Sushil Modi - Co-founder and CEO - Ziplip

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[00:00:32] Welcome to follow.us startups, your exclusive gateway to the world of early state startup

[00:00:47] founders. This is your front row seat to dive headfirst into their business pitches and

[00:00:52] stay updated with their business updates. Let's go.

[00:00:55] Owning a social media business is a breeze, but ever noticed how the user experience

[00:01:04] takes a no-style when it comes to making a purchase? That's where ZipLips whoops in. ZipLip

[00:01:09] is an AI powered commerce suite stepping up the game for social media sellers. Hi there,

[00:01:14] I'm Ankita Pahwa your host at follow startups. Today we are joined by Sushil Modi, the co-founder

[00:01:19] and CEO at ZipLip with over a decade of experience in tech and entrepreneurship. So she leads

[00:01:25] ZipLips mission to empower social sellers in their entrepreneurial journey. How you

[00:01:29] ask? Well, let's hear directly from him. Hi, Sushil, welcome to follow startups.

[00:01:33] Hi Ankita, thanks a lot for having me here. How are you doing?

[00:01:38] I'm good Sushil and it's great to have you here. So before we jump into ZipLip,

[00:01:42] certain our audience would be excited to learn about the person driving the business. So could

[00:01:47] you kindly share a bit about your background and your professional experiences that led you here?

[00:01:52] Sure Ankita, I would love to. So I'm a software engineer by education over a decade of

[00:01:57] industrial experience in tech and entrepreneurship. I'm proud to be a founding ZipLip. I was

[00:02:01] working with Microsoft when I was leading an engineering team and people are meeting

[00:02:05] about one million target in place. And you know, the best thing about me is that I come from a very

[00:02:13] strong seller community background back in my hometown. A lot of people in my friend's

[00:02:17] family own an Apple business, sell both online and offline. In fact, I myself own an Apple shop

[00:02:24] back in my hometown. So we first hand understand the seller mindset and this gives a unique

[00:02:29] edge as well because this is a precise space that we are currently building.

[00:02:34] Thank you so much for sharing that Sushil. So now let's talk about ZipLip. So tell us what exactly

[00:02:40] it is, which first of all is a very quirky name ZipLip and walk us through the problem that

[00:02:45] you identified in the market that prompted you to create the whole business?

[00:02:49] So you know the foundation of business, foundation of you know the business at ZipLip

[00:02:55] that we're doing, it rose with our you know like personal experiences I would say. So few years

[00:03:02] back when I was in my hometown I was just visiting one of my relatives and in fact our own shop as

[00:03:07] well. So what we saw over there is that these shopkeepers they generally have business in the

[00:03:12] you know morning and evening hours afternoon they are mostly free. So now what they were

[00:03:17] started doing is afternoons they were started making video or photographs of their products

[00:03:22] and they're starting putting started putting up online I mean on social media platforms and from

[00:03:27] there they are doing a decent business and you know this is coming up as a new trend and

[00:03:33] a lot of sellers have actually moved completely to this side and they're doing big volumes of

[00:03:38] business over there. So that was an eye opener for us at that time few years back and what we

[00:03:44] realized is that you know for them you know showcasing the products like you know through

[00:03:49] a video based post or a photograph post with a base post works great. They get a pan India

[00:03:54] reach as well pan world reach as well through those posts but you know their entire commerce

[00:03:59] experience is broken. So for commerce you know they give their phone number in the post itself

[00:04:03] and ask prospective buyers to take a screenshot of the product that they like and watch them

[00:04:07] depend on that number to place an order. So entire commerce experience you know like order

[00:04:12] placement then payments again through bit sharing, paying number, payment and sharing

[00:04:17] and then delivery as well again manual and all. So entirely this commerce experience was pretty

[00:04:23] broken and pretty manual and this was a big pain point for all these sellers

[00:04:27] and this is what we realized as a big gap and we then said you know why is nobody solving this

