12th December 2023, Bengaluru: Redseer Strategy Consultants’ flagship event ‘Ground Zero’, 9th Edition, graced by eminent speakers including Nandan Nilekani (recorded interview), Imran Jafar (Managing Partner, Gaja Capital), Harshil Mathur (CEO, Razorpay), Harishankar K (Head of Transformation at ONDC) and Pavitra Gupta (Director of Portfolio Development, RTP Global) concluded successfully on 7th December at The Leela Palace, Bangalore.

Themed ‘Resilience in Action’, the exclusive event brought together over 200+ select few audiences of startup innovators, venture capitalists and thought leaders from diverse sectors. Six sessions ranging from a comprehensive Startup Masterclass, a study of India’s consumption patterns, outlook on India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, a vision for Industrial 4.0 to a deep dive into India’s $12 Billion Digital Media & Entertainment Market were held.

The event also saw the launch of ‘Impact of DPI on the Indian Internet Economy’, a comprehensive report on the inception, impact and potential for Digital Public Infrastructure in India. Nandan Nilekani (Founding Chairman Aadhar (UIDAI) and Co-Founder, Infosys) set the tone for the report launch by remarking “India’s digital public infrastructure (DPI) ecosystem is fuelling market innovation and value creation, accelerating the emergence of new startups, and enabling them to challenge incumbents”.

Anil Kumar, CEO of Redseer remarked “Ground Zero was conceived as a unique endeavour to democratize insights and close the knowledge gap for startups and corporates. It is a matter of great pride for me to be part of the 9th edition of our event and amplify the rallying cry to boost the digital resilience of the startup space through the sharing of appropriate tools and insights.” Through each of the sessions, the speakers gave audiences valuable insights on the opportunities present in each of markets and how they could be best leveraged to make India’s manufacturing dream a reality.

Some of the key takeaways from the sessions include:

  • Understanding market sizing is the first step to realizing startup growth as it boosts investor confidence, reduces investor risk and sets clear goals for the startup itself.
  • Data by itself cannot solve the problems faced by startups, it however can help answer critical questions and improve decision-making.
  • A five-step fool proof process can be followed for data driven decision-making. They are a) Identifying key metrics, b) Building a metrics dashboard, c) Setting goals for each metric, d) Ensuring metric ownership, e) Thinking 3-5 years ahead.
  • Fundraising for startup success is a balancing act between debt and equity, and both components make sense at different stages of business maturity.
  • Investors are on the lookout for well-structured organizations regardless of the mode of capital chosen.
  • A recent focus on profitability has boosted overall investor sentiment in the tech fundraising market.
  • Some of the current patterns in the digital media space includes the growth of OTT Video at scale, an increase in the pool of mature users in the non-RMG space, and the potential for Short Form Video Monetization.
  • India’s consumption recovery in the post-COVID landscape is taking on a K-shaped pattern which has played out differently across multiple categories.