Nikhil Joseph

Founder - The Postbox. Ex Meta. Can never settle. Consumer Brands, Carry Culture, Formula 1, Cricket, Equity Markets, Architecture. Long on the India story!

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

🤣 Incredible!

[Arindam Paul @arindam___paul]

As someone who sells mixer grinders, let me tell you that Tamil Nadu is the largest market for grinders. And by a long long way

And grinder is often misspelt in search. Liking “ciling fan”

So I don’t think this graphic can conclude that TN has the highest use of some same sex dating app just coz the app is called “grindr”

[Sagar Awatade @SagarAwatade]

I don't know who else to tell this to, so I am going to tell my story here.

Every day is a struggle for a young business, but the last few months have been harder than usual.

We are a small Indian company. For more than ten years we have been building a homegrown brand in a product category dominated by big foreign players.

There are almost no Indian names in this space. We set out to be one.

We started in 2014. Over the years we began making parts in India instead of just importing, and we started selling in the US, Dubai, Nepal, Malaysia and South Africa.

We showed up at global trade fairs to represent an Indian brand on the world stage.

In 2023 we changed the import code we use for our product. We did not do this quietly. Every shipment was declared. Nothing was hidden. We didn't invent our approach.

We followed written professional advice and the way this product is treated in markets around the world.

And now we are facing a government demand running into tens of crores in duty recovery and penalties, plus personal penalties on the founders and even on an employee.

For a company our size, this is not a fine we can pay and move on from. This ends us.

We have not run from any of this. I am not built like that. It is not how I was raised. We have written to the authorities, met officials in person, and we have now filed a writ in the High Court.

All we are asking for is a fair treatment.

I set out to build in India and sell to the world. I am asking only that the system back honest founders trying to compete globally, instead of breaking them.

The process is the process, and it exists for a reason. But process should not feel like punishment.

From where I am standing today, it does.
I am not giving up. I have worked too hard for this. If you have read this far, please share it. If you know someone who can help, point them my way. Help me get the word out.

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

FML

[Peter Czepiga @peterczepiga]

FACEBOOK IS DOWN
INSTAGRAM IS DOWN
META ADS MANAGER IS DOWN
QUICK EVERYONE GO OUTSIDE AND TOUCH GRASS

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

When the product and values are solid you inevitably 🚀 Remember visiting their first store in Indiranagar. At that time, the per sqft rev from the store was one of the highest in the country. Top stuff.

[Tarun Mehta @tarunsmehta]

There was a lot of concern when we had filed the DRHP as to why we are investing in additional capacity already. Back then, we were at 30-40% utilization, and investing in capacity which would 2x or 3x that, seemed like a crazy idea.

Fast forward to today:
we've crossed 90% utilization and will have to try and find ways to go above 100% in the coming weeks!

The new factory can't go live fast enough!

Excited about Factory 3.0 at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar now

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

Incredible stuff! My In-laws are part of the morning batch every day.

[Ishan Sukul @isawsukul]

Say hello to the GRAND DADDY of all consumer startups in India. Does 70% EBITDA, 60%+ PAT @ 300Cr+ run rate (approx). Habuild is probably the craziest thing I've seen come out of India
- Founder is an IIT BHU grad that just taught Yoga/mediation after unit
- Amassed a massive following - 3M+ on Youtube to be precise
- Bootstraps Habuild with his sister and uni friend in 2022
- Biz blitscales, growing 3x YoY. 6L+ reported users now, 240Cr+ run rate @ 3499 avg package
- Users seem to be mostly baby boomers and senior citizens, untapped market imo
- My estimate is that this is probably more now, given these guys have a GREAT engine for user acquisition
- So many fitness products (Sarva, Cult etc) have come out of India, but I've never seen something like this. Even Pankaj Chaddah (ex Zomato founder) is still building something similar in the Yoga/meditation space (Mindhouse/Shyft), but nowhere close

Fkn mental, only early Physicswallah probably comes close

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

@BambinoShopify CRO

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

Our benchmark has to be sky high if we are to build a world class city. We currently have the worst airport in the country by a long mile - amongst metros. The drop in capacity is because airlines have pulled out. Airlines have pulled out because of poor infrastructure upgrades.

