The Consummate | 24 September 2023
Welcome to The Consummate! We bring our points of view, updates, news, and curated content to the consumer community in India and Southeast Asia.
In this week’s edition of The Consummate, we catch up on recent updates in the DSGCP portfolio, share our top reads and listens from the last few weeks, and take a look at what is happening in the consumer ecosystem! Let’s dive in.
Currently Consuming ☕️
How startups are letting followers dictate brand decisions: ‘They’re an extension of the team’
More startups are passing crucial brand-building decisions on to shoppers, such as product development, distribution and marketing. While it’s not unusual for brands to gather feedback from regular people, the in-house team traditionally has the final say. But startups are learning that getting their followers involved is effective for community-building and makes it easier to make brand decisions.
David Senra’s Founders Podcast– Working with Jeff Bezos
“Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you're probably being slow. Plus, either way, you need to be good at quickly recognizing and correcting bad decisions. If you're good at course correcting, being wrong may be less costly than you think, whereas being slow is going to be expensive for sure.”
Listen to this insightful episode on the leadership of Jeff Bezos and the culture at Amazon.
Good Leaders are Great Storytellers — Our 6 Tips for Telling Stories That Resonate
Good storytelling isn’t about fanciful language. It’s about conveying a message clearly and simply. It’s about connecting with your audience not as customers, executives or investors, but as humans.
First Round Review’s wide-ranging tips are a great read on building your story, communicating with clarity and vulnerability, and using storytelling to persuade external and internal audiences.
Keeping Up With the DSGCP Family 🤝
Sephora US Launched Smile Makers’ Sex Toys with 9 products.
Go Desi on track to touch INR 50 crores this year, covered by Media News.
Sleep it Simple– SleepyCat’s latest digital campaign!
Appetite, food and hunger: Is there more to Veeba's secret sauce? Forbes covers Veeba’s incredible journey so far!
SATURDAYS & Coolmate: have been recognized on Forbes Asia 100 To Watch 2023 list.
Guilt-free indulgence brand, Go Zero, has launched low calorie bon bons!
Moom Health & Blood are coming together to launch special edition period care bundles, for a limited time only.
PICKUP COFFEE officially launched its Mobile App for a hassle-free coffee run with rewards!
Market Activity 💸
Salt, a premium-luxury oral care and hygiene brand has raised an undisclosed amount led by angel investors in its pre-seed round and is currently valued at ~INR 18 crore.
Pee Safe raises $3 million in a Series B funding round led by Natco Pharma and Rainmatter Health.
The Good Bug raises $3.5 million From Fireside Ventures to offer probiotic alternatives for a healthy gut.
Agilitas Sports, an athleisure solutions platform, has acquired shoe manufacturer Mochiko, one of India’s largest sports footwear manufacturers. Mochiko is a manufacturing partner for Adidas, Puma, New Balance, Skechers, Reebok, Asics, Crocs and Decathlon.
Noise, India’s #1 Wearable Watch Brand and IL Jin Electronics form a joint venture to manufacture smart wearables in India. IL Jin Electronics is a subsidiary arm of Amber Enterprises India Limited.
Deepika Padukone has invested in Blue Tokai’s Series B round through her investment entity Ka Enterprises.
HotelYaari, a platform specializing in fractional ownership of holiday homes and suites, secures $2.17 million in seed funding from Alios Ventures.
That's all for this edition, if you enjoyed this newsletter, share this with a friend. Follow us on LinkedIn for more updates!