Not every success story begins with a top rank in an entrance examination. The student of the IIT Madras BS Degree Programme in Data Science, Kuldeep Rathore, did not appear in the JEE Advanced even after a drop year.
But this was not an obstacle for him to overcome when it comes to his dreams. Now, he is working on his entrepreneurial endeavours and also has a new business called SamanNow which recently secured an investment of $1.1 Million in pre-seed funding.
Kuldeep has come across IIT Madras BS Degree Programme in Data Science in September 2023. The flexible online course enabled him to pursue his studies while also managing to find avenues for business.
His path from a JEE aspirant to a successful entrepreneur underscores the power of hands-on experience, lifelong learning, and perseverance in carving out a path beyond traditional academic routes.
After failing to clear JEE Advanced, Kuldeep explored other ways to continue his education and develop his interests. The IIT Madras online degree programme gave him the flexibility to balance his studies with his entrepreneurial ambitions.
Rather than restrain himself from an academic career, he started looking into various industries such as fashion, quick commerce, manufacturing. These experiences enabled him to gain insight into customer needs, business functions and supply chain management.
In May 2024, he and his co-founder Shivansh decided to take a leap of faith and venture into the world of quick commerce by founding a fashion company named Zodok in Pune.
The initial idea of Kuldeep and Shivansh was to provide fashion products at faster speed, which gave rise to their company “Zodok”. The founders were hands-on people for building the business. They rented a flat in the vicinity of a Zepto dark store, built their website and started fine-tuning their delivery system.
They did their work and Zodok was reported to have reached over 100 orders/day and over 10,000 users.
The startup was later acquired by KNOT, giving an opportunity for Kuldeep to gain more experience on how to run a business.
He learned a lot from the experience about customer demand, order fulfillment, and the difficulties of operating a fast-commerce company.
After the acquisition by Zodok, Kuldeep joined the KNOT as Entrepreneur-in-Residence in the founder’s office. This position enabled him to gain knowledge of the manufacturing and the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) ecosystem in India.
According to his professional profile, he helped launch two private labels that achieved a 90% sell-through rate. He also developed supply networks across Surat, Delhi NCR and China, connecting with more than 100 manufacturers.
This experience provided him with hands-on experience in product sourcing, private label product development and supply chain. He also found ways to rationalise the sourcing and business processes to make products more affordable.
These lessons were later to play a crucial role in his next venture, SamanNow.
After doing fashion, ecommerce and manufacturing-related job work in his previous ventures Zodok and KNOT, Kuldeep Rathore came up with the idea of creating a fast commerce startup named SamanNow. The company’s goal is to make everyday shopping more affordable and convenient for customers in India.
SamanNow specializes in providing products for everyday use within 60 minutes, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
It is designed to take quick-commerce services to consumers outside big cities.
The company is looking to maintain competitive prices through better products sourcing and supply-chain management. It is expected to develop a business model based on affordability and convenience thanks to its knowledge of manufacturing and supplier networks.
SamanNow has reportedly raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding from Antler, Titan Capital and All In Capital. The investment, which is valued at Rs 10.4 crore, is a significant milestone in the company’s efforts to grow and further expand its footprint.
Kuldeep has had a leading role in the development of SamanNow in his past endeavours. He acquired experience at Zodok by comprehending customer demand and handling quick-commerce operations. Afterwards, he spent a lot of time working in KNOT and getting to know the manufacturing aspect of the business, sourcing the product and developing a good relationship with the suppliers.
These experiences have provided him with real-world experience of the flow of products from the manufacturer to the customer, and how business can run more efficiently.
Now he is utilizing some of those experiences in SamanNow to meet the need for more convenient and affordable shopping.
The company, SamanNow, has said it will operate a quick-commerce, with a strong emphasis on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and faster deliveries at competitive prices to solve the day-to-day needs of customers in India’s growing cities.
Kuldeep Rathore’s success story offers an important lesson for students who feel disappointed by competitive examination results. Not clearing an entrance examination does not mean that a student cannot achieve their career goals.
His journey highlights several important lessons:
