Shubhi Agarwal, Co-Founder and COO of Locobuzz, delves into entrepreneurship, funding, and innovative applications of GenAI.
The journey of a startup founder is full of good times and bad times, successes and failures. Being a female founder in a male-dominated tech industry can be exceptionally demanding. As startup founders, they are not only breaking barriers and stereotypes, but they are also impressive entrepreneurs.
The series 'Crafting Bharat - A Startup Podcast' powered by AWS and an initiative of NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, reveals the secrets behind the journeys of these successful entrepreneurs with an aim to equip aspiring entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts. with invaluable knowledge. The podcast series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famous for hosting a wide range of television and digital shows, currently Consulting Editor for CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India and The Economic Times. The Indian startup ecosystem has grown rapidly and has evolved over the last decade. Shubhi Agarwal, Co-Founder and COO of Locobuzz, is making waves with his unified CXM platform. In the Crafting Bharat Podcast series, Shubhi Agarwal shares her entrepreneurial journey that led to the incorporation of Locobuzz. He also talks about the ups and downs of being bootstrapped and how they are using GenAI in innovative ways.
Through the Crafting Bharat podcast series, let's uncover the stories of Indian startup founders' journey to turn their dreams into reality and turn challenges into opportunities.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pkgZEn7P-gSegment 1: The Incubator
What do you think about taking a strategic timeout? Any benefits you see especially for startup founders?
While this whole presumption may seem very contradictory, I completely agree with your observation on the matter, because 8 hours of sleep is sacrosanct. I recently read a book by Matthew Walker called "Why We Sleep." The book talks about why sleep is required, just as any good fitness regimen needs a day of rest and recovery; An individual also needs rest and recovery to induce ideas and creativity. It helps to be in sync with the innovation happening around you. So a strategic timeout is very important, the best ideas come when you are with yourself. Locobuzz started as a tool to monitor and analyze social engagement and is now an end-to-end customer experience platform. What were the ups and downs of that transformation and the lessons it taught you about growing a business?
Being an autonomous company, we have to be very aware of the inputs and outputs that have occurred. One thing we have been very careful about is maintaining unit economics. I think every trip is full of ups and downs and ours has been the same. I remember this very fondly when we started Locobuzz, every victory gave us a lot of joy, whether it was the acquisition of a new client that gave us maybe $200 or $300,000, where we knew that most of that money would go back to the business where we would do it. invest in technology or build the team.
From the largest telecom operator to the largest hotel chain, its customer base of around 300+ is diverse. Any thoughts on how the CX needs of your large clients differ from those of the small startups working with you? Whether it's a small startup or a large company, your reputation is of utmost importance to them and they trust us to maintain it and that is the common factor that unites everything. Large enterprises need the platform to work alongside their existing system and startups need a platform that is self-sufficient and can be managed by an agile team. The platform we have created can easily address both spectrums of customers.
Segment 2: The accelerator
Someone wrote on social media that women in tech receive too much mentoring and not enough sponsorship. What professional tactic could you suggest to overcome this problem, especially casting characters for roles? I have done a TEDx talk on this topic. At Locobuzz, we have a very meritocratic society, where your ability is your ability, and you will be hired based on that and not based on gender or where you come from. I would say that you have to show that you have a results-oriented mentality, take the initiative and take them to their logical end. That solves most of the undersponsored part.
Sometimes startup founders can fall in love with an idea and end up not focusing on the consumer problem it's supposed to address. How should this be avoided?
Honestly, it's very complicated. It happens with us too. What we do is create focus groups within the organization and if all the focus groups unanimously agree to build a certain type of concept, we move forward with that; However, if we don't take that approach, we do what we did at the beginning of our organization. path we take to our customers.Entrepreneurs who embark on the journey of making an impact on the world often face unique challenges. Their unwavering motivation and dedication to build something unique and make a mark on India's startup landscape is what drives them to overcome challenges.
Stay tuned to the Crafting Bharat podcast series as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for candid and in-depth conversations with Gautam Srinivasan.
Follow Crafting Bharathttps://www.instagram.com/craftingbharat/
https://www.facebook.com/craftingbharatofficial/
https://x.com/CraftingBharathttps://www.linkedin.com/company/craftingbharat/
(Disclaimer: The above press release is provided by HT Syndication and will not assume any editorial responsibility for this content.)
