Repost: Behind the scenes at Flipkart

Late last year, Mihir Dalal created waves with his reporting when he launched his first book, Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story, sharing behind the scenes of India’s most successful unicorn story. In this episode we caught up with Mihir to dive deep into how the company was born, the scandals that happened and the ups and downs in creating a company that would change the face of retail in India.

Timestamps:

* 00:50: Amazon’s influence on early Flipkart, Two Pizza team culture

* 06:00: Taking risks even when there isn’t a lot of visibility, turning down early acquisition offers

* 11:00: On pompous Venture Capital Lords and Flipkart

* 15:00: Enter the Tiger, Lee Fixel and Deep Kalra

* 19:00: With $10 million, Flipkart powers ahead

* 20:01: Flipkart’s official sex appeal bringer

* 25:00: Iyappa, the Human ERP at Flipkart

* 29:00: Cash on Delivery as a game changer

* 32:00: How to hold inventory without inventory

* 33:00: Sujeet Kumar- the man who got things done

* 37:20: Competition heats up as Amazon enters India

* 39:00 General Atlantic shocker and emergency funding

* 41:03: Fixing the broken bits: Kalyan Krishnamurthy 

* 48:30: After the funding boom, Snapdeal and other rivals

* 51:15: Mihir reads out a chapter!  Enter Softbank!

* 64:30: Market consolidation, exits and acquisitions