Comet's Mission to Rewrite India's Sneaker Story | Day One | Elevation Capital

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"I always joke with my friends that I did an MBA in sneakers"
Utkarsh Gupta says this with a laugh, but there's more truth to it than you might think. From spending hours at malls observing sneaker shoppers to striking up conversations with strangers at airports, Utkarsh and his fellow co-founder Dishant Daryani left no stone unturned in their quest to crack the code of the Indian sneaker market.
This is the story of how two ex-consultants returned to India from the US to build Comet - a brand that embodies their passion for sneakers. In this fascinating conversation with Chirag Chadha and Vaibhav Chowdhury, the founders take us through their journey of building an aspirational lifestyle brand that resonates with India's fashion-forward youth.
They discuss how their bold design choices and staying obsessed with the details make Comet truly stand out in the market. In this episode, you will learn about:
1. Identifying the whitespace in India's sneaker market
2. Balancing aspiration and value in pricing
3. Choosing focus over variety in the early days
4. Building a hospitality-first culture
5. Creativity as the X factor in building a new-age brand
Chapters:
00:00:00 Coming Up
00:01:09 Meet the Founders
00:02:05 Comet Origin Story
00:03:34 Sneaker Culture in the US
00:05:14 Insights on Indian Market
00:06:17 Market Trends
00:08:02 Importance of Sneakers
00:10:22 Early Design Choices
00:11:08 Product and Design Strategy
00:13:06 Backend Efficiencies
00:15:46 Key Metrics and PMF
00:19:18 Customer Insights
00:22:17 Target Audience
00:26:28 Initial Success
00:29:24 Building the Team
00:31:21 Company Culture
00:34:40 Insights on Hiring
00:37:27 Vision for the Future
00:40:30 Learnings
00:43:41 Closing Remarks
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[@JS-zc2jr]

Nice conversation 👌🏻 thanks for this 👏

[@ResearchReports-gt4pz]

Very poor thought process on hiring and building team - Seems like they have absolutely no clue on how to build a team. It felt like they are saying "We are the owners" and "employees are the slaves". Not good.