The Founders

Navneet Singh is the kind of guy who is comfortable in his skin and talks in a way peculiar to most entrepreneurs. Their conversation is in sync with their energy and thought process. Nothing is held back and the conversation meanders, just like a bunch of friends drunk on wine on the Countryside. It’s good fun, really.

After completing engineering from DCE, Navneet worked at a bunch of places though he always wanted to do this own thing. His work at Hughes Software Systems, Microsoft, Runaware and Clickable prepared him for his role as CTO of Chhotu which evolved into being the CEO.  He left Clickable, when the urge to do something beyond a ‘job’ just got too much and essentially sat at home for a while, working at a freelance project every now and then. Soon he was introduced to Aadhar by a common friend in June 2011 and that’s when things really started looking up for an unknown startup lost in the cacophony of Delhi’s business world.

That Startup was the baby of Aadhar Aggarwal, a young, sprightly, bundle of energy with a blunt head-on stare that forces you to take him seriously, regardless of his age. Though he started off as CEO of Chhotu, in a highly unusual and commendable action of understanding ones core strengths, Aadhar decided to look after operations as COO and hand over the other functions to Navneet, who then took over as CEO. Aadhar set the foundation for Chhotu in the end of 2010, though at that time it followed a different model all together.

Before all this, at the time of his graduation, he took the unusual step of working for an educational institution, SOIL – School of Inspired Leadership, instead of working for a major company. Sometime after that he started developing a keen interest in having his own setup and was supported in this thought by Anil Sachdev, the Founder and CEO of SOIL. After a year and a half of working at SOIL, at the age of 21, Aadhar decided to strike out on his own.

And Raasa was born.

 

Genesis

Raasa is the prologue chapter of this story, which may not be as significant as the climax to most, but is of great significance to those who truly wish to understand Chhotu and its success.

Raasa was born after Aadhar quit SOIL and he set up a startup which delivered fruits and vegetables. Sometime soon after that he tried to tap into the need of people wanting to get things picked up and dropped from their homes to various shops and vice-versa. He already had started developing a team of delivery boys to deliver fruits and vegetables and this seemed like a natural extension. Though the business model didn’t quite take off after that, the name, given to the hordes of efficient nameless delivery boys of our country, stuck. Chhotu.

Chhotu’s old avatar, as a point to point delivery startup, started off in the beginning of 2011 and once it was understood that the model was unstable and unviable, it evolved into a logistics service provider for eCommerce companies with a focus on end-mile delivery only.

In July 2011, after Navneet joined as CTO, Chhotu was a startup which picked up goods from warehouses within the city and delivered them at the house of the end recipient. This leg of logistics was chosen because this is where eCommerce companies fundamentally differed from other businesses in their usage of Courier companies. Knowingly or unknowingly these ecommerce companies had partnered with Courier companies as critical players in their Sale process.

How? Because unlike other countries, a majority of our purchases in India on eCommerce (non-travel) are done on Cash on Delivery (COD) basis. Which means that since the customer had not paid for the product or signed an agreement to do so, all he had done was consented to ‘see’ and ‘hold’ the product in his hands and then make a decision to buy the product by offering Cash on Delivery.

Chhotu understood that this is a real issue for eCommerce companies as end mile delivery is critical to them. However, Courier companies make money (sometimes more) even if the consignment is not accepted by the customer. Returns threatened to make the COD Business Model unviable.

And though 2011 was the year when most investors were taken in by the media hubris on eCommerce and were as excited as a bunch of monkeys in a peanut factory, a significant number of entrepreneurs and investors knew that this was a serious problem to be dealt with, sooner or later.

In Aug 2011, Navneet attended eCommerce forums and was immediately swamped with introductions and business cards. He realised that there was a big need for their services in the market because they were being embraced by potential clients rather than having to hunt them down. By now they knew that they were in the right space and they would have to scale. They were only a 20 people startup.

 By the end of 2011, Navneet and Aadhar had realised that their existing model as an end-mile delivery player for eCommerce companies will also have to be tweaked due to the ‘high quality yet low price’ demands of certain customers. Their focus on technology was paying them dividends but they would also have to start looking at Chhotu’s role differently. They would have to stop being a service provider and start behaving like a partner. An enabler. Or they would bleed money just like the rest of the eCommerce players.

Aadhar and Navneet are quick to also point out that some of their early customers and potential clients supported them through the last year in trying to build Chhotu into a responsive and relevant business.

They are also vocal about the kind of support they got from Super Angels of India and various people associated with them. They felt that more than funding, it was the kind of access, insight and support given by this group of individuals, that they have been able to do so much in such limited time.

Oh and their first customer was through cold calling.

Yes, cold calling works.

(Part 2 Here!)