Starlink's India entry, Urban Company's househelp service, and Pizza Bakery's Playbook💡

Starlink, Urban Company, & Pizza Bakery—plenty to unpack today.

We are back with our newsletter edition. Today, we’ll cover three important business topics: Starlink’s India entry, Urban Company’s 15-minute househelp service, and Pizza Bakery’s ₹80 Cr. playbook.

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I want to share something with you.

Some context - During my time at CRED & Dunzo, I initially struggled with one question while leading growth teams: " How do we grow 30% every month? "

I relied on random assumptions. As expected, none got the result. Then, what worked? A Growth Model. When we built the first growth model at CRED, the chaos ended. We clarified what we needed to do to move from point A to point B, and we aligned the entire team to one North Star metric.

So, four years ago, when we built GrowthX, we shared the art of building growth models with our 4,000+ members, who applied the framework at their companies. We are now opening the doors for you to learn it, too.

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Starlink enters India 📡

First, some context.
Musk’s Starlink is finally about to enter India by partnering with both Jio & Airtel. But what is Starlink? It’s an internet service by SpaceX that uses LEO (low Earth orbit) satellites instead of traditional fiber cables to deliver high-speed internet to places where broadband infrastructure is either limited or nonexistent.

Fact.
Starlink currently operates the largest constellation of LEO satellites, with no real competition yet. It’s active in 100+ countries.

Is this Starlink’s first Indian attempt?
No. