Innovation: The Backbone of a Scale-up Strategy (2/2)

Terms of use

Terms of Use

The use of this site and the content contained therein is governed by the Terms of Use. When you use this site you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Use and that you accept and will be bound by the terms hereof and such terms as may be modified from time to time.

All text, graphics, audio, design and other works on the site are the copyrighted works of nasscom unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
Content on the site is for personal use only and may be downloaded provided the material is kept intact and there is no violation of the copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary rights. Any alteration of the material or use of the material contained in the site for any other purpose is a violation of the copyright of nasscom and / or its affiliates or associates or of its third-party information providers. This material cannot be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way for non-personal use without obtaining the prior permission from nasscom.
The nasscom Members login is for the reference of only registered nasscom Member Companies.
nasscom reserves the right to modify the terms of use of any service without any liability. nasscom reserves the right to take all measures necessary to prevent access to any service or termination of service if the terms of use are not complied with or are contravened or there is any violation of copyright, trademark or other proprietary right.
From time to time nasscom may supplement these terms of use with additional terms pertaining to specific content (additional terms). Such additional terms are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use.

Disclaimer

The Company information provided on the nasscom web site is as per data collected by companies. nasscom is not liable on the authenticity of such data.
nasscom has exercised due diligence in checking the correctness and authenticity of the information contained in the site, but nasscom or any of its affiliates or associates or employees shall not be in any way responsible for any loss or damage that may arise to any person from any inadvertent error in the information contained in this site. The information from or through this site is provided "as is" and all warranties express or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any service or channel, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement are disclaimed. nasscom and its affiliates and associates shall not be liable, at any time, for any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use of information contained on the site. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a particular situation.
nasscom or its affiliates or associates or its employees do not provide any judgments or warranty in respect of the authenticity or correctness of the content of other services or sites to which links are provided. A link to another service or site is not an endorsement of any products or services on such site or the site.
The content provided is for information purposes alone and does not substitute for specific advice whether investment, legal, taxation or otherwise. nasscom disclaims all liability for damages caused by use of content on the site.
All responsibility and liability for any damages caused by downloading of any data is disclaimed.
nasscom reserves the right to modify, suspend / cancel, or discontinue any or all sections, or service at any time without notice.

For any grievances under the Information Technology Act 2000, please get in touch with Grievance Officer, Mr. Anirban Mandal at data-query@nasscom.in.

New

See all

No notification found.

Innovation: The Backbone of a Scale-up Strategy (2/2)

Ashish Gupta

@asgupta

January 25, 2022

Product/Startups

310

Continuing with our last blog on how Innovation acts as a key catalyst in scaling up a start-up where we discussed briefly “Innovation in Products & Solutions”. Now we will cover another 2 important aspects: "Business Strategy" and "Business Approach".

Innovation in Product & Solutions

Edtech and AgriTech unicorns also benefited from increased digital maturity and time-sensitive needs. While the number of investment rounds and overall investment increased in Edtech, the adoption of digital technologies by end customers and farmers increased in AgriTech (including dairy, horticulture, and meat).

Unicorns and scaled start-ups have also begun to leverage deep-tech to develop their products. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Big data and Analytics, and Blockchain are the most popular technologies among unicorns, owing to their viability, talent availability, and knowledge network.

Diagram

Description automatically generated

The convergence of technologies is benefiting entrepreneurs in multiple ways. Many scale-ups and unicorns have leveraged deep-tech to build more complex and intelligent solutions across industries. As deep-tech grows, it enables knowledge sharing, expanding talent base, and increasing customer adoption. While AI, IoT, and Big Data Analytics are the most preferred technologies, B2B accounts for 70% of all deep-tech start-ups. Also, the pandemic has resulted in further adoption of AI in various industries like HR tech, Health-tech, Enterprise tech, Ed-tech, and Fintech.

Innovation in Business Strategy

Indian founders have reinvented their playbooks with time to overcome hurdles. The relevance of customer experience and unit economics has increased. According to 50-55 percent of founders, profitability will be given more weightage when determining the valuation. As acquirers gain confidence in the market's trajectory, M&A is also regaining traction. In H1 2020, global lockdown significantly slowed acquisition flow, owing to acquirers prioritising company continuity above everything else. Unicorns have been focussing on B2B and B2C marketing. 70% of purchases were of B2C start-ups, which were mostly led by peers and backed by strong venture capital and private equity investors. EdTech accounted for 20% of all acquisitions, followed by FinTech, HealthTech, Enterprise Tech, HRTech, and Gaming.

The pandemic has created shifts in major domains in the Indian economy. There has been a rapid change in the way we think about building businesses and setting short-term priorities and long-range actions. Geographical location is no more a constraint for enterprises, and with increased digital maturity, entrepreneurs have increased the pace of experimentation. Companies have begun focussing on enhancing employee experience along with customer experience. Collaboration is becoming mainstream, and public partnerships are building fast-growing innovative companies. Other shifts in founder playbook include- the adoption of remote work as a capability, focus on growth with lower investments, emphasis on retention, focus on the global market, etc. Attracting, Engaging, and Retaining Quality Talent is a priority. Remote work is being considered by founders to prevent burnout, increase the talent pool, and provide better working options to their teams.

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, marketing strategies began to focus on low-cost strategies like social media marketing, content marketing and influential marketing. Unicorns have been building credibility using ads, blogs etc. and evangelising using largely paid modes. Many unicorns used new funding rounds for aggressive marketing and promotions

Innovation in Business Approach / Success Mantras

Focus on shifting processes to autopilot with minimal exceptions
The entire organization structure to be equipped appropriately to achieve scale
Always go an extra mile to satisfy customers and it will pay off multiple times
Customer’s best interest should always be priority even if it affects business, customer centricity is the key which helps in customer retention
Nurturing a robust partner ecosystem is the key. Ensure standardizations in the product and create customizations through partners.
Priorities may shift from ‘product to sales to engineering to customer support’ as per changing business demand in a scale-up journey
Speed is important to compete in the market, be the first one to provide new offerings

#startup #scaleups #strategy #innovation #growth

Disclaimer

That the contents of third-party articles/blogs published here on the website, and the interpretation of all information in the article/blogs such as data, maps, numbers, opinions etc. displayed in the article/blogs and views or the opinions expressed within the content are solely of the author's; and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of NASSCOM or its affiliates in any manner. NASSCOM does not take any liability w.r.t. content in any manner and will not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any kind of liability arising out of any act, error or omission. The contents of third-party article/blogs published, are provided solely as convenience; and the presence of these articles/blogs should not, under any circumstances, be considered as an endorsement of the contents by NASSCOM in any manner; and if you chose to access these articles/blogs , you do so at your own risk.