Building a Marketplace for Home Chefs with Ajith Govind from Cravd
Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital
Release Date: 10/04/2024
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info_outlineI am excited to have Ajith Govind, the founder of Cravd, an online marketplace to book a home chef to visit and cook right in your kitchen. He earlier co-founded Turing Labs, achieving Series A funding backed by Y Combinator and top investors, including Insight Partners, raising over $20M.
In this episode, Ajith Govind, co-founder of Cravd, an online marketplace for booking home chefs shares his entrepreneurial journey, including his experience with Turing Labs. He discusses the challenges of launching a startup, the importance of product-market fit, and the significance of culture in building a successful company. Ajit also talks about Cravd’s expansion strategy, focusing on empowering home chefs, providing healthy, home-cooked meals for busy families, and much more!
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Learn
* How can marketplace founders be strategic in building moats around their business?
* What is the single most important metric for Cravd
* Does Ajith pay attention to CACs at all?
* What is your favourite business book? –Hard things about hard things
* What is your favourite online tool? –Sunsummer
* If you could go back to when you started working on Energy Capital Ventures, what is the one thing you would have focused on? – Focus on culture
Timestamps
3:30 Ajit shares insights from his experience co-founding Turing Labs.
6:30 The significance of Y Combinator in Ajit’s entrepreneurial journey.
10:30 Ajit’s thoughts on the importance of mentorship and Y Combinator experience.
12:30 The concept behind Cravd , an online marketplace for home chefs.
14:30 Crave’s initial model and its evolution based on customer feedback.
17:30 The unique selling point of Cravd in providing healthy, home-cooked meals.
20:30 The importance of GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) as a key metric for Cravd .
22:30 Crave’s ideal customer profile: busy, working families with disposable income.
25:30 Ajit discusses the challenges faced by home chefs in the marketplace.
27:30 The importance of building a moat around Cravd ’s business to ensure defensibility.
29:30 How Cravd ’s low take rate (10%) differentiates it from other predatory platforms.
33:30 The importance of launching products quickly and iterating based on user feedback.
34:30 Ajit’s advice for founders: Focus on culture from the beginning to drive success.
Ajith’s Links
LDN– https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajith-govind
Website – https://cravd.com
My Links
Podcast: https://lifeselfmastery.com/itunes
YouTube: youtube.com/lifeselfmastery
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rohitmal
5-day email course: www.enterprisesalesexpertise.com
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