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Late last year, Mihir Dalal created waves with his reporting when he launched his first book, Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story, sharing behind the scenes of India’s most successful unicorn story. In this episode we caught up with Mihir to dive deep into how the company was born, the scandals that happened and the ups and downs in creating a company that would change the face of retail in India.

Timestamps:

00:50: Amazon’s influence on early Flipkart, Two Pizza team culture

06:00: Taking risks even when there isn’t a lot of visibility, turning down early acquisition offers

11:00: On pompous Venture Capital Lords and Flipkart

15:00: Enter the Tiger, Lee Fixel and Deep Kalra

19:00: With $10 million, Flipkart powers ahead

20:01: Flipkart’s official sex appeal bringer

25:00: Iyappa, the Human ERP at Flipkart

29:00: Cash on Delivery as a game changer

32:00: How to hold inventory without inventory

33:00: Sujeet Kumar- the man who got things done

37:20: Competition heats up as Amazon enters India

39:00 General Atlantic shocker and emergency funding

41:03: Fixing the broken bits: Kalyan Krishnamurthy 

48:30: After the funding boom, Snapdeal and other rivals

51:15: Mihir reads out a chapter!  Enter Softbank!

64:30: Market consolidation, exits and acquisitions

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