Aniket Bajpai - AI Enabled Conversational Commerce

Welcome to the Indian Community Podcast, hosted by Amit Gupta and Rahul Mehra. In this captivating episode, we dive into the innovative world of AI and machine learning with Aniket Bajpai, the co-founder of LimeChat and a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree. Aniket's journey from groundbreaking research at IIT Delhi to reshaping e-commerce with conversational AI technology is nothing short of inspiring.

What's Inside:

🚀 Aniket's Entrepreneurial Drive: Discover what fueled Aniket's decision to embark on the entrepreneurial path, leaving behind lucrative job offers, and how his passion for innovation and desire to leave a legacy led to the birth of LimeChat.

💡 The Inception of LimeChat: Learn how the pandemic sparked a revolution in online shopping behaviors, prompting Aniket and his team to leverage their AI expertise to enhance the e-commerce experience through conversational commerce.

🌐 The Evolution of Conversational Commerce: Aniket discusses how LimeChat is paving the way for the future of e-commerce by harnessing the power of WhatsApp and other platforms, aiming to transform the way we interact, shop, and receive support online.

🤖 AI's Impact on E-Commerce: Gain insights into the challenges and opportunities in integrating AI into e-commerce, and how LimeChat is addressing these to provide personalized, efficient, and transformative shopping experiences.

📈 Strategies for D2C Brands: Aniket shares his expertise as a strategic advisor to over 300 D2C brands, highlighting the common challenges these brands face and how conversational AI can revolutionize customer engagement and brand loyalty.

🧠 Continuous Learning and Growth: Aniket emphasizes the importance of mentorship, continuous learning, and surrounding oneself with optimistic and supportive people as key factors in personal and professional growth.

🌟 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Listen to Aniket's invaluable advice for budding entrepreneurs on how to navigate the challenges of starting a new venture and the mindset required to succeed in the dynamic world of startups.

Join us in this enlightening conversation as Aniket Bajpai shares his visionary insights, experiences, and the transformative potential of conversational AI in the ever-evolving landscape of e-commerce.

Connect with Aniket Bajpai
↳ https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniket-bajpai/

Visit Indian.Community
 ↳ https://indian.community

↳ Connect with Rahul Mehra - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulmehra/

↳ Connect with Amit Gupta - www.linkedin.com/in/amit-gupta-cx

#AniketBajpai #IndianCommunityPodcast #LimeChat #AIInnovation #ConversationalCommerce #TechEntrepreneurship #StartupAdvice #ContinuousLearning #D2CBrands #makeinindia #ai

Transcript

0:13

Welcome to the Indian Community Podcast. I'm your host Amit Gupta with my co host Rahul Mehra. Today we meet Aniket Bajpai, a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, LimeChat's co founder, and a strategic advisor to over 300 D2C brands. Join us as we dive into the world of AI and machine learning with Aniket. He's a passionate innovator with a rich background in both AI applications such as self driving cars, chat automation and face recognition. Discover how his journey from groundbreaking research at IIT Delhi to entrepreneurship has reshaped e commerce through conversational AI technology. Get ready to explore the AI driven future with Aniket. Welcome to the Indian Community Podcast, Aniket.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 1:03

Hi Aniket,

Track 1: 1:05

Hi. Hi

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 1:05

Aniket

Track 1: 1:07

to here.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 1:08

Welcome to

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 1:09

great. Same, same for us. Same for us. So Aniket. My first question to you would be you had opportunities and your academic and you also had lucrative job careers. Job offers rather. But having all that, what motivated you to take the entrepreneurial route with Lime Chat?

Track 1: 1:32

Yeah, that's a great question because, I went to IOT Delhi and I was in computer science and there were the, the starting job offers something which is, which is super lucrative and which can like get somebody to retire in 10 years itself. But I. I, I just wanted to do something much much bigger and much more different. I, I always was fascinated about building businesses, about creating something of my own and leaving a legacy. And I had already seen my parents who were who already had very successful careers. Right. So I wanted to do take a different path from that as well. And so, in fact, from my school days itself, right? Right down to when I was in college, I, I had continuously started and experimented with businesses in my college itself. I started two companies right. Which both of them failed. But it, it was so thrilling that I realized that, okay, this is what makes me alive. This is my purpose in life, and this is what I need to do. Right? And, the short term it was, it was not even about the money, right? Even though like a startup is one way to create a very outsized return for yourself, a very a, a very different magnitude of outcome than what, what a job can create if it, if it is done well. But, but the main motivation was that when I actually did experiment with the startup, right, the ownership was so high and it was so thrilling that I just felt that that is what I was put put to do on the Earth, right? And so, so I thought that I if something is making me so happy, I cannot leave it right, just because maybe I'm getting a bit some, a little bit better money somewhere else. So that is why I decided to just go and jump right into it.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 3:12

I think Amit, we should ask him a little bit about his background also, where does he come from, and a little bit of history, maybe, a couple of lines.

