So basically I was a corporate slave for 8 years but I decided to take this huge risk of restarting my career at 30.

I have always loved makeup and nails both. I am ceritified as a pro makeup and nail artist (freelancer) since past 2 years. Now the question is - I am not earning as good as my corporate job cause my business is fairly new, there is no steady flow of income right now.

Should I continue working on my business here in india OR should I move to another country like Dubai and get a job as a MUA/nail tech where I might get paid more than here in india?

Or should I work on cruises? I was suggested this and people said nail techs get paid well on cruises.

Also another problem is that cause of my legal cases (divorce) I do not want to really move out of the country right now , I want to close all these cases and then have a clear start.

I really do not wish to go back to corporate and stay glued in front of the computer. I want to make my business and passion work and get paid well to become financially stable.

I just made an AI product which I think is pretty amazing and it has a great potential of becoming a big thing. But I don’t have a company neither do I have big money ? What do I do ? Please help me, I don’t mind giving a share to someone who helps me.

A new marketing agency named Thames & Tiger has been posting continuous jobs on LinkedIn. Their website looks to be legit at first glance. The roles they are hiring for are mostly marketing executives or corporate managers. The JD specifies that it is immediate start role and that applicants will be contacted within 24-48 hours of applying. But here's how it goes:

Round 1, which they make us believe to be a one-on-one round, is actually an orientation round. All participants are put on the same zoom call and the MD, Alex Mandich gives a brief introduction before handing it over to "Tommy," the "national director" or something. Tommy introduces the role (shady) and the salaries (super shady) and asks if anyone has any questions but moves on without answering. I am pretty sure it was a recorded video that was playing instead of a live call. After some snooping, I found out that Tommy is actually Thomas Smith, the founder of some company in Connecticut, US.

The national consultant of T&T, Nick, also seems to be a fake identity. The website's general pictures are all from Shutterstock. The team portrait pictures on their websites are all either AI-generated or staged because nothing looks to be positioned at a real office. The "work culture" pictures, which show them all bonding, are all outdoor locations. Alex is present in all of them with a different ID card.

Their Instagram also has very few posts and they are the same as LinkedIn. There are only 5 Indians associated with that company, Alex being one of them. The address is a residential property in Bangalore.

What's even more shocking is that, this isn't Alex's first fraud company. After Google-searching some images from the T&T website, I was led to two other websites - SalesCo Asia and SalesPartners - that follow the same blueprint. Identity thefts, fake pictures, same residential address. Here, he has used identities of Sophie Walker and Qaiyum Saleque. Smart because Qaiyum Saleque has been known to be a scammer in the UK.

Despite repeatedly reporting their job posts, of course LinkedIn has done nothing to remove the company, so please beware.

Hi,
I am in the early stage of planning an fmcg business in India, focused on home essentials such as cleaning liquids and other house related items.

Before I invest in manufacturing, I am trying to understand the modern retail distribution ecosystem actually works.

My main question is around getting products into larger retail chain such as Dmart , reliance retail etc.

How does the process of getting listed with these chains actually work ?

2. Do I approach the retail directly, or do I need to go through a distributor ?

3. How does new brands gets their meetings with these retails ?

4. What kind of margin , listing fees , schemes , MOQ should I expect ?

5. Do large chains generally consider products from completely new brand or do they expect an established sales record ?

I am interested to know these details !

Thank you so much

Hey everyone! 👋

I'm 22 and based in Pune, and I'm thinking about starting a YouTube channel where we research and discuss interesting topics around Indian businesses, education, economics, public policy, politics, and how different systems in India actually work.

But I haven't decided anything yet — no fixed niche, format, name or even team. 😅

I'm based in Pune, so it would be great to find people from Pune who are interested in meeting in person and brainstorming together, but I'm also open to connecting with people from anywhere in India who are interested in being part of the idea.

I'm not an expert either — I just want to start something new. I'm mainly looking for people who:

• Enjoy researching random/new topics
• Like discussing and analysing ideas
• Enjoy finding data and interesting information
• Are interested in writing/content

Nothing is fixed at this point. It's just an idea, and I'm looking for like-minded people who want to explore and build something together.

If you're interested, comment or DM me.