[00:04:34] and that is when we decided that okay we need to step in over here and

[00:04:38] we need to solve this. So that is how we started with this. Interesting so there

[00:04:42] is like who exactly is your target audience and how they benefit from this commerce suite that you

[00:04:48] have built. So our target audience is mostly you know sellers that are selling on social media

[00:04:54] platforms like the social sellers. They could be selling on Facebook, they could be selling on

[00:04:59] Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Telegram anyway. So typically these are people that are selling

[00:05:06] from their shops like these are real shopkeepers. Let's say someone is selling sorry someone's

[00:05:11] selling cookies and you know any other item as well. These are women selling from their home

[00:05:17] as well they make one home as a studio and from there they are selling and these are influencers

[00:05:24] as well pretty much anyone who is doing social selling. So they are our target customers

[00:05:30] and our exacting thing it benefited is let's say you know let's say I'm a seller right

[00:05:37] and I am selling on Facebook let's say and I put up a video post let's say of five different products

[00:05:43] let's say five different sarees in a post and earlier I would give my phone number and you know I would

[00:05:48] you know ask people to you know take a screenshot of the product that I like you know if you

[00:05:54] like to place an order but and WhatsApp right. So instead of that what they do now is they

[00:06:01] create a mini catalog link of these five products from Ziplitz seller app and they put this mini

[00:06:09] catalog link in the pinned comment of their social media post or in the description itself

[00:06:14] and from there you know the buyer is able to buy just within a few clicks within less than five

[00:06:21] seconds. So basically we are making all social media posts shoppable right then and there so

[00:06:27] we enable commerce at the point of discovery on social media. So that's what we do and that's how

[00:06:34] these sellers and buyers gets benefited get benefited from. That's interesting I mean the concept of

[00:06:40] creating these mini catalogs for social media platforms is it's quite intriguing. So Sushil

[00:06:47] tell me how intuitive is the seller dashboard and what key features make it like stand out?

[00:06:54] Absolutely. So one of the key things in our business Sankhita is that it has to be extremely

[00:07:00] easy to use. So these sellers that we're talking about they are nothing but you know laymen these

[00:07:05] are like you know laymen of India like the real Bharat right. The product for them has to be

[00:07:10] extremely easy extremely intuitive extremely simple to use and that's what we also live by.

[00:07:16] So our seller dashboard or let's say seller app is extremely simple to use like just as if

[00:07:23] some seller can use WhatsApp they can you know send messages receive messages on WhatsApp this is

[00:07:29] what they can do. They can easily use you know our seller app as well. So this is the level of

[00:07:34] keys at our seller app so that's answer to your first question and coming to the second part

[00:07:40] of it so what are the key features? So one of the key feature on our platform or our seller

[00:07:46] app is that you know we take care of everything end to end for entire order cycle like from

[00:07:52] you know once a seller has created a mini catalog and he has put it up somewhere on social media and

[00:07:58] from there on till the you know like the order placement from order placement to payments then

[00:08:04] delivery end to end for entire order cycle we take care. So that is one key part and coming to

[00:08:12] the additional parts so or let's say additional key features so and this is where it becomes

[00:08:18] very exciting as well so we not only help these sellers automate their business we help them grow

[00:08:25] their business as well. So we provide multiple features through which they can actually grow

[00:08:30] their business. So for example one such feature that we provide today is we provide

[00:08:35] highly curated sales needs which these sellers can act upon right away and convert it to

[00:08:41] actual sales. So that's one second we provide them you know marketing packages as well.

[00:08:47] So they can integrate their you know marketing accounts and all to us and they can

[00:08:53] procure on marketing you know paid marketing campaigns and all from here so and multiple

[00:09:00] other features as well. So that's how our seller app is structured. All right so Sushil

[00:09:07] if I were to ask what stages if LIPP currently in terms of its development and market

[00:09:12] penetration like any significant milestones or achievements that you would like to highlight.