Track 1: 3:22

Yeah, absolutely. So I am originally from Bombay. Right. I was born and brought up there. And yeah, so in in school I was, I was that kind of student who. Who was very, who was decently good at studies, but who also balanced it with some extracurricular activities, sports clubs, and so on. Right. And in, in, in fact, I I was always super interested in science. I I went to the Junior Science Olympiad and the Physics O MPI as well. Well, and 11th, 12th, of course I ended up taking PCM Science and, preparing for Jay and yeah, from I prepared from home itself. And then I was fortunate enough to get into IOT Delhi and that was a very that itself was a great experience, right? Going away from home, staying staying there in hostel for four years making friends and right. Learning about learning about the world there.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 4:19

Great, great, great. fact, I wanted to add one more thing. You know when you said that you took up the, and getting such a high rank and being in, I. I mean, if a person like me would have gone there, I never did. One big question that comes to my mind is that how do you stop yourself from the lure of that kind of money, in that such a young age to be, because eventually, that thing is very strong and then there are voices from outside. you that, negotiating your act what you're doing, like an independent, so

Track 1: 4:56

Yeah, absolutely. Like, it's, it's very hard, right? Like from, from being a student there has no money to eventually like being in a job where you'll get like four, five acts a month itself, right? And and so that, that greed is always there. Plus there is this whole peer circle in society. Who was telling you, okay, hey. You've, you've gone to this institute, you've worked hard. This is what it is for, right? Like you, you need to go ahead and do it right. And at the end, like you just need to believe in yourself and believe in that inner voice. And of course, it's very hard, right, to leave all of that and go against the grain so much. But like, you you just need to play that long-term game. You right. You need to believe in yourself as well and your purpose. And like, then, then even though if it, even though it's hard, right? You if you focus on the right things you can make it happen.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 5:44

Wait, wait. Okay.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 5:47

excellent. So Anique, the whole concept of Lime Chat is, is very thrilling. If I may say because you've, you, you're addressing a very strong problem statement. How did that statement come to you? Because a lot of times when, we are all thinking of startups, we are all coming up with a, a wide range of different ideas. How did you qualify that as an idea that you want to pursue and push forward towards.

Track 1: 6:19

Yeah, I would, I would say that I actually got very lucky over there and the, so when we are actually starting our company, right? We, it was around March of 2020 and we did not know that, but the pandemic was just going to hit. So, so we were actually exploring very different ideas, which were in the FinTech space and in the lending space and stuff like that. And suddenly the pandemic hit right, and we just saw a lot of trends change around us. We saw people who had never shopped online, who were forced to buy online,

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 6:50

Okay.

Track 1: 6:50

right? And these people did not, they were not comfortable using websites at all. They wanted to talk to someone while buying. These people wanted very hands-on support, right? They did not want that. They write an email to someone and then like they get a reply 48 hours later, right? They wanted the, they wanted a really personalized experience, right? And that opened up that opportunity that hey, these people are already using WhatsApp to order groceries around them to get a plumber, right? To get all kinds of things done around them in the pandemic, which, which had never happened before. Right? They were actually going to shops before this. And we and we realized that, okay, people like my mom and and many, many people in all age groups were, were actually doing this. And they were finding that that experience was 10 x better of using WhatsApp to get stuff done, and not to actually physically go to a shop, talk to someone, and, and, and do it. So we realized that this was a trend, which was here to stay. Right. Fortunately we also came from an AI background where we knew how to build automated experiences on chat, right? And so we decided to just marry our skillset with the, with the, actually, with the trend, which, the revolution which was happening, and build a buying journey and a support journey on WhatsApp, right? And, and as soon as we even build the first. In fact, even before we had completed building the first journey, we had five customers signed up with us, right? Who, and these were large brands who were very excited to try this out in helping their support and helping their commerce journey, right? And in leveraging WhatsApp as a channel of revenue. And once we saw, saw that initial traction once we went live, once we saw the results, we knew that. We had hit something which was extremely exciting for everyone. And after that, then our focus just went into creating that kind of 10 x experience and activating it for more and more brands out there.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 8:40

That is, that is fantastic because. I think for a lot of young entrepreneurs, this is one of the most challenging questions, right? Which idea to pursue.

