How It All Started

Somewhere during 2024, I was at yet another event, watching panelists swap anecdotes and generic advice, when it hit me "Can events truly deliver value to founders beyond networking opportunities?”

So come November, we created something different - The Consumer Unicorn Blueprint. The intention was to merge wisdom (and warmth) from successful founders with the cold reality of data and benchmarks. We chose the (obvious, but criminally under-used) P&L statement to structure the discussion.

Kickoff: The Event

We were fortunate to have exceptional panellists who were willing to participate in this experiment:
> Varun Alagh (Honasa/Mamaearth)  
> Abhiraj Bhal (Urban Company)  
> Revant Bhate (Mosaic Wellness)  
> Avnish Bajaj (Z47)

The event received rave reviews (in our biased view, at least). In any case, energized by the format we decided to launch this series. If the event was the first step, step two begins with what was learnt and build on it.  

Reimagining the P&L: More Strategy, Less Accounting Trauma

When most founders hear ‘P&L’ they’ll instinctively fire up a spreadsheet, thinking unit economics, cost levers, runway and burn rates. Here, we implore you to look at the P&L in more imaginative ways.

Take Gross Margin – the mind races to COGS, pricing, discounting etc. But reframe it as "What to build vs. what to buy" and suddenly you're having a different conversation. It's the difference between:

Company A: "We invest in designers, who can create great prints and silhouettes.  We do this 3 quarters ahead of the season, sourcing product from vendors.

Company B: "We built a supply chain that goes from social trend to store shelves in 3 weeks flat."

Same category, wildly different businesses. Look no further than Zara (Inditex) to see the magic an innocent question (build vs buy) can unlock. Shein, Lenskart and Country Delight, I’d argue, drank the magic potion too. With this in mind – we chose to reframe the P&L into questions that can help a Founder choose/craft her business model.

The Strategic Questions  

Each of these “reframes” have a ‘timing and relevance’ component to it. For the 2024 edition, we decided to pick the following sub-themes to unpack these strategic choices.

1. Revenue ( TAM -> Where to Play)

A consultant’s way of asking: "Should you create a new market or fight for scraps in an existing one?" Consider the India Opportunity (below). We're tracking similar GDP per capita numbers to China in 2007. What happened next in China? Explosive growth. The question isn't just about capturing market share - it's about riding the right wave at the right time.

2. Gross Margins (COGS -> What to Build vs. Buy)

Or: which parts of the value chain should you own, and which should you outsource? Key considerations:
• When backward integration creates competitive advantage
• Identifying and capturing value chain profit pools
• Strategic choices in servitization and private labels

3. Contribution Margin (CM 1/2/3 -> How to Build)

The blueprint for sustainable growth loops.  We examined:
• Optimizing channel and category mix
• Forward integration strategies
• Building sustainable performance, brand, and user growth loops

4. Bottomline ( EBITDA, Cashflows, RoCE -> How to Sustain)

Because, eventually, everyone runs out of other people's money.

Centered on:
• Prioritizing cash flow over EBITDA when appropriate
• Deconstructing ROCE to improve returns
• Working capital optimization techniques

Coming up
This is just the appetizer. Over the next few weeks, we'll dive deeper into each section of our framework, starting with "Where to Play" - categories, TG, premiumization, monetization and how our Panelists reframe the “Market creation” conundrum.