VMPL
New Delhi [India], October 1: How does a start-up persuade customers to believe in a new business? That question runs through Nobody Believes You Yet, a new book by Harsh Pamnani and Vargab Bakshi, which draws on insights from ten leading Indian venture capital firms and case studies of 16 start-ups.
The book argues that product-market fit alone may not be enough to build a lasting business. Its central idea, “trust-market fit”, looks at how young companies can earn credibility with customers as they sell, grow and compete in India.
Rather than assuming that frameworks developed for Silicon Valley will work everywhere, Pamnani and Bakshi examine the realities of taking a business to market in India. They draw on original conversations with partners from Accel, Blume Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Fireside Ventures, India Quotient, Kalaari Capital, Lightspeed, Peak XV, Z47 and 3one4 Capital.
The book includes 30 case-study chapters spanning 16 start-ups and brands, including Skyroot, Darwinbox, Emergent, InVideo, Ather and Underneat. The cases bring together the perspectives of investors, founders and operators on the choices involved in winning customers and scaling a business.
“Founders often focus on building a product customers need, but they also have to make a young company feel dependable to people encountering it for the first time. We wrote this book to explore how Indian companies can build that confidence as they go to market and scale,” said Pamnani and Bakshi.
The book also examines the challenges of taking AI-led and highly technical products to market, including how companies can make complex or less visible technologies easier for customers to understand, trust and buy.
The authors say the book grew out of conversations with founders, investors and business-school communities. While go-to-market is one of the defining challenges for start-ups, they found that much of the existing literature draws on American markets and does not fully reflect the conditions Indian businesses face.
Nobody Believes You Yet has received endorsements from business and academic leaders including Sanjiv Mehta, executive chairman of L Catterton India and former chairman and CEO of HUL; Prashanth Prakash, founding partner of Accel India; Avnish Bajaj, founder and investor at Z47; Manoj Kohli, former country head of SoftBank India and former CEO and managing director of Bharti Airtel; and Anindya Ghose, professor at NYU Stern School of Business. The book is available on Amazon.
About the authors
Harsh Pamnani is a marketer, brand storyteller and bestselling business author. Over nearly two decades, he has worked with FirstCry, Icertis, Deloitte, Cognizant, the World Bank, HSBC and T-Hub. He has authored more than 100 articles for publications including Forbes, The Economic Times and Financial Express, and is a seven-time TEDx speaker. He teaches storytelling, design thinking and branding at institutions including IIM Indore, IIM Mumbai and MICA Ahmedabad. He holds an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, and a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from IET-DAVV, Indore. More information is available at www.harshpamnani.com.
Vargab Bakshi is a growth leader and operator who has helped build and scale global internet businesses in India. He was among the early leaders to launch and grow Shopify in India, later serving as vice president and country head for Wix India. He is now chief growth officer at GoKwik, where he leads global growth for a platform serving direct-to-consumer brands. Bakshi also runs Grow Kwik, a content platform for founders and operators with more than 500,000 followers across Instagram and YouTube. He advises and invests in start-ups across SaaS, consumer technology, AI and Web3, and has taught at institutions including IIMs, IITs, SP Jain, Narsee Monjee and Welingkar.
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Ten VC firms, 16 start-ups and one question about building businesses in India