Track 1: 8:52

Yeah.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 8:52

because as you mentioned, you had a bunch of different ideas that you were also exploring and then of course when you did your research and you did the analysis, you were able to determine that this is the right market. And, and there is a, there's a definitely a. A problem which you should be able to solve through technology. You mentioned ai. It is the hot topic.

Track 1: 9:15

One more thing, right? Like, one thing which made us in fact the startups, which I had done for this a lot of a, a big part of why they failed was we were just working in the wrong space, right? And it was, it was just not a place where businesses can be built, right? It was places where like naive college kids think businesses can be built, but. There was, there was actually no scope there. And we had some amazing mentors, in fact, like the founders of Snap Deal, right? Kunal and Rohit they were very actively mentoring us at that point. We were able to actually raise funds from them even before we picked this idea. And they helped us in that whole journey of figuring out the right space. And so it was not the biggest confidence for us also was that we were not just rush rushing headlong again into something. Right, which is not scalable and where right businesses cannot be built. And we had that right measure of guidance as well.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 10:05

That is great.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 10:05

is I think, one of the most important factors because having the right mentors is going to be very essential. So I, I think one of the strong messages that can send back to the younger generation, is that, hey, you've got great ideas. Great. But also consult with mentors because they've also kind of been there, done that some mentors have, uh. and, and celebrated. Whereas some mentors may have felt the pain, they know where the issue is going to bite. So we should learn from the, their experiences also. Right. And they'll, they'll be supporting, like, like in your case with the Snap Deal team. So I, I think that's, that's fantastic. You mentioned ai and AI is such a hot topic. Everybody is thinking about ai. There is, there's an AI for pretty much everything these days. So. And when you look at AI and e-Commerce and Lime chat together, do you think this whole conversational AI technology is evolving? Right. And what is the landscape looking like, especially in the e-commerce segment?

Track 1: 11:12

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I have been working on like conversational ai since 2014, even before it was cool, right, where in fact even the first ML algorithms were just getting implemented and there have been like various revolutions which have happened in the technology itself in the last. 10 years, which has most recently culminated into chat GBT. Right. Which has, which has been that thing, right. Which has well moved the needle throughout, which have made people start using and believing in ai. Right. And immediately we've seen an impact in e-commerce. There, there are a lot of complex problems to be solved. Right. And AI can help out all over the place. So right from, like, if you have, if you are a fashion brand who has like 10,000 SKUs, right? And like thousands of them coming every season, being able to automatically tag them based on the color, based on the fit, stuff like that, right? That is one application of AI search and application of AI where people go to websites and just type whatever they want, right in the search and right. In with spelling mistakes and being able to take that and recommend the right products. Still, right? That is, that is going to be a good application of ai. There will be application of not just conversational, but visual AI as well, where maybe just looking at your face and your skin tone, or maybe looking at your whole body. It can recommend clothes, it can recommend face wass, shampoos, all of those things, right? And there is obviously in the in the whole space that we do in, in terms of giving a great experience on chat in terms of support and in terms of commerce enabling a whole purchase journey on chat right. Making it feel very personalized and very interactive. So this is again, a very fantastic application of ai. So, as, as we move forward, right, there might be even, even more unexpected places where we see ai pop up because the fundamental thing is being able to make sense of all of that data. And understand their customers better, right? We reach that gold state where the brand is not just a website which is built, which is the same for 10,000 people, right? It is like a personal assistant, which is understanding each and every person uniquely. In fact, like the way Facebook does right, it, it really ma minds all of the data and is able to understand what is it that you really want and show you ads and get you to buy stuff, right? And that is, that is where eCommerce will go forward.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 13:34

Yeah, I think that's, that's very true. And I love the way that you shared examples which were beyond the chat GPTs of the world. So there were some really hardcore tactical as well as strategic examples, which is, which is where I think there's a lot of potential for AI to contribute. So that's definitely, but when you think about both. AI and machine learning, and you've been. Let's say lucky enough to be exposed to these technologies at such a young age, right? You've been doing this from so long. What do you think are some of the biggest challenges in this segment in, in the ai and, and what would you also recommend? So there are two questions here, right? What is, what are the biggest challenges in, in the industry, especially focusing on AI and machine learning? And then what would you also recommend the younger generation to. Start start evaluating, right? So because there are so many languages, people get so confused. I met somebody the other day and they're like, there are, there are at least 10 languages that that claim to support AI and machine learning. I don't know where to start. And, and this person has a decision panelists right now because they don't know where to start. So,

Track 1: 14:48

Yeah.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 14:48

Deep questions here.

