This Indian Startup Founder’s Story Has Anand Mahindra’s Attention

Industrialist Anand Mahindra is popular for his online influence and never ceases to astonish his fans with his social media tweets. The chairman of the Mahindra Group frequently offers unique and inspiring stories, videos and photos that catch the curiosity of his 11 million followers. This time, the businessman responded to an older post by Siddharth Dialani, the co- founder and CEO of BharatAgri, who narrated the story of his best-selling product.

Anand Mahindra described Siddharth Dialani’s post as an “object lesson in how entrepreneurial opportunities arise” and applauded the entrepreneur for listening to customer demands in his post.

It all started in April when Siddharth Dialani wrote about how hands-free torches became the best-selling product in their category on the platform. He stated that his staff had noticed a constant increase in torch sales on the BharatAgri platform.

Torches are not agricultural products, so they were taken aback by the unexpected jump in demand. After chatting with a few farmers, the BharatAgri team learned that farmers required torches to work at night during power outages. “But our team went above and beyond, asking, how else can BharatAgri help? Farmers have expressed a desire for a hands-free torch that allows them to farm with both hands,” he wrote on X.

Based on this feedback, the team developed a “mining torch” that can be fastened to the forehead. “This mining torch became our top-selling product in the category!” Siddharth Dialani disclosed. The rechargeable mining torch costs Rs 779 on the BharatAgri website.

The anecdote impressed Anand Mahindra. He complimented Siddharth Dialani for listening to user feedback, acting on it and innovating even further. The billionaire chairman of Mahindra Group stated that he was unaware of this criterion during his career in agribusiness.

“This is an object lesson in how entrepreneurial opportunities arise,” Anand Mahindra commented in response to Siddharth Dialani’s post on X. “You have to keep your ears to the ground, keep your eyes open, and look for telltale SIGNS of an evolving need,” he said, adding that a good company will then “swoop in” and satisfy the need with a product that meets the requirement.

Anand Mahindra went on to say while artificial intelligence (AI) might help identify trends in customer behaviour, the rules of entrepreneurship remain the same. Shared on July 11, the post by Anand Mahindra has collected over 60,000 views.