In this episode of "20 Minutes VC," host Harry Stebbings interviews Ushma Gag, founder and CEO of Gobble, a startup that simplifies home cooking by enabling meals to be prepared in just 15 minutes. Ushma shares her journey from Wall Street to the startup world, her entrepreneurial background, and the inception of Gobble from a dark personal period that highlighted the significance of home-cooked meals. Despite the competitive meal delivery space, Gobble has thrived under Ushma's leadership, emphasizing slow and steady growth while maintaining a strong customer LTV to CAC ratio. Ushma also discusses the importance of aligning with investors who share the company’s long-term vision, as exemplified by her tenacious pursuit of early investment from Keith Raboy. The conversation touches on the challenges of scaling marketing efforts, the potential pitfalls of rapid expansion, and the strategy of survival as a measure of success in the volatile food delivery industry.
"I'm very excited to welcome Ushma Garg to the hot seat today. Ushma is the founder and CEO at Gobble, the startup that allows you to cook a fresh homemade dinner in just 15 minutes."
This quote introduces Ushma Garg, her company Gobble, and its value proposition of quick and fresh meal preparation.
"Starting Gobble surprised me. I interned on Wall Street for just a hot minute for two summers more out of parental obligation to explore a steady and stable life."
This quote explains Ushma's initial foray into Wall Street and her realization that her true passion lay in the entrepreneurial world.
"My family ate together every single night growing up... My dad is the head of nutrition at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas... that became my mission. From that day in 2010, the mission became integrating home-cooked food into the life of very busy people."
This quote highlights the personal experiences and family influence that inspired the mission and creation of Gobble.
"Small and mighty beats loud and weak... It's a bit like the tortoise and the hare."
This quote summarizes Ushma's philosophy on building a sustainable business in a competitive market, favoring steady growth over rapid expansion.
"I think that the entrepreneurs are very excited to get big very quickly, and people by nature want shortcuts, and they would rather not do the hard thing." This quote illustrates the mindset of entrepreneurs who desire rapid growth and success, often preferring quicker, less strenuous paths to achieve their goals.
"But for the entrepreneur, you only have r1 bet and it's just like this big Powerball mega millions lottery that's happening right now." The quote emphasizes the high-risk nature of entrepreneurship, where founders often have only one chance to succeed, akin to a lottery.
"I would rather do everything I can to have a guaranteed multibillion dollar outcome than a 1% chance at an overnight multibillion dollar outcome." This statement reflects a preference for a more calculated and assured approach to business growth, as opposed to relying on luck for immediate success.
"Like a venture portfolio, you are planting a lot of seeds, but unlike a venture portfolio, it is your sole responsibility to iterate on each of those seeds, water them and check them every single day." This quote compares the process of marketing to managing a venture portfolio, highlighting the marketer's responsibility to constantly tend to and improve each channel.
"And then only months and then years down the line, you see all of the fruit on the trees of the seeds you planted long before." The quote emphasizes the long-term nature of marketing efforts and the time it takes before seeing the results of early initiatives.
"Our product innovation and product market fit moment took some time and it took that thousand days to product market fit." This statement refers to the lengthy and challenging process of achieving product-market fit, which is a critical step for a company's success.
"But if you want to grow long term, you can find blue oceans in these saturated marketing channels for yourself." The quote suggests that despite saturation, there are still untapped opportunities ("blue oceans") within existing marketing channels for those who are willing to look for them and grow strategically over time.
"This direct to consumer market is still in its first decade. It's five to maybe six or seven years old, depending on the sub industry." The quote highlights the relative youth of the direct-to-consumer market, suggesting that there is still much growth and development to be expected.
"So that you can look under the hood, because people eat in many different ways. And it's a multitrillion dollar industry where there's multibillion dollar companies in fast food, in grocery, in delivery." This quote emphasizes the importance of understanding the complexities and diversity within a market to uncover various opportunities for growth and success.
"Winning and success is being the last person standing. It's not being the best person today or tomorrow. It's being the best person at the end of the day." This quote defines success as the ability to outlast competitors and remain viable over the long term, rather than achieving immediate but potentially fleeting success.
"Yeah, I think that you have to hire a team that aligns with your vision and that has the same culture as you."
This quote emphasizes the importance of recruiting individuals who share the company's values and long-term goals.
"But we're building a company with people who want a job for the rest of their lives, and they believe in the mission of what we're doing."
This quote highlights the company's focus on creating a stable and mission-driven work environment that employees can commit to for life.
"I think a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of people in general don't fully grasp and embrace the benefits of compounding."
Garg suggests that many entrepreneurs overlook the power of compounding, which can lead to substantial growth when understood and applied over time.
"Yes, you do have that time. I think every company does."
Garg acknowledges that there is a strategic moment for every company to accelerate growth, but it must be carefully timed and planned.
"What I think I did really well is work with investors who are very aligned with our vision."
The quote underscores the successful strategy of partnering with investors who support and believe in the company's long-term vision.
"I think it's important to be as upfront with potential venture capitalists for you as possible, and to be radically transparent, listen radically, be candid and just really share your vision for the company."
Garg stresses the importance of honesty and clarity in communication with potential investors to ensure alignment and understanding of the company's direction.
"So in a micro fashion, that's what happened with Keith. I was researching angel investors for our company, and at the time, Keith was at square and he had been involved in Yelp and he had been angel investing in a number of other consumer companies."
This quote provides context for Garg's targeted approach in seeking out Keith Raboy as an investor due to his relevant experience and potential alignment with her company's sector.
"And I did the common entrepreneurs and saleswoman's trick of, yeah, I'm absolutely nearby, but I was an hour away and had to speed down 101 as carefully as possible and arrived at square just kind of out of breath and trying to act like I was just around the corner."
This quote illustrates Ushma's quick thinking and willingness to go the extra mile to seize an opportunity, which is a common tactic among entrepreneurs to make important connections.
"And by the end of the meeting, we had commitment and investment. And then he was messaging folks like Reed Hoffman, who then came in, and other folks, and that really started our seed round in a really high quality way that obviously then years later led to our series b and a long term relationship with one of the best venture capitalists in the industry."
This quote emphasizes the successful outcome of her meeting, leading to further investments and the start of a fruitful seed round, highlighting the importance of building strong relationships with investors.
"My favorite genre is magical realism, and I love the way that we can learn about people in situations from writers like Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Garcia Marquez, with the creativity in which they describe the world."
The quote reveals Ushma's literary preferences and her admiration for the depth and creativity found in magical realism, indicating how literature influences her thinking.
"So I'd love to see a lot more diversity in Silicon Valley, both in companies, in investors, and also just in people, so that we can learn more from artists and musicians and scientists in our daily lives."
This quote highlights Ushma's belief in the benefits of diversity for fostering a more creative and dynamic environment in the tech industry.
"I often say that startups die of suicide and not homicide. That is a pralgram quote, and essentially it describes our industry very well. No one is going to kill you. There's trillions of dollars for the taking, and everything is about execution."
The quote underlines the idea that startups fail primarily due to internal issues rather than external competition, stressing the significance of effective execution.
"So I just teach myself to lean into it and go into it head on because then it'll be over as soon as possible."
This quote conveys Ushma's proactive strategy for dealing with crises, which involves facing challenges immediately to resolve them swiftly.
"And we just recently closed a deal with Walmart, which has kind of launched us into a new realm where other partnerships are coming our way and helping us establish these moats with exclusive access to millions of people who could use gobble."
This quote indicates the strategic importance of the Walmart deal for Gobble, suggesting it will lead to further partnerships and market expansion.
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