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PROGR AM HAN DBOOK

A 6 - M O NTH B R AN D RE S I D EN CY I NVITE- O N LY

For the Next Generation of India's Manufacturing, Distribution and Trading Families 3 0 FO U N D E RS

2 TR AN S FO RMATI O N S

3 S I G NATU RE I M M E RS I O N S

Your Family Built The Business. You’ll Build The Brand.

I N D IA’S O N LY 3 6 0 ° B R AN D RE S I D E N CY FO R FAM I LY B US I N E S S OWN E RS

Contents The Opportunity

Learn From the Best in the Industry

The RetailX Journey

The Cohort & Your Board

3 Signature Immersions

The Inc42 Advantage

Program Curriculum

For the Family Behind the Founder

9 Things You Leave RetailX With

Who Should Apply

The Programme

How Admission Works

Week by Week

The Opportunity Pan-India India has never been Distribution this ready for Digital consumer Penetration brands. Premiumisation

Rising Incomes Young Consumers

N E W-AGE CONS U M E R B R AN DS ARE SCALI N G FAS T

F O U N D E D I N 2 01 6

FOUNDED IN 2020

F O U N D E D I N 2 01 6

F O U N D E D I N 2 01 5

₹2 ,4 0 0 + CR

~₹3,0 0 0 CR

₹ 1 ,4 8 0 + CR

₹ 78 0 0 + CR

R E VE N U E

ACQ U I S ITI O N

R E VE N U E

F O U N D E D I N 2 01 9

F O U N D E D I N 2 01 5

F O U N D E D I N 2 01 3

₹2 , 50 0 + CR

₹4,90 0 CR

₹ 1 ,16 6 CR

₹ 1 ,026+ CR

VALUATI O N

R E VE N U E

The Unfair Advantage 50M+ family businesses in India already have what new-age brands had to build from scratch.

Expertise

Suppliers

Manufacturing

Distribution

Capital

WHAT ’ S M I S S I N G I N TH E B I G PI C TU RE ?

Time To Focus On Growth Unoptimised systems and SOPs keep you ﬁreﬁghting, leaving no time to focus on growth.

The Growth Playbook No exact playbook to turn your advantage into a ₹1,000Cr+ consumer brand.

RetailX is purpose-built to solve both, helping India’s business families systemise and automate their existing business, then leverage that foundation to build their next omnichannel brand. 02

Why RetailX Most programmes ﬁx the business or build a brand. RetailX does Both. M OS T PROGR AM M E S

II OR

Strengthen Your Existing Business

Build Your Consumer Brand

Build Systems that last Generations

Scale your family business 100x

A 3 6 0 ° SO LUTI O N One Brand Residency Program to strengthen the business and build the brand on top of it.

Strengthen Your Existing Business & Build Your Consumer Brand 03

The Depth Behind It 12 months in the making. Shaped by 60+ Experts & Mentors . India’s Only 360° Brand Residency for Family Business Owners. Crafted over 12 months by 60+ Leading Founders, Experts & Mentors. So every one of 25 weeks earns its place inside your business.

60+

1000+

MONTHS IN THE MAKING

EXPERTS & MENTORS

FAMILY BUSINESSES CONSULTED

50+

LIVE MASTERCLASSES

DAYS IN PERSON

MONTH PROGRAM

The RetailX Journey YO U S TART H E RE

YO U R FAM I LY B US I N E S S

TR AN S F O R MATI O N I WE E K 1 -1 0

Audit, Optimise, and Automate your Existing Business. W E E K 1 -2

MAKE I M M E RS I O N

8 Days inside leading brands across India

E XI S TI N G B US I N E S S O N AUTO PI LOT

TR AN S F O R MATI O N I I WE E K 11 -2 5

Build a Consumer Brand on top of the Family Business. W E E K 1 2-1 3

WEEK 25

D I S TR I B U TE I M M E RS I O N

S C ALE I M M E RS I O N

7 days inside retail & distribution networks across West India

7 days inside heritage brands across Rajasthan

YO U R OWN CO N S U M E R B R AN D

Program Highlights D U R ATI O N

F O R MAT

E XPE RTS

I N - PE RS O N

06 Months

Live + Hybrid

60+ Mentors

21 Days

One playbook a week, live in your business by Friday.

Weekend masterclasses + 3 in-person weeks across the country.

Operators from category-leading brands.

Inside 15+ of India's best-run brands & businesses.

3 S I G NATU RE I M M E RS I O N S

Make NORTH CIRCUIT

Distribute

Scale

WEST CIRCUIT

RAJASTHAN CIRCUIT

Manufacturing + Supply Chain

Retail + Distribution

Brand + Consumer

See how leading factories engineer capacity, sourcing, quality and cost.

Get inside modern trade, general trade, EBOs, quick commerce & dark stores.

See how category expertise, heritage and product become powerful consumer brands.

Benchmark your own operation and identify what is holding it back.

See how brands win shelf space, manage margins and build distribution.

Pressure-test your positioning, product and identity with the market.

Map the manufacturing & supply-chain advantages your new brand can inherit.

Pressure-test your channel strategy and build the right route to market.

