Meesho co-founder, Vidit Aatrey, shares advice for start-ups

A lot is being talked about funding winter within the Indian start-up ecosystem. The co-founder and CEO of Meesho, Vidit Aatrey, had some advice for start-up entrepreneurs. Aatrey said that he and his co-founder Sanjeev Barnwal started Meesho in the winter of 2015, funding was provided by his own example. After braving two and and a half years of the COVID-19 pandemic, funds infused reached an all-time low in the first two quarters of fiscal year 2022. In September 2022, Indian start-ups raised only $752 million, down 83 per cent as compared to the year-ago period, according to data shared by Tracxn. Several start-ups like Unacademy have announced layoffs citing funding crunch as the reason.

There were lots of ex-entrepreneurs who were available in the market because many of the startups went bust. Aatrey wrote on LinkedIn that these were extremely talented people with high ownership who really wanted to prove their mettle.

He said Meesho's first three engineers and head of business were all ex-founders. Aatrey noted that there were few competitors despite the funding winter.

Aatrey concluded by saying that companies with weak business models are never able to make a cut during times when the capital is limited or unavailable. He stated that if start-ups are able to survive and thrive during this period, they will have great growth prospects when the next wave of economic boom comes in.

Meesho was founded in Bengaluru by Aatrey and Barnwal. SoftBank, which allows small businesses to sell products online, has raised several rounds of investments from the likes of SoftBank, which has invested in iconic start-ups such as Paytm, WeWork, Didi Chuxing, Uber, and others. It is backed by Fidelity Management and Eduardo Saverin's B Capital Group.

According to estimates by global investment group Prosus, it has enabled about 17 million entrepreneurs in India.