Maybe we can meet over coffee and brainstorm some ideas. ☕

​

Hey guys, as the post says I made an android/webapp for shopkeepers and everyday business owners who are starting to get compliant with GST or need a simplified approach from tally that seems to dominate the market and requires training to use. I have been in contacts with market associations and CA's and am slowly starting to onboard users but unsure how I can get funding. if anyone has any ideas please tell me cause feel like I'm stuck and needing funding to hire a team and grow the product. The product is live as if anyone wants to check it dm me and give me any reviews for improvements I can make.

​

Hey everyone, I’m Raviteja from IIIT Hyderabad, and I’m currently working on my startup, NxtStepEdu.

We’re building an EdTech/SaaS platform for schools to manage their day-to-day academic and administrative operations.

We’re still at an early stage, but we’ve already reached:

- 5 paying schools

- ~₹4,00,000 ARR

- A live product with real users

We’re now looking to connect with angel investors, early-stage investors, or founders who are interested in backing early-stage startups, particularly in EdTech/SaaS.

At this stage, I’m looking for more than just funding — the right investor who can bring mentorship, connections, and experience scaling a SaaS business would be a great fit.

If this sounds interesting, feel free to DM me. I’d be happy to share more about NxtStepEdu, our traction, product, roadmap, and pitch deck.

Thanks!

A fortnight ago I posted a measurement of the Indian serum shelf: 13 D2C brands, ₹159 crore a year on Amazon. That shelf belongs to Indian D2C almost entirely.

So I assumed baby skincare would look similar. Same buyer, adjacent aisle, and every D2C brand in the country seems to have a baby range now.

It does not look similar at all.

I took three searches Amazon actually merchandises, baby lotion, baby massage oil and baby cream, three pages each, and harvested 421 distinct organic products. I then opened the 80 highest-revenue ones individually to confirm each brand from Amazon's own "Visit the … Store" link and read the MRP and the price per 100ml, which search pages do not publish. Those 80 products are 92.5% of the measured revenue.

Here is what came back.

The shelf is worth ₹97.9 crore a year. Indian D2C has 9.8% of it.

Who owns it	Brands	₹cr/yr	Share
Dermatology / pharma	4	47.1	48.0%
Multinational consumer	5	24.2	24.7%
Indian large-cap & gear	5	14.1	14.4%
Indian D2C	7	9.6	9.8%
Unclassified	4	3.1	3.1%
Total	25	97.9	100%

Cetaphil, Aveeno and Sebamed take 58.5% between them. Add Atogla and Venusia, both pharmaceutical brands (Torrent and Dr. Reddy's), and dermatology alone is 48%.

Mamaearth, the largest listed D2C beauty company in India, holds 0.8% of this shelf.

The full shelf

Indian D2C brands in bold.

#	Brand	Owner	₹cr/yr	Units/mo	Med. disc	₹/100ml	Rating
1	Cetaphil	pharma	21.44	24,400	10%	332	4.44
2	Aveeno	MNC	20.04	18,300	23%	456	4.46
3	Sebamed	pharma	15.77	25,400	16%	502	4.49
4	Himalaya	Indian	9.83	25,600	26%	82	4.36
5	ATOGLA	pharma	7.21	9,000	4%	304	4.50
6	Mamansh	Indian D2C	3.32	5,900	20%	199	4.33
7	VENUSIA	pharma	2.64	4,000	12%	285	4.45
8	Parachute Advansed	Indian	2.50	7,000	26%	90	4.33
9	B4 Nappi Cream	unclassified	1.78	5,000	4%	396	4.50
10	Mother Sparsh	Indian D2C	1.74	5,900	46%	68	4.30
11	Johnson's Baby	MNC	1.66	5,000	40%	80	4.40
12	Baby Forest	Indian D2C	1.57	1,600	8%	460	4.45
13	Mustela	MNC	1.24	1,300	29%	500	4.50
14	Baby Dove	MNC	0.92	4,000	45%	48	4.40
15	Little Rituals	Indian D2C	0.92	1,200	20%	369	4.60
16	TuCo	Indian D2C	0.85	3,000	19%	250	4.15
17	Mamaearth	Indian D2C	0.78	1,900	23%	85	4.25
18	Dabur	Indian	0.72	1,800	20%	116	4.35
19	LuvLap	Indian	0.71	3,000	55%	28	4.30
20	Eight Roots	unclassified	0.54	500	10%	899	4.20
21	Figaro Baby	unclassified	0.52	2,000	42%	108	4.30
22	Root and Soil	Indian D2C	0.39	900	3%	1436	4.60
23	Mee Mee	Indian	0.31	1,000	26%	64	4.30
24	Chicco	MNC	0.30	1,000	16%	126	4.40
25	Daffy	unclassified	0.24	400	17%	250	4.50

