Founding & Origin
December 2014. Three friends with modest personal savings, one motorcycle, zero safety nets.
Founder · Operator
Tanutejas Saraswat
Ten years building in the trenches. Took ShopKirana from a single warehouse in Indore to a $150M run-rate distribution network serving 50,000+ retailers across central India. Acquired by udaan for $88.5M in 2025.
Peak Run-Rate
$150M
Annualized peak scale.
Retail Network
50,000+
Kirana retailers served.
Team
1,500+
Peak headcount across 16 cities.
Acquisition Exit
$88.5M
Acquired by udaan (2025) ↗
Backed by Info Edge, Sixth Sense, Oman India, Incubate Fund, Akatsuki, Trifecta. $58M raised.
Sources: The Economic Times · Inc42 · Forbes India · MCA & RoC filings
Operator Thinking
Read on Substack
From the floor.
Essays on physical supply chains, software adoption on loading docks, and working capital reality.
Operations & Floor
4 min read
When the Floor Rejects the Software
The dock does not read architecture diagrams. Why software designed in air-conditioned boardrooms collapses when handed to a warehouse picker under morning dispatch pressure.
Interfaces & AI
5 min read
The Death of the Dashboard
The interface was only ever an apology for software that couldn't act on its own. What happens when AI agents take over the operational control loop on the floor.
Unit Economics
6 min read
The Credit Trap in Tier-2 Retail
Fifteen-day credit terms are a promise the cash cycle rarely keeps. A deep dive into how compounding growth burns operating cash in wholesale distribution.
Operating Record · 2014 – 2025
Ten years in the trenches.
Operations & Tech
Engineered proprietary warehouse management and dynamic routing across 16 cities.
Categories & P&L
Directed 300+ direct FMCG brand alliances and built an in-house $12M+ brand portfolio.
Capital & Governance
Raised $58M across Series A, B, and C rounds, stewarding the board through exit.
Co-Founders
2014 – 2025
Ten years. One founding team.
In a venture landscape where co-founder friction is the default failure mode, Deepak Dhanotiya, Sumit Ghorawat, and I started with modest savings in Indore and stayed together through every crisis, scale phase, and our acquisition by udaan. Staying aligned for a decade comes down to shared standards, candor, and zero ego.
The 10-Year Journey
What ten years produced.
01
National Scale
Network of 50,000+ Retailers
Took ShopKirana from a single Indore warehouse to an expansive distribution network serving 50,000+ retailers across 16 cities and six states.
02
Expansion Engine
New City Every 15 Days
Built the city-launch playbook — assortment, dynamic pricing, staffing, supply — and ran it fast enough to open a new operating city roughly every 15 days at peak.
03
Private Label
$12M+ In-House Brands
Built a $12M+ private-label business from zero — staples, personal care, general merchandise — owning the product lifecycle from sourcing to shelf.
04
Supply Chain
98% Fill Rate, -18% Cost
Redesigned multi-tier warehousing and last-mile routing to lift fill rates to 98% while cutting cost-to-serve by 18% across tier-2 cities.
05
P&L Ownership
$60M+ Category P&L
Owned and directed a $60M+ category P&L — pricing, margin realization, working capital turnover, and vendor commercial terms.
06
Institutional Capital
$58M Raised Across 3 Rounds
Raised Series A, B and C alongside the founding team — Info Edge, Sixth Sense, Incubate Fund, Akatsuki, Oman India, Trifecta ($58M total), then governed the board through exit.
07
Team Leadership
1,500-Person Peak Organization
Scaled and led a 1,500-person organization at peak across operations, category, sales and supply chain — building the resilient senior bench that operated it daily.
08
Technology OS
Custom Software Built for the Floor
Shipped the ordering, inventory control, and dispatch systems the network ran on every single morning without failure.
09
Brand Alliances
300+ Brands & 2,000 SKUs
Partnered directly with 300+ leading FMCG brands, distributing and merchandising over 2,000 SKUs directly to kirana doorsteps.
10
Retention
85%+ Monthly Repeat Rate
Lifted retailer repeat rate past 85% through assortment depth, 24-hr service consistency, and credit products tailored for small shops.
