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Sumit Marda

Business Head | Building India’s Largest Retail Academy - Lenskart Academy | Serial Entrepreneur turned Intrapreneur | StartUp Enthusiast

Sumit Marda is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader currently serving as the Business Head of Lenskart Academy at Lenskart.com.1 With over a decade of experience in building and scaling businesses, Marda has established himself as an expert in the startup ecosystem.

Professional Background

Marda's career journey is marked by his transition from a serial entrepreneur to an intrapreneur.1 He has experience in various sectors, including manufacturing and EdTech, which has equipped him with a diverse skill set.

Entrepreneurial Ventures

Before joining Lenskart, Sumit Marda founded several ventures:

  1. MOOZ: A pulp-based fruit drink targeted at rural India.
  2. MindHour: An EdTech startup that he co-founded and scaled internationally.

Expertise

Sumit Marda's areas of expertise include:

  • Product conceptualization
  • Growth strategy
  • Brand management
  • Sales planning
  • Building high-performing teams
  • Scaling up businesses
  • Horizontal and vertical expansion
  • Franchising
  • Channel sales
  • Equity fund raising
  • Leadership

Current Role at Lenskart Academy

As the Business Head of Lenskart Academy, Marda is spearheading the initiative to build India's largest retail academy.2 Under his leadership, Lenskart Academy celebrated its first anniversary, marking a significant milestone in its journey to become a prominent player in retail education.2

Professional Philosophy

Marda describes himself as a "StartUp Enthusiast" and has successfully transitioned from being a serial entrepreneur to an intrapreneur.1 His approach involves leveraging innovation to design lean growth strategies and building full-stack sales processes to achieve speed and size goals.

Sumit Marda's LinkedIn profile can be found under the username sumit-marda-81415a17, where he shares insights and updates about his work at Lenskart Academy and his experiences in the business world.1

Highlights

Jan 21 · linkedin

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 —> 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑚𝑒𝑛 : 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 😀

A blueprint from Sun Tzu's famous book, The Art of War, which is considered to be one of the greatest books on military strategy ever written - around 2500 years ago In it, he not only talks about battle tactics, but also about the qualities that make for a great leader.

M̲y̲ p̲e̲r̲s̲o̲n̲a̲l̲ ̲t̲o̲p̲ ̲t̲h̲r̲e̲e̲ ̲p̲i̲c̲k̲s̲ ̲a̲r̲e̲ ̲:̲

𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 : We live in a world that’s obsessed with super-busy culture and were being engaged 24/7 is glorified like a badge of honor. Fear fuels the desperation to react & hustle harder - but at times without a clarity & plan. Instead Sun Tzu recommends that a wise leader will patiently wait & observe the situation and would only act with complete clarity & move with a distinct advantage.

𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐨 𝐌𝐮𝐜𝐡 : Sun Tzu believed long delays were foolish. He also believed haste was shortsighted. Instead, he said, a leader should always act with deliberation, not making a move before everything is ready, and not waiting an instant once everything is ready.

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞:  Sun Tzu believed a leader should cultivate wisdom, benevolence, sincerity, and courage, as well as self discipline. These qualities, he believed, would inspire the troops to follow that leader out of respect. Leading by example is far more effective, he felt, than simply using strictness and punishment.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 : An Ideal leader is a balanced blend of patience & aggression. He is someone who is not driven by desperation to act in high emotional situations, in order to look acceptable to the world but one who actually knows how to pause & deliberate with supreme clarity & confidence !

What is your definition of a great leader ?

#leadership #suntzu #startup

Dec 23 · linkedin

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 :  Business in Blessing or Blessing in Business 🤔

I am sure who said - You can’t have best of both the worlds - knew nothing about India’s Temple Economy - it's not just about culture & religion but some serious business & economy !

Seems unbelievable !! See some factual insights to break the ice 😀

  • 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝟐.𝟑𝟐% 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐃𝐏 which is worth INR 3.02 Lakh Crore

  • 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚'𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟑𝟓𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, whereas the combined jobs in the central & state governments adds to only 35 million

  • The 2022-23 Central government revenue was Rs 19,34,706 crore and 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐬 𝟐𝟒,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟐𝟎 𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐡 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚

——— Revenue sources can be categorized under three broad buckets:

  1. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬: Flowers,oil,lamps,sindur,bangles,puja dresses etc
  2. 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦: Travel,lodging,boarding,sight-seeing & other activities 
  3. 𝐈𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐬 & 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐬: Statues of gods & goddesses | Religious relics & yantras

With almost the complete market being unorganized and no major brand disruption in place apart from few incense stick names like Cycle & Mangaldeep - this to me is surely an untapped gold mine !

Great business models which can be explored & some epic brands be build around this massive opportunity:

𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬 | 𝐈𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐬 | 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐬: made from pure & authentic raw materials | Build a brand known for authenticity & trust while cracking the price point

𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐧 & 𝐏𝐮𝐣𝐚: Few brands like My Tirth India |Darshan International | VAMA App | etc are trying to explore this space but with millennials accounting for 34% in the country and YoY growing interest towards spiritualism, the playground is huge !

𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞: With more than 60% of tourism in India associated with religious and spiritual tourism - new age entrepreneurs should approach this with a vision to provide holistic & seamless service to the customer stitching in all the experience-touch-points

I am personally super excited to see some fresh innovations coming in this space and strong consumer brands being build in this sector during the coming years !! 🚀

Feel free to add more ideas/share your views if you are already working in this sector - would be happy to know & learn !

#leadership #startupindia #growth

Related Questions

What are Sumit Marda's key achievements at Lenskart Academy?
How did Sumit Marda transition from being a serial entrepreneur to an intrapreneur?
What strategies does Sumit Marda use to scale up businesses?
Can you tell me more about Sumit Marda's experience with EdTech startups?
What is the significance of Lenskart Academy turning one year old?
Sumit Marda
Sumit Marda, photo 1
Sumit Marda, photo 2
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Location

Gurugram, Haryana, India