Reﬁne the brand with input from consumers, retailers, founders and investors.

TH RE E WE E KS O N TH E G RO U N D. YE ARS AH E AD I N TH E B US I N E S S . 06

Program Curriculum TR AN S FO RMATI O N 1 : S TRE N GTH E N TH E B US I N E S S Before you build the brand, tune the engine underneath it.

1&2

Immersion I: MAKE North Circuit

Manufacturing Operations & Efficiency

Supply Chain & Distribution Optimisation

Working Capital, Pricing & Cash Release

Leadership, Organisation & Family Alignment

Sales, Distribution & Marketing Systems

Financial & Management Systems

Automation Intensive: ERP, CRM, HRMS & the Integrated Stack

10 AI-Powered Business Transformation

TR AN S FO RMATI O N 2: B U I LD TH E B R AN D Build the next high-growth, omni-channel consumer brand off your family’s infrastructure.

12 & 13

Advantage Mapping, Product Moats, & NPD Frameworks

Immersion II: DISTRIBUTE West Circuit

Crafting Brand Identity and Building a Cult Brand

Website Design, UI/UX and Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

18 & 19

Supply Chain, Logistics & Operations

Performance Marketing (Google & Meta Ecosystem)

Brand Launch Window (First 100 Customers)

Social Media, SEO, and Inﬂuencer Marketing

Customer Loyalty, LTV, and Retention Frameworks

Marketplace Launch & Scaling

Offline Channel Strategy & Team Management

Finance, Fundraising, and Personal Branding

25 Immersion III: SCALE Rajasthan Circuit 07

9 Things You Leave RetailX With A Stronger Family Business

A BUSINESS THAT NEEDS LESS OF YOU

MORE VISIBILITY AND CONTROL

IMPROVED PROFITABILITY & CASHFLOW

Business running on systems, not on daily follow-ups and ﬁreﬁghting.

Sales, stock, cash and team performance in one view.

Better margins, lower wastage, faster collections and less tied-up cash.

A Market-Ready Brand

A LIVE BRAND, IN MARKET

1:1 MENTORSHIP FROM TOP D2C FOUNDERS

BUILD FOR THE NEXT 30 YEARS

Your brand tested with real customers through its ﬁrst order, listing or retail launch.

Personalised advice from India’s top-performing D2C leaders.

A clear plan for where to sell, in what order & at what economics across channels.

Readiness For The Next Stage

A LEGACY OF YOUR OWN

CONSUMER BUSINESS FLUENCY

THE NETWORK OF INC42

Leave with a new growth engine you have built, launched and operated.

Expertise across product, brand, sales, distribution, marketing and operations.

Stay connected to 500+ founders, investors & operators in a closed D2C community.

You enter with a family business. You leave with its next growth engine. 08

Weeks 01–02 of 25

Immersion 01 North Circuit

8 Days

Make

Manufacturing + Supply Chain

DELHI NCR → GURUGRAM → BHIWADI → LUDHIANA → AMRITSAR

H OW TH E I M M E RS I ON WORKS 1 2

8 days across North India: Travel across Delhi NCR, Haryana and Punjab, stepping inside the factories, warehouses and offices of category-leading consumer brands. Inside Real Businesses: Learn directly from the founders & operators who scaled 1000Cr+ brands - how they set up systems for scale, what broke along the way and what they’d do differently.

Systems Built for Scale: See how scaled businesses run vendors, procurement, quality, warehousing & dispatch on systems, getting more out of a leaner team and less working capital.

On the Floor with the People Who Run It: Step onto production ﬂoors & warehouses with operations managers & category managers, and see their processes in action, up close.

Your Fix List: Measure your business against what scale looks like on capacity, throughput, quality and wastage. Go back knowing exactly what it takes to make your business scale-ready.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

SUPPLY CHAIN MAP

MANUFACTURING OPTIMISATION PLAN

SCALE SYSTEMS BLUEPRINT

Week 03 of 25

Manufacturing Operations & Eﬃciency WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Production Planning & Capacity: Replace order-chasing with a weekly production plan the ﬂoor actually follows, measure line efficiency (OEE) to see how much capacity you are wasting, and unlock more output from existing machines before buying a single new one.

Bottlenecks & Throughput: Find the bottleneck holding back output, cut changeover and waiting time there ﬁrst, and use layout and 5S ﬁxes that raise throughput without new capex.

Quality That Holds: Set up quality checks at the incoming, in-process and ﬁnal stages with rejection and rework tracked daily, run root-cause reviews so the same defect stops coming back, and write specs vendors and workers can follow without calling you.

Yield, Wastage & Energy: DMeasure yield and scrap by line and shift, ﬁx the top three loss points, and bring energy and consumables under daily control.

A Floor That Runs Without You: Install a shop-ﬂoor board (plan vs actual, quality, downtime) reviewed every morning, so the plant keeps running without you or your father on the ﬂoor.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Optimised Operating Model

Quality & Wastage Control

Shop-Floor Control Tower

O UTCOM E S

+29%

46%

27%

output from existing lines

lower rejection and rework

reduction in material wastage

Week 04 of 25

Supply Chain & Distribution Optimisation WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Procurement & Vendor Scorecards: Consolidate vendors and score each on price, quality and on-time delivery, replace order-by-order haggling with structured negotiations and annual contracts, and put an approval process in place so nobody buys outside the system.