Track 1: 14:51

Yes, yes, absolutely. Both are the great questions. And I'll tell you for both of those questions, right? I have a very similar framework. And the, the main idea is to focus on the end outcome, right? To focus on the brand, the customer, and to focus on their problem and what kind of value will get delivered. And not to focus on ai, right? AI is just a tool which will help you solve that problem, right? And it should come naturally. It should not be that you're taking some AI tool and trying to hammer it on everything that you see, right? It should be that if you are, if you are kind of seeing that scaling support is a huge problem, let's say, right? Then then you are you should build that solution accordingly. The language and all of that is unimportant, right? The important thing is that you build something that is able to solve that problem, add value to brands, and, and meet all of their criteria. And in fact, the main challenges come there, right? Because even there are some things which AI does, which are acceptable to us as consumers, but which are not acceptable at an enterprise scale. Right. Like, for example, chat, GBT is gives wrong answers. In many instances, it is able to it in fact hallucinates very strongly for some questions. Like, like if you if you ask how, how are the clothes made by Bajaj, right? And it would say, it's awesome. You should go and buy it. Although that's, that thing does not exist, and you'll find that your personal care brand and it has gone and sold clothes. Right. Which is just not feasible because, which obviously cannot be it's gonna spoil your brand, right? Even one instance like that is going to hurt you. So, so being able to like, manage correctness of that AI being able to make it predictable, right? Not that it'll give random, uncontrolled answers for each and every interaction, right? These are, and being able to hallucinate and control that hallucination. These are things which are very important for brands, which might not be important at a consumer level. So, so there are additional challenges which need to be solved to make AI work in production. But, but for someone who is just starting out right, they should just look at some problem in the world where they feel AI can help. And then just pick whatever is the most convenient tool or language out there, right, to help them solve that problem. And automatically that, that is how they'll learn skills. And that is how they're that is how things will get unlocked for them. So the decision should not be unlike, oh, which language should I use? Or, which tutorial should I say to learn ai? It should be on like, what problem am I solving in the world, right? And how can I solve that very quickly?

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 17:16

I, I'll,

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 17:17

So,

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 17:17

double double click on that question because I was, I was expecting a specific language to come out of this.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 17:25

'cause when we start something, people like us, like I've worked, I've worked extensively with Shopify, so, language is one thing, programming language is something that. The team has to fit in your resources, understand.

Track 1: 17:36

Yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 17:37

if a specific answers should would come from there, then it would make easier for our people to, our audience to understand the things better.

Track 1: 17:46

Yeah. So most.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 17:47

start, what is easier, what is easier and what is the right starting steps?

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 17:51

Or I would say the question essentially Anique is for a young student who is, who's, at university or still at school now they're trying to take a decision of what AI language, because there's so many, there's list there, extensor flow, there's, mean, I think the list goes on. So which one would you. Say is foundational. Where would you ask them to start? Because I, I guess eventually their work will take them from one to the other. but

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 18:18

Mm-Hmm.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 18:19

where would you

Track 1: 18:20

Absolutely. If you look at if you look at the frameworks, most of the frameworks are written in Python, right? Things like 10 all tens of flow and torch and kra and all of these are written in Python. So, so again, like you should, you can see, you can pick a good influencer and see what they're recommending, but I, I see that most of the jobs job openings in ML are also around Python. And it's easiest also to build using that. But if you look at specific framework site, it's still not at a place where someone has run out between, like there are various applications of TensorFlow as well, towards as well Kira and many more new frameworks. Also so, so that is where you can, you can just pick out something which is easy to work with, which you feel comfortable and maybe with someone around you knows, right? So it'll be easy to pick that up and learn. So what will, whatever will be the best which will, whatever will be the easiest to learn, right? Some, and something which is mainstream, not obscure. So, you go ahead with that.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 19:15

So Agate, been, into it from last 10 years doing ai.

Track 1: 19:21

yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 19:22

You said 2014, so it's a long time, you have been into ai.

Track 1: 19:26

Yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 19:27

I mean, wanted to ask that in your experience, what are the, I would say, how do I frame it? Ethical challenges, ethical things and, the unreal things that AI could do, I mean the, the issues that it would create. So how do you solve those problems practically, and what is your take on that for them?

