“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” –Winnie the Pooh

Allow me to introduce myself via my journey with grofers — I joined when we were in the biggest identity crisis in our history. From there, we discovered a new grofers — an online supermarket, lowest prices guaranteed. We grew fast as a result, but it was almost always clear that this was not going to be enough, that “we haven’t yet found true Product Market Fit” (PMF). We tried to evolve to private-labels-only, group-buying and some other not so memorable ideas, but nothing seemed to click. Then when we eventually landed on #10minutesmagic, I finally experienced what real PMF feels like — yes, PMF is a feeling. What a thrill!

I never thought I would leave when the G-ship has just achieved escape velocity, but here I am. And what better way to celebrate it than to reminisce of some of the lessons grofers has taught me, a note to my future self.

#1 Product Market Fit is better understood as mood than math

If you doubt whether you have found PMF, you haven’t.

If you are wondering whether you understand what PMF means, you probably don’t.

#2 Feelings over functionality

Make your users feel great; that is the main goal for both of you.

You are a fool to believe you can ignore your feelings and be a robot. And you are an a**h*le to expect people around you to ignore their feelings.

#3 Great execution is as critical as a great strategy

It’s not sufficient to be smart and know the way; ideas don’t just materialize because they are good. Walking the way takes more than just courage and hard work — it is a complex skill in itself that requires leadership, over-communication and extreme attention to detail.

#4 Playing it multiplayer makes a huge difference

Friendship, especially at work, is not optional. You will lose sight of the vision and will start doubting yourself on the path to victory. Having great friends as deeply involved colleagues shortens the feedback loop when victory is far.

And no, you are not Buddha. You need it as much as anyone else to stay energized. Don’t play alone, bring your friends along.

#5 Having strong opinions is as important as having humility

You won’t progress far if you keep waiting for facts to guide you. Hone your intuition, take calls based on what you know and feel — unpack your gut to distill feelings to knowledge (or bias) as much as you can, don’t ignore it.

Intuition is only honed via iterations — it takes humility, objectivity, awareness and often courage to change your opinion despite others not getting it.

#6 Don’t take comfort with ambiguity for granted

You might be comfortable operating without certainty, most others aren’t. Make the effort to take them along, by having deeper clarity, putting more effort in communicating that clarity and being more patient and loving if they still don’t get it.

And no, you can’t do it all, alone.

#7 Seek value in disagreement

Disagreements reveal the most interesting insights. Only people who care disagree, as long as you trust the goals to be aligned. Dig more and learn. Also, don’t bother with disagreements on things that don’t matter with people who don’t care about the same things you care for.

#8 Rules are for lackeys. Context is for kings and queens.

Don’t take any of the above as generic rules, consider them more as guidelines that might (or might not) be applicable in a different context.

Credit to Zomato folks for this one.

Ending the list here for now. These probably have a recency bias but recalling older learnings needs more time, something for later.

Thank you to all my friends at grofers for teaching me wonderful things. I got more love and learning here than I even imagined. I am sure all the ESOPs I got will also make me richer than I imagined soon enough as well, which shouldn’t be trivialized (another learning!).

I will miss playing with all of you dearly. I have no doubt we will be the biggest commerce company India has ever seen — we are extremely well placed and Albi will make sure we pick ourselves up when we fall.

Love,
Akshat

P.S. For those wondering why I am leaving — I see opportunities in the NFT world that are pulling the 0 to 1 builder in me. It’s a rare window.