TEM: Nykka

Based on Nykaa’s business model, what were the biggest uncertainties facing Falguni when she was first
launching the business? Evaluate her approach to securing investors and selecting her team and partners in
light of these uncertainties.

Uncertainty around GTM: who exactly were her customer

segments and how do you reach them in a targeted way.
Eventually built partnerships to reach these segments.

Team: Irani, content marketing person, was key. She helped

build trust. Hiring Manoj Jaiswal, Head of Operations was also
key. Should have found this guy before pumping marketing
spend.

Partnerships: Did not leverage User-Generated Content enough

to build more partnerships with big brands. 80 reviews on 1
image.

BOD: no one has experience in e-commerce or Online-to-offline

models.

Online-to-offline (o2o) commerce is a business strategy designed to bring online customers to brick and mortar
stores. It uses online marketing and advertising methods to identify customers, create awareness of products and
services, and ultimately entice the customer to visit a physical store to make a purchase. Example: Bonobos, LINE
from Japan, Groupon, Burberry, digital-focused banks

Investors: Might be a mistake raising from HNI and family offices only? None of her investors have experience in e-
commerce, not even CVS capital - which is a generic mid-cap growth equity fund. A good VC could have made her
life a lot easier and helped to prevent some mistakes she made along the way. No one has experience in e-
commerce or Online-to-offline models.

Between Adwaita’s departure from and return to Nykaa, the company grows from a team of 120 to 550, and
from a peak of 4,000 to 25,000 orders per day. As the company looks ahead to a physical retail strategy, how
should Falguni and Adwaita assess, recruit, and integrate the required talent?

Fashion buyers and merchandisers to join Head of Retail.

A fashion buyer is in charge of selecting the items the store will sell. Working as one, you’ll be in charge of:
● Staying on top of fashion trends
● Predicting what customers will want at the outlet you work for
● Buying stock, and tracking merchandise and shipping

Merchandisers, on the other hand, work to create an appealing store experience for customers. Here, you’ll:
● Design the way your store is set up, designing the arrangement to create a conducive environment for buying
● Improve the shopping experience for buyers, in a bid to drive up sales

Skills Required
Fashion buyers:
● Fashion, and a knowledge of trends
● Math, to buy within the store’s preferred price range
● People skills—you’ll need to interact with managers, suppliers, and merchandisers
Merchandisers:
● Fashion and business skills
● An understanding of the target demographic, and how to arrange products to encourage sales
● The marketing skills, and physical ability (at least in the lower rungs), to set up merchandise in the store

A couple of cross-function data analysts

One to work with marketing, retail and private label - notice trends
Another to work with finance and the Chief Business officer - help to maintain KPI dashboards

VP of engineering
The VP Engineering role traditionally includes multiple aspects:
● Personnel management – for small teams (up to 10 FTE), the VP Engineering is the direct supervisor of the
technical staff. For larger teams (> 10 FTE), the VP E often manages contributing engineering managers,
who serve as the direct supervisor of the technical staff. For teams at scale (> 100 FTE), the VP E’s direct
reports will typically be senior level engineering directors, who in turn manage engineering managers.
● Program management and engineering execution – the VP Engineering is responsible for ensuring that the
product vision is realized through excellence in execution. There is typically an overall program plan that
incorporates all inter-dependencies between functional disciplines (e.g. mechanical, electrical, controls,
software), which in turn is a part of a company program plan that incorporates inter-dependencies between
departments (e.g. engineering, marketing, business development)
● Technical leadership – the VP Engineering is responsible for co-developing the technical strategy with the
CTO, and for developing and maintaining a technical roadmap that will continue to innovate from a technical
standpoint. The VP Engineering may personally serve as a systems architect, or may assign another
engineer to assume that role.
● Strategy development – the VP Engineering serves as part of the senior staff, working in an interdisciplinary
manner with their peers in other departments (e.g. VP Marketing, VP Business Development, VP
Manufacturing and Ops) as well as the CEO, CTO, and COO (if present) to develop company strategy and
product strategy.

When should a startup bring on a VP of Engineering?

As the startup moves past seed stage and starts to hire employees, the hacker/CTO’s role starts to evolve. Once the
headcount for the company goes past 15 or 20, the project and people management aspects of the job will start to
dominate. Eventually the hacker/CTO might realize they are doing a lot of things that they don’t love (e.g. project and
people management) and not spending time on the things that they do love (e.g. technical explorations). This is the
time when startups ought to begin to think about bringing on a VP of Engineering.

CTO

The CTO is the #1 technical guru of the company. He or she has deep insights into the protectable technologies and
core competencies of the company. He or she stays abreast of cutting-edge research and development in his or her
area of expertise, and in adjacent areas of interest that might have an impact on the company’s technical direction.

The CTO loves technology, and often keeps his or her hands dirty doing advanced development for interesting new
technologies. He or she sometimes maintains a small “CTO office” of research engineers who can help him or her
prototype things. This group can be permanently assigned, or they can be organized on a rotating basis, so a series
of different engineers can enjoy the experience of working with the company’s technical guru. The CTO usually does
not maintain a large staff.