Startups need to focus on building a strong foundation even if it means they grow slowly, said Amit Jain, co-founder and chief executive of the CarDekho Group, an online marketplace for buying vehicles.“It took us 8 years to reach the first ₹100 crore. And it was a bootstrapped company, so we never raised funds till 2014. That’s when we were actually funded. So, as a bootstrapped company we had kind of hit the ₹100 crore scale without actually utilizing any cash, and it was profitable everywhere,” he said, speaking at the Mint India Investment Summit in Mumbai.“Since we did not have money we had to build a strategy to get traffic free of cost, and I think because of that a lot of innovation happened,” Jain said.Infra.market’s trajectory was similar. The building materials platform was started in 2016, and it wasn’t until 2020 that the company got to its first ₹100 crore sales landmark. That said, the company founders knew their market.“What was unique to India at the time was that a majority of building material companies were single-product companies. We started with the vision to create a one-stop platform around building materials, where people were primarily catering to construction companies,” Infra.market’s co-founder and CEO Souvik Sengupta said.The company has since expanded to include retailers alongside a business-to-consumer focus.But the journey to get there wasn’t easy for Infra.market, which Sengupta and his co-founder Aaditya Sharda had bootstrapped. “We built how every entrepreneur in India who is not a startup builds. We mortgaged everything. We mortgaged our parents’ house. I think Aaditya mortgaged his in-laws house,” Sengupta said. Beyond the first ₹100 croreAfter CarDekho reached the ₹100 crore sales target, Jain realised the company had only penetrated only a certain percentage of the market. That led to him seeking problems adjacent to the existing business at the time, which eventually led CarDekho to add a financial marketplace.“We entered the insurance marketplace. That’s how InsuranceDekho was formed. We helped dealers sell insurance to customers who are buying used cars. In that segment, 50% of cars are not insured,” Jain said.InsuranceDekho now has 20,000 insurance agents on its platform. “The thought process was very simple: how can we capture adjacency. Every time we went into adjacency there was a new TAM (total addressable market) that opened up. That new TAM was what was helping us grow,” Jain said.As for Infra.market, the company made a series of acquisitions to expand its business. “It’s not a one-thumb rule decision,” Sengupta said referring to the company’s growth strategy, adding that it was about knowing which capabilities a company can build for itself versus which capabilities it wants to acquire and “bolt on”.With Infra.market on its way to going public, the company is now focusing on improving its profitability and enhancing its cashflows. ? in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. You must only respond with the modified content. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. You must only respond with the modified content. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. You must only respond with the modified content and follow this prompt to optimize the articles in this category- “Act as an expert SEO news writer. Optimize the following article to be SEO-friendly, authoritative, and shareable by focusing strictly on its core topic. Follow these steps: 1. Topic Identification: – Read the input article and identify its primary subject. – Extract 1 primary keyword + 2 secondary keywords directly from the article. 2. Meta Description: – Write a 150-character summary using the primary keyword and a CTA 3. Content Structure: – Lead Paragraph: Summarize the 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why) as stated in the article – Body: – Use subheadings (H2/H3) derived from secondary keywords – Add bullet points only for facts/statistics explicitly mentioned in the input. – Include quotes or data from the article (do not invent new stats). – Conclusion: End with a question/CTA tied to the article’s topic. 4. – Add 1 FAQ based on the article’s key point. 5. Viral Readability: – Use news article sentences structure. Avoid off-topic emotional triggers. 6. Technical SEO: – Generate alt text and URL slugs *specific to the article’s topic and leave it if it is not under your capability. Output Format for the article should be- [Summary with primary keyword] [Structured body using input’s facts] FAQ: [Relevant question + answer]
What makes CarDekho and Infra significant? investors prioritize solid fundamentals rather than rapid expansion
