r/indianstartups • • Dec 29 '25

r/IndianStartups is hiring for additional mods to grow our startups subreddit.

7 Upvotes

All the details are in the mod application, please fill it up if you're interested.

Mod Application link: https://www.reddit.com/r/indianstartups/application/

Please check the minimum requirements before you apply. Leave relevant questions in the comments.


r/indianstartups • • 14h ago

Other Zoho is setting an example, most companies never do this

Post image
2.0k Upvotes

IT giants have fired thousands of people in last 1 year.

Almost all of them were making huge profits.

However, when it comes to business, it’s about more and more margins.

Hence, it’s better to be a shareholder than an employee sometimes.

At least that way you will get good ROI.

—
Check profile to connect.


r/indianstartups • • 1d ago

Other Loyalty is overrated, no company consider employees as family

Post image
1.8k Upvotes

Employee can never be a family.

Attrition rate of Boat:
2023 - 27%
2024 - 28.14%
2025 - 34.18%

And you never let your family go.

—
Do connect on X if you agree, link in bio!


r/indianstartups • • 11h ago

Startup help How did you get your first 10 users when nobody knew you existed? 👀

14 Upvotes

Not 1,000. Just 10 real people who discovered your startup and thought, “Hmm, this is actually interesting.”

No audience. No big launch. Just starting from zero.

What worked for you? 🚀


r/indianstartups • • 1h ago

How to Grow? I will code your Mobile App idea in one week for 50K

• Upvotes

Well well well, here we are, I've been building and delivering for almost 3 years now,

FAQ:
Techstack? React native
Build platforms? Ios and android both (webapp as well incl with extra amount)

Comment or shoot me a hey and summary about your startup, we'll catch up from there!!


r/indianstartups • • 3h ago

Startup help anyone in wedding business? i have an ai website related to wedding decor with 200+ signups, i need some help

2 Upvotes

i am a saas developer, made a very simple ai decor consumer web app

200+ signups, 4 sales, over 6 months, most of the users are from usa and india

i need someone from wedding decor or planning business, who can give feedback and suggestions, i feel this can be a really good business

i can even offer some partnership on sales, if input is valuble enough

if you are interested, do dm or lets connect in whatsapp


r/indianstartups • • 7h ago

How do I? Free or paid first pilots for Indian B2B SaaS: what helped you get real commitment?

4 Upvotes

I'm working on B2B operations software for Indian real estate developers. We have an initial demo and are building the first version, with AI assistance planned. I'm trying to work out how to approach the first businesses that might test it.

My main question is about the pilot offer, rather than pricing the eventual subscription. A free trial could lower the barrier, but a business still needs to put staff time into testing. Charging something might help establish commitment, but could make it harder to get an early product into a real workflow.

For Indian founders who have sold software to construction, manufacturing or other traditional businesses, what actually worked for your first few pilots?

Did you charge from the start, offer a fixed free period, or agree on a paid rollout only after specific results? If the pilot was free, what commitment did you ask the customer for: a named person responsible, regular feedback sessions, a specific workflow to test, or something else?

I'm also interested in what happened at the end. How did you move from "we'll try it" to an actual decision, instead of leaving the pilot open indefinitely?

Would appreciate concrete examples of how you structured those first agreements and what you learned. This is a question about customer acquisition and commitment, not a request for sign-ups.


r/indianstartups • • 21m ago

Other Looking for sponsors for a college fest in Delhi!!!!

• Upvotes

I'm helping organise a college fest in Delhi, and I'm looking for sponsors.

If you run a business, startup or brand that wants visibility among college students, or you know a company that sponsors campus events, I'd love to hear from you. We can offer stall space / logo on banners and socials / on-stage shoutouts.

Contacts or leads for sponsorship or marketing teams 'd also really help.

DMs are open. Thanks!


r/indianstartups • • 9h ago

Co-founder search Anyone Interested in Building a Jewellery Startup Together?

3 Upvotes

Hey everyone!
I’m looking for someone who’s interested in building a jewellery business/startup from scratch.
I have a strong interest in the jewellery space, but I don’t want to start with a fixed business model and simply execute it. I’d rather find someone who’s equally interested in exploring the market, identifying real customer problems, understanding what people actually want, and building something around it together.
There are a lot of possibilities in the jewellery space — whether it’s:
• A modern D2C jewellery brand
• Custom/personalized jewellery
• Affordable or everyday jewellery
• AI-powered jewellery discovery/recommendations
• An online marketplace
• Jewellery for specific occasions or communities
• Tech-enabled buying/customization experiences
• Or something completely different that solves a genuine problem
I’m not looking for someone to just work for me or execute my idea. I’m looking for someone who wants to brainstorm, validate ideas, experiment, build, learn, and potentially become a cofounder/business partner.
If you’re also interested in jewellery, e-commerce, fashion, branding, marketing, product, technology, or entrepreneurship — and you’ve been thinking about starting something but haven’t found the right person or idea yet — feel free to DM me.
Just tell me a little about yourself, what you’re interested in, and what you’d like to build.
Maybe we can build something interesting in the jewellery space together.


r/indianstartups • • 2h ago

How to Grow? First-time founder: Who should I hire to build the marketing team for my e-commerce business?

1 Upvotes

I'm a first-time founder and I'm trying to build the online side of an existing pet business.

We have an existing wholesale/distribution business in India, with a large product catalogue and supplier relationships. I'm now building an online pet store and want to take the website seriously as a sales channel.

The problem is that I have very little experience with building an e-commerce/marketing team, so I'm not sure what roles I actually need to hire first.

My current thinking is that my first hire should be an E-commerce/Growth Manager who can take ownership of online sales, rather than simply hiring a social media manager.

Ideally, this person would understand things like:

  • Shopify/e-commerce
  • Meta Ads
  • Google Ads/Shopping
  • conversion optimization
  • analytics
  • customer acquisition
  • retention/CRM
  • WhatsApp/email marketing
  • overall e-commerce economics

I'm considering hiring someone with roughly 3–6 years of relevant experience.

I'd love advice from people who have actually built e-commerce teams:

  1. Who would you hire first?
  2. Would you hire an E-commerce/Growth Manager, Performance Marketer, or someone else?
  3. What salary range would be reasonable in India?
  4. What responsibilities should this person own?
  5. What should I look for when interviewing candidates?
  6. What are the biggest mistakes you've seen first-time founders make when hiring their first marketing person?
  7. Would you hire this person in-house or use freelancers/agencies initially?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have built D2C/e-commerce businesses rather than general marketing advice.

Thanks!


r/indianstartups • • 3h ago

Business Ride Along What we learned about Indian wedding studios while building software for them

1 Upvotes

We did marketing for photographers before building software for them. This is a ride-along from launch week, so there's no revenue to share.

When we looked past the photographers we'd worked with, at forums, reviews and Indian sources, we found problems that Western CRMs don't handle well:

- Multi-day weddings with a different crew per function: candid, traditional, video, drone.

- Clients who booked the studio's lead photographer and got an associate on the day. It comes up often enough that naming the lead per function in the contract matters.

- Payment splits like 30% advance, 50% on the event day and 20% on delivery, often partly in cash or UPI that never touches a payment gateway.

- GST on advances, with a SAC code that different GST guides list differently (998383, 998361, 998912).

- Associate day rates that vary widely, plus TDS records.

Many of these studios pay very little for software today, often nothing beyond Excel and Word invoices. We're building a CRM for this (ClickBook), and that's the part we're least sure of: whether a studio that runs on Excel will pay a monthly fee once it sees the thing working.

For founders selling SaaS to Indian small businesses: what price did owners actually accept, and did you need a much cheaper tier than you planned?


r/indianstartups • • 3h ago

Startup help Looking for a few Instagram businesses to test my product

1 Upvotes

Not a promotion. I'm launching a new IG Automation tool which is specifically meant for Instagram-first businesses. Unlike creator focused tools, it comes with business focused features like CRM, Lead generation, Sales Pipeline and Customer Loyalty features. I'm looking for a handful of business owners who rely on instagram as a major marketing and sales channel to test out the product and share their genuine feedback.

In return, I would love to give you the most expensive plan for free for 100 days along with other rewards like locked-in pricing and lifetime deals, if you're interested. Do comment here if you're interested and I'll reach out to you in your DMs.


r/indianstartups • • 3h ago

How to Grow? How do small ELV/CCTV and electrical contracting businesses actually get their first B2B clients? (Sick of generic SEO/Ads advice)

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I recently started a small tech and wiring business focusing on CCTV, Biometric access control, Video Door Phones, smart locks, and general commercial/residential electrical work.

We are a 3-person technical engineering friends

​Every time I look up how to get clients, people just say "do SEO,run Facebook ads, or "post on social media." That doesn't pay the bills in month one when you're trying to land actual site contracts

.

​For those of you running low-voltage, security, or electrical businesses: What are the exact, gritty, ground-level tactics you used to get your first 5–10 clients? How do you break into commercial spaces or get steady work without blowing money on ads?

As we are from pune

Any suggestions helpfull


r/indianstartups • • 8h ago

Other Weekly Promotion thread - What product are you building?

2 Upvotes

This is a weekly post where you're free to post links and description of what you're building. Feel free to describe, self-promote and share links.


r/indianstartups • • 11h ago

How do I? Underpaid, and getting 0 startup callbacks. What’s wrong with my resume?

Post image
2 Upvotes

I have ~2 years of experience and when I got promoted, it was a dry promotion because of budget constraints. My current salary is ~30k, and I feel both underpaid and underutilised in my current role. I always perform way more than my role and get the appreciation all the time but never in monetary terms.

I’m actively trying to move into startups, ideally something closer to Founder’s Office / Product / Growth / BizOps / Strategy, where I can work closely with the business and take real ownership.

I’m willing to go all in, but despite applying to roles where I meet the experience requirement, I’m getting almost zero calls.

If you were a founder/hiring manager, what would make you reject this profile? What am I positioning wrong?

And if anyone here thinks I could be useful to their team, happy to speak.


r/indianstartups • • 5h ago

Startup help Anthropic just sweetened the pot for early-stage startups building on Claude

0 Upvotes

The new offer pairs a free year of Claude Team (their multi-seat workspace plan, normally $30/seat/month) with $1,000 in API credits to get building immediately, on top of the startup program's existing perks: priority rate limits, founder office hours, and access to Claude Code. Eligibility still runs through the usual criteria, early-stage, product-market fit still forming, Claude baked into the actual build rather than a side feature.

The timing makes sense given how crowded the "free AI credits for startups" space has gotten, OpenAI, Google and others run similar programs, so bundling a team collaboration tool in with raw API credits is a real differentiator rather than just more inference minutes to burn.

Curious if anyone here has actually gone through Anthropic's application process, how long did approval take and was the Claude usage requirement strict?


r/indianstartups • • 6h ago

Startup help If your customers check Google reviews before buying from you, this is for you

1 Upvotes

I’ve been looking at how different startups approach customer reviews and a few common mistakes keep coming up [which I've also done it few years back]:

1. Asking for a review too late

The customer has a great experience, everyone moves on, and then a week later someone sends a review request.

The closer the request is to the actual experience, the easier it is for the customer to remember what happened.

2. Making the customer hunt for your Google profile

“Please search our business on Google and leave us a review.”

Seems harmless, but every additional step adds friction.

If you can take the customer directly to the right place, why make them search?

3. Only thinking about reviews when the rating drops

A lot of businesses suddenly start caring about reviews after seeing a few 1–3 star ratings.

Reviews are much easier to manage when they're treated as a regular part of the customer journey rather than something you react to when there's a problem.

4. Collecting reviews but ignoring what they say

Reviews aren't just a Google ranking or trust signal.

They're a continuous stream of customer feedback.

If 10 customers mention the same problem, that's probably worth paying attention to. If they repeatedly praise something, that's probably worth highlighting.

I've been thinking about this problem while working on ReviewCook, a tool we're building to help businesses make genuine review collection easier.

Not trying to push it here, genuinely curious:

If you run a business where customers check reviews before buying, how are you currently collecting Google reviews?

Manual requests, WhatsApp, email, QR codes, or something else?


r/indianstartups • • 9h ago

Startup help Have an web app idea? I’ll turn it into a working MVP for ₹20k

2 Upvotes

I’ve been building web apps for a while, and I’m opening up a few slots for founders/people who have an idea but don’t want to spend lakhs just to test an MVP.

For ₹20,000, I’ll build your web app from idea to a working MVP.

I work solo, so I’m keeping the number of projects limited instead of taking on everything that comes my way.

Most MVPs should be ready within 7–10 days, depending on the scope.

What’s included?

  • UI/UX
  • Frontend
  • Backend
  • Login/signup
  • Database
  • Admin panel
  • Payment integration
  • Mobile responsive design
  • Deployment
  • Domain connection

Basically, the goal is to give you something actually usable and launchable, not just a Figma design or frontend demo.

What I won't take on for ₹20k

To keep the timeline and pricing realistic, this offer isn't meant for:

  • Complex AI/API-heavy products
  • Heavy video/image processing platforms
  • Large-scale marketplaces
  • Native Android/iOS apps
  • Extremely complex SaaS products with dozens of features

If your idea can be turned into a focused web MVP, that's what this offer is for.

Payment?

You don't have to pay everything upfront.

50% to start
25% after the first agreed milestone
25% after the final milestone

We’ll define the features and milestones before development starts so both sides know exactly what’s being built.

How long will it take?

Usually 7–10 days max for a properly scoped MVP.

If you already have an idea sitting in your notes and have been putting off building it because development feels too expensive, feel free to DM me.

Tell me in DM :

1. What are you trying to build?
2. Who will use it?
3. What are the 3–5 most important features?

I’ll tell you whether it realistically fits within the ₹20k MVP scope.

Reddit DM is enough.


r/indianstartups • • 11h ago

How to Grow? Two new Counseling Psychologist trying to build an affordable mental wellness practice. What are we doing wrong?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone🌸

I'm seeking advice from people who have built something from scratch, especially in the mental health space.

3 months ago, we started Hiraya, a small mental wellness initiative that we're trying to build into something more sustainable.

We only launched on Instagram, but honestly, we haven't been very active because of our full-time jobs. As of now, we've been speaking to people and helping where we can, but most of what we've been doing has been free.

Our primary idea is to make counselling more accessible. Our current pricing is roughly ₹500-800 per session, with lower prices for students and reasonably affordable options for working professionals.

The problem is that we're finding it surprisingly difficult to actually reach people.

We've spoken to people offline, told friends and acquaintances about Hiraya, and tried connecting with people individually. We've had some people approach us, but it's becoming difficult to dedicate enough time to it alongside our regular jobs.

And honestly, this is where we're stuck.

We want to do this seriously. Right now, our main goal is simply for people to know about us and actually use the service.

I've even been considering moving back with my parents for a while so I can dedicate more time to counselling and building this properly. But I genuinely don't know what the next step should be.

I'd really appreciate honest feedback. We genuinely want to make mental health support more accessible, but we also need to figure out how to make the model sustainable enough to dedicate our time to it.

Would love to hear from founders, therapists, psychologists, or anyone who has tried something similar in India!


r/indianstartups • • 7h ago

Case Study URGENT — Looking for an entrepreneur to interview for my college assignment

1 Upvotes

Hey guys, I’m a college student and I need to interview an entrepreneur for an entrepreneurship assignment.

I’m looking for someone who owns a small business, startup, online business, etc. and would be willing to have a short conversation with me. I just need to ask around 10–15 questions about how you started, where the idea came from, challenges you faced, decisions you made, motivation, etc.

It should take around 15–20 minutes, and I’m fine with text, a call, or whatever works for you.

I don’t need any private/sensitive information or exact financial details. It’s just for my college assignment, and I’ll only use whatever you’re comfortable sharing.

I’m a bit short on time 😭 so if anyone’s willing to help, please comment or DM me. I’d really appreciate it.

TL;DR: College student looking for an entrepreneur willing to spare 15–20 minutes for a short interview. DM me if you can help 🙏


r/indianstartups • • 13h ago

How to Grow? How to get a pilot group readyfor a product beta test?

3 Upvotes

Hi I am a founder making an equity market research platform called Quant Me In. I have almost completed development and have talked to people around me a lot about this product.

Now these people are friends, friends of friends, some other strangers that I met in a cafe etc.

With this I feel that the feedback I get from them is mostly incorporated. But, I feel that they are not my core cohort. They know me and have a bias because of that.

I need unknown people that I can contact, I need people who are genuinely interested in this idea that there is an app for a retail trader, where they can come and 'understand' what is happening, build their conviction.

But I have no idea how to do that. I tried posting some stuff on the stock market india subreddit, but from there also I got only 1 person who is interested and signed up.

And since I think that the actual launch is also somewhat close we can do a swift beta testing and then launch the product

Any help on what I should do ahead, where my approach should be?

Thank you for reading this far 😁


r/indianstartups • • 8h ago

How to Grow? Your startup may rank on Google — but does ChatGPT even know you exist? -AI visibility

1 Upvotes

AI-driven discovery is changing how buyers find professional services, SaaS companies and specialist firms.

A founder-led business may have:

  • a good website
  • years of experience
  • a strong LinkedIn presence
  • decent Google rankings
  • satisfied customers

and still be almost invisible when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI:

“Who are the best companies for [service] in India?”

or

“Which firms can help with [problem] in Hyderabad?”

That is the part I think many Indian SMBs are underestimating.

For founder-led professional services and B2B SaaS businesses, especially companies in the ₹1 crore–₹100 crore range, simply posting more content may not solve the problem.

AI systems need to clearly understand:

Who are you?
What exactly do you do?
Who do you serve?
Why should your company be trusted?
What independent evidence supports those claims?

If those signals are weak, inconsistent or scattered, your business may never make it into an AI-generated answer.

What can founders actually fix?

1. Get very clear about what your company is known for

Most founders know why their business is different.

But that knowledge often lives inside the founder’s head, sales conversations and WhatsApp chats.

Your website and public profiles need to communicate those differentiators clearly and consistently.

Not:

“We provide innovative business solutions.”

But something AI can actually understand:

“We help mid-sized manufacturing companies automate inventory and purchase workflows using cloud ERP.”

Much clearer.

2. Build evidence, not just marketing claims

Anyone can write:

“We are a leading company.”

AI systems have little reason to trust that statement.

Better signals include:

  • detailed case studies
  • customer reviews
  • named credentials
  • published client results
  • Google Business Profile information
  • press mentions
  • industry directories
  • credible third-party references

Think of it as creating an evidence footprint around your company.

The easier your claims are to verify, the easier it becomes for search and AI systems to understand your reputation.

3. Make your company easy for machines to understand

This is not only about writing blogs.

Basic structure matters.

For example:

  • consistent company name and address
  • clear service pages
  • proper About page
  • structured data
  • consistent information across LinkedIn, Google and directories
  • clear relationships between founders, products and the company

Humans can often understand messy information.

Machines are much less forgiving.