Track 1: 19:52

Yes. I think I think there are some some cases where AI does. Mm, have biases or have those ethical dilemmas where, for example, like in a question answering system like chat, GBT, it might give out wrong answers. It might, it might maybe tell someone to like, commit suicide, commit a murder, whatever, right? Like those are huge ethical challenges. Or let us say, if you are using it in an applicant screening system, right? And later on, it turns out that it has very strong biases. Against certain kinds of people. Right? So, so those are the places where where actually like, uh, uh, AI can have a dangerous impact in a realistic way, not in like a full sci-fi way, right? But there is a lot of work which is happening in studying ethical AI and measuring things. Making it making it bias free, making it correct, or at least to a limit, which is reasonable to human beings, right? Because even if you put a human being there, there will be some, some of the other biases and ethical challenges there as well, but to bring it within a limit at the, I think there is a lot of work happening there. Right. And if you're working with large companies, then, um. Uh, that that is something which is definitely going to come up as a talking point about have you been have you is your, is your model and is your whole system being able to work within that limit, within that limit of ethics and so on.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 21:17

And if we take it a little more extreme, like we have some very biggies in the IT industry talking about that AI is not meant for the future. It is going to be harmful for humanity and things like that. So what's your take on those things?

Track 1: 21:31

Hmm. Yeah, I am. I think that, yeah, those guys may those guys are definitely working very closely on AI and they're extrapolating stuff. They have strong opinions. Myself too. I am, I am mainly seeing like I'm, I'm mainly working in those places where there are constructive applications of it and um, I, I am an optimist in general, right? So I, I don't believe for each, for each of the technology which has been developed earlier, right? There have been good and evil applications, right? Like there has been, there have been nuclear power plant plants and nuclear bombs, both. And eventually I, I feel that we figure out a way to actually control the negatives and harness the positives, and I think that is the direction which things will take in AI as well.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 22:19

Have you yourself seen anything happening like this in whatever you did? Till now.

Track 1: 22:26

No, I don't, I think we are far away from that apocalyptic situation, which people are thinking why that is.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 22:32

reassuring. That's very reassuring actually.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 22:34

I

Track 1: 22:35

Yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 22:35

Thank you.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 22:36

the ethical considerations are, are always there, be it the advent of the personal computer or the automobile or the mobile phone. I think everybody had something or the other to say about these technologies when they were out. Especially the negative prediction of the future. But if we stay optimistic, like you said, how would you. Expect. So one is what you think is possible, but I, I'm thinking my question is around what you wish is possible using ai, right? So where would you want the technology to get to? At some point

Track 1: 23:17

Hmm,

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 23:18

I.

Track 1: 23:18

Hmm. I would, I would actually want it to get to a point where a lot of manual, repetitive work is something because it is something which, like it becomes a thing, thing of the past, right? All the manual work, which we see in terms of driving cars, washing dishes, or, or washing clothes or cleaning the house to like the people we talk to and on phones for assistance or all of, all of these all of these things become more or less automated. Right. And like, some, and they become omnipresent also. So I, I feel give a yeah, that would be like a very, a very pleasant way rate of where AI can evolve in the future.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 24:01

I, I love this how he, he mentions about cleaning and washing and, and all those repetitive things we, we spoke about futuristic and the optimism and ai. What is innovation happening at Lime Chat? What, what are you excited about especially for the next two or three years? What are you guys building or what are your customers asking you to build? And what is keeping you up at night or making you wake up early morning? Because that's what is exciting. You.

Track 1: 24:34

Yeah. Yes, yes. I am, I am very excited about one thing, right, which is actually this revolution which will happen around conversational commerce and, I like, I'll just explain a little bit by what, what I mean by that. So, um, we, we have already seen a lot of revolutions happen in technology right around us. And there is, there is a fundamental thing which is needed to make that revolution happen. So we have seen the social media revolution, right, where earlier like people just used to talk to each other in person, but now they're posting about themselves and other people are liking it and that. That feeling which you get right when you get that attention is just so much better than for when you get it from a hundred people online versus just one person, one-On-one, there's a 10 x 10 x delta and, and that causes everyone to start posting about their lives and commenting and liking, right? And it causes, and in one year, like, one year everybody says that, oh this is crazy. Nobody can like go and post things online and, and interact, right? But next year, everybody in the world is doing it. Hmm. Same in e-commerce. You have seen it, right? Like, in, in 2010, if you would've said that, Hey, I'm just going to go to a website and click some buttons, and magically some clothes are going to show up at my doorstep, people would've said, you're crazy. Right? But, but in 2014, like it was, it was the norm. Everybody was doing it. And and I believe that five, 10 years from now, right, a lot of commerce, like almost 50% of commerce. Will actually happen on chat where people won't go to websites and click on buttons, right? They would go to chat mediums, like WhatsApp and, and talk to people or virtual agents or whatever, and just talk about their preferences and their pain points, and they would get some good recommendations and they would get their questions answered and they would they would be buy, they would buy from there, but to reach that state, right? It'll not happen overnight. It would need those 10 x better experiences to happen. And that would cause a revolution. And one year later, like everybody would see that everyone around us is actually buying from WhatsApp. They're not buying from websites. And what excites me is to build those things that will make that revolution happen. Right? For example, giving support on WhatsApp in an automated way instantly versus getting support on email in 48 hours, right? That is a 10 x difference, and that has already caused the revolution to start in, in the way support is done. Right. Or marketing to someone on WhatsApp. That too, in an interactive nons, spammy way versus like sending them SMS blasts every day, right? That is, again, a 10 x delta for brands and for customers and or like buying, buying products that you know you want, right? Let, let us say you buy a shampoo every month instead of going to a marketplace or typing it on Google every time, right? If you just get a nudge at the right time on WhatsApp and you just. Able to say, yes, send it to me, and you get it right. That is a 10 x better experience. So what really keeps me up at night and keeps me passionate is thinking about these 10 x experiences and, and building those out, right? Like the ones I mentioned, which will eventually cause that revolution, that shift to happen in how commerce is done.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 27:38

That's very true. Anique, I think we are also seeing lot of similar progress happen in the WeChat space in China. So you could do pretty much everything on WeChat from paying your electricity bill to buying products, to getting customer service. So I, I feel that's that's a similar tr for WhatsApp too. Would you agree to that?

Track 1: 28:06

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Like in this sense, China has been ahead of the curve much ahead of the curve compared to the rest of the world. Where WeChat just started out as a basic messaging app, but it has like entire, an entire commerce journey and like, social media and groceries and all kinds of things built into that. It has become a super app, right? And people do everything there, right? They were the first to do payments also, like on chat and stuff like that. So they have pioneered a lot of things. And I, I think WhatsApp is already moving in that direction. Matt has, has already announced that their vision is to make WhatsApp like a full, full fledged super app like WeChat. And if you think about it, right, downloading an app, it seems, it, it, it seems so 2010s, right? Like where you have those like a hundred apps cluttering your phone and you just open up one app once a month, right? There are only like 10 apps you even open up at a daily basis and that's all you need. For all the other cases, like you should be able to text someone on WhatsApp and get that stuff done. Right. And I, I feel that WhatsApp will definitely move in that direction of becoming a kind of super app.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 29:11

So Anique, conversation reminds me of a quote that I used to quote when I used to teach digital marketing back in 2007, 2008. There was a, there was a statement that I would always give to my students, which was where there is a conversation, there is a sale.

Track 1: 29:29

Yeah.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 29:30

where there is, and, and the sale doesn't have to be a tangible sale, it's also an exchange of ideas. It's an ex, it's an exchange of opinions at times. It's not always a transactional, what I meant in, in, in the sense of a commercial transaction. So, because a lot of websites back in the day were those one way, ecosystems, right? Where you would essentially just have information, somebody's gonna read them and maybe take action of around them in the offline world. now these conversational platforms have really brought this vision back to life. And it is it is really. Fun to see entrepreneurs like you actually leveraging and, and building those platforms that do exactly what I was thinking of back in the day. It, I think it's it's a matter of time when this also goes more mainstream. Are you also thinking of other platforms beyond WhatsApp? Because if you look at other markets, right? So in India, of course WhatsApp is definitely the leading. Chat ecosystem. But if you look at markets in, in Western Europe or North America, WhatsApp is not as common. Are you also planning to evolve to other platforms?

Track 1: 30:47

Yes. Mm. The technology which we have built is completely channel agnostic, right? It can easily be integrated and used in across any channel. And in fact. We already do it in some other channels like Messenger and Instagram as well. But as a company you have to like move with extreme focus, right? Which is why we are like aggressively just focused on WhatsApp and then on the WhatsApp ecosystem and making things work there first. Because even if we capture the all the geographies in the world where WhatsApp is being used, that is a big enough market for us.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 31:16

That's,

Track 1: 31:16

So instead of diluting our focus, like we're doubling down on that that bit from our side.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 31:22

that is great.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 31:23

India is a big enough market. India is a big enough market at the moment. It's a booming and buzzing market. So yeah, everybody's on and all kinds of things are happening on WhatsApp.

