[TechSparks 2020] Product should be hero and other lessons in innovation from ID Fresh Food’s PC Musthafa

< img height =" 1" width= "1 "style=" screen: none" src =" https://yourstory.com/api/v2/analytics?i=178659&t=feed&u=https://yourstory.com/2020/11/id-fresh-food-pc-musthafa-innovation-lessons-brand-building-techsparks-2020&pt=c&ev=pv&b=2" > From never ever providing up, to now discovering how to quit, PC Musthafa’s story is a series of learnings and unlearning.

And after that finding out some more.The Co-founder and CEO of ID Fresh Foods, popular for its idli-dosa batter nationwide, has actually had an incredible journey from needing to avoid his daily breakfasts as a kid because his household could not afford it, to now making it possible for countless households to make fresh idlis for breakfast.Musthafa is now on a quest to make ID Fresh Foods a unicorn in the fresh food business. According to openly available details, ID Fresh Food (India)’s operating incomes vary between Rs 100 crore and Rs 500 crore for FY2019, and it’s EBITDA has actually increased by 84.12 percent over the previous year.

” I have found out to hustle and earn money the proper way given that childhood,” Musthafa states in a fireside chat at TechSparks 2020 that concluded recently.

” One thing that directed me and remains with me even today is the power of decision. These 3 words, ‘power of determination’ have got us where we (his business) are today,” he says.Son of a porter from Kerala’s Wayanad area, Musthafa started business in 2005 with his four cousins– Abdul Nasser, Shamsudeen TK, Jaffer TK, and Naushad TA– from a little cooking area with simply Rs 50,000.” With that cash, we bought one mill, one mixer, one sealing maker, one weighing scale, and a pre-owned Scooty, “he says. Their daily regimen included going to the marketplace to purchase rice and daal, soak it overnight, grind it, and bundle it. “The next day, we

would fill the batter and go to the marketplace. It was back-breaking work. Our t-shirts would be soaked with sweat, “he remembers the difficult days.It took them nine months to get 20 consumers and

sell 100 packets of batter a day. Today, ID Fresh Food are available across more than 35 cities in India and the Middle East. “If you take a look at our background, we had no experience in making breakfast or in food innovation. Ignore making breakfast, we did not even understand what breakfast was,” he says, adding,” My cousins and I tried our best not to provide up. We provided ourselves 6 months to offer 100 packages daily. However that did not occur. We wound up offering only 50 packages of batter daily.” At that point, Mustafa was dealing with an IT business and might support business.” I believe that helped. If I had actually quit my well-paying job then I would not have had the decision to remain invested,” he includes.< figure contenteditable =" false "data-id =" 349323" data-url =" https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/a182c7e0140711e987e2f7248b252f46/iD-Fresh-1604439992224.jpg" data-alt=" ID Fresh Foods" data-caption="< p >< em > Musthafa( 2nd from right) with his co-founders.” align=” center” >< img src=" https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/a182c7e0140711e987e2f7248b252f46/iD-Fresh-1604439992224.jpg" alt=" ID Fresh Foods" width=" 100%" height=" vehicle<" > Musthafa (2nd from right) with his co-founders.
The next level of difficulty for Musthafa and his co-founders is to take
his business to a unicorn status worth a billion dollars. The company has up until now raised 2 rounds– one from Helion Ventures

in 2014 and another from Premji Buy 2017 when it raised$ 25 million. The business is today valued at$ 200 million plus. ‘While Musthafa was figured out not to give up in the initial stages, at this stage, he is figured out to offer up!Indicating that at this point in his company journey when he is scaling the business, he has to find out to hand over and focuson the larger vision of the company.” I am discovering to quit lots of things I was doing earlier, like day to day operations. I had to learn new skills in handing over. I am attempting to establish this skill,” he says.The 2nd thing that he is learning at this stage of his profession is concentrating on the larger photo from a strategic perspective. And the third is focus on brand name building and group building. < img src =" https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/dc9aa1302d6c11e9aa979329348d4c3e/ShailendraSingh-011-1603785670497.png?fm=png&auto=format&h=100&w=100&crop=entropy&fit=crop" height=" 100" width =" 100" > Leading 10 takeaways from Sequoia Capital’s Shailendra Singh at TechSparks 2020 How to innovate and build your brand name” These days you see business investing a great deal of money on brand name structure. However the number of those brand names do we

