Part 14 of 18 in Building the Right It: The Indian Founder’s Guide
Most Indian founders believe they know their users well. They think they can sit in a room, brainstorm, and magically create a product that will fly off the shelves. Here’s the harsh truth: you don’t know your users as well as you think. If you’re not co-creating with them, you’re likely building something nobody wants. This isn’t about asking for feedback after your product is ready. It’s about getting your hands dirty, working alongside your users from day one, and letting them shape what you’re building.
Why Co-Creation Trumps Assumptions
In the Indian startup ecosystem, assumptions are the silent killers. Founders often assume they understand their market. They think they can predict what users need. But assumptions are costly, especially when they lead to building products that don’t solve real problems. Co-creation is the antidote. It forces you to confront the uncomfortable truth: your idea might not be as brilliant as you think.
Understanding the Indian User
Indian consumers are unique. They don’t fit neatly into Silicon Valley personas. They’re diverse, resourceful, and often suspicious of new tech. Co-creation helps you see the world through their eyes. Companies like Meesho started by understanding grassroots resellers, not by imposing a top-down solution. Their success came from embedding themselves into the day-to-day realities of their users.
The Pretotyping Approach
Pretotyping, the precursor to prototyping, is not about tricking your users. It’s about creating quick, disposable versions of your idea and testing them in the real world. By Monday, write down what you’re testing and what success looks like. By Tuesday, have two rough, digital versions ready. By Wednesday, you’re in the field, observing real users interacting with your product. Not selling, just watching. Thursday, discard the weaker version and tweak the survivor. By Friday, you offer a paid option to the same group. Saturday, decide: kill, change, or build?
“If you can’t manually complete ten full transactions, you don’t have a marketplace. You have a slide.”
The Power of the Co-Creation Loop
The co-creation loop is a disciplined process that fits even the busiest Indian founder’s calendar. It’s a week-long sprint designed to minimize waste and maximize learning. The loop ensures you’re not falling in love with your idea but with the process of discovery.
Monday to Saturday Breakdown
- Monday: Identify your hypothesis and the criteria for success. What are you testing?
- Tuesday: Generate two digital pretotypes. Make them ugly. The focus is on function, not form.
- Wednesday: Conduct five real-world conversations. Observe, don’t interrupt. The friction points are your gold.
- Thursday: Eliminate the weaker pretotype. Refine the stronger one with minimal changes.
- Friday: Offer a paid next step to your initial users and five new ones.
- Saturday: Decide whether to kill, modify, or build based on user reactions.
This cycle forces you to keep your ears to the ground and your assumptions in check. It’s a method that respects the user’s world and your runway.
When Co-Creation Becomes Building
You know you have a prototype, not just a pretotype, when users start pulling your product into their lives without your intervention. They pay full price without needing a discount to be persuaded. They can explain your product clearly to a friend without using your marketing script. Until you reach this stage, you’re still in the realm of pretotyping, no matter how polished your Figma files look.
The Trap of Early Building
Many founders rush into building because they fall in love with their idea. But remember, a product isn’t real until it’s in the hands of paying users. As a founder, your job isn’t just to build – it’s to build the right thing. Indian startups like Udaan embedded themselves in existing wholesale networks before scaling. They didn’t start by building – they started by observing and integrating.
The Bottom Line
If you’re not co-creating, you’re guessing. And in the Indian market, guessing is a luxury you can’t afford. Co-creation isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a survival strategy. It’s the difference between burning through your runway on a product nobody wants and building something users can’t live without. It’s time to stop assuming and start co-creating.
FAQs
How do I start co-creating with my users?
Begin by identifying a small group of target users. Engage them in the pretotyping process by testing rough versions of your product and iterating based on their feedback. This isn’t about showing them your polished pitch; it’s about integrating them into the creation process.
What if my users don’t know what they want?
That’s common. Your job isn’t to ask them what they want but to observe how they interact with your pretotype. Their actions will reveal their needs better than their words.
Isn’t co-creation time-consuming?
Yes, but so is building the wrong product. The time invested in co-creation is small compared to the time and money wasted on a failed product. The co-creation loop is designed to be efficient and insightful.
Can co-creation work for all types of startups?
Absolutely. Whether you’re in tech, retail, or another sector, understanding and integrating user feedback from the start is invaluable. The method can be adapted to fit various industries and business models.
Malpani Ventures is here to guide you through this process. If you’re ready to co-create and need a mentor-investor who understands the Indian market, reach out – we’re here to help.