We’re already very very late here and things need to move very fast otherwise we are staring at a situation that will not be pretty.

Leave human traffic, I’ve gone to the logistics hub at MAA. It’s a complete mess.

JFK, Heathrow, Vietnam, HKG, BKK, DXB amongst others - I’ve been to. All major trade zones, and clear transit points to the world. Well connected to main cities with a metro network pand buses.

[Manish Singh @refsrc]

In FY21, Apple India's revenue was less than half of Hindustan Unilever's. Now it's more than double.

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

There aren’t enough third spaces. We have a problem getting great high EQ talent down here because just 300kms away, they’ve got a tech system built ground up that has only compounded over the last decade. Ready to give inputs but there needs to be a whole new policy change and reset of the narrative. The next generation don’t just want well paying jobs, they want a full blown collaborative ecosystem.

What we have here is largely SAAS forward and even that is moving towards Delhi NCR, and the like.

[SK @7_5_Cobra]

Chennai holds virtually zero appeal for even for non-resident Tamils who grew up in major metros like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, or overseas.

Having spent my formative years on the West Coast across Mumbai, Daman, Goa, and Gujarat which sensitised me to an urban, highly cosmopolitan lifestyle mindset. But transitioning to Chennai for university feels like hitting a cultural brick wall; the city comes across as incredibly homogeneous, insular, and flat-out boring.

The city completely lacks a distinct, independent youth culture.

Instead, the social fabric is entirely dominated by an older demographic, conservative boomers and culture kangers who fiercely enforce traditional norms. Tamils outside TN don't do such antics themselves.

Because the lifestyle is dictated by elder-approved routines, there is a massive deficit of casual public activities, vibrant nightlife, or engaging weekend avenues to build a high-quality, modern social life.

The economic landscape also mirrors this rigid, old-school mentality.

Chennai is highly rewarding if you are in the manufacturing or blue-collar sectors, but it is an incredibly difficult terrain for white-collar career growth.

The tech ecosystem is overwhelmingly dominated by massive, process-driven IT service companies with strict hierarchies.

Outside of a highly concentrated SaaS pocket, there is a severe deficit of aggressively funded, product-based tech companies or global R&D hubs, creating a definitive growth ceiling for ambitious professionals.

Over the time, the emigration of highly skilled educated graduates and professionals in TN to overseas or to other cities in India is only going to intensity. It already has started BTW.

And people in TN will still continue to remain the same and vote for people in TVK, DMK etc. Even the BJP in TN is the same as the other parties.

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

@DeepakVisva My breakfast on most days for the last two years.

3 boiled eggs
100gms of low fat Greek yoghurt / Skyr now with chia seeds, 10 almonds and fruit mixed with 1 tbsp of honey. I get my honey from yercaud.

Your gut will 🙏

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

I’m entirely convinced that the key to life and happiness is having low expectations for things outside your control and high expectations for things within it.

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

Some of the best pizza I’ve had. Went back twice a few years ago when I was in Vietnam. Also, the design and architecture of each branch is something else. Featured on Dezeen too. Great story.

[Masuko/Pizza 4P’s 益子 🇯🇵🇮🇳🇺🇸🇻🇳🇰🇭🇮🇩 @Yo_maco]

Pizza 4P’sのカンダナ語訳に関して、信じられないくらい沢山のコメントをいただき（多くがポジティブ）、本当に光栄です🙏
まだご存知ない方のために、少し背景をお話しさせてください。
「4P’s」は「For Peace」に由来しています。Inner Peace（心の平和）を提供したいという思いから名付けました。私たちのビジョンである「Make the world smile for peace」にもつながるのです。
自分自身の経験を通して、幸せというのは最終的には自分自身が決めるものだと考えていて、そのきっかけとなれるような場所でありたい、という思いが名前に込められています。

