Just ‘Dunzo’ It: Kabeer Biswas

Bored out of his corporate life in Bengaluru, Kabeer Biswas thought of an idea to run errands for people. Kabeer initially started delivering through WhatsApp. Looking at the public's interest, he went on to build a million-dollar hyper-local demand delivery service app in a small duplex apartment.

Dunzo, Source: Outlook India

Our Instagram is filled with transition reels, either travel reels or stories of corporate workers leaving their 9-to-5 jobs to pursue their passions. One such real-life case is that of Kabeer Biswas. Known for the famous delivery start-up Dunzo, Kabeer Biswas founded the company with a small idea that revolutionized the industry. He completed his engineering at Mumbai University and his management studies at NMIMS. Although he landed a job as a sales manager at Airtel, he wasn't very happy with it.

Hoping that his situation would improve, he shifted to Bengaluru, but nothing seemed to work. Since he was living on his own, he had to do his chores on weekends. These chores included groceries, laundry, and others. He dreaded the fact that these chores consumed almost all of his weekends and prevented him from relaxing. Inspired by apps like Ola, which allow us to hire a cab with just a click, he thought, Why not create something that could help us with these chores?

So, he decided to give it a try himself. He started a group on WhatsApp and began doing chores for a group of people in exchange for a commission. It could be anything: if you forgot your charger at home, an important file, or your medicines, and you had no time to travel all the way back to get them, just drop a text in the WhatsApp group. He dedicated around 14 hours a day to this and, in just three months, he had delivered to around ten thousand people. That's when he realized he needed more people.

Founders of Dunzo, Source: Startup Talky

He started approaching students who were already providing services in NGOs. He told them about the deliveries and asked if they would be willing to do part-time jobs doing chores for others. With rising interest, he knew this idea was not a small thing; it was a real problem that needed to be addressed. The next step was to turn it into a business. He formed a strong team consisting of his close friends, Ankur Agarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha. They named the company 'Dunzo' because when somebody's chores are done, we can call it "Dun-zo," hence Dunzo.

Like all start-ups, they faced challenges and struggled in the beginning. They were still operating from their duplex apartment, figuring out the logistics, delivery team, and most importantly, building the app. Since day one, their goal has been to cater to every customer's needs. There were days when they had to make sure that deliveries were made, even at 4 in the morning. They developed rapidly, and in 2014, during their first round of funding, they raised around 1.8 million dollars. They used the money to build their website and introduce automation and efficiency into the business.

Dunzo, Source: The Economic Times

Their main sources of revenue are delivery commissions, commissions from store owners, and app advertisements. They played their cards right by expanding horizontally, focusing on adding quality service to their customers in a limited number of cities instead of expanding across various cities. This approach allowed them to easily enter the grocery delivery market. In the first seven years of the business, they were only present in seven to eight cities in the country. They also received funding worth 40 million dollars from Google. Their next goal is to expand to other cities and further explore the market.

The reason behind Dunzo's success is that the founder is fully invested in the business. He has himself delivered items and knows the customers' needs and how to cater to them. It serves as an inspiration to everyone and proves that no idea is too small. With the right vision, anything can be Dunzoed!