Warehouse & Stock Accuracy: Fix bin locations, FIFO and cycle counts, and set put-away and pick processes, so the stock in your system ﬁnally matches the stock on your ﬂoor and stock-taking becomes a non-event.

Faster Order-to-Delivery: Map every step from a dealer or distributor's order to delivery, remove the hand-offs that delay dispatch, and set service levels (ﬁll rate, lead time) the team is held to.

Distribution Coverage & Partner Economics: Review dealer and distributor coverage territory by territory, plug the gaps where demand exists but stock does not, and set partner economics and ROI so distributors stay and perform.

Logistics Cost Control: Benchmark freight cost per unit, consolidate transporters, and set up tracking and proof-of-delivery, so logistics becomes a managed cost, not a monthly surprise.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Procurement Playbook

Distribution Coverage Plan

Order-to-Delivery System

O UTCOM E S

16%+

41%+

19%

reduction in purchase cost

faster order-to-delivery cyclewastage

lower freight per unit

Week 05 of 25

Working Capital, Pricing & Cash Release WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Dealer Credit & Collections: Set a dealer credit policy (limits, days, security) and stick to it, run collections by ageing with clear owners and escalation, and pay sales incentives on collection, not just billing, so money comes in without your calls.

Freeing Cash from Inventory: Classify stock by value and age (ABC, ageing, slow-moving), set reorder levels and safety stock, liquidate dead stock, and drop the SKUs that tie up cash without earning margin.

Supplier Terms & Financing: Renegotiate supplier terms, take early-payment discounts where they beat the cost of your working-capital loan, and use supplier or channel ﬁnancing without damaging supplier trust.

Pricing & Margin Leakage: Build a price list and scheme structure the sales team actually follows, then ﬁnd the discounts, free goods and credit notes quietly leaking margin, and reset them.

Cash Released, Month by Month: Measure receivable, inventory and payable days, set a target for each to hit within 90 days, and track the cash released every month as it lands in the family's bank account.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Working Capital Playbook

Price & Scheme Architecture

Cash Conversion Cycle Model

O UTCOM E S

36%+

58%

78%+

reduction in receivable days

reduction in dead stock

fewer unplanned discounts

Week 06 of 25

Leadership, Organisation & Family Alignment WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

The Founder Charter: Agree in writing who decides what across the family (capital, hiring, pricing, new ventures), how disagreements get resolved before the next one happens, and what the next generation owns, including the new brand.

Built for 3x Scale: Draw the org chart the business needs at three times its size, with roles and KPIs for every function, and separate the family's ownership roles from day-to-day management roles.

Hiring Professional Managers: Work out how to hire, onboard and keep a plant head, sales head and ﬁnance head in a Tier 2 town, with pay and long-term incentives that make good managers stay.

Delegation & Decision Rights: Install approval matrices and a daily, weekly and monthly meeting rhythm, so decisions stop waiting on you or your father and your week opens up.

Performance & HR Basics: Set KPIs, appraisals and incentives for managers and workers, and put the HR basics in place: policies, HR software and compliance.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Founder Charter

Decision-Rights Framework

Organisational Chart

O UTCOM E S

60%+

67%

61%

decisions taken without founder

founder hours freed

improvement in team ownership

Week 07 of 25

Sales, Distribution & Marketing Systems WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Sales Process & CRM Pipeline: Deﬁne the sales process from ﬁrst lead to repeat order, put every dealer, distributor and B2B account into a CRM, and run a weekly pipeline review.

Dealer & Distributor Management: Set beat plans, take orders through an app or messaging apps, run schemes and see secondary sales, so sales becomes a system, not relationships that live in one person's phone.

New-Account Engines: Build inbound engines (website, digital catalogue, messaging apps, B2B marketplaces) and outbound engines (new territories, key accounts, exports), each with a target and an owner.

Sales Team Productivity: Set targets, incentives and daily reporting for the sales team, and see calls, orders and collections by salesperson on one dashboard.

Marketing for a Trade Business: Give dealers and buyers a reason to choose you, with a clear catalogue, transparent pricing and a trade marketing calendar, and build a marketing presence that supports the sales team, not a vanity one.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Sales Playbook

Live CRM Pipeline

New Account Engine

O UTCOM E S

+33%

57%

72%+

orders from existing dealers

more new dealer accounts

72%+ dealer orders placed digitally

Week 08 of 25

Financial & Management Systems WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Numbers You Can Run the Business On: Build a monthly MIS that shows proﬁt by product, customer and channel, so you stop waiting for the CA's year-end P&L, and agree on the 10 numbers the family reviews every week.

13-Week Cash Flow Forecast: Forecast collections, payables, GST, salaries and capex 13 weeks ahead, so cash surprises end and every decision is made on a forward view.

Margin by SKU & Dealer: Calculate landed cost, contribution and margin for every SKU and every dealer, and ﬁnd the products and accounts that earn your margin, and the ones that quietly eat it.