Track 1: 31:34

Yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 31:35

Great, great. One thing I I, I had read about you that tda, you are also, you act as a strategic advisor to over 300 direct to consumer brands. what common challenges do these brand face and how does line chat help it?

Track 1: 31:56

Oh yeah, absolutely. So if I tell you a little bit about brands, right? Now this whole revolution, a two C brands also happened in the pandemic where. People come up with a really niche idea, right? Let say I make or skin cream, which is organic, or I make key, which is organic, or if I make sustainable clothing, let say, and they open up their own websites and start selling on it end. Customers now are very conscious and they prefer, they want to be they want to be organic and they want to be premium, and they go and buy directly from these websites. And these brands have like, started growing tremendously in the last. Two, three years. But a lot of this growth happened on the back of meta ads and on the back of funding. Right. Which made a lot of this growth very unsustainable. And now that we are in a funding meter starting from 2023, definitely. Right. The main challenge these brands are facing is how can I grow profitably? Because now the amount of money they burn in add to get a customer. On their website. Right. They don't even make it back in, on the first purchase. So to be profitable, they have to do one of two things. Either reduce the cost it takes to acquire a customer or increase the lifetime value of that customer. And right. Our main focus is on the second part where once a customer has bought, right, and how, how do you actually keep on engaging them engaging with them, give them a great experience, educate them about the brand, make sure they're using the product so that they come back and buy again and again. And that is where WhatsApp helps, right? In giving a great support experience in, in giving, in making a very interactive post-purchase journey. And in, in giving a very quick buying journey when, once you want to buy it again, right? Because you already know what. So, so we really help brands not just with a tool but with an entire strategy so that they get that outcome, that they are able to improve their retention. They're able to improve their paid purchases, and they go to a trajectory of very profitable growth.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 33:57

Great.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 33:59

Yeah, I think the whole the two metrics that you mentioned the cost to acquisition and the lifetime value, those are, absolutely important and critical for any, any, any enterprise for that matter. So that is, that is essential for almost every company that I've known and worked around. Right. So that's, that's very cool. I think all of this is fun stuff. Interesting. But how does Anique learn on a continuous basis? How do you keep yourself updated? Because. Every morning when I wake up, there's a, either a new AI technology out there doing something or the other, and it is very difficult to catch up. So how do you do that? I.

Track 1: 34:40

Yes. So, learning and becoming becoming better every day, right? It's a very, very important part of what I am, and it's also one of the core values of Flying Chat, and we, we focus very aggressively on, on that. So there are two, three things which I do, right? One is. I am, I'm constantly, I surround myself with the right mentors from the, and this has been helpful right from the beginning. These are people who are like two, three steps ahead of me in the journey where whenever I'm facing a major challenge, I'm able to go to them and learn from their mistakes and their journey. Right? And that is a very active sort of learning that I do. The other part is reading or listening to podcasts, right? And every day in the morning, right? I set, set aside half an hour and I make that an active activity also, right? I don't just like open up a book or like listen to a podcast just like while running or something. I actually listen to it and take notes and see how I can apply it today in my life. Right in that sense, and I keep going back to those notes again and again. So, so with that, I've needed a very, very active way to continuously focus on learning and becoming better. It.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 35:48

Nice.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 35:51

That's, that's great. So, you,

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 35:52

Great.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 35:53

in touch with mentors both online and offline, right? So there are, there are mentors on these podcasts, which are sharing their wisdom, of course. And then there are mentors in the real world whom you can reach out to and ask pointed questions. So that is, that is excellent. So I think essentially what you're doing for you, what you're doing here is reaching out. And, and getting that support. And I think that's also an area where a lot of us lack, where we think, right. I know everything. And even you get into that mentality you start creating problems for yourself. So that's, that's fantastic that you do that. And I, I think,

Track 1: 36:32

I always think after reading this right, I realized most any topic I read, I figure out, oh my God, there is hundred x more to learn over here. So that always keeps me motivated and going.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 36:44

Okay, perfect. So one last formal question and then we'll move on to a, a quick rapid fire from Raul. Right. so I. As a lasting shot. So what would you share as for aspiring entrepreneurs? There are a lot of students right now who are all in the same zone as you were back in 2017, right? 2017. 2019. Everybody's trying to think of and startup. I think in India right now, and even outside of India, there are a lot of immigrants especially this audience that we speak with who want to become entrepreneurs. Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. What would you say are the top two or three things that they should be doing, irrespective of everything else that they do, but these are the three things that they always must do.