友人とピザ窯を作って皆に振る舞ったのがきっかけでこの道へ。当時、友人の死をきっかけにうつ病を患っていましたが、「人に喜んでもらうことが自分が生きている価値になる」と気づき、一緒にピザ窯を作った仲間、そして妻と共に開業💪。
当時ベトナムにフレッシュなモッツァレラはなく、牧場探しから始め、YouTubeで独学しながら半年間自宅キッチンから試行錯誤し😅、ピザ屋オープンに漕ぎ着けました。

2号店目の開業時に4年間貯めた1号店の利益を全投入しようとしたところ、工事中に「建設許可が下りない」と言われ資金をほぼ失いました。その後、ベトナム人投資家からプライベートエクイティへ、現在は日本の経済産業省のファンドにも株主になってもらっています。

コロナ禍は30店舗が全て営業停止に。個人投資家やハノイの株式市場で債券を発行し、数百万ドルを借りてなんとか乗り越えました。文字通り、死ぬかと思いました🤮

インド進出を決めたのには、個人的な理由もあります。4P’sを始めるずっと前、道に迷っていた時期、インド北部リシケシでヨガとメディテーションの修行を半年ほど行い、1週間の断食も初めて経験しました。
インドは僕にとって、文字通り人生が変わった場所。そんな特別な思いがあったからこそ、この地を選びました。
今は娘二人も一緒に家族で移り住み3年目。
難しいマーケットなので自ら先頭を切るつもりで挑んでいます。
バンガロール3号店の場所も決定し、2027年にはムンバイBKCでのオープンも予定。
現地の方々と何度も試食を重ねながらメニューを作っています💪

また、インドの次は「アジアのPizza 4P’s」から「世界のPizza 4P’s」へ。
そんな思いでニューヨーク出店を決めました。ニューヨーク店のテーマは「Earth Child」、
人、自然が一体となって感じられる世界観——私たちはそれを「ワンネス」と呼んでいます——を体現した店づくりを目指しています。
ミシュランスターシェフや尊敬するクリエイターたちと共に、メニューからクリエイティブまで、このテーマに沿って尽力しています。
今までにないPizza 4P’sになると思うので、本当に楽しみです🙌
世界中からわざわざニューヨークまで足を運んでいただけるような店を作ります🔥

7月4日オープン予定🗽
どうぞよろしくお願いします！
#pizza4ps

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

@DeepakVisva Cold coffee

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

@kamal_razzak @binghott @iamshackelford @DenneyDara @sourfraser @MatthewGattozzi @pkennedy93 @thedennis @harrydelmege_ @heyitsalexP Strat

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

@kamal_razzak BOOKS

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

There's a physicist at Stanford named Safi Bahcall who modeled this exact principle and the math is wild.

He calls it "phase transitions in human networks." When you're stationary, your probability of a lucky event is limited to your existing surface area: the people you already know, the places you already go, the ideas you've already been exposed to. Your opportunity window is fixed.

When you move, your collision rate with new nodes in a network increases nonlinearly. Double your movement (new conversations, new cities, new projects) and your probability of a serendipitous encounter doesn't double. It roughly quadruples. Because each new node connects you to their entire network, not just to them.

Richard Wiseman ran a 10-year study at the University of Hertfordshire tracking self-described "lucky" and "unlucky" people. The single biggest differentiator wasn't IQ, education, or family money. Lucky people scored significantly higher on one trait: openness to experience. They talked to strangers more, varied their routines more, and said yes to invitations at nearly twice the rate.

The "unlucky" group followed the same routes, ate at the same restaurants, and talked to the same 5 people. Their networks were closed loops. No new inputs, no new collisions.

Luck isn't random. Luck is surface area. And surface area is a function of movement.

The lobster emoji is doing more work than most people realize. Lobsters grow by shedding their shell when it gets too tight. The growth requires a period of total vulnerability. No protection, no armor, soft body exposed to the ocean.

That's the cost of movement nobody posts about. You have to be uncomfortable first. The new shell only hardens after you've already moved.

[Nikhil Joseph @Nikjoe1990]

@DeepakVisva Majority of TAM is not on twitter.