[00:09:16] Sure so we are in early stages right now on Panketa so we recently concluded our Vita launch.

[00:09:23] So when Vita launch we work with you know 100 plus sellers doing you know around 100k

[00:09:30] USD of sale on about three months of time period and all and we receive you know amazing feedback

[00:09:37] from all these sellers and buyers alike and we have received around you know request for around

[00:09:44] 10 high frequency dignitaried features which is what we are building right now and we'll be releasing

[00:09:49] it as a part of V1 of our product very soon. So this is where we are and we also have you

[00:09:56] know around 5000 plus sellers in our wait list and 27000 sellers in our master list.

[00:10:03] So our market access part is also pretty strong because we come from you know strong seller community

[00:10:09] backgrounds and like we are directly connected to all these sellers and these sellers first time

[00:10:15] so that's a unique edge as well that we have. So are all these sellers within the borders of

[00:10:20] India or do you have your presence outside? So as of now we are mostly focusing on India

[00:10:28] so we will be expanding to you know other countries as well but that comes at a later stage

[00:10:33] but yes these sellers that are like that are there in India itself they do ship to you know

[00:10:40] outside of India as well like many of you know buyers from sellers are from US and Europe as

[00:10:47] well. So yes that angle is definitely there. Interesting and where is your headquarters the

[00:10:52] shield where are you missed out of? So yeah so we are based out of Hyderabad right now

[00:10:56] but we do have offices in you know Gurdawon. Okay now on to the revenue models she'll give us a

[00:11:02] sense of ziplift revenue model structure and how do you approach pricing for the dashboard you offer

[00:11:08] and you know more importantly what factors contribute to determining these prices? I think

[00:11:13] this is a very important question for any business and it's the same for us as well. So regarding

[00:11:19] the revenue model so ours is a pretty simple revenue model I would say so we don't you know like see

[00:11:26] these sellers are all laymen and they are from a lot of people are from year 2 and 3 cities as well

[00:11:32] a lot of them are from year 1 as well like I have a lot of sellers in Hyderabad itself

[00:11:37] so but yeah a majority of chunk is from year 2 and 3 so coming to the pricing so

[00:11:44] we don't charge anything upfront to them like there is no initial set up here or anything

[00:11:49] we just charge a convenience fee on as they go like on a per order value so like we charged 1%

[00:11:57] convenience fee on the order value of each order placed on our platform. So that's one and then

[00:12:02] we make money from value added features as well like other revenue streams for example we make

[00:12:07] money through you know the sales leaps that we offer we make money to the marketing packages

[00:12:12] and other services that we offer today so that's how you know the revenue model is you know structured

[00:12:20] so in and all we make around 10% of our GMV are more taxed. And is ZipLip funded so far? Yes so we are

[00:12:30] like a funded company so we recently raised around Angel Brown from you know Angel Investors

[00:12:37] so these are like the high net like H&I's you know mostly from Hyderabad like you know one of our

[00:12:44] investors is founder of KKHR so KKHR is a SUNY bond from you know HR Tech Space from Hyderabad so

[00:12:54] Vijay Alam actually is one of our investor then another founder as well and we have one

[00:13:00] institutional investor as well with us Rishi Foundation so yeah we have raised a small

[00:13:05] engine round and we are now looking to you know steal it part part of the dividend for that

[00:13:11] broadcasting. And also so are you like flying solo with ZipLip or do you have a co-founder with you

[00:13:18] and if yes we would love to be introduced to him as well? Sure so I have other co-founders as well

[00:13:22] so I have my co-founder co-founders name is Vishwaj so he's an IIT Delhi graduate and

[00:13:31] he's also you know he also comes from a strong seller community background so he himself is a

[00:13:37] proper year 3 seller you know he comes from a small town nearby Kulpatar and his entire family

[00:13:43] is into April selling business for the last 14 years so he has first hand understand you know

[00:13:48] this problem multiple times and again this gives us a unique edge so that's about to show then