The journey of a startup founder is full of good times and bad times, successes and failures. Being a female founder in a male-dominated tech industry can be exceptionally demanding. As startup founders, they are not only breaking barriers and stereotypes, but they are also impressive entrepreneurs.
The series 'Crafting Bharat - A Startup Podcast' powered by AWS and an initiative of NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, reveals the secrets behind the journeys of these successful entrepreneurs with an aim to equip aspiring entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts. with invaluable knowledge. The podcast series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famous for hosting a wide range of television and digital shows, currently Consulting Editor for CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India and The Economic Times. The Indian startup ecosystem has grown rapidly and has evolved over the last decade. Shubhi Agarwal, Co-Founder and COO of Locobuzz, is making waves with his unified CXM platform. In the Crafting Bharat Podcast series, Shubhi Agarwal shares her entrepreneurial journey that led to the incorporation of Locobuzz. He also talks about the ups and downs of being bootstrapped and how they are using GenAI in innovative ways.
Through the Crafting Bharat podcast series, let's uncover the stories of Indian startup founders' journey to turn their dreams into reality and turn challenges into opportunities.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pkgZEn7P-gSegment 1: The Incubator
What do you think about taking a strategic timeout? Any benefits you see especially for startup founders?
While this whole presumption may seem very contradictory, I completely agree with your observation on the matter, because 8 hours of sleep is sacrosanct. I recently read a book by Matthew Walker called "Why We Sleep." The book talks about why sleep is required, just as any good fitness regimen needs a day of rest and recovery; An individual also needs rest and recovery to induce ideas and creativity. It helps to be in sync with the innovation happening around you. So a strategic timeout is very important, the best ideas come when you are with yourself. Locobuzz started as a tool to monitor and analyze social engagement and is now an end-to-end customer experience platform. What were the ups and downs of that transformation and the lessons it taught you about growing a business?
Being an autonomous company, we have to be very aware of the inputs and outputs that have occurred. One thing we have been very careful about is maintaining unit economics. I think every trip is full of ups and downs and ours has been the same. I remember this very fondly when we started Locobuzz, every victory gave us a lot of joy, whether it was the acquisition of a new client that gave us maybe $200 or $300,000, where we knew that most of that money would go back to the business where we would do it. invest in technology or build the team.
From the largest telecom operator to the largest hotel chain, its customer base of around 300+ is diverse. Any thoughts on how the CX needs of your large clients differ from those of the small startups working with you? Whether it's a small startup or a large company, your reputation is of utmost importance to them and they trust us to maintain it and that is the common factor that unites everything. Large enterprises need the platform to work alongside their existing system and startups need a platform that is self-sufficient and can be managed by an agile team. The platform we have created can easily address both spectrums of customers.
Segment 2: The accelerator
Someone wrote on social media that women in tech receive too much mentoring and not enough sponsorship. What professional tactic could you suggest to overcome this problem, especially casting characters for roles? I have done a TEDx talk on this topic. At Locobuzz, we have a very meritocratic society, where your ability is your ability, and you will be hired based on that and not based on gender or where you come from. I would say that you have to show that you have a results-oriented mentality, take the initiative and take them to their logical end. That solves most of the undersponsored part.
Sometimes startup founders can fall in love with an idea and end up not focusing on the consumer problem it's supposed to address. How should this be avoided?
Honestly, it's very complicated. It happens with us too. What we do is create focus groups within the organization and if all the focus groups unanimously agree to build a certain type of concept, we move forward with that; However, if we don't take that approach, we do what we did at the beginning of our organization. path we take to our customers.Entrepreneurs who embark on the journey of making an impact on the world often face unique challenges. Their unwavering motivation and dedication to build something unique and make a mark on India's startup landscape is what drives them to overcome challenges.
Stay tuned to the Crafting Bharat podcast series as we bring you these inspiring entrepreneurs for candid and in-depth conversations with Gautam Srinivasan.
Follow Crafting Bharathttps://www.instagram.com/craftingbharat/
https://www.facebook.com/craftingbharatofficial/
https://x.com/CraftingBharathttps://www.linkedin.com/company/craftingbharat/
(Disclaimer: The above press release is provided by HT Syndication and will not assume any editorial responsibility for this content.)
