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Today’s Episode
Today, we complete the final episode from my epic in-person tour with India’s top PM voices. And our last guest is one of India’s most heralded PM voices - Anuj Rathi.
Anuj was an SVP at Swiggy for 7 years. He led all of product, growth, and many other revenue functions.
He helped the company scale from 30K orders to millions of orders per day. His team’s work contributed to the company’s blockbuster IPO a few months ago.
So, how did Swiggy scale so fast in such a competitive market? In this episode, Anuj Rathi takes us behind the scenes.
But that’s not all. Anuj has since taken up CMPO and CBO roles at Mercury and Cleartrip.
We cover the whole career lifecycle:
Growing Beyond Product To GM Leadership Roles – 29:44
His 4BB Framework for Strategy - 41:05
Future of PM Roles - 1:01:52
Job Searching for Product Leaders - 1:13:14
Here are the Key Takeaways
1. Core Operational Issues First
The biggest mistake teams make is chasing growth without solving core operational issues.
Scaling a business isn’t about flashy features or rapid expansion.
It’s about building a reliable, scalable foundation first.
That’s why Swiggy didn’t rush to scale.
Instead, it focused on solving core operational challenges, like efficient delivery coordination, onboarding restaurants, and managing demand spikes.
This strong foundation enabled them to expand into new cities and grow from 30,000 to millions of orders daily.
By focusing on foundational challenges early, you create the stability needed to support rapid expansion.
2. New Products for Market Gaps
You can’t build a great product without deeply understanding the users needs.
Take your time identify specific pain points and create solutions tailored to address them effectively.
For instance, single diners may want quick, hassle-free meal options, while busy shoppers prioritize speed and convenience in grocery delivery.
So, Swiggy identified these market gaps and introduced Swiggy Pop for single diners, and Instamart for quick commerce.
Always remember one-size-fits-all solutions rarely work and its important to tailor products to specific user personas.
3. Product Strategy via the 4BB Framework
I love Anuj’s 4BB Framework.
Here’s how to apply it:
Categorize Your Projects
Brilliant Basics: Foundational tasks like addressing tech debt or compliance issues.
Bread and Butter: Incremental improvements to existing products.
Big Bets: High-impact opportunities that drive significant growth.
Breaking Bad: Bold, high-risk innovations or strategic pivots.
Create the Conversation
Let everyone know what you will not be doing with each strategy
This allows people to understand what intentional choices you have made
For more details, listen to the full episode now!
Where to find Anuj
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Email productgrowthppp at gmail for advertising opportunities.
Up Next
We have some great podcasts coming from: Bilawal Sidhu (former Google PM), Chloe Shih (Most Followed PM creator on Instagram + YouTube), and Sergio Pereira (Fractional CTO and CPO). I’m so excited to share them with all of you.
In the newsletter, check out this week’s latest piece if you haven’t yet: How to Use Referrals to Actually Get Jobs - The Three Types of Referrals.
And look out for these pieces up next:
The Google PM Interview Guide
European Market Deep Dive
How to Grow Exec Levels (M2 to D1)
I think you’re going to love them,
Aakash