Dhanusha Rajkumar

Sovereign social media? Déjà vu. Remember Hike. And Koo. The PM’s Independence Day call for an indigenous, sovereign social platform took me straight back to Hike—the OG “Made in India” messenger that felt like a super-app before the term was cool. Stickers in Indian languages, offline SMS, themes, private chats, news, games, even payments. It hit 100M+ users and unicorn status. And yet…the WhatsApp network effect + a product doing too many things = bloat, confusion, and a pivot away from chat. Koo is the other cautionary tale. A moment of explosive, patriotic adoption (tens of millions of downloads) proved the demand is real. But sustaining it is harder: funding, moderation at scale, world-class reliability, and clear differentiation. Koo ultimately shut down in 2024 after partnership talks fell through. If we truly want a sovereign social platform, here are 6 hard-won lessons: Lead with a wedge (one killer, daily use case) before you become a platform. Simplicity > feature sprawl. Delight on the core loop, relentlessly. Distribution beats features. Solve for network effects with defaults, interoperability, and incentives. Trust at scale. Safety, moderation, and transparent governance aren’t “later” items. World-class infra. Speed, reliability, and low data costs are product features in India. Patient capital + open rails. Think protocols and portability (identity, social graphs, APIs), not just another walled garden. Hike was ahead of its time; Koo showed there’s appetite for homegrown networks. The next one will win not on nationalism alone—but on clarity, craft, and compounding trust. #DigitalSovereignty #MakeInIndia #ProductStrategy #Hike #Koo #IndiaTech

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9 out of 10 D2C brands don’t survive beyond 5 years. The real question is, what sets the 10% apart? In my journey of building brands across education and consumer markets, I’ve seen the pattern repeat itself. The playbook is evolving, but the fundamentals are clear. What works: ✓ Owning your niche. The strongest brands aren’t trying to please everyone. They go deep into one problem, one community, one emotion and solve it better than anyone else. ✓ Community before customers. Loyalty is never bought with discounts. It’s built on trust, conversations, and a sense of belonging that makes people feel they’re part of something bigger. ✓ Smarter distribution. Growth doesn’t come from one channel. The winning brands meet buyers where they are whether it’s online marketplaces, social platforms, or even offline touchpoints. What doesn’t work: ✗ Discount-led growth. You can’t out-discount the giants. Margins vanish, and so does longevity. ✗ Blindly copying playbooks. What worked in the U.S. a decade ago won’t automatically work in India today. Consumer behavior, infrastructure, and price sensitivity here need unique answers. ✗ Forgetting retention. Everyone celebrates new customer acquisition. But the quiet work of retention is what pays the bills and sustains growth. The D2C story isn’t ending it’s maturing. And as I shape my next wave of brands, I’m even more convinced that the winners won’t just be those who sell, but those who build trust, inspire love, and keep people coming back.

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