[00:13:54] I have other people as well with me so like we have Pradeep as our CEO and then we have Vishal

[00:14:01] leading the marketing trunks so that's how we are structured. Okay so Sushil with the four of you

[00:14:07] what your total team strength and how do you all fit together within the business? Sure so our

[00:14:13] total team strength is about six people and we are at our least stage right now I would say

[00:14:19] that so ours is a very flat structure where you know startups so but if I were to say then

[00:14:28] I and Vishal look after the marketing and sales and then Pradeep looks after the tech and product

[00:14:35] and I also pitch him into the product most of the times because I am the one who has

[00:14:40] you know in touch with sellers all the time and then Kishore is more like a

[00:14:46] subject matter expert of you know how the product should be or what exactly you should do and you

[00:14:52] know how would you look like to a seller or not and all those things and yeah and then we have

[00:14:59] like more interesting so that's how it is you know structured. And are there any positions

[00:15:05] that you are looking to hire right now? So right now you know we are probably looking to hire

[00:15:11] someone not exactly right now but down the line probably three months later we'll be looking to

[00:15:17] hire someone in sales and then we'll be looking to hire in tech as well probably. Okay we are

[00:15:25] almost towards the end of this conversation so I would really like to know what are the future

[00:15:30] plans for ZipLip maybe in the next 12 months so any new features or expansion on the horizon?

[00:15:36] I would say that there are a lot of features that we're working on in the coming time but they

[00:15:43] are mostly all around you know the growth of these sellers so one of the key philosophies that we

[00:15:49] always have which we live by is that if we don't increase the business of these sellers

[00:15:57] they're not going to stable us and then they are going to start with us fine but they're

[00:16:02] going to stay with us only for one reason that we are increasing their business for them

[00:16:07] right and it should be clearly attributed to us they should know that it is getting increased

[00:16:11] because of ZipLip and that is why any seller will stay in this particular spectrum of you know

[00:16:19] the business. So in those lines we have a lot of features that we're working on you know

[00:16:25] around the growth of these sellers like you know like the two I mentioned and you know

[00:16:31] then there are a couple of others around again you know how exactly they can best reach out to

[00:16:36] their potential customers and all so they are all in the works right now. So that's one and

[00:16:43] you know answering your next part so what are the future plans for us? So our plan is to you

[00:16:49] know in the next 12 months we want to cover at least you know a thousand high performing

[00:16:56] sellers by high performing I mean like which have at least you know five lakh monthly sale each let's

[00:17:01] say that will come down to you know 60 lakhs annually or this will actually once year annually. So if

[00:17:07] you have you know a thousand such sellers then we want to cross 500 CR you know G&V in the next

[00:17:14] 12 months so that's not the star metric that we are talking about. You know Sushil it's really

[00:17:20] fascinating to see how social media has become this global marketplace empowering people from

[00:17:26] all corners to own their own businesses so the potential is of course limitless and it will

[00:17:31] continue to grow as we go ahead. So you know as someone deeply entrenched in social media space

[00:17:39] how do you envision the landscape evolving in the next few years I just wanted to hear your

[00:17:43] opinion and more importantly where do you see Zip Lip fitting into this narrative of social

[00:17:49] commerce? Sure I think that's a very important and interesting question Anitha so you know this

[00:17:57] trend is ever increasing like the social commerce right why because the fundamental reason is that

[00:18:04] people are there on social media platform just for you know spending time or surfing and

[00:18:09] for entertainment anything right and now in today's time it was not possible five years

[00:18:15] back or ten years back but today it is possible that people are able to you know

[00:18:20] like get influenced by the social media for their purchases and all right so they want

[00:18:27] to purchase right then and there. So e-commerce has social media is getting fusion and that

[00:18:35] is where social commerce gets formed right so you know it's a very growing in a double digit

[00:18:42] CAGR every year and you know it's about to be a 80 billion dollar industry in India itself by 2013

