We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. The next eChai Startup Demo Day is on 29 August in Bengaluru and Pune. The next after that is on 26 September, all in person, with 12 cities confirmed and 533 founders registered. See your city
An area

Launch & get your first customers

Build an audience, open the doors, and grind out your first hundred orders.

Pre-launch & building an audience 6

Have people waiting before you open the doors.

How do I build an audience before I even have a product ready to sell? 4 → Should I collect free email signups or charge a small deposit for my waitlist? 3 → How many people do I actually need on my waitlist before I launch in India? 3 → What's the fastest way to start a WhatsApp/Instagram following before I even have inventory? 3 → Which one pre-launch channel should I actually focus on instead of trying everything at once? 3 → All 6 questions in Pre-launch & building an audience →
Your first 100 orders 6

The unglamorous moves that get you to 100.

Where do my first 100 orders actually come from if I have no brand yet? 3 → Is it worth personally delivering or calling my first customers instead of just shipping and moving on? 3 → I have zero following and almost no ad budget - how do I still get to 100 orders? 3 → Which single channel should I put all my energy into for the first 100 orders? 3 → How do I know if my first 100 orders actually mean I have product-market fit, or if I just got lucky? 3 → All 6 questions in Your first 100 orders →
Launch strategy & drops 6

Launch like it's a tactic you repeat, not an event.

What exactly is a 'drop' and should my brand even bother with limited drops? 3 → How do I plan a launch day so I don't run out of stock or crash my own site? 3 → Should I do one big Day-1 launch or roll the product out in phases? 3 → What can a small Indian brand actually learn from Supreme and boAt's launch playbooks? 4 → What's the right cadence for repeat drops - weekly, monthly, or seasonal? 3 → All 6 questions in Launch strategy & drops →
Influencer & UGC seeding 6

Get real people posting your product early.

What exactly is influencer/UGC seeding, and how is it different from paying for a sponsored post? 3 → How many creators should I seed to for a first wave, and what should I budget? 3 → How do I actually run my first product-seeding campaign, step by step? 3 → How do I find creators to seed to before I can afford Kofluence or a UGC platform? 3 → What can I learn from how Mamaearth used influencers and word-of-mouth before it had a big budget? 3 → All 6 questions in Influencer & UGC seeding →
Founder-led selling & community 6

In the early days, you are the brand.

Should I make myself the face of the brand, or keep the brand separate from my personal identity? 3 → Is it actually worth me personally replying to every DM and WhatsApp message in the early days? 2 → What does 'founder-led selling' actually look like day to day in the first few months? 3 → Is it worth me personally showing up in my brand's WhatsApp group or Instagram comments, or should I hand that off early? 3 → At what point do I need to stop being the one doing all the selling myself? 3 → All 6 questions in Founder-led selling & community →
eChai Partner Brands