Hyperspecialization and hyper-scaling: How are Indian startups getting this right?

Abstract

Indian startup space has expanded in the last decade at an exponential rate. Indian startups have forayed into areas ranging from fintech, groceries, health care, food delivery, etc. The number of recognized startups has risen from 471 in 2016 to 72,993 in June 2022. (Times of India, n.d.). There are around I 05 unicorns in India as of August 13th, 2022. Last year as many as 44 organizations became a unicorn (Investlndia, n.d.). The space has become very interesting; all of them are getting it correct, whether hyperspecialized or Hyper scaled startups. The Indian market passes all the tests that characterize it as an emerging market. The customers primarily have lower per capita income, and there is volatile demand in the market, a massive number of opportunities due to a sheer number of customers, infrastructure weakness, and most importantly, fragmented buyers. (Aguiar, 2007). To tackle the challenges, the companies have made efforts in almost all the strategic departments, be it sourcing of human capital, managing finances, marketing, organization design, managerial decision making, etc., and have come out victorious. A field that is usually studied significantly less is often ignored is the involvement of the customers in the business processes. These new-age startups seemed to have cracked the code as improved customer satisfaction, greater customer involvement, and enhanced customer loyalty for a few products.