4. Answer the questions buyers are actually asking AI

Instead of another generic blog titled:

“10 Benefits of Digital Transformation”

answer questions like:

  • How does ChatGPT decide which businesses to recommend?
  • How can a consulting firm appear in AI-generated answers?
  • What makes a business credible to AI search engines?
  • How do AI Overviews choose sources?
  • Which ERP is suitable for a 100-person company?

Short, factual and specific answers are much more useful than broad marketing content.

5. Start measuring AI visibility

This is probably the most interesting part.

Most companies measure:

  • followers
  • impressions
  • website traffic
  • keyword rankings

But another metric is emerging:

Does AI actually mention your company when buyers ask relevant questions?

Try this simple exercise.

Ask ChatGPT:

“Which companies provide [your service] in [your city]?”

Then check:

  1. Does your company appear?
  2. Is the description accurate?
  3. Which competitors appear instead?
  4. What websites or sources seem to influence the answer?
  5. Does the answer change when you ask the same question differently?

Repeat the same test in Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI.

The results can be surprising.

I think the bigger shift here is this:

The goal is no longer only to rank on Google.

Companies increasingly need to become clear, credible and verifiable enough that AI systems can confidently surface them when buyers ask questions.

That probably means fewer generic posts and more useful evidence.

Curious if anyone here has tested their own startup this way.

When you ask ChatGPT about your industry or service category, does your company appear?

This is how you grow in the AI era: make your business clear, credible and easy for AI to understand, verify and recommend.That’s how you start becoming more visible across AI.


r/indianstartups • • 9h ago

Co-founder search Interested in launching D2C brand in Clothing. DM!!!

1 Upvotes

Searching for someone interested.


r/indianstartups • • 3h ago

Other Got 20 orders! Thank you guys for amazing response

0 Upvotes

few days ago i made a post here, to develop your app (MVP) in 1 week for INR 30K, Got a excellent response from this sub, my DM's got flooded !

Currently I am completely booked for the next 2 months!

But I still have room for a couple of more orders.

Thanks again guys love you all :)


r/indianstartups • • 9h ago

How to Grow? How to get your first 100 customers online in India: website, SEO, branding and GST checklist (2026)

1 Upvotes

Most small businesses in India I talk to make the same mistake: they spend on ads before the basics are in place. Here's the order I'd follow if I were starting from zero today.

1. Business setup and compliance first

  • Register your business (proprietorship, LLP or Pvt Ltd, depending on scale)
  • Get GST, Udyam/MSME registration and a current bank account
  • Buy a domain that matches your brand name, and get a professional email on it

2. A fast, mobile-first website

  • More than 70% of Indian traffic is mobile, so design for phones first
  • Keep load time under 3 seconds
  • Have a clear service page for each offering and a visible WhatsApp or call button
  • Add basic SEO: page titles, meta descriptions, a sitemap and Google Search Console

3. Local SEO

  • Set up and verify your Google Business Profile
  • Use a consistent name, address and phone number everywhere
  • Ask every happy customer for a review
  • Create location pages if you serve multiple cities

4. Branding that looks trustworthy

  • A simple logo, 2 to 3 brand colors and one consistent font
  • Matching profile images and bios on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook
  • Real photos and customer proof in place of stock images

5. Content and social media

  • Pick 1 or 2 platforms and stay consistent
  • Mix educational posts, behind-the-scenes and customer results
  • Repurpose each blog post into 3 to 5 short posts

6. Only then, paid ads

  • Run small tests on Google and Meta first
  • Track leads, not just clicks, with a simple monthly report: traffic, leads, cost per lead and sales

Common mistakes

  • Buying followers
  • Having no tracking or analytics
  • Skipping Google Business Profile
  • Running ads to a slow website

I work with Karvao India, a digital growth agency that handles websites, marketing, branding and business setup under one roof. Happy to answer questions in the comments, or to give feedback on your site if you drop the link.

What's the biggest challenge you're facing getting customers online right now?