11
Acquisition Exit
$88.5M Enterprise Acquisition ↗
Completed an exit valued at $88.5M with udaan, returning capital to investors and rewarding the team after 10 unbroken years of building.
Now
Operator Labs
Tools for real-world operations.
Building software and AI tools designed for physical supply chains, warehouse floors, and working capital reality.
The Credit Trap Simulator
Growth does not kill distribution companies — the working capital that growth demands does. Model your credit terms, payment days, and inventory turn to calculate the cash gap before it arrives.
Working Capital Model
tools/credit.html
Customer Payment Terms
14 Days
Supplier Payment Terms
7 Days
Inventory Holding
10 Days
Monthly Growth Rate
12% / mo
Working Capital Gap
-$280,000 / mo
—
days left
Life is too short for software that gets rejected by the floor.
Advisory & Strategic Office Hours · Limited Monthly Slots
Consulting & Advisory
Direct execution advisory.
No slides, no fluff.
Most startup advice fails because it comes from observers who have never run a warehouse during a liquidity crunch, managed 1,500 people across 16 cities, or negotiated with FMCG conglomerates. I open select advisory slots for founders, CEOs, and operators seeking first-principles solutions to their hardest operational bottlenecks.
Focus 01 · Sales Force & Feet on Ground
Frontline Field Army Execution
Building, tracking, and scaling a 1,000+ person field sales and delivery force across Tier-2/3 cities. Beat discipline, route optimization, retention, preventing inventory/cash leakage, and high-accountability incentive structures.
Focus 02 · Working Capital & Margins
Escaping The Credit Trap
Growth is easy; cash flow is brutal. Diagnosing your cash conversion cycle, inventory holding days, supplier credit leverage, and retailer receivable recovery to stop growth-induced insolvency before it hits.
Focus 03 · Retail & Supply Chain
FMCG Distribution & Warehousing
0-to-1 and 1-to-100 warehouse network architecture, supplier terms, SKU rationalization, fill rates, vehicle turnaround times, and getting national FMCG brand buy-in without sacrificing gross margins.
Focus 04 · Scale, Boardrooms & M&A
$100M+ Scale & Strategic Exits
Board governance, managing institutional venture capital ($58M raised across Info Edge, Sixth Sense, etc.), navigating down-cycles, and orchestrating strategic acquisition readiness (acquired by udaan in 2025).
1:1 Strategic Advisory Call
$250
/ 60-minute session
A private, focused working session dedicated entirely to tearing down your current operational bottleneck, unit economics, or distribution architecture.
- Pre-call review: Send your numbers, P&L, or architecture beforehand for zero time wasted.
- 60-minute deep dive: Unfiltered, specific diagnosis with battle-tested operator frameworks.
- Actionable blueprint: Concrete next steps you can hand directly to your team the next morning.
Book Session on Topmate
🔒 Direct booking via Topmate (Cards / UPI / International) · Automated Google Meet link
Executive Retainer · Board Advisory
Ongoing Strategic Engagement
For Series A to C companies and family enterprises undergoing modern supply chain transformation. Includes recurring strategy sprints, operational auditing, and key leadership guidance.
⚡️ Limited to 1–2 companies per quarter to ensure deep involvement.
About
Built on the shop floor.
I spent ten years on loading docks, riding delivery trucks, and listening to kirana store owners talk about credit cycles and razor-thin margins.
Warehouses. Routes. Margins. People.
That is where I learned what software can actually solve — and where software gets rejected. That discipline still shapes how I think and build.
“Scale is an operating discipline, not a growth chart.”
As covered Forbes India Crunchbase The Economic Times
Contact
Get in touch.
I advise and invest in founders tackling unsexy, hard operational problems across supply chains, distribution logistics, and vertical software. If you are solving real bottlenecks on the ground, reach out.
Distribution & Unit Economics
Working capital strain, warehouse efficiency, or margin leakage in tier-2/3 networks. Open to digging into the unit economics and operational architecture.
Software for Physical Operations
Software often fails when it encounters a loading dock or a store counter. If you are building pragmatic tools or AI that deskless teams actually use, let's talk.
Based in Indore · Frequently in Bengaluru & Delhi