How your startup can scale to a billion users

Thursday March 24, 2016 , 5 min Read

Register for Wipro #CloudHacks with Google Cloud Platform

ShopClues.com, the latest entrant to India’s unicorn club, raced to a billion-dollar valuation in under four years, despite being the 36^th company to enter the space in India in 2011. Today, it is focused on profitability and recently rolled out a cloud-based platform for its 3.5 lakh merchants, which lets them use a variety of features to interact directly with potential customers and increases the chances of closing a sale. As online market-places in India transition to offer a bouquet of products and services, startups like ShopClues are harnessing the power of cloud to achieve profitability.

Aasaanjobs is an online marketplace for entry-level and blue collar jobs. What’s unique about this startup is that it uses a two-way matchmaking algorithm that connects suitable candidates with employers, instead of the standard search-and-match method. This online recruitment marketplace aims to become an ‘HR in Cloud’, expand to more geographies and guide job seekers through the different stages of an ascending career path.

Just like with Shopclues and Aasaanjobs, cloud technology is the core for many Indian startups, and there is an increasing demand in the startup community to learn, understand and effectively use the power of cloud.

Scaling to a billion: why it makes business sense for Indian startups

Today, India is home to a vibrant and growing startup ecosystem with a community of 19,000+ startups. To survive, sustain and succeed in the competitive marketplace, many startups aspire for scale in user base. With a population of more than 1.2 billion people, whose needs, wants, problems and solutions are diverse and unique, hitting this magic number is very real proposition in India, provided the startups build the right technology strategy to scale.

Most startups’ mantra is to ‘start small, scale fast’. While starting up itself is not a bed of roses, scaling up to a customer base of a billion has a different set of challenges, which sometimes could cost the startup to shut shop. While India’s population of more than a billion represents a massive, untapped opportunity for the startup community, it can also be daunting in terms of customer acquisition and getting customer experiences right. However, the good news is that thanks to the power of cloud technologies, the time to a billion users is reducing dramatically from ~25.8 years (Windows as a case) to ~6 years (India’s Aadhaar initiative or UIDAI).

Let’s take the example of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The central government agency collects the biometric and demographic data of residents, stores them in a centralised database, and issues a 12-digit unique identity number called Aadhaar. As of date, UIDAI has given almost every Indian a unique identity, which they can use to access a host of subsidies, making Aadhaar identity-as-a-service. Imagine, then, what a private sector startup that achieves this scale can do for India!

Getting on board the Cloud

The quintessential question then is how do you reach this billion? How do you acquire a billion customers? And how do you provide a ‘wow’ customer experience for a billion users? These questions give many startup founders sleepless nights!

It is in this journey of scale that cloud native apps play a catalytic role. The flexibility and scalability that cloud offers helps you hack growth through effectively managing the customer life cycle, including discovery, experience and perception. According to a AMI study, cloud solutions has been instrumental in alleviating many problems that India’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face during IT adoption – limited funds and lack of a dedicated IT team, among others.

Cloud-native apps are ideal for startups and small businesses. It’s one of the best ways to get access to enterprise-class – or better yet, consumer-class – functionality without having to develop it yourself or spend big money to buy it. So while cloud benefits companies of all size, the advantages magnify dramatically for smaller companies and startups. This is reflected in the increasing interest in the adoption of cloud native apps.

CloudHacks on ‘Scaling to a Billion’

So if you are a startup that has already adopted cloud or is on path to adopt cloud, it’s important to get a clear perspective on #CloudHacks to power your growth journey

That’s why Wipro is anchoring a virtual event for the Indian startup community. Titled Wipro #CloudHacks with Google Could Platform (GCP) on ‘Scaling to a Billion’, the event is scheduled for 30 March 2016 at 3:00 pm IST.

You don’t even have to leave your desk (or comfortable beanbag) to attend. Simply register for the webinar here.

TOP reasons why you must attend this event on scaling to a billion

By attending the webinar, you will be able to

Appreciate, as an entrepreneur, why thinking and planning to scale to a billion is critical
What you should do to get your startup cloud strategy right and how to think “cloud-native”
Understand the three stages in the ‘cycle of a startup’ and why cloud is central to delivering “Wow! experiences”
Learn about the hidden powers of public cloud and lessons from how great startups leveraged it to hack growth
Connect with thought leaders from the industry and learn from their experiences on cloud-native apps.

In this session, you will get to interact with leaders like Anand Hariharan, Google Practice, Wipro and Anuja Shukla, Venture Capital and Startup Business Development Manager, Google Cloud Platform.

What’s more, select startups will get an opportunity to continue their conversation with the cloud evangelists!