Part 1: Saahil Goel of Shiprocket on rebuilding the same company three times, the $4 million he was told to take or leave and why in India you sell outcomes, not software
Summary
Sahil Goyal recounts Shiprocket’s origins, tracing its evolution from 2011 ventures Cartrocket and Craftly to its current form. He details the struggle to adapt US SaaS models for India, realizing merchants pay for outcomes, not software. Facing an investor ultimatum, Goyal pivoted to build a logistics orchestration platform, solving critical shipping and RTO challenges for SMEs.
Topics discussed
Introduction and the origin of the Shiprocket name
The failure of Cart Rocket and early funding struggles
Pivoting to Craftly and the B2C experiment
Identifying the shipping gap and the decision to pivot
Raising capital and defining the business model
Shiprocket as a commerce orchestrator, not just logistics
Scaling metrics and the importance of merchant relationships
Sahil Goyal's background and decision to return to India
The leap of faith: Leaving a stable career for entrepreneurship
Fundraising lessons and maintaining control over the company
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