Track 1: 37:35

Okay. Yeah, I think, I think you should always surround yourself with optimistic people, right? Because being optimistic is like, it is like the biggest superpower you can have as an entrepreneur and in general also, right? That keeps you going through all the tough times. And the second is like, learning always trying to get better, right? And I already mentioned this, but like going that extra mile. To figure out how you can avoid mistakes, not learn everything from doing your own mistakes, right? But try to leverage what has happened already in the world from, from people who have done that. And so focusing on learning. And, and the third thing is like, not being afraid to fail, right? Some and this is more of a mentality thing, but like, not thinking about the downside, right? Having a bias for action, moving quickly and like. Getting things done, seeing those results. Right. So those are the like, yeah, those are the things which people should be thinking about. I think.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 38:34

Thank you. Thank you. Just very, informative and actually it got very serious in the end, so I will, just to bring it down a little bit, we are not that serious people. We are, but usually we are not. I move over to that part, which is the lighter part of the whole podcast, and that is a rapid fire. So we just so it's mostly, one word or two word answer.

Track 1: 38:57

Okay.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 38:58

quickly start with it, Python or Java. Okay. Favorite movie?

Track 1: 39:08

Hmm. The Godfather.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 39:11

The Godfather. Oh wow.

Track 1: 39:13

Yeah.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 39:14

I was not.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 39:14

One word. Yeah, sorry.

Track 1: 39:18

I, I like that one. Yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 39:20

Okay.

Track 1: 39:22

Mm-Hmm.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 39:23

One word to describe your entrepreneurial journey.

Track 1: 39:28

Rollercoaster,

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 39:31

That's good. That's right. The most exciting AI development in the last year.

Track 1: 39:39

I guess Charge G.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 39:44

Okay.

Track 1: 39:44

Yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 39:45

one Tech trend you are betting on for the future apart from what, you are doing at Lime Trend.

Track 1: 39:54

Hmm. When I am betting on VR as well.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 40:02

Okay? We are as well. Okay.

Track 1: 40:04

Yes.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 40:05

Your go-to relaxation activity.

Track 1: 40:09

Watching TV series.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 40:11

Okay. Watching TV series, and this is a a little difficult one, one habit you wish to change.

Track 1: 40:20

Hmm. Hmm.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 40:25

If you don't wish to change anything, you can say that there's no habit. Perfect the way he is, so it's perfect.

Track 1: 40:37

Yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 40:38

Anything,

Track 1: 40:39

Yeah.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 40:41

what did you say?

Track 1: 40:42

Procrastination.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 40:44

Procrastination. Yeah.

Track 1: 40:45

Yes.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 40:46

It happens with entrepreneurs. Okay. The best advice you have ever received.

Track 1: 40:55

The best advice I have received is to be surrounded by very good people who care about you.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 41:01

Absolutely. You said it twice already. Yeah. So that just, that's the real thing. I mean, being surrounded by positive people, being surrounded by people who like you, who care for you what life is all about. So it's, it's a very nice thing you said,

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 41:17

Yeah, Professionally. This is, I think applicable to us personally in, in our personal lives. Excellent. So thank you once again for this, session. We really enjoyed speaking with you and, and learning about your journey and how you became what you've become. There's, there's a lot of lessons that I take back personally from this episode. So, there were things that, while we know all of these things, right, these are all things that we are all aware of. But when you hear about how these simple you

Track 1: 41:49

Okay.

amit-gupta_3_01-15-2024_090820: 41:49

have, have impacted somebody's lives, that's when you think about, okay, am I doing this? Am I, am I also incorporating these lessons? Continuous learning, being surrounded by people who care for you, and also creating a culture within the organization where learning is of ultimate focus. So I, I feel these are extremely, strong takeaways both for me and I I wish also for our audience at the Indian Community Podcast. So we wish you all the best and, and good luck with what you're doing. And we are excited to see where Line Chat goes in the next few years.

Track 1: 42:28

Thank you Ahed and Raul. Sharing some insights and talking about my journey in the, in your podcast.

rahul-mehra_3_01-15-2024_193820: 42:35

Be sure all the best. Thank you so much.

Track 1: 42:39

Thank you, miss. Bye.