Budgets & Spend Control: Set department budgets, approval limits and a monthly review rhythm, so spending is controlled by a system, not by who reaches the founder ﬁrst.

Growth Capital & Cheaper Credit: Put the cash released so far to work in capacity, working capital and the new brand, use your MIS to negotiate cheaper bank and NBFC credit (cash credit, term loans), and set the capital plan for Transformation 2.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Management Dashboard

13-Week Cash Flow Forecast

Capital Allocation Plan

O UTCOM E S

63%+

26%

better product-wise proﬁt tracking

weeks of cash visibility

lower interest outgo

Week 09 of 25

Automation Intensive: ERP, CRM, HRMS & the Integrated Stack WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Choosing the Right Stack: Pick the ERP that ﬁts your size (from accounting software with add-ons to full ERP suites) without over-buying, choose the CRM, HR and project tools, and map how they all connect.

Sales Automation: Automate lead capture, quotes, order conﬁrmations and dispatch updates from the CRM, with payment reminders going out on messaging apps and email without anyone chasing.

Operations & Vendor Automation: Run purchase orders, goods receipts (GRNs), inventory movements and production reporting through the ERP, and get transporter updates without a single phone call.

Finance, HR & Project Automation: Automate invoicing, e-way bills, GST and collection follow-ups, run payroll and attendance without manual registers, and track improvement projects on a project board instead of in your head.

Implementation & Go-Live: Plan data migration, process mapping, team training and go-live, brief an implementation partner, and run the rollout on a 90-day plan.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Business Automation Stack

Live Automated Workﬂows

90-Day Implementation Roadmap

O UTCOM E S

71%+

52%

47%

less manual data entry

faster order-to-invoice cycle

fewer order & invoice errors

Week 10 of 25

AI-Powered Business Transformation WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

AI Forecasting: Use AI on your own sales, inventory and cash data to forecast demand, stock and collections, so planning runs on prediction, not gut.

AI Assistants for Sales & Operations: Deploy AI assistants that take orders and answer dealer queries on messaging apps and email, and that handle vendor follow-ups and quality reports, with your team in the loop.

AI for Paperwork & Compliance: Process invoices, purchase orders, contracts, GST and audit prep with AI, and cut the back-office hours your team spends on paper.

AI for the Leadership Team: Put AI copilots into the daily work of the founder and managers (MIS summaries, meeting notes, analysis, drafting), with clear data and privacy rules so AI is used safely across the business.

Your 12-Month AI Roadmap: Rank AI use cases by value and effort into a 12-month roadmap, and have the ﬁrst three live before the brand phase begins.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

AI Workﬂows & Automations

12-Month AI Roadmap

Forecasting Models

O UTCOM E S

48%

43%+

31%

better demand forecast accuracy

back-office hours saved

fewer stock-outs on top products

Week 11 of 25

Family Business, Product Moats & NPD Frameworks WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Family Business Advantage Map: List every asset your brand can borrow from the family business (factory, suppliers, distributors, customers, capital, trust), and choose the ﬁrst product to brand on that advantage.

Building a Product Moat: Understand what a product moat is (what stops others copying you) and why a new brand fails without one, then build differentiation and innovation into your product from day one.

New Product Development: Run your ﬁrst product through a step-by-step New Product Development framework built for consumer brands, from concept to commercialisation.

Sizing the Opportunity: Size the market you can actually win (TAM, SAM, SOM) before committing capital, and decide when to expand the product line, vertically or horizontally, and when not to.

Testing Product-Market Fit: Solve real consumer pain points from ﬁrst principles, not family assumptions, and judge product-market ﬁt by adoption and retention rates, not opinions.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Family Business Advantage Map

Hero Product Thesis

NPD Framework

O UTCOM E S

52%

64%+

54%

shorter brand-to-launch timeline

higher ﬁrst-product hit rate

lower brand setup cost

Weeks 12-13 of 25

Immersion 02 West Circuit

7 Days

Distribute Retail + Distribution

ANAND → AHMEDABAD → MUMBAI → PUNE

H OW TH E I M M E RS I ON WORKS 7 days across West India: Follow products from factory to customer through 6 sales channels across Gujarat & Maharashtra.

1 2

Inside Every Channel: Step into dark stores, modern trade aisles, fulﬁlment centres, brand-owned stores, and general trade distribution to see how products actually reach the customer.

Every Channel’s Economics, on One Page: Map what quick commerce, modern trade, general trade, e-commerce, D2C and own stores each cost and pay in your category, with margins, credit terms, assortment, ﬁll rates and working-capital needs side by side.

Winning Shelf Space: Learn from buyers, distributors and stockists what earns a brand its slot, what gets it delisted, and what each partner needs before saying yes to a new brand.

Your Route to Market, Designed: Work with decision-makers across channels to design the route to market that ﬁts your brand, channel by channel, and turn it into a 90-day roadmap.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

FIELD-TESTED CHANNEL PLAN

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

90-DAY GTM ROADMAP

Week 14 of 25

Crafting Brand Identity and Building a Cult Brand WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Brand DNA & Guidelines: Decide whether the brand carries the family name or stands on its own, deﬁne its core design and communication, and write guidelines so every pack, post and page looks and sounds the same.

