I Own 150+ Dark Stores Across India With Just A Philosophy Degree, Ft. Madhav Kasturia, ZFW

Madhav Kasturia’s story is so off the beaten track, that it makes you wonder and question all that you probably believe to be true. Hailing from a family of IIT, and IIM graduates, Madhav started his first start-up at the tender age of 17.

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As a student of Hindu College, Delhi University, Madhav didn’t really care about graduation or a degree. Because by the time he graduated, he had already tasted success with his cloud kitchen venture.

Making 8-9 lakhs INR monthly, Madhav was creating what might just one day be a case study at
B-School. As he tells us in this candid and insightful talk, Madhav didn’t really care about conventional education when his start-up and business were teaching him real-life lessons.

Continuing to share his journey, Madhav shares how he made mistakes that cost him. He tells us how he lost 20 Lakh INR due to a rookie mistake while organizing a food festival after launching 2 successful cloud kitchens and making money.

Things went well though, with the lesson learned and Madhav ready to tackle future challenges. But 2020 brought a new setback in the form of COVID-19.

As lockdowns were introduced, one of the most affected industries, the food and hospitality businesses suffered losses. Despite a lockdown and no business so to speak, Madhav had to pay salaries and take care of staff.

While, as he shares, his business suffered for 45 days, but then was back on track with permissions and sanctions for food delivery and restaurants, the experience was valuable. It taught Madhav and his team that cloud kitchens may not be a sustainable business model in the long term.

This realization led to the birth of ZFW Dark Stores. A part of the last mile delivery and fulfillment process in modern supply chains, dark stores, or warehouses located in various parts of metro cities, stock up on various products by different brands.

When an order is placed on a Swiggy Instamart, a Zepto, or a Dunzo, thanks to dark stores located close by, these orders can be fulfilled on the same day, in 10, 30 minutes, etc. Madhav realized that e-commerce was only going to grow, and brands would need the ability to fulfill orders in time to gain a competitive advantage.

Hence the relevance and importance of a dark store. Now with a few rounds of funding and more than 42 dark stores across Delhi, as well as in other locations like Mumbai and Pune, this seems to be a successful pivot.

Hear this conversation to know more about what makes Madhav tick, why he doesn’t really need formal education, and how businesses and start-ups can grow.

0:00 Highlights
1:00 Introduction
3:37 Why Not Education?
5:18 Why Entrepreneurship ?
7:58 Why Not IIT And IIM ?
11:04 How To Deal With Competition?
12:45 Scaling Cloud Kitchen Business
16:08 Being Young As A Startup Owner
17:14 Affects of Covid 19
20:00 What Are Dark Stores ?
21:03 Starting The First Dark Store
24:00 Convincing Brands For Dark Stores
26:53 Stay Tuned For Part 2
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