THINKING OUT OF THE (UN)BOX

As he was sipping his 4th cup of coffee, waiting for the much awaited investor meeting; Arun could not
help but wonder if this was it? His idea, he thought, had strong potential and some investors too
thought likewise; though all they had to offer, were words of encouragement and nothing else.
He was moving towards a space of no hope real fast, but then happened a chance meeting with MBA
days buddy Syed. Who happened to be working in a PE firm, meeting Syed wasnt so odd, but the
location was. It happened to be the wedding of Aruns ex-colleague Ankita, who, in a weird coincidence,
got married to Syeds neighbor Shankar. Arun, was initially reluctant to hang out too much with Syed;
considering he was a struggling entrepreneur and Syed was a hotshot, there wont be the college level
bonhomie, he thought; but to his utter surprise they got along like a house on fire and here he was
sitting at the headquarters of one of Indias biggest PE firms.

Unboxed Gadgets, said Arun; is the future of smartphones in Bharat, while India goes for iPhones.
He said for those who are ambitious and yet, dont have the impulse or wallet strength to afford a 20k+
smartphone, those who wish to have a new phone every year, who wish to be social and vocal, who
want high resolution cameras in their phones; but have only 10-12k to spare; will eventually and
definitely, go for these phones and thus making this a big business proposition for Indian players,
perhaps the first profit making segment in Indian Ecommerce industry.
As he was going through his 12 minute presentation, he noticed 3 nods at different times from the
investor; each time his heart skipping a beat. As he scrolled to his thank you slide, the investor was clear
about Aruns idea and impressed by his conviction. However, he had his list of questions ready for Arun.

What would be your margin profile for this business? Will you start with profits or loss at the
beginning?
How do you plan to solve logistics for tier2, tier3 cities for unboxed phones? As they will form a
large chunk of the business.
How will you manage sourcing for unboxed phones, when you plan to scale up, considering they
are contingent to returns of new phones?
How do you plan to educate customers about unboxed phones and help them differentiate
between unboxed/refurbished and counterfeit phones?
What would be your marketing communication for unboxed phones? How would you use ATL,
BTL, Digital marketing for the same?
How would you differentiate/counter the entry of new phone sellers like Flipkart, Amazon &
Snapdeal into the segment? Considering that will dry up your supply line?
How are you planning to differentiate from OLX, Quikr etc. who sell Used phones?

Arun knew these had to be answered and as concretely as possible. He also knew, all he had was time
till the next meeting; cause in his mind something clearly told him that This indeed, was IT!!