Visual & Verbal Identity: Build the brand's ﬁrst identity, getting the visual basics (logo, typography, imagery, packaging) and the verbal basics (messaging, tone, storytelling) right.

Creating a Cult Brand: Write a brand promise that earns trust, and position the brand so its pricing, packaging, design and communication all say the same thing.

Brand Marketing & Reach: Apply the fundamentals of brand marketing, measure the impact with clear KPIs, and pick the channels that put the brand in front of your target customer.

AI for Brand Strategy: Use AI to speed up consumer research, brand strategy and communication, and decode how the leading brands in your category make money.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Brand Book

Packaging System

Brand Positioning Framework

O UTCOM E S

59%

44%+

58%+

better core customer alignment

higher price than unbranded

higher pack pick-up rate

Week 15 of 25

Web Design, UI/UX & CRO WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Website Setup & Automation: Plan your online store's structure for a ﬁrst-time visitor, choose the right e-commerce platform, set up themes, plugins and backend, and automate customer messages on email, SMS and messaging apps from day one.

Checkout & Tracking: Set up payments and a one-page checkout that does not lose buyers, and put analytics, pixels and UTM tracking in place before launch, not after.

CRO Fundamentals: Understand conversion rate optimisation (CRO), see how brands move conversion from 0.5% to 1.5%, and benchmark your own rate against your category.

BFixing the D2C Funnel: Map how visitors move from ﬁrst click to purchase, pinpoint where your funnel leaks, and identify the top CRO levers for your store.

AI for Visuals & SEO: Create product shoots with AI tools instead of a studio budget, and use AI to get more out of your SEO and content.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Live Online Store

Conversion Playbook

Website Analytics

O UTCOM E S

69%

41%

63%+

higher visitor-to-buyer rate

fewer returned parcels

of orders prepaid

Week 16 of 25

Supply Chain, Logistics & Operations WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

From Trucks to Parcels: Set up parcel fulﬁlment for a consumer brand (courier aggregators, shipping rules, packaging), and improve delivery speed and reliability with warehouse software, automation and last-mile ﬁxes.

Delivery Partners & Customer Updates: Select reliable last-mile partners, optimise packaging to cut cost, keep customers informed on every order, and set a process for delivery issues so customers do not have to call you.

Operations KPIs & Inventory: Track fulﬁlment rate and on-time delivery as daily KPIs, and keep brand inventory separate from the family business's stock and in sync across every channel.

Consumer-Ready Production & R&D: Adapt your existing production to consumer packs and compliance (FSSAI, BIS, legal metrology, labelling), and set up R&D with the right budget, talent and technology.

Sourcing for the Brand: Source packaging, labels and inserts, negotiate good terms with new vendors, and manage the brand's supply risks without disturbing the family business.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

D2C Fulﬁlment Engine

Compliance-Ready Product

Omnichannel Inventory System

O UTCOM E S

26%

17%+

24K+

faster doorstep delivery rate

lower cost per unit

pin codes serviceable

Week 17 of 25

Performance Marketing (Google & Meta Ecosystem) WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Marketing Funnel Optimisation: Optimise each stage of your funnel for conversion, and decode the numbers that decide whether an ad works: click-through rate, conversion rate and return on ad spend (CTR, CVR, ROAS).

The Search Ad Ecosystem: Set up search ads and SEO tools correctly, and read your website analytics with conﬁdence.

Search Ad Strategies: Know when shopping, search and automated campaign formats each work for your product, start with small test budgets, and scale only what performs.

The Social Ad Ecosystem: Set up business accounts, ad accounts and tracking pixels on social platforms correctly, use their advanced features, and build high-performing creatives.

AI-Driven Content & Measurement: Use AI to develop stories and content at speed, measure what works with analytics, and cut what does not.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Performance Marketing Engine

Marketing Measurement

Creative Testing Framework

O UTCOM E S

44%+

61%

+56%

lower cost per customer

higher ad click-through

revenue per ad rupee

Week 18-19 of 25

Brand Launch Window (First 100 Customers) WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Launch Plan & Sequence: Decide the launch order (your own network and website ﬁrst, marketplaces and trade after), and turn your 90-day go-to-market roadmap into a day-by-day plan with owners, assets and go/no-go checks.

Pre-Launch Activation: Turn existing customers, trade partners and the family network into waitlists and pre-orders, and collect your ﬁrst reviews before the public launch.

The Launch War Room: Run inventory, website, ads, fulﬁlment and customer support from one dashboard, with a ﬁx-fast protocol agreed in advance for whatever breaks.

The First 100, Without Burning Capital: Win your ﬁrst 100 customers through founder-led selling, referrals and the family network.

Post-Launch Readout: Read the ﬁrst two weeks of data (conversion, customer acquisition cost, orders returned undelivered, repeat intent), decide what to double down on, and build the 90-day plan you present at Convocation.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

A Live Brand, In Market

Initial Orders

Fulﬁllment Stack

O UTCOM E S

71%+

57%

50%+

ﬁrst customers from network

faster to ﬁrst 100 customers

orders driven by referrals

Week 20 of 25

Social Media, SEO, and Inﬂuencer Marketing WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Social Storytelling: Build a social media strategy around compelling storytelling and the right target audience, and create high-quality content that earns reach and engagement.

