{"id":132609,"date":"2026-06-26T01:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/cred-doesnt-know-me-but-i-do-know-them\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T01:41:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:41:51","slug":"cred-doesnt-know-me-but-i-do-know-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/cred-doesnt-know-me-but-i-do-know-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Cred doesn\u2019t know me. But I do know them!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CRED is a buzzy model on IIM Whatsapp teams. First it was the FOMO of not having a flowery sufficient credit score rating to get in, then it was the gazillion factors accrued that had nowhere to go (I’ve over 1,000,000), then it was attempting to determine how on earth they made cash (they nonetheless don\u2019t), then it was like, wow, they really do have a enterprise mannequin that goes past paying bank card payments, then it was privateness issues, and now it’s \u201cKunal Shah has been hire-acquired for almost a billion {dollars} by Whatsapp\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Mousetrap wants Cheese to Work<\/b><\/h2>\n

Considered one of my squabbles with Indian founders is that they don\u2019t like to take a position up entrance within the model.\u00a0 We wish to develop organically. We are saying issues like \u201cIf the product is sweet, clients will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As I stated in my 2008 guide \u2013 and revisited within the 2021 model \u2013 there isn’t a level constructing\u00a0a greater mousetrap if you’re unwilling to put money into the cheese. The mice \u2013 a.okay.a. clients \u2013 will merely not discover you.<\/p>\n

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Consciousness is crucial for folks to find the product.<\/p>\n

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The extra of your audience you may attain along with your product, the extra probably they’re to strive it, proper?<\/p>\n

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Consciousness is commonly costly \u2013 that\u2019s why founders and boards hesitate. It\u2019s additionally an unsure space \u2013 a startup can\u2019t depend on historic knowledge to evaluate whether or not a spend of X will ship gross sales of at the very least 1.2X. In reality, initially, it could not. Which is undoubtedly scary. And India does have a paucity of fine entrepreneurs whom you may belief \u2013 the explanation I wrote my books on Advertising and marketing With out Cash\u00a0 within the first place \u2013 as a DIY for manufacturers that don\u2019t have entry to an ideal CMO.<\/p>\n

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However.<\/p>\n

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There’s solely a lot of scale you may obtain by pure gross sales or phrase of mouth. Even phrase of mouth works higher when it’s amplified.<\/p>\n

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Gotta chew the bullet of promoting some day! The sensible folks do it neatly, effectively, however they do it. And let me make clear that once I say advertising and marketing, I do NOT imply promoting solely. Even this text is a advertising and marketing instrument \ud83d\ude42 I’m very comfortable you might be studying it!<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s an ideal HBR article<\/a> about why advertising and marketing ought to be on the core of your progress technique. It says<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe outcomes of\u00a0this research<\/a>\u00a0are clear: Firms that make the choice to place advertising and marketing on the core of their progress technique outperform the competitors. Particularly, those that view branding and promoting as a high two progress technique are twice as more likely to see income progress of 5% or greater than people who don\u2019t (67% to 33%). That is true for each B2C and B2B corporations.\u201d<\/div>\n

Mindshare => Marketshare => Profitshare<\/b><\/h2>\n

The logic is that extra folks know you subsequently are probably to purchase you and subsequently you’ll ultimately monetize the marketshare. Within the case of CRED the monetization has arrived through Whatsapp.<\/p>\n

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I wrote about Facebook\u2019s acquisition of Whatsapp<\/a> again in 2014 as a way for them to purchase extra of your time. Shopping for time = Mindshare. Now they’ve an enormous consumer base of three billion and need to determine the right way to monetize this. India runs on Whatsapp so sure, fairly positive we pays for it a method or one other.<\/div>\n

$500 million is perhaps a launch finances for some.<\/b><\/h2>\n

Monopoly Go launched with a advertising and marketing finances of $500 million. Yup you learn that proper. However it clocked $2 billion in income in beneath a 12 months. Launched in April 2023 it nonetheless pulls in $200 million monthly! Fairly good, eh?<\/p>\n

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I wrote in regards to the launch in newsletter issue #565<\/a> and why you need to all the time make investments as a lot as you may afford into advertising and marketing.<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s a very good funding is fully depending on what you’ll be able to reap from it.<\/p>\n

CRED\u00a0+ Whatsapp = scary mixture\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Cred has entry to my spend knowledge. However Whatsapp? It has entry to an entire lot extra!<\/p>\n

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I confess I scroll.<\/p>\n

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And amongst the \u201cinfluencers\u201d I learn is a chap referred to as Bryan Johnson who’s making himself a guinea pig for immortality. He has accomplished 40 and 70 hour social media fasts and his measurable outcomes are very attention-grabbing \u2013\u00a0 a seven day quick produces a discount of tension (16%), despair (25%) and insomnia (15%). Intuitively it rings true.<\/p>\n

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Am I able to make the leap? Not but. As of now the one time my cellphone actually doesn’t work is when I’m within the gymnasium (as a result of there isn’t a sign, not by alternative.). However when the forces of time consumption be part of arms with precise spend persuasion, I’m involved. That is me as a human shopper, not as a marketer \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Fellow people assist the algo!<\/b><\/h2>\n

I lately moved my mailing software program from MailChimp to Brevo. It could assist so much if you happen to clicked a hyperlink or forwarded this text as that will ship a constructive sign to the AI gatekeepers.<\/p>\n

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Yours in humanity<\/p>\n<\/div>\n