The number that explains the shelf

Look at rows 3 and 4.

Brand	Units/mo	₹/100ml	₹cr/yr
Himalaya	25,600	82	9.83
Sebamed	25,400	502	15.77

Almost identical volume. Six times the price per unit. Sebamed earns 60% more revenue from 200 fewer units a month.

That is not a pricing accident, it is the whole category in one comparison. On a shelf where the buyer is a new parent, the brand that reads as clinical can charge six times the brand that reads as herbal, and lose nothing in volume.

I cannot measure why from listings alone, so treat this as inference rather than data: the recommendation happens in a paediatrician's room, not on Instagram. That is a channel a D2C playbook is not built for, and it is invisible in every metric we normally track.

The price spread is 51x

Brand	₹/100ml	Units/mo	₹cr/yr
LuvLap	28	3,000	0.71
Baby Dove	48	4,000	0.92
Mee Mee	64	1,000	0.31
Mother Sparsh	68	5,900	1.74
…	…	…	…
Mustela	500	1,300	1.24
Sebamed	502	25,400	15.77
Eight Roots	899	500	0.54
Root and Soil	1436	900	0.39

The cheapest brand on the shelf is not winning, and neither is the dearest. The revenue sits with brands priced ₹300 to ₹500 per 100ml that a parent has heard of from someone they trust.

Who is holding price, and who is buying volume

Median discount, not the deepest single cut, because one clearance SKU sets a maximum that describes nothing.

Holding price	Med. disc	Cutting hardest	Med. disc
Root and Soil	3%		LuvLap
ATOGLA	4%		Mother Sparsh
B4 Nappi Cream	4%		Baby Dove
Baby Forest	8%		Johnson's Baby
Cetaphil	10%		Figaro Baby

Two things stand out.

Johnson's Baby is discounting at 40% and holds 1.7% of the shelf. For decades that brand was Indian baby care. Baby Dove, at 45% off, holds 0.9%. Legacy distribution and a discount are not defending these positions.

A 46% median discount is not a promotion, it is the price. The MRP exists to make it look like a saving. That is a fine strategy until somebody does it harder than you.

What this is not

Being straight about the limits, because the headline number is the kind of thing people quote.

• GMV, not revenue. What buyers pay before Amazon's commission, fulfilment and returns. No brand receives this number.
• A floor, twice over. Amazon publishes velocity in bands, so "10K+ bought" counts as exactly 10,000, and any product with no published figure counts as zero.
• The visible shelf, not every SKU. This measures what Amazon surfaces for three searches. It is deliberately not comparable with the serum figure above, which came from crawling complete brand catalogues. Both understate, differently.
• Amazon only. Baby care sells heavily through pharmacies, general trade and quick commerce. For the dermatology brands especially, the offline share is probably large, which means their real lead is bigger than this table shows.
• Ownership is hand-classified. Whether a brand is pharma, multinational or D2C is a fact about the company, not something a product page publishes.
• One shelf, one day. 17 August 2026. Every figure is reproducible from the same public pages. If you think one is wrong I would genuinely like to know which.

What I would take from it

If you are planning a baby range because you already sell skincare: the shelf you are entering is held by brands a paediatrician recommends, at ₹300 to ₹500 per 100ml, and the incumbent you would displace is not Mamaearth at 0.8%, it is Cetaphil at 21.9%.

More generally, and this is the part I got wrong: a category next door to one you win can be held by an entirely different kind of company. Adjacency is about the product. The shelf is about who the buyer trusts. Those are not the same question, and no competitor count will tell them apart.

Happy to run the same measurement on whatever category you are circling. Comment it and I will post what comes back, including when it comes back boring.

I'm looking for a Founding Full-Stack Engineer to join at a very early stage.

Not looking for someone who just wants another developer job. Looking for someone who wants to build, take ownership, and grow with the company.

Remote

High equity

No fixed salary currently

Part-time / Full-time

Full technical ownership

Potential CTO / Technical Co-Founder

Strong engineering skills matter. Previous startup experience doesn't.

Show me what you've built.

Find the Google form in the comments for more details about the role and the opportunity

I am thinking of building ai business assistant for restaurants, salon , real estate from where should I start

I've always wondered how founders make that decision, especially when there's no guarantee the startup will work out.

For those who've started a business, did you quit your job first or build the startup on the side?

What made you choose that route, and looking back, would you make the same decision again?

I am not a big company. Just a small business. For my work, I need good virtual assistants, CA and financial analysts.

I have always cried while finding a decent person. If I post an ad, I will get a dozen mediocre people over-promising me stuff. When I finally hire someone, they always turn out opposite. Chasing them to finish work, delivering incorrect work and so on.

I am so tired. I feel like I should be doing everything on my own instead.

P.S. Don't send me message applying for a job. I am tired. I won't reply to you.

I’ve been thinking about starting/investing in another Entrepreneurial venture and wanted to get some opinions from people who have actually done it.

I have around ₹3 Cr of my own capital that I can put in, and since our financial profile is good, I’m also open to taking a ₹3–5 Cr+ loan if the business makes sense.

I’m currently involved in the construction and real estate business based in hyderabad, so I have some experience in that space, but I’m also looking to explore ventures outside of real estate.

I’m not looking for some quick-money idea. I’m more interested in a proper, scalable business with decent cash flow and the potential to grow over the next 5–10 years.

I’m based in Hyderabad and have been looking into areas like manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure, construction-related businesses, etc., but I’m open to completely different sectors as well.

I’m also open to partnerships or collaborations with people who already have experience, industry knowledge, land, operations, or an existing start up that could be scaled further. I’m not necessarily looking to start everything from scratch.

If you’re already running a venture with similar capital, I’d genuinely like to know what you would consider if you were starting again with ₹3 Cr today.

Which Entrepreneurial venture would you seriously consider, and which ones would you stay away from?

Hello guys, we 3 friends building a service based web app and now we are in the state registration of the company, we are so confused that weather to go for a partnership or LLP and in which class we have to register, either class 42 or class 45 or both(ours is similar to dating app)weather its a registration of the domain or trademark, and is GST necessary to open a current account?

And if I missed any points regarding this please let me know

I am currently involved in my family’s jewellery wholesale business where we fulfil jewellery orders in bulk for retail jewellery stores and corporates like Malabar and Kalyan. Looking at the supply chain, there are a lot of middleman that are involved between the factory and the customer and that adds up a lot of middleman markups for the end consumer.

Because of the recent spikes in gold prices and people pushing towards lightweight, everyday wear, and lower karat (9kt, 14kt, 18kt gold), I wanted to explore a D2C startup for these categories. I believe that 9kt and 14kt would be the more attractive due to them being more affordable than 18kt or 22kt which has seen a downward trend this year.

I believe I can leverage my family’s existing factory connections to handle orders.

What are your opinions on this? I’m open to suggestions if any.

I’m looking for a cofounder, so if you’re interested shoot me a DM. I’m based in Mumbai

Looking to Partner With Entrepreneurs

I’m a 32-year-old based in Mumbai, currently involved in equity markets and from a business-oriented family background.

I’m looking to connect with entrepreneurs who have a strong business idea or an existing business with potential to scale.

I can invest ₹3–5 crore, and potentially more for the right opportunity.

I’m not looking to be a silent investor — I want to actively participate in building and growing the business alongside the founder.

I’m open to most sectors — manufacturing, exports, services, etc. I’m not interested in food, alcohol, nightlife or similar businesses.

If you have an idea/business and are looking for capital + an active partner, DM me with a brief overview, current stage, funding requirement and your vision for the business.

Open to hearing unconventional ideas as well.