A Content Engine for Launch & Scale: Set up your main social channel for launch and scale, with clear audience targeting, the right content formats and a production process your team can keep up with.

SEO for Organic Growth: Get on-page and off-page SEO right so your site ranks higher and builds authority, and customers ﬁnd you without paid ads.

Influencer Marketing: Decide whether influencers suit your brand, find the right partners at fair prices, and build playbooks for campaigns across channels.

Community Building: Start a community with the customers and trade partners the family already has, and grow it with user-generated content and analytics.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Organic Growth Engine

Creator Playbook

Brand Community Framework

O UTCOM E S

74%+

23%+

34%+

monthly follower growth

visitors from unpaid search

sales lift from creators

Week 21 of 25

Customer Loyalty, LTV, and Retention Frameworks WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Customer Data & Lifetime Value: Build your customer database, starting with the counters, dealers, invoices and messaging-app contacts the family already has, and calculate customer lifetime value with cohort analysis.

Customer Segmentation: Segment customers into Power, Core and Casual based on their lifetime value, and move the lower tiers up.

Automated Retention Journeys: Automate post-purchase, cart abandonment and restock messages across email, SMS and messaging apps, so follow-ups go out without anyone sending them by hand.

hurn & Win-Backs: Find out why customers stop buying, run win-back campaigns that bring them back, and keep reﬁning a retention framework across channels.

Short Video That Sells: Pick up the mindset, tools and frameworks for short video, then create and edit brand, product and testimonial videos that sell.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Retention Engine

Brand Customer Database

LTV & Segmentation Model

O UTCOM E S

28%+

+24%

67%+

customers reorder in 90 days

revenue per customer

growth in customer records

Week 22 of 25

Marketplace Launch & Growth Playbooks WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Launching on Leading Marketplaces: Register as a seller on India's largest e-commerce marketplaces, list products the right way, and use product research tools to build brand visibility.

Marketplace Ads & Fulfilment: Optimise listings and sponsored ads, step up to programmatic display ads, and choose the right fulfilment model, from marketplace-run warehouses to fulfilling from your own.

Beauty & Fashion Platforms: If you sell beauty or fashion, clear the onboarding criteria of specialist marketplaces, work their seller portals, and use their marketing tools and promotional campaigns.

Offers, Bundles & Trust Badges: Use each marketplace's own ad tools, build offers and bundles, and earn the trusted-seller badge buyers look for.

Quick Commerce Readiness: Know when a new brand is ready for quick commerce and when it is not, then set up inventory and fulﬁlment for quick commerce speed and scale.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Live Marketplace Listings

Marketplace Growth Playbook

QC Readiness Framework

O UTCOM E S

34%+

28%

46%

sales from marketplaces

lower marketplace ad cost

faster marketplace go-live

Week 23 of 25

Oﬄine Channel Strategy & Team Management WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Scaling Offline Channels: Launch the brand through the family's existing distributors and counters, scale into new distribution networks with optimised logistics, and tap niche markets like airlines and army canteens.

The Brand as Its Own Business: See why brands fail without a clear business model, and set the brand up as its own unit inside the family business, with a separate P&L, agreed transfer pricing and shared costs, so it pays fairly for the plant, people and space it uses.

Sustainable Proﬁtability: Add revenue streams, hold costs in check, and reﬁne the business model as the brand grows.

Brand Team & Structure: Design the org structure and decision rights between the brand team and the family business, and deﬁne key roles, expectations and department budgets for each stage of team growth.

HR Policies & Compliance: Write HR policies for the brand team that meet legal requirements, and run them on HR software.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Offline Distribution Plan

Brand Business Model

Brand Team Structure

O UTCOM E S

38%+

+29%

+36%

sales via own dealers

margin on branded vs trade

more counters stocking the brand

Week 24 of 25

Finance, Fundraising, and Personal Branding WHAT YO U ’ LL WORK ON 1

Brand Finance Fundamentals: Build the brand's own MIS (P&L, forecasting, budgeting), keep its books separate from the family business, and handle GST and taxes the way a consumer brand needs to.

Margins & Unit Economics: Work out what each order really earns after product, delivery and marketing costs (CM1, CM2, CM3), improve it, see how ﬁxed and variable costs hit those margins, and run EBITDA and category analysis so growth stays efficient.

A Name Beyond the Family Name: Build a personal brand of your own, online and offline, and see how it shapes relationships with business partners and investors.

Term Sheets & Cap Tables: Read a term sheet through the investor's lens (commercial terms, governance), and decode cap tables and funding options, including when the family business itself is the investor.

Fundraising Strategy: Choose between family capital, debt and outside investors, know when you are funding-ready, build a targeted investor list, and prepare for due diligence.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

Unit Economics Model

Founder Brand Strategy

Investor-Ready Capital Plan

O UTCOM E S

+19%

53%

margin via cost reduction

better product P&L tracking

investor-ready capital plan

Week 25 of 25

Immersion 03 Rajasthan Circuit

7 Days

Scale

Brand + Craft + Convocation

JAIPUR → BAGRU → SANGANER → CONVOCATION VENUE

H OW TH E I M M E RS I ON WORKS 1

7 days in Rajasthan: Step inside heritage and new-age consumer brands across Jaipur, Bagru and Sanganer, and sit across the table with the families and founders who built them.

