Gautam Balijepalli

Co-founder & CEO of Kouzina ( We create, acquire & operate new age delivery led F&B brands through a partner network. Ex VC.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

Everyone talks about building an entrepreneurial culture. Easier said than done.

We’ve been hiring ex-entrepreneurs. Culture comes from people more than slogans!

#buildingculture #culture

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@b50 Online Sales via Aggregators is not counted here and those are at a lower contribution margin. Commissions and other deductions reduce the CM. In today's day and age, online is unavoidable

If the 1000 includes online orders, the breakeven and payback math is way off.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

We are just getting started in India for Food Delivery. Significant opportunity to grow multifold.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

Franchising productively aligns incentives and divides labour. It works well for distributed operations

Very well put by The Economist (https://t.co/zsuW3cQT9p).

With close to 400 entrepreneurs working with Kouzina, we are big believers.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

In the age of AI, running a McDonald’s may soon look a lot more appealing!!

- The Economist (https://t.co/oE8ZN3StSP)

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@refsrc We have partners running our brands across T2/T3 cities. From Dibrugarh to Eluru to Cuddalore or Roorkee.

Consumption is big across India. It is just that consumers lacked options. Floodgates open once you create good branded options.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@madhavchanchani @vijayshekhar This is brilliant. 7 years into this journey, I am absolutely in agreement. Having this play out in my previous avatar too.

Staying power >> Speed.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

This is absolutely relevant in the world on online delivery. Descriptions are fine print, no customer reads them. What you see is what you should get! Great realistic photos win customers in the world of food delivery.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@ravihanda IMHO only 5-10% VC Funds return capital to LPs adjusted for hurdle rate. That should answer your question. Not data backed, but it can be validated.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@vikas_revivo Best wishes. We are living through that every single day at Kouzina!

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@kunalb11 Only if you have good chemistry with AI :-)!

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@kawal279 They say McDonald’s became huge during the early days partly because clean washrooms. People stopped for the restroom in new places, trusted the experience, and ended up buying a burger too.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@rajeshsawhney Distribution is God. Distribution creates a brand. That is music to my ears.

We have done exactly that to an industry that was once close to you - F&B! Scaled multi-brand cloud kitchens through a distributed network of partners.

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

@Ajahagirdar We’ve been seeing this play out in F&B for a few years now. Consumption across Bharat is big!

Us folks from the metros have been looking at it through tainted glasses all along

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

"Swiggy/Zomato users order roughly 3.5 times per month, while DoorDash users are closer to 5.4 times per month"

Most of the additional orders due to increased frequency will accrue to larger players with a presence across India. Kouzina is in a good place and has good company!

[Rahul Mathur @Rahul_J_Mathur]

Last yr, Swiggy & Zomato delivered 150 crore food orders to our houses

Exactly 10 yrs ago, this category was nascent - Swiggy had raised a $35m Series C for its full logistics model & Zomato had completed its Series G making it a unicorn

Even today, Indian food delivery has headroom. Swiggy/Zomato users order roughly 3.5 times per month, while DoorDash users are closer to 5.4 times per month.

To summarize: Zomato is the better food delivery business today. Swiggy is the more interesting product-innovation story. Both deserve credit. This category is still compounding.

PS: I am expecting impatient readers to comment "what about service quality?" - these are metrics mere mortals like us cannot access. Reviews, Comments & personal anecdotes highlight edge cases (1%) which aren't representative 😇

Discl: Views are my own. Shared for informational purposes only. DYOR. This post is not financial advice. I am a shareholder of Eternal. Family & affiliates may hold shares of Swiggy directly or through MF holdings.

[Rahul Mathur @Rahul_J_Mathur]

Swiggy v/s Zomato - which is a better food delivery business?

This question has been playing on my mind for a year now.

I studied the last 3 yrs financials of both companies to find the answer - the data shows that:

> Zomato has 37% more orders

> Zomato has ~39% more monthly transacting customers

> Zomato has ~2x Food Delivery EBITDA

The answer is clear:

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

Highly recommend reading this fantastic article - https://t.co/oDXlpcY3L4

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

Skin in the game matters. Creates high agency. Agency is what drives progress.

“Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce [than intelligence].” - Andrej Karpathy <1/N>

[Gautam Balijepalli @TheDesiVC]

350+ partners with skin in the game drive Kouzina forward.

We also have 8 ex-entrepreneurs on our core team. This has been our biggest hiring unlock.

Hiring ex-entrepreneurs. Someone who has been contrarian. It has made a big difference at Kouzina! Should work for others too!