In <2 years, @Quora

-more than 2x ed India usage to 70mm monthly unique visitors
-became available in 8 Indian languages (from 0), and
-grew India revenue to be meaningful enough to decide to open a sales office

With only 1 person whose core focus was India (me!)

How?

This isn't about how amazing the Quora team is (they are) or how impactful my contributions were (although I'd like to think so).

Rather, it is to call out a structural opportunity that exists for many US, venture-backed companies that is being ignored or underpriced

I believe that with the right "founder-mentality" individuals, and the willingness to commit less than $1-2 million companies can easily create an "always in the money", long-dated call option on India that will serve them well

Note: $1-2 million is a typical seed round in 2020!

Why don't all series A/B companies do this?

I'm exploring this topic in a series of essays kicking off my newsletter, "Half-Cooked”: https://halfcooked.substack.com/p/efficient-growth-in-india — highlights are in this thread…

Many do not recognize how (capital) efficiently they can expand into other markets.

Many do not account for the loss of long-term optionality and foregone growth if they are "too late" to India, which by several measures can be considered to be one of the most important Internet markets of our generation.

And many incorrectly assume that they need to make substantial changes to their product to succeed.

While this may be necessary or even desirable in some cases, it really depends on what the company's goals are for India

IMO, every venture-backed company that is not selling to enterprises and that has achieved product-market fit should ask themselves:

(i) how they can leverage India for growth, and

(ii) what they need to do to efficiently create this long-dated call option on India

Oh, and if you didn’t do it the first time, subscribe to"Half-Cooked" if you haven't already! https://halfcooked.substack.com/p/efficient-growth-in-india