What Makes a Brand Worth Choosing: See how family businesses turned craft, heritage and category expertise into brands customers pay a premium for.

Relevance for Today’s Customer: See how contemporary brands build identity, demand and relevance for today’s customer, and what that means for your own brand.

Your Brand, Pressure-Tested: Put your positioning, product, identity and storytelling in front of consumers, retailers, distributors and investors, and hear what each would change before the market tells you.

Your Convocation Pitch: Bring the opportunity, product, brand, economics & growth plan together into one pitch, and deliver it in front of founders, investors and retailers.

WHAT YO U ’ LL B U I LD

FINAL BRAND

MARKET VALIDATION REPORT

INVESTOR-READY PITCH

Speakers & Mentors LE ARN FRO M TH E TO P 1 % FO U N D E RS & E XPE RTS

JATAN BAWA

NIKHIL DODA

UMAIR MOHAMMED

Perfora

Lahori Zeera

Nitro

DEEP BAJAJ

VEDANG PATEL

ASHUTOSH VALANI

Sirona

The Souled Store

Renee

MOHIT GOYAL

SIDDHANT KESHAWANI

ANURAG KEDIA

Swiss Beauty

Libas

Pilgrim

Speakers & Mentors LE ARN FRO M TH E TO P 1 % FO U N D E RS & E XPE RTS

AKASH AGARWAL

KRISHNA GUPTA

CHANDRA BHANU

Zoff

Beyond Ads

SUMIT JASORIA

SRISHTI TANWANI

SHASHANK SINHA

NEWME

Indo Era

Drools

TARUN SHARMA

ASHWARYA GARG

SHIVANI SONI

mCaffeine

HYPD

Beyoung

Speakers & Mentors LE ARN FRO M TH E TO P 1 % FO U N D E RS & E XPE RTS

HARSHIT VIJ

ANUP JAIN

ISHAAN KHOSLA

Freecultr

BlueGreen Ventures

Huddle

DEEPAK AGGARWAL

PRAKHER MATHUR

MOHIT SAADANI

Auric

Conscious Chemist

DeVC

DUSHYANT GANDOTRA

HARSH SOMAIYA

NIKITA KHANNA

Menhood

The Bear House

Moxie Beauty

Speakers & Mentors LE ARN FRO M TH E TO P 1 % FO U N D E RS & E XPE RTS

PARAS BATRA

ANUJ NEVATIA

SUYASH SARAF

Shiprocket

Bacca Bucci

Dot & Key Skincare

PRIYANKA GILL

VIDUR KATARIA

RINKA BANERJEE

Coluxe

Master Chow

Thinking Forks

PANKAJ VERMANI

UMANG MAHESHWARI

KESHAV AGARWAL

Clovia

Schbang

Daylight Capital

Speakers & Mentors LE ARN FRO M TH E TO P 1 % FO U N D E RS & E XPE RTS

HRIDAY AGARWAL

AVNISH ANAND

SWATI BHARGAVA

ecom360 by Cashfree

CaratLane

CashKaro

ANKIT DIKSHIT

ANKIT SINGHAL

SANIL SACHAR

Shadowfax

Huddle

AARTI GILL

RAJAT TULI

MALIKA DATT SADANI

OZiva

Ustraa

The Moms Co.

Build With People Who Get It 3 0 N E X T- G E N FO U N D E RS

3 0 O PE R ATI N G B US I N E S S E S

O N E RO O M

You are not building alongside students You are building with next-generation leaders from manufacturing, distribution and trading families who already understand what it means to run a real business, manage real teams and make decisions with real capital at stake.

Everyone brings something to the room

CATEGORY KNOWLEDGE

ACCESS

People who know your margins and seasons without you explaining.

People willing to open doors to suppliers, dealers and retailers.

PERSPECTIVE

OPERATING EXPERIENCE

People who bring an outside view with an insider’s understanding.

People who have already solved the problem you’re stuck on.

The program ends in 6 months. The network lasts for life. 36

1000+

Brands Scaled in the last 2 Years

Startup Media & Intelligence Platform in India

500+ Invite-Only Conferences

The Inc42 Advantage

Open Doors to India’s largest Marketplaces & Retailers

Insider Playbooks used by India’s Breakout Brands

Access to Top 1% Founders & Experts

Your Brand Story, Told to India’s Startup Ecosystem

Success Stories Before joining the program, we were unable to track our sales, marketing, and operational metrics in our business. We did not have a proper structure in the team. The program completely changed that. I now do structured weekly meetings with the team & have time to focus on scaling my brand. In terms of revenue of our existing business, we’ve seen an 80% increase within 3 months of joining the program.

My family has run a fabric store in Delhi for 40 years. I took us online seven years ago, but sales stayed ﬂat and the family wasn't sure it would ever work. Within 2.5 months at Inc42, our conversion went from 0.5% to 1.3% and our orders nearly doubled. I tripled the ad budget and our ROAS still went up. I also replaced our expensive agency with a cheaper one that does a better job.