[00:18:49] 200 million businesses of solo cleaners take manual orders today worldwide. So it's a very

[00:18:54] big business out there and just as we have seen like you know the rise of e-commerce in the

[00:19:01] last 10 years right like before 2010 I would say there was no e-commerce as such right

[00:19:08] so but we have seen we all know how big e-commerce is today in 2020 let's say right

[00:19:14] so same way in 2030s you know the social commerce is going to be extremely big it is quite possible

[00:19:21] that it you know it overshadows every other form of business e-commerce or physical

[00:19:28] commerce as well. So this is where we see that social commerce will be and we want to be

[00:19:35] on the forefront of so that's what we envision it as. Absolutely. So Sushil considering that

[00:19:42] we have plans to promote this video this discussion to large enterprises potential investors tech giants

[00:19:48] and maybe a broader startup ecosystem is there anything specific you'd like to mention that

[00:19:53] could help you find any external assistance that you require at the moment like think of

[00:19:59] this as your call for support. Yeah sure Ankita so I think I would just say that

[00:20:04] we are on to extremely big things in social commerce so if you have any interest in social

[00:20:10] commerce in general or any exposure and you know and anything you know then you know come talk to us

[00:20:16] and we will be happy to partner in any which way possible would it be like you know you know

[00:20:22] investments or industry exposure or would it be just you know seller partnership you know

[00:20:29] any anything basic so yeah happy to you know partner with the relevant people over here.

[00:20:36] That's great thank you so much Sushil I'm genuinely looking forward to witnessing your

[00:20:41] future accomplishments and talking more about your milestone in our future conversations of

[00:20:45] course which I'm sure are going to happen. So before we wrap up Sushil let's just do a quick

[00:20:53] rapid fire round are you ready? Sure. Okay question number one which productivity tool or app

[00:20:59] do you find most helpful in your daily work? I think notion is good. Notion okay question number two

[00:21:05] a fun fact about you that most people don't know yet. I'm a very serious person and sincere person

[00:21:13] but I spend a lot of time on social media. Yes exactly that makes the tool. That's my business.

[00:21:20] Okay question number three what is your favorite quotation or mantra that you live by any quote

[00:21:28] that you like? One of the biggest quote that I always you know live by and I'm influenced by that

[00:21:33] as well a lot like you know it's a dream big. That's a good one okay question number four

[00:21:40] so you know there's a saying that don't tell me who you are just tell me what brands you use

[00:21:46] so describe yourself using just the names of three brands that you use okay whatever is in front

[00:21:51] of me I'm using a MacBook Pro and earphones I'm using Soundcore phone I'm using for example

[00:21:58] let's say Samsung. Okay okay great so last but not the least what is your one piece of advice

[00:22:03] for the young audience watching this? To young audience I would say you know you should dream big

[00:22:09] but also keep your feet on the ground and be practical so whenever you are you know aiming

[00:22:16] for something big think true I mean obviously you will not be able to think it completely

[00:22:21] but do your homework you know really well the much you can do the better it is and then start taking

[00:22:29] you know steps in that direction. Thank you so much Sashil and now I want you to just make

[00:22:34] a wish out loud for your business that you hope comes true in the near future any wish?

[00:22:40] I wish you know in next two years we support more than a million sellers in fact 10 million

[00:22:45] sellers is what we want. So here's to ZipLip unlocking every small business's true potential

[00:22:51] all the very best and thank you so much for joining us. Thanks a lot Ankita,

[00:22:55] thank you for having me, thanks a lot for your time. So if you would like to stay updated

[00:22:59] with the latest developments and business insights from ZipLip make sure to follow their channel

[00:23:03] on follow.tas slash startups. Thank you for tuning in if you want to listen to more such

[00:23:13] interviews with innovative new founders don't forget to visit www.follow.tas slash startups

[00:23:20] and if you want to showcase your startup feel free to drop me a note at

[00:23:24] ankita.pahawa at the red follow daughters we'd love to hear your story.