The Badho Story Part 1: Kuch Toh Bada Karna Hai!

Some ideas are born out of necessity. Others, from an itch - to create something that lasts. The story of Badho begins because Saurabh Shivhare wanted to scratch that itch. 

I met Saurabh through a common friend. At the time, he was already a successful entrepreneur and founder of Kapila Pashu Ahar, the market leader in cattle feed in North India. He wasn’t looking to start just another business, he was looking to build something transformative that was powered by technology. A friend thought I might be the right person to help him, and that’s how we met.

If there’s one thing about Saurabh that I am in awe of, it’s that he thinks BIG! And he doesn’t waste time turning ideas into action. When we met, he was already nurturing an idea that was ahead of its time- mounting LED screens on auto rickshaws and e-rickshaws and monetizing them by selling advertising space to brands. On paper, it sounded like a fabulous business proposition. We jumped in, started building the tech, and mapped out the ecosystem. But then we started hitting roadblocks with factors  that were beyond our control, which made execution incredibly complex. No matter how good the idea looked, it just wasn’t feasible to build and scale.

So, we did what many entrepreneurs find hardest to do - we let it go.

But the keeda of "kuch bada karte hain" was still alive- and fortunately- extremely hungry. The urge to build something big had already burrowed deep inside us, and we were not going to let one setback slow us down. 

So Saurabh and I started hunting for the next big idea. Night after night, we brainstormed, dissected options, and debated possibilities. In those sleepless- and sometimes loud -  discussions, I understood something fundamental about Saurabh. Many entrepreneurs have brilliant ideas, but they lack the capital or the drive to make them real. Saurabh had both - the capital and an unrelenting action-oriented mindset. I knew that if we found the right idea, he would stop at nothing to turn it into something monumental.

Just when we thought we were looking in the wrong places, we found our spark -  within Kapila Pashu Ahar’s own ecosystem!

How The Animal Feed Industry Ignited the Idea for Badho

Thanks to Saurabh, I had unrestricted access to the animal feed business. So, we decided to dive deep, searching for gaps, insights, or even a spark of inspiration. I noticed 2 peculiarities in the cattle feed industry: 

1) Non-existent entry barriers 

2) No customer loyalty. 

If I had Rs 40-50 crores today, I could set up an animal feed factory  and enter the market. But would that guarantee success? Not likely. 

Then why was Kapila Pashu Ahar able to dominate the industry? 

It was not because they sell something others do not. It was because they have relationships with their distribution network that others do not. This network is their true moat. Their distributors continue the relationship with the brand that has been passed down from one generation to another, and the brand invests in building trust and long-standing relationships to earn their loyalty. And that is what has made Kapila Pashu Ahar untouchable. 

As Saurabh explains it plainly: “Just pumping money won’t make you successful. You’d have to start from scratch, build your own network, and invest in relationships. There’s no magic bullet.”

That realization hit us hard. And at the same time, it lit the path forward.

What if there was a way to empower these distributors? To bridge the gaps that existed between them and the brands they worked with? What if we could create a platform that didn’t just connect, but transformed how business was done in this space?

That was our Eureka moment - and Badho was born!

What does the sleepy town of Kashipur have to do with Badho taking its first steps?

Read Part 2 for Badho’s unusual and interesting beginnings.