How Can New-Age Entrepreneurs Elevate Their Innovation Game in the Wake of Koo’s Closure?

Koo: A Cautionary Tale of Unfulfilled Potential

Koo, once touted as India’s potential answer to the then Twitter (now X), has ceased operations less than four years after its emergence as a winner in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge. This outcome has left many disappointed, especially considering that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted Koo during his Mann ki Baat address in August 2020, emphasizing how winners of the app innovation challenge could help shape a new India.

Koo experienced its peak in early 2021 but struggled to build on its initial successes. It never reached a position where it could challenge Twitter/X as a leader in the social networking arena. For the most part, Koo remained an also-ran, unable to gain the desired traction among its target users.

Lessons for Young Entrepreneurs

The Koo episode serves as a wake-up call for young, local entrepreneurs. It underscores the importance of focusing on groundbreaking innovation of a global scale to ensure long-term business sustainability. Developing and launching a tweaked, local version of a globally well-liked offering may be quicker, but it won’t maintain high resonance among the target audience once initial curiosity fades. The challenge of retaining user interest increases if the organization behind the internationally admired product/service continues to innovate and adapt.

Despite the push for “local pe vocal” (being vocal about the local), the average Indian consumer may not support a product/service simply because it’s locally developed. They may question why they should choose a local version when the original, which meets their needs, is available.

Fundraising Challenges for Startups

Raising funds becomes less challenging, even during a “funding winter,” if startups can demonstrate global innovation potential. Passing off tweaks to existing offerings as innovation might work when global offerings are inaccessible, but not when they are within reach. Blaming the “funding winter” for business failures can appear as an excuse to cover entrepreneurial shortcomings.

From a broader perspective, more entrepreneurs enhancing their innovation game and aiming for global benchmarks could boost key national initiatives like “Digital India” and “Make in India,” adding further shine to the “Startup India” initiative. This could accelerate India’s growth and development, reflecting in more and better-quality job creation in the world’s most populous nation. Despite improving its Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking from 81 in 2015 to 40 in 2023, India still lags behind many Asian peers.

Given India’s renowned human talent and its large pool of innovative businesspeople, the country must aim to make a significant global impact. More entrepreneurs willing to push the boundaries of innovation can greatly contribute to this cause.