fromKhet

WhatsApp validation

Pamphlets designed around user-behaviour principles were posted across the target areas, with the founder’s number as the contact. The first week brought 10 to 15 orders, after which orders settled at 5, then 7, then 8 a week, growing ~10% week on week. Orders went to a central WhatsApp group and an Excel sheet, and farmers received next-day requirements by text.

Orders placed by 10 PM were delivered between 7 and 10 AM the next morning. At 4 to 5 AM the founder went by car to a cluster of fewer than 50 partner farmers on a highway outside the city, brought the produce to a makeshift warehouse on his rooftop, cleaned, sorted and packed it with one helper, planned the route by pinning addresses on Google Maps, and delivered personally, finishing around 11 AM, seven days a week.

Local farming was controlled by unofficial community leaders who expected a cut, and small farmers needed their permission to work with fromKhet. The team resolved this well enough to operate, but it remained a source of friction and later contributed to sourcing problems.

Operations first, then the app

The first technical build addressed the founder’s workload, and the consumer app came after it.

• A local transport vendor took over farm pickups, and a second vendor took over last-mile delivery.
• A route planning algorithm processed each day’s delivery addresses and produced a route optimised for distance and time. Addresses changed daily, so manual planning did not scale. I designed the algorithm’s logic; I did not write its code.
• After delivery, the vendor marked the order done and the customer received an automated WhatsApp confirmation.

App and web app planning began around September 2020. The central design problem was inventory uncertainty at the farm: an item shown as available in the evening might be unavailable at 4 AM, and a refund would make for a poor experience. The system was designed to handle that uncertainty.

App launch and growth

The app and web app launched around December 2020, after ~5 months of WhatsApp-only operation (July to December 2020).

• Referral programme: the referred friend and the referrer each received INR 100 off an order of at least INR 500. From January 2021, ~15% of new users came through referral codes.
• Funnel and UI/UX fixes brought a ~20% higher signup rate and a ~20% lower bounce rate.
• User acquisition grew ~10% a week, reaching ~15% in weeks with on-ground marketing.
• With no intermediaries in the supply chain, produce sold at market prices with a slim margin after all operating costs.

Second COVID wave and an evening slot

Demand rose as concern about hygiene grew. Order growth reached ~25% week on week for a short burst; working back from ~85 to 90 orders a week in March 2021 and a peak of ~175 in May to June, the rate lasted about two to three weeks. Referrals rose to ~20% of new users. COVID restrictions, administrative problems and licensing requirements limited fulfilment to ~50% of orders.

In June 2021 fromKhet added same-day evening delivery, a decision informed by customer conversations on WhatsApp: order by 10 AM for delivery between 7 and 10 PM, alongside the next-morning slot. Order volume rose ~20%. Peak demand reached ~25 orders a day (~175 a week) in May to June 2021, with ~12 to 13 a day fulfilled, and the peak was not sustained.

Retention and the third order

I tracked time to first, second and third order and repeat behaviour. A user who placed a third order was retained, which made the third order the activation threshold. D14 retention was ~60% and D30 ~50%. Retained users ordered every 3 to 4 days, about 2 orders a week, and spoilage and discard stayed below 5% throughout.

Decline and shutdown

• The farm laws passed in September 2020 led to protests through 2021 until their repeal in November 2021. Together with local farming politics, this made sourcing unreliable from July 2021.
• Quick-commerce services expanded into the city around August to September 2021 and offered delivery in minutes, which fromKhet’s delivery windows could not match.
• Reach stayed limited to fewer than seven localities, a single delivery vendor, and no instant delivery.
• Margins stayed slim, leaving nothing to fund expansion.

The founders shut fromKhet down. It broke even over its lifetime, and selling direct to consumers added ~15% to 20% to small farmers’ income.