Lubhanshi Garg, CA

Billion-dollar brands: “You can’t build a business on a ₹10 drink.” Lahori Zeera: Hold my masala soda. While Coke and Pepsi have spent decades building billion-dollar cola empires, a cumin-flavoured soda from Punjab quietly pulled off something wild: a ₹2,500 crore valuation. And no, it didn’t have celebrity ads, OR billion-dollar backing, OR 47 SKUs to distract you. It just had jeera, pink salt, lemon, ginger powder—and vibes. Started by three cousins from Chandigarh, Lahori Zeera began as a bootstrapped business in 2017. They bottled 96,000 units a day back then. Today? 5 million bottles. Daily. Mostly sold at ₹10 a pop. While the rest of the world was obsessing over fancy energy drinks like Sting, these guys bet on something Indians have always loved—masala. And that’s the genius: Cola was invented for Western taste buds. Jeera, though? Jeera runs in our bloodstream. We literally add spices to Coke to make it drinkable. Now here’s where it gets juicy: Lahori didn’t scale like the others. They skipped distributors, went straight to kiranas. Sold in packs of 24. Avoided shrink wrap. Used cardboard cartons for sustainability. Built their own factories in Punjab, Gujarat, and soon UP. Zero outsourcing. Full control. While everyone else was chasing variety, Lahori focused: 90% of their revenue comes from just ONE product. And it works. FY24 revenue? ₹312 crore. Profits? Tripled to ₹23 crore. FY25 target? ₹530 crore. For comparison: Paperboat took a decade to hit ₹500 crore. Their competitors? - Paperboat couldn’t scale. - Bisleri’s RimZim was a flop comeback. - Parle had to re-launch Dhishoom out of FOMO. - Jeeru’s still stuck in regional lanes. But Lahori? Already in 15 states. Cracking open a ₹3,000 crore jeera-drink market that barely existed in 2017. Of course, there are challenges: - The South isn’t on board yet. - Eastern expansion from a UP factory is inefficient. - And running a ₹10 beverage business with GST, logistics, packaging and margins? Near impossible. But that’s the thing: They made it possible. They bet on volume. On scale. On flavour. If a ₹10 soda can rattle the carbonated elite, maybe tradition is the new disruption. #100DaysLinkedIn

"It's completely fine to lose friends during your growth process." There! Said that out loud!!! If your "friends" can't cope with your growth or your time deficiencies, it's okay if you lose them. Yeah, I know at the end of the day, you miss them. You miss the memories, you miss the time spent together, in short; you miss them. But It's okay... Not everyone is meant to stay! P.S: You'll always find new ones which whom you align with.

3 steps to be better at networking on LinkedIn: 1) Find the person you want to network with. Let's say: I am looking for investors who are interested in the music industry. Once I find such people, I'll go to the profile to be super sure about the choice of connecting with them. 2) Going through the profile, you'll find at least one piece through which you can connect with them. It could be their education, the college, the content piece they put up, or an interesting about section. Once you find it, compliment them about the same. If you are curious about something in the profile, ask them 3) Once they respond, from there it's a smooth walk. You can ask for what you want according to the flow. During my networking, I do not have a flow of conversation pre-planned. I like to see the conversation and turn it around accordingly. P.S.: Don't ask them for a favor as soon as they connect with you unless they have mentioned or stated it explicitly. However, on the same hand, don't stretch the conversation and respect the time of others.