S01E02 - How to sell veg biryani?

A week ago, if you asked me to set up a business to sell veg biryani, this is how it would go:

1. Make the most kickass veg biryani there ever was!

2. Get a bunch of my friends over and ask them to try it and promote me.

3. My carnivorous friends will crib about it being pulao and not veg biryani.

4. I will cry about my failed attempt and probably give the old-fashioned genocide a second thought.

Well, it wouldn't exactly go this way, but you see my point.

Up until now, I believed

Building a business = Creating an awesome product

I was wrong.

Awesome product + Right Marketing = $$$

You can cook the greatest veg biryani in the world, but if you try to sell it to a meat lover during iftar, it will probably end violently.

How do we sell veg biryani then?

Before I begin, a huge shoutout to AP for conducting a great session on acquisition during the first week of GrowthX Bootcamp. In a 4-hour session, he got me thinking about acquisition in a structured way.

Here is me applying the framework to our biryani problem:

Step 1 | Acceptance

Understand and accept the fact that running a biryani business is not a mere 4-step process. You better be ready to pull all the big guns.

Step 2 | Get your product right

Make sure that your biryani is absolutely kickass for you to retain customers, and not kickstart a negative feedback loop. Just to be clear, we want only happy customers, none of that 'all publicity is good publicity' bullshit.

Step 3 | Find out who is your customer

My first mistake was to test my product with a group of people who don't need my product.

Why in the world would my ever-so-charmingly-rude bunch of carnivore friends eat veg biryani? These idiots ordered chicken during my birthday treat just so I wouldn't eat their food. I knew better than to invite them to a vegetarian feast.

The point is when you sell or test the biryani, get your customer right.

Maybe they are gujjus from Ghatkopar who are suckers for vegetarian food or maybe they are that bunch of vegetarians who just want to stick it to the smug मांसाहारी who go around screeching, "Veg Biryani does not exist, its called pulao".

Step 4 | Know your customer

Get to know your biryani enthusiasts and figure out:

🗺 Where they get their biryani? 🍛 Do they like raita or salan with their biryani? 🎵 Is their go-to music app Spotify or Wynk? 📺 Are they Netflix or Zee lovers? ⏰ What triggers their urge to eat biryani?

You should know anything and everything about them.

For all you know, an ad while listening to Atif Aslam's playlist on Spotify is all you ought to do to bring your customers around.

Step 5 | Create a perception

Now there are hundreds of people selling veg biryani. Why should someone buy it from you?

You have to give your customers the motivation to choose you over others.

You could sell as "Maa-ke-haath-ki Biryani" or as "Late-night-hunger-pangs Biryani" or as "The Veg. Biryani Club". There are hundred different ways to create perception and uniqueness, find out which one applies to your customers.

Step 6 | Make sure your customers know you

You have a product, you know who your customer is and what they want, the next step is to introduce your biryani to them.

Think of all the possible channels you can leverage to reach them:

Paid ads on social media (Paid) Optimize search results on google (Organic) Word of mouth via Whatsapp forwards (Referrals) Reviews on food blogs (Content Loops)

...1000 more ways

Step 7 | Setup your distribution

Now that you've got your customer wanting to eat your veg biryani, ensure they know exactly where to find you. If you are selling on Swiggy then the ads should link to your Swiggy Store. If you are selling via Whatsapp, then your message should have the details to reach you.

Always have a call to action after your customer discovers you.

Step 8 | Deliver on your promise

You absolutely have to give the customer exactly what they signed up for.

That will determine whether you continue to sell your veg biryanis or get stuck with pulao. And let's be real, pulao is hella boring.

Step 9 | Scale Scale Scale

You are all set now, the only question that remains is how big do you want to go?

Best veg biryani for friends? Most mouth-watering veg biryani in Mumbai? Top veg biryani in India? It's for you to figure!

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What is your biryani?

First of all, I hope you all understand that I am not a biryani selling bawarchi, who has gone absolutely nuts. The biryani is an analogy to get you all thinking about user acquisition in a certain way.

I am not attempting to teach you or tell you about how user acquisition is done. Frankly, I am not too sure myself. However,

I do hope that the next time you decide to create your own veg biryani, 1. Ask yourself some hard questions 2. Deep dive into your customer base 3. Pick and experiment on channels 4. Deliver on your product promise

Thanks for reading! :)

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Hey! I am Rutvi.

Thanks for checking out The Startup life.

It’s my escape from the daily rut and I hope to become a better version of myself through writing.

I do product management at my day gig and writing by the night. Also, a Mumbai girl and marine drive is ♥️