What to scale in business? Part 2 of WWH of Scaling series

                               What to scale in business?  Part 2 of WWH of Scaling series

I hope you read and liked my previous article on When to scale as part of the series of WWH of scaling. 

In this blog I will tell you about What to scale. You will say of course I will scale my product, but there are many internal and external factors to be considered before finalizing product features, revenue model, pricing, etc.

So, What to scale?

If your product is successful in one or two markets it doesn’t guarantee that it will be hit in any market. Edtech startups like Byjus, Udemy got good traction in metro cities since 2018 but in tier-3 cities it was not gaining that traction till 2019 end.

Before scaling in newer markets, in-depth market research is required to be conducted by management team. It shall cover –

Competitor analysis

Consumer behavior

Taste and preferences

Demography & Culture

Purchasing power

Survey

Right product & service -

After above market research and its findings, entrepreneur can make changes in product placement, if required. This changes can be product design, taste colour, packaging, presentation.

Preferences of customers in south can be different than in north. If I take example of a fine dining restaurant – in south people with prefer more dishes of fish in non-veg while in north preference is chicken.  Similarly, in north consumer prefer spicy while in south preference is for low spicy.  In short, if you don’t have a product-market fit then your business will fail in that market.

Pricing 

Is highly crucial factor that decides the way forward. Indian market is very price sensitive. Competitors’ pricing and offerings need to be compared meticulously and accordingly product pricing shall be finalised.

In case of Saloon industry, for metro cities like Mumbai & Delhi a man haircut may cost Rs. 250 but in tier 2 or 3 cities like Jaipur, Indore, Pune saloon may not charge more than Rs 100 to 150 initially. 

Shotang a Bangaluru based startup that was into B2B lifestyle goods, connecting manufacturers and suppliers and getting commission on transaction, failed due to high competition like India mart, Just dial. 

Once your product and pricing strategies are finalized as per the findings of the new market, then comes the promotion part. I will cover this in my next blog of this series i.e. How to scale.

With warm regards,

Amit Pamnani
Ex-VC | Mentor | Angel Network


(P.S. your comments are motivation for me.)