actually remember beyond a point,” he observes.He feels the finest way to build a brand is not to invest cash

blindly on marketing. Look at it as a triangle: the

very first part needs to be your item. The item has to be the hero. If you don’t get your item right, do not even think of constructing a brand name.

Don’t squander money.Second, give an unforgettable user experience.Third and crucial( but disregarded by many )is well-crafted storytelling. People do not keep in mind advertisements, they keep in mind stories. That is where we did our job well.Innovation plays an important function in any service. Musthafa shares his five concepts of innovation.The first is product development. Example: ID coffee preparation. When everyone was selling coffee powder, we chose to sell

• liquid preparation. We concentrated on the core of keeping the item preservative-free and 100 percent natural. That was our differentiation.The second is service design innovation. When the whole world was doing R&D for product rack life extension, we kept the items fresh. And we developed an absolutely no inventory design organization across.
  • Whatever we make today will be all set for dispatch tomorrow. We renew stocks daily.The 3rd is the product packaging innovation. Vada maker is a timeless example of using product packaging to deliver a special experience. Typically , the packaging is indicated for transferring the product from oneplace to another.
  • It is also utilized to preserve the freshness of the product, to interact the ideal message to the customer. ID Paneer. The message on the plan says, ‘This paneer is made from lemons. Beware, there could be lemon seeds inside’. This indicates the item is without any preservatives.
  • Another function of the packaging is to provide performance and unique experience. So for the vada product packaging, when you squeeze the package you get the hole in the center vadas similar to how the restaurants and restaurants make them. Product packaging development is something we purchased the last number of years.The 4th is marketing development. We didn’t have cash to invest in large projects. In the last 15 years, we have actually invested less than Rs 20 crores in marketing. We used the best themes to get us market leverage. Example: our trust stores. We did refrain from doing it just for the sake of a project. We had an organization problem to fix. We were attempting to offer the world’s best food, idli, in a packaged type. It resembles an oxymoron. People are doubtful about packaged food being hundred percent preservative free. My biggest problem was how to make my clients trust my product. Such was the success with a few of these trust shops that they were giving me better profits than retailers.” In this experiment (of running trust shops )what I have actually discovered is Indians are reliable. If you trust them, they will trust you back. It has to be a hundred percent trust. Takes time to make that trust. However once you earn the trust, it remains, “states Musthafa. < img src=" https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/a182c7e0140711e987e2f7248b252f46/mustafa2-1604504678391.PNG" alt =" ID Fresh Food" height=" vehicle" width =" 100%" > What he understands now that he did not understand then In the last few months, I have actually learnt to do more with less.

  We have actually done much better profits, better profitability in the last few months compared to pre-COVID-19 times.Another thing I have actually discovered is the significance of trust. It’s a magical weapon. When you own a client’s trust, absolutely nothing can stop you after that.The third is the significance of development. You can innovate in any business, offered you have good sense. We needlessly complicate things. We believe development is born in stand out sheets.To innovate, recognize client issues and resolve it utilizing simple science and common sense. That is the finest way to construct a brand name and stay ahead of the competitors. Always upgrade yourself so that rivals can not capture up.TechSparks- YourStory’s annual flagship occasion-

  has been India’s biggest and essential technology, innovation,

  and entrepreneurship top for over a decade, combining business owners, policymakers, technologists, financiers, coaches, and magnate for stories, discussions, collaborations, and

• connections that matter. As TechSparks 2020 goes all virtual and international in its 11th edition, we want to thank you for the tremendous support we’ve gotten from all of you throughout

• our journey and offer a substantial shoutout to our sponsors of TechSparks 2020. Edited by Tenzin Pema