Brilliant work Rahul. I couldn’t put down my phone after reading the initial summary. Thanks for sharing this. Great stuff and equally awesome kukuFM founders vision.
Great story as always! Deep user + market insights wrapped up in excellent storytelling. Product nerd in me would have loved a more detailed UX/Product audit of their app to round things up.
Noticed a small bug as well: clicking on the share redirects to another blog and shares that blog.
Thanks for the kind feedback Sahil! Would have loved to include a product/UX audit but this would have turned into a book instead of a blogpost😅 Appreciate the tip re the bug as well - will have a look at our end.
I have a follow-up question though. Somewhere you mentioned that: "The first product they cooked up was a short video app, that was quickly discarded." Any insights on why?
The short video apps like TikTok, Reels, Josh, Moj, etc are gaining lot of traction then why KukuFM founder's discarded this idea?
I think the KukuFM team were personally and (eventually) professionally convinced that audio was the medium to bet on. Based on the evidence so far it seems like they made the right call.
This was wonderful story, Rahul. Really hits the nail with "We learnt that acquiring knowledge directly leads to an increase in self-worth. People get happy that they can tell their friends about a certain business concept or historical event, or that certain content enables them to acquire a new skill or qualification”.
Having lived much of my life in my small village in Gujarat, I have observed this first hand. I can actually draw many parallel between insights and conclusion you reached upon and my own experience here in terms of user behaviour.
Hey Rahul
Thanks for letting us know about KukuFM. t's an incredible story, great insights into Bharat
U really have a great knack on researching and sharing a lot of different interesting topics 👍
The very best to U on your journey 🤗
Thank you sir!
Brilliant work Rahul. I couldn’t put down my phone after reading the initial summary. Thanks for sharing this. Great stuff and equally awesome kukuFM founders vision.
Thanks so much Raghu! And yes, hard to deny they're building something special.
Great story as always! Deep user + market insights wrapped up in excellent storytelling. Product nerd in me would have loved a more detailed UX/Product audit of their app to round things up.
Noticed a small bug as well: clicking on the share redirects to another blog and shares that blog.
Thanks for the kind feedback Sahil! Would have loved to include a product/UX audit but this would have turned into a book instead of a blogpost😅 Appreciate the tip re the bug as well - will have a look at our end.
Amazing insights on a product truly built for Bharat. The PMF shows that even Bharat pays when it sees value! Great story telling Rahul
Thanks so much Vinod - appreciate you taking the time to read!
Awesome Work Rahul, so detailed and well explained. Thank you.
Much appreciated, Kunal! Thanks for taking the time to read.
Loved this piece, Rahul. Great share.
I have a follow-up question though. Somewhere you mentioned that: "The first product they cooked up was a short video app, that was quickly discarded." Any insights on why?
The short video apps like TikTok, Reels, Josh, Moj, etc are gaining lot of traction then why KukuFM founder's discarded this idea?
Thanks for the feedback Nitesh. I can't recall why they discarded it. This was back in 2018 when short video apps were still relatively obscure in India (in any case I'm not certain any of the ones you've mentioned have cracked a sustainable business model despite their flattering DAU numbers: https://inc42.com/features/india-short-video-apps-social-media-wasteland/#:~:text=The%20short%20answer%20is%20that,model%20from%20their%20original%20avatars.)
I think the KukuFM team were personally and (eventually) professionally convinced that audio was the medium to bet on. Based on the evidence so far it seems like they made the right call.
Thanks for sharing the inc42 link. Clarifies my doubts well
A perfect reading for independence day today.
Experiments like KuKuFM inspires me.
Thank you Rahul for bringing it closer in such an engaging manner.
Thank you for reading, Samyak!
This was wonderful story, Rahul. Really hits the nail with "We learnt that acquiring knowledge directly leads to an increase in self-worth. People get happy that they can tell their friends about a certain business concept or historical event, or that certain content enables them to acquire a new skill or qualification”.
Having lived much of my life in my small village in Gujarat, I have observed this first hand. I can actually draw many parallel between insights and conclusion you reached upon and my own experience here in terms of user behaviour.
So, Kudos for that👏
Thanks so much Rahul :) Glad it resonated. Appreciate you taking the time to read🙏
Thank you for reading, Aman :)