Our plant in Surat makes hair care, skin care and perfume for other brands, and many of them grew big on what we made. We wanted our own brand but had no idea how positioning works. Inc42 taught us who our customer is and what team a brand needs. We built storytelling, video and design in-house. Our website was barely selling. Today it does ₹1 to 1.5 lakh a day at a ROAS of 5. 39

ALISHHA CHOUHAN IKIRU

SIDDHARTH AHUJA Fabricroot Ahuja Vastra Bhandar

BHAVESH La Mont Perfumes

Success Stories For 12 years, we focused entirely on marketplaces and built a ₹350 crore business. Our website was doing less than 5% of sales. When we decided to build our own channel, I wasn't sure how to go about it. I used to follow whatever our agency said. Now I advise them. Our website has gone from ₹2 lakh a day to 15-20 lakhs a day, all credit to what I learned at Inc42.

We manufacture uniforms for hospitals, hotels and corporates, and we'd plateaued at ₹12 crore. Our own brand was already bringing in ₹3.5 crore, but we didn't know how to push it. Inc42 gave us the full playbook, A to Z. Now we're conﬁdent of crossing ₹25 crore by the end of the ﬁnancial year.

SAVAL ROY Varanga

SANE ROY Viewways

We've run a premium kidswear business for eight years. I used to speak to our performance marketer only about ROAS. After Inc42, we changed how we plan and run ads, and June was our best month in eight years. ROAS went from 3.5 to 5. Our returned-to-origin orders are under 1%. I recovered the full program fee within one month. Joining was the best decision I've made at 40. 40

HARSH BIHANI PNS Company

Success Stories We were already doing ₹75 lakh a month, so growth wasn't the problem. Growing proﬁtably was. The program gave me the conﬁdence and insights to do that. Our our conversion rate improved 120% and monthly revenue doubled to ₹1.5 crore, all with improving margins.

RITIKA GUPTA Sanskritam

GAUTAM BALI Nauvab Explicit Group

Honestly, stepping in, I didn't think the program would be worth it, but it REALLY was. When I started the brand 18 months ago, I knew how to make a good product, but I didn't know how to sell one. The program has given me a great foundation that since the program, we have been launching new products, expanding into new categories and I think we really found our footing as a brand. 41

NATASHA Feier

RetailX at a Glance

Months Programme Duration

Next-Gen Founders

Business Transformations

150+

Signature Immersions

Live Learning Hours

In-person Days

10+

60+

1000+

Online & Offline Channels

Experts and Mentors

D2C & Retail Founder Network

Who Should Apply? RetailX is not for everyone. YO U ARE A G OO D FIT I F YO U

Are actively involved in family business doing ₹10Cr+ ARR.

Have manufacturing, distribution or category expertise.

Want to build a consumer brand that scales your business 10x.

Commit to the work involved. Every session, task, and immersion.

YO U ARE N OT A G OO D FIT I F YO U

Want a certiﬁcate, not business outcomes

Cannot commit to the work involved.

Have no product, plant, or network.

Run a pure service business.

How Admission Works

Apply Share your business, ambition and what you want to build

Founder Conversation A focused conversation to understand ﬁt, intent and readiness

Selection Review A rigorous review of the founder, business and ﬁt with the cohort

Invite 30 selected founders receive an invitation to join RetailX

APPLY NOW

The Investment CO H O RT 1

3 0 S E ATS

B EG I N S JAN UARY 2027

PRO G R AM FE E S

₹ 15,00,000/- +GST

I N CLU D E D I N YO U R PRO G R AM

50+ Expert Sessions

Covers all 25 weeks, plus stay, food and experiences across all 3 Immersions, and lifetime membership of the D2C Network.

3 Immersions Across India 1:1 Mentorship

APPLY F O R A S E AT

Personalized Scale Strategy 500+ Founders & Investors Network

No application fees. The programme fee is due only once your seat is conﬁrmed.

A Live Brand in 6 Months

FI NAN CI N G Flexible Payments

Loan Support

Pay in full or in installments, structured around your business’s ﬁnancial cycle.

Once your seat is conﬁrmed, cohort members get access to RetailX’s lending partners, covering up to 100% of the program fees.

SCH O L ARS H I PS Inc42 Merit Scholarship

Inc42 Member Scholarship

Scholarship for Women in Business

Offered to top applicants in every round, for the strongest case of what their family business can build. Worth up to 20% of the programme fee.

Offered to the Inc42 community, from D2CX alumni to D2C & Retail Summit delegates and beyond. Worth up to 20% of the programme fee.

Offered to women candidates with an impressive track record and the potential to emerge as industry leaders. Worth up to 30% of the programme fee.

Every Round 3 applicant is considered automatically.

Every community applicant is considered automatically.

All female applicants are considered automatically.

6 months from now, your brand is live.

Cohort starting January 2027.

Still Confused? TALK TO AN EXPERT CALL US AT +91 93 190 216 61

A 6 - M O NTH B R AN D RE S I D EN CY I NVITE- O N LY