We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 13 cities confirmed, 676 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
Money, pricing & model

Business models explained

How the money actually flows.

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What's the difference between SaaS, marketplace, and transactional business models? SaaS = you rent software for recurring fees (predictable, high margin, sticky). Marketplace = you connect buyers and sellers and take a cut (huge u... Beginner 3 resources → Should I sell to businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C)? B2B usually means fewer customers paying more, longer sales cycles, and rational buyers, easier to reach ramen profitability. B2C means huge market... Beginner 2 resources → How does Zerodha make money without charging brokerage on delivery trades? Zerodha runs a low-margin, high-volume model: free equity delivery, a flat ₹20 per intraday/F&O order, plus float income and account fees. The less... Intermediate 2 resources → My competitors give the product away and make money on something else. How do I find that hidden revenue layer? Look at where the real value pools once you have users: data, distribution, a captive audience, or a financial transaction you're sitting next to. ... Advanced 3 resources → How does a lending or fintech startup actually make money in India, beyond just interest? Lending revenue comes from the spread (what you charge borrowers minus your cost of capital), plus processing fees, late fees, and increasingly fro... Advanced 3 resources → How do I model a business that sells to enterprises with long sales cycles and few big deals? Enterprise models trade volume for deal size, so your math is driven by average contract value, win rate, and how many months a deal takes to close... Advanced 3 resources → How do I decide whether to add a services layer to my product business, and will investors hate it? Services can be smart early: they fund you, teach you what customers really need, and open doors that pure product can't. The catch is margin and s... Advanced 3 resources → What does 'take rate' mean and how do I set the right one without scaring off my users? Take rate is the cut you keep from each transaction flowing through your platform, and it's the single biggest lever in a marketplace or payments m... Advanced 3 resources →
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