Daigo Chilli Oil was my first company. It started in 2020 and was closed in 2021.
First company, premium D2C food brand
Daigo Chilli Oil
Founder & Marketing Lead · 2020 to 2021 · Mumbai, India
My first company: a premium chilli oil brand built and scaled direct-to-consumer through sharp positioning, paid acquisition, and retention loops.
Context
Daigo was where I learned the operator side of building a company, unit economics, paid acquisition, lifecycle marketing, and the difference between revenue and profitable growth. It was my first company, and it taught me how a product actually reaches and keeps customers.
What I did
Hyper-targeted high-value customers by geo-locating expensive residential complexes.
Gave out small tasters in sachets, then ran hyper-targeted paid campaigns to those areas.
Built organic social marketing positioning Daigo as a replacement for schezwan chutney.
Sold direct: 90% of revenue came through the website, personal contact, and Instagram, with no wholesalers.
Owned the brand and the direct-to-consumer operations end to end, when only global players were in the market.
From the company
The product, and the people who made it.
A few real shots from Daigo: the early batches we cooked ourselves, and the marketing photography we styled for the store and the campaigns.
In my own words
The honest version.
This was my first time partnering with people to build a company. It started with two of my friends, and it was very difficult to do things during covid, but we did as much as we could. Even with the early success, one of the partners left. That is where I learned my most important lesson: never be fully dependent on anyone.
Want to build something together, or bring me in to sharpen a product?