He urged a more grounded perspective on entrepreneurship, suggesting that it should not be seen as a magic fix.
He further highlighted the rise of founder branding, a strategic tool where entrepreneurs leverage their personal image to boost business visibility and trust.
Gupta said startups like Paytm, Zerodha and Lenskart, among others, are prime examples of how this trend is influencing India’s startup ecosystem.
“India is at the right stage where founder branding is becoming increasingly important. It’s great to see the country celebrating entrepreneurship,” he said.
In a fireside chat on the theme “Building and scaling brands beyond 100 crore in D2C” at the Startup Mahakumbh, the Boat founder shared a lesser-known truth about building a successful startup.
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“If you have an idea, execute it well. If you don’t, then execute someone else’s idea well,” he said.Citing examples to make his point, Gupta noted that Flipkart wasn’t the first company to enter the ecommerce space, just as Boat wasn’t the first in the audio category. What set them apart, he said, was strong execution, not being first.
“It’s not necessary that the first one wins the market. Sometimes, the first creates the market, the second builds it, and ends up owning it,” he added.
Recently, ET reported that Boat is set to file the draft prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO).
This will be its second attempt to go public after scrapping the first bid in 2022.
In the financial year 2024, Boat’s operating revenue fell 5% to Rs 3,285 crore, even as it significantly reduced its loss to Rs 70.8 crore.
