Ravi Ramachandran

After building Star and Daisy to ₹100Cr+ and advising 50+ D2C founders, I've identified 3 non-negotiables that separate winners from casualties: 1. Premium by Value, Not by Price We deliver high-quality, thoughtfully crafted baby care products that feel premium, without the premium price tag. It's all about value for money. 2. Truly Customer-First We go beyond just being available; we listen, respond, and care. With multiple easy touchpoints, our team is always ready to support parents every step of the way. 3. Quality Without Compromise Every product is built with consistency and care. For us, quality isn't a feature, it's a promise. The market rewards fundamentals, not shortcuts. Master these three, and scaling becomes inevitable. What fundamentals drive your D2C success? #D2CFundamentals #TrustBuildsBrands  #StarAndDaisy #ScaleWithPurpose

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🚀 India’s Retail Surge: A CEO Wake-Up Call India’s retail sector just posted a 4x jump in deal value in one quarter - from under $800M to $3.4B in Q3 2025. That’s momentum! and it’s quietly rewriting the global retail playbook. 🔍 Why the spike happened? 1️⃣ Omnichannel consolidation is accelerating. Reliance Retail continues to buy across categories - from fashion to quick commerce. Tata Group is connecting Croma, Westside, Starbucks & BigBasket under one digital umbrella. Flipkart is doubling down on supply chain partnerships and grocery expansion. 2️⃣ Investor confidence is back. Private equity and sovereign funds are returning - betting big on India’s consumption story. Apparel, food, and consumer tech are leading, powered by logistics tech and AI adoption. 3️⃣ Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are the new growth engines. Zudio, D-Mart, and Nykaa prove that aspiration + affordability now coexist outside metros. The next billion-dollar retail stories won’t come from Mumbai - they’ll come from Indore, Surat, and Lucknow. 🌍 Lessons for Global Retail CEOs 🔹 Localisation at scale wins. India doesn’t reward imported playbooks - it rewards context-driven ecosystems. H&M’s India-exclusive collections and IKEA’s small-format stores show how localisation drives growth. 🔹 Ecosystem thinking beats category thinking. Retail isn’t about stores anymore - it’s about networks. Payments, loyalty, delivery, and content now define the customer experience. 🔹 Agility is the new scale. Indian retailers scale through fragmentation - micro-pilots, regional SKUs, and flexible supply chains. Global leaders can learn: test → localise → expand, not the other way around. 🔮 The future playbook India is a blueprint for the next era of retail. AI-personalised commerce at mass-market prices. Digital-first brands like boAt, Nykaa, and Lenskart going global. A young, tech-savvy, value-driven consumer base rewriting loyalty. Its worth asking yourself - “How do we apply India’s ecosystem mindset everywhere?” #RetailLeadership #IndiaRetail #RetailInnovation #GlobalStrategy #ConsumerTrends #DigitalTransformation #CXOInsights #RetailTransformation #StrategyLeadership #FutureOfRetail

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Some quarters are about scaling peaks. Others are about steady climbs that build endurance. Q4 was the latter. A phase of thoughtful recalibration, disciplined execution, and deep brand-building. I’m proud to share that Honasa has closed this quarter with double-digit growth of +13.3% YoY, reaching ₹534 Cr in revenue. We’ve paired that growth with strong operational discipline with ₹25 Cr PAT, 5.1% EBITDA, and a gross profit of 70.7%. But beyond numbers, this quarter reflects resilience, adaptability, and quiet execution. Q4FY25 was about category power plays  • Mamaearth has broken into the Top 5 in face wash market share (NielsenIQ), with retail presence now across 2.36 lakh outlets, growing 26% YoY. Offline momentum stayed strong with 1 lakh+ unique outlets billed and modern trade offtake up 20%+. • The Derma Co. crossed ₹100 Cr ARR in offline channels, marking a solid scale milestone, while younger brands clocked 30%+ growth in FY25 owing to sharp distribution and portfolio plays. • Our innovation engine stayed in top gear, expanding focus categories and entering prestige skincare with cutting-edge launches like The Derma Co.’s Vitamin C Microneedle Kit and Dr. Sheth's ~ For Indian Skin’s PDRN & B’tox Serum. This journey reflects our dedication to excellence and disciplined execution. As architects of India's premier House of Brands, our blueprint remains clear: disruptive innovation, expanded retail presence, and consumer-centricity. The sprint phases will come. But it’s these steady climbs that strengthen the foundation and make the next peak sustainable.

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We at Trifecta Capital have been fortunate to partner with Meesho as a growth investor over the last few years, and it is great to see the business model and growth vectors being articulated with such clarity across multiple recent pre-IPO conversations. Across these interviews, Vidit Aatrey consistently frames a very deliberate set of choices around the model:  • A pure marketplace, zero-commission core that goes all-in on value-conscious Bharat, while shifting monetisation to fulfilment and to structurally better profit pools in high-ROI seller ads.  • A logistics and fulfilment stack that is optimised to expand the addressable market and improve economics for the ecosystem, even if the real margin pool sits elsewhere.  • Ads and, over time, lending as data-led layers on top of a dense transaction graph, with significant headroom in both penetration and product sophistication. What is equally striking is how Meesho has carved out this position in the shadow of much larger, better-capitalised players by choosing a very different battle: building for value-conscious Bharat, expanding the market with truly new-to-ecommerce customers, and turning that segment into its own defensible niche in “value commerce”. Meesho’s business model is a useful reminder that durable internet platforms are built on clear, consistent answers to “who do we serve, how do we win for them, and where do profits really come from”, and Meesho has been remarkably steady on all three. Trifecta Capital Rahul Khanna Nilesh Kothari Lavanya Ashok Surbhi Garg Jayant Singhal #Meesho #Ecommerce #IPO #GrowthEquity #Startups

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Agilitas x Virat Kohli partnership is one of the masterstroke deals I have seen in recent times. Virat invests 40 CR in Agilitas for a 1.94% stake, putting Agilitas’s valuation around 2000 CR. 📈 In turn, Agilitas acquires one8world, making Virat a co-founder and shareholder. They now get two very important growth levers: ⬇️ 1. A powerful manufacturing (via Mochiko Shoes - a 600 CR+ footwear brand that Agilitas acquired in 2008 ), 2. India’s biggest athlete — exclusively aligned. Easily becomes a 4000 CR revenue brand in the next 5 years. Footwear + retail scale requires capital — but this partnership compresses customer acquisition, product cycles, and brand-building like few others. Even Virat said in his podcast with Abhishek Ganguly, the co-founder of Agilitas that, “I didn’t want a brand deal… I wanted to build something that outlives me.” And Abhishek said something even beautiful - “An ambition to build from India but be globally relevant.” This isn’t marketing. This is legacy building with shared skin in the game. And that is how startups work - shared ambition with one goal (to make the company big) and food (read stake) in the table for everyone! A company that can be built in the long term with culture, capital, and conviction aligned. This might be the first time in India, where an athlete joins hands with a sport company to re-imagine and build the sport ecosystem of India - truly revolutionalising the game with a clear vision. 🙌

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Sharing a recent mentoring conversation with a startup founder building in the haircare space. We spoke about the real levers that shape a company’s future — far beyond product and marketing. Here is how the discussion flowed: Founder: "Our team is stretched thin. Should I hire aggressively now that revenue is up?" Me: "Cash flow builds businesses. Hiring builds cultures. You hire when you have clarity on what problems need solving, not when there is temporary room in the bank account. Scaling teams without sharpening focus first leads to more confusion, not more progress." Founder: "We are launching a new product line. Should I put the same leadership team on it?" Me: "New lines need fresh ownership. If the same leaders are spread across every initiative, urgency gets diluted. Clear ownership creates energy. Growth requires both new ideas and new responsibility structures." Founder: "Cash flow looks comfortable after the last funding round. Should I push for aggressive brand spends?" Me: "Spend with respect for cash, not with excitement for growth. Cash gives you the right to be patient. Patience gives you the freedom to choose long-term bets over short-term noise. Cash is oxygen - not ammunition." 𝐀 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝: - Growth in numbers is meaningless if it outpaces growth in leadership. - Hire for clarity, not for confidence. - Culture scales only when cash flow is respected, not assumed. In the early stages, it is not the ambition that shapes outcomes, it is the discipline behind that ambition. #Leadership #StartupLessons #BuildingCulture #CashFlowMatters #FounderJourney #ScalingStartups #ConsumerBrands

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🚨 Curefoods gets SEBI approval for Rs 800 crore IPO: report. Cloud kitchen startup Curefoods has secured SEBI’s approval for its ₹800 crore IPO, marking a major milestone in its growth journey. Backed by Accel, Iron Pillar, and Chiratae Ventures, the IPO will include a fresh issue of shares and an offer for sale — though founder Ankit N. will not participate. The funds will support network expansion, marketing, infrastructure, and debt reduction, as Curefoods eyes deeper reach into Tier II and III cities. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dBh4dWAt By Thimmaya Poojary #Curefoods #IPO #StartupNews #FoodTech #SEBI #BusinessUpdate

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What does it take to build an $8B eyewear empire from India? 👓 For Lenskart, the answer lies in vertical integration + ruthless execution + patient compounding. From fixing India’s eyewear access gap to becoming a global retail-tech engine - its $8B IPO is more than a headline. It’s a blueprint for how to build enduring value in consumer tech. FY25 snapshot: - ₹6,653 Cr revenue (+23% YoY) - 14.7% EBITDA margin - ₹297 Cr profit (first full-year profit) - And 40% of its revenue now comes from international markets - Japan, SEA, UAE, Singapore. But the real story is the runway ahead 👇 7 in 10 Indian adults have vision issues (and rising). Lenskart’s market share? <8%. India’s eyewear market is growing at ~13% CAGR - Lenskart has grown nearly 2x that. This is a formalisation story - a shift from unorganised to integrated, tech-led, predictable retail. It’s not India’s Warby Parker. It’s Asia’s Vision-Tech company, quietly building the operating system for how the continent sees. 👁️ 💭 Would you bet on an asset-heavy business when it behaves like a SaaS engine — with data, control, and recurring cash flows built in? The valuation multiples at ~10.5x FY25 Sales and ~234x FY25 Earnings are demanding but will sustained and consistent growth make up for it? #Lenskart #IPO #IndiaStartups #RetailTech #ConsumerTech #UnitEconomics #BusinessStrategy #Formalisation #GrowthStory Disclaimer: Views shared here are in my personal capacity and don't represent those of my employer.

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