The 10-Lakh App No One Wanted
Hello Minters,
Welcome to this week’s edition!
My goal with this newsletter is simple: To bring you the most interesting and insightful stories from the world of startups, business, and innovation, all in one place.
Let’s start?
The 10-Lakh App No One Wanted
(story shared by Shreekesh Pillai)
Ready for a quick lesson that could save you a truck-load of cash?
In 2018, Shreekesh sat outside a parking garage, refreshing his phone.
“Only 3 users.”
Eight months of work. Ten lakh rupees spent. Three downloads. That’s it.
What went “right”
Clean, bug-free code
Slick design
Every feature the team could dream up
What went wrong
They never spoke to a single customer.
People weren’t ready for mobile parking payments back then.
Great product, wrong timing and no real demand.
Plain-Speak Takeaway 🥡
Build with your ears before you build with your hands.
Talk to users, validate the pain, and then write a single line of code.
Quick Starter Checklist
Call 5 potential users before opening your editor.
Ask one question: “What annoys you about [problem] today?”
Listen. If the pain is real, they’ll rant. If not, pivot fast.
What’s one question you can ask customers today to avoid a 10-lakh mistake? Hit reply, I’d love to hear it.
Share this with a founder who’s coding in silence and thank Shreekesh Pillai for the cautionary tale.
10,000 Pitch Decks Later: Here’s What Everyone Is Building
(insight courtesy of Aviral Bhatnagar, Founder @ A Junior VC)
AJVC’s deal-flow dashboard saw a massive surge in new applications. Out of thousands of applications, Aviral spotted the exact same problem being tackled by multiple teams, sometimes dozens of them. Here’s his scoreboard:
“Execution is everything.” — Aviral Bhatnagar
Why This Matters to You
Problem ≠ Moat.
If 17 other decks nail the same pitch, investors will ask, “Why you?”Competition ≠ Validation (Yet)
Crowded spaces prove demand and signal low barriers to entry. Your moat must appear by slide three or you’re toast.Timing ≠ Differentiation.
Arriving early helps, but shipping better helps more.
Takeaway 🥡
Ideas are free; unfair advantages aren’t.
Before you raise a seed round on “the next big thing,” audit what only you can defend:
“Why will we survive the idea-glut?”
– Unique distribution?
– Proprietary data?
– Unfair cost structure?
– Fanatically loyal niche?
Question of the Week
What’s your unfair advantage and how will it still hold when 16 clones show up?
Hit reply; I read every response.
Share this with a founder who thinks “having the idea” is the hard part and thank Aviral Bhatnagar for dropping the data.
The ₹100 Cr Startup That Ditched NCR for the Beach
(as told by Varun Chawla, co-founder of 91Springboard)
Eight years back, 91Springboard was blazing through India’s co-working boom.
₹100 Cr ARR, packed offices, talent pouring in.
On paper? Perfect.
In real life? Chikungunya, 200-point AQI, and three-hour commutes. The founding team was killing it at work and getting killed by the environment.
So they ran an experiment.
Criteria: near nature, talent-friendly, affordable, livable.
Metros failed the vibe check; Tier-2s felt off.
Goa slid into the shortlist and stayed.
Families balked. Some teammates stayed behind. But the founders took the plunge.
(Full credit to Varun for sharing this journey.)
What Happened Next
Sick days plummeted, fresh food became default, morning surf replaced morning smog.
Turns out smart people like sunshine, remote work made relocation optional, lifestyle made it desirable.
Space to think birthed build3 and a budding startup ecosystem.
The same spouse who once vetoed Goa now refuses to leave.
Why This Matters to You
Naval Ravikant’s trifecta: What you do. Who you do it with. Where you live.
Most founders obsess over the first two. The third quietly sets your ceiling.
Your city is more than a pin code, it’s your operating system:
🚧 Brutal commutes: Burnout, low focus
😷 Poor air quality: Brain fog, sick-leave spikes
💸 High living costs: Shorter runway, hiring pain
Takeaway 🥡
Choose a place that adds energy instead of draining it, and watch every KPI bend upward.
Quick Self-Audit
Stress Score: How many hours a week does your city steal?
Health Check: Are you treating cough syrups like subscriptions?
Runway Reality: Could the same salary buy you 2× life elsewhere?
If you answered “too high,” “yes,” and “no,” it might be time to open Google Maps and dream a little.
✈️ Your Move: If you could build anywhere, where would you set up HQ—and why? Hit reply; I read every response.
“Ship, Sprint, Sleep-Deprived, Repeat”
(Battle-notes from Ankita Gupta’s viral post, go give her a follow)
Startups aren’t for everyone.
Here’s Ankita’s nine-point crash course in why:
Brutal customer feedback? Ship a new service in 24 hrs.
Lose a deal on price? Rebuild the pricing model overnight.
Prospect free tomorrow? Catch the red-eye and beat them to the room.
Teammate down sick? Cover their calls, commit their code, close the upsell.
Demo dies five minutes pre-meeting? Rebuild it live, mid-Zoom.
Competitor flexes a “game-changing” feature? Drop one 10× better by Sunday.
Database crashes at 3 AM? Whole crew in Slack, fix by 4.
Can’t hire the expert? Become the expert in two nights.
Key player quits? Thank them, absorb the workload, keep building.
This is what building looks like.
– Ankita Gupta
Takeaway
Startups reward resilience, not résumés.
The winners aren’t the smartest, they’re the ones still awake at 3 AM, fixing the thing that can’t wait.
Full credit to Ankita Gupta for the reality check, plus a shout-out to everyone lighting up her comment section.
Handpicked Jobs in the Startup Ecosystem for You
1. Finance Controller → future CFO | RAS Luxury Skincare
Raipur (HQ) / Mumbai | 3-5 yrs D2C e-commerce finance
Own P&L, margins, capital & risk across factory + brand teams; report directly to founder. Must be razor-accurate, cost-obsessed, systems-driven. Base Raipur (or Mumbai with ~10 days/mo in Raipur). Series A closed, high-growth beauty brand.
Posted by: Shubhika Jain, founder & CEO, RAS Luxury
Apply: recruitments@rasluxuryoils.com & shubhika@rasluxuryoils.com (subject “Finance Controller – LinkedIn”).
2. Finance Head → future CFO – Let’s Try (Delhi)
Must have: 4 yrs+ CA/CFA; own FP&A, audits, ERP, due-diligence; Should have led a senior role in an organisation in key decision making profile.
Posted by: Nitin Vinod Kalra, Founder Let’s Try
Apply: hr@earthcrust.co.in
3. HR / Industrial-Relations Lead | Tata Electronics
Hosur plant, Manufacturing HR with statutory-compliance muscle
Handle IR, grievances and shop-floor engagement as Tata scales its precision-components factory.
Posted by: Dhanusha Rathinam, Sr HR Business Partner, Tata Electronics
Apply: DM Dhanusha on LinkedIn with your résumé.
4. Growth-Phase Digital-Agency Roles | OLBUZ Ahmedabad (5-day, office)
Open roles:
PPC Exec (2-3 yrs)
WordPress FE Dev (2-3 yrs)
Ops Mgr (7 yrs+, digital mktg)
Social-Media Exec (1-2 yrs)
Jr SEO + Jr Travel Exec (1-2 yrs)
Google-Premier Partner; collaborative culture.
Posted by: Jignesh Gohel, Founder & Head of Digital, OLBUZ.
Apply: hr@olbuz.com | 📞 +91 63539 67672
5. Full-Stack Devs (x2) & Founder’s-Office Generalist | EMotorad
Pune, in-office, TypeScript / Node / Next; or 3-5 yrs “chaos” operator
Build software & strategy for India’s fastest-growing e-cycle brand; zero HR hoops, direct to founders.
Posted by: Aditya Oza, Co-founder & CMO, EMotorad
Apply: DM Aditya with GitHub/CV.
6. Full-Stack Web-Dev Mentor | WsCube Tech
Jaipur (onsite training) · Teach MERN/Laravel/WordPress; shape 1000s of learners.
Posted by: Bhagirath Giri, Managing Director, WsCube Tech
Apply: careers@wscubetech.com (subject “Web-Dev Mentor”)
7. Product Manager, Generative AI | Shiprocket
Gurgaon (office) · 2-3 yrs PM; ownership of gen-AI road-map, full lifecycle, founder mindset a must.
Posted by: Sachin Kumar, Tech Recruiting, Shiprocket
Apply: Via online form↗
8. Tax Associate (FTE) | ReviseTax
Hyderabad (office) · Compliance prep + smart tax-saving for D2C clients; CA Inter/Article preferred.
Posted by: Anuram Vajrapu, Founder, ReviseTax
Apply: anuram@revisetax.in or DM on LinkedIn.
9. Investor Relations Associate | Jar (shared by Bounce CEO)
Bengaluru / hybrid · 3-4 yrs IR/IB; craft investor comms & reporting as the micro-savings app scales.
Posted by: Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO & Co-Founder, Bounce (signal-boosting Jar)
Apply: Ping Vivekananda, Sandesh Nahar or Jar’s HR via LinkedIn.
10. Business Relationship Manager – Banks & NBFCs | AbleCredit
Bengaluru · Own partnerships, DSA onboarding, revenue targets.
Posted by: Deepak Seshadri, Founders’ Office & New Initiatives
Apply: hr@ablecredit.com or WhatsApp +91-9036034610
11. Sr. Cloud-Security, DevOps, Azure Eng., Data Analytics – Loginsoft
Open Roles (Senior Level):
Cloud Security Expert (AWS/GCP experience) – High Priority
DevOps Engineer – Skilled in deploying policies across Azure Tenant environments
Azure Engineer – Strong development background & Cloud BE baseline expertise
Data Analytics Professional – Who can turn raw data into actionable insights
Join a trillion-$ client roster; build secure, scalable systems.
Posted by: Omkar Nath Nandi, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, Loginsoft
Apply: send CV to schedella@loginsoft.com or reach out to Subbu Chedella
Before You Hit “Send” on Your Week
Remember: a startup isn’t defined by its pitch deck or funding round, it’s shaped in those 3 AM moments when nobody’s watching and quitting feels easiest.
So as you log off:
Choose one tough task you’ve been avoiding. Start it today, even if you only make a tiny dent.
Message one person who helped you this week gratitude fuels momentum.
Write tomorrow’s first action on a sticky note and leave it on your laptop. Wake up with purpose pre-loaded.
Your edge isn’t unlimited hours; it’s relentless intent.
Build relentlessly. Rest intentionally. Repeat.
See you in the next edition: stronger, smarter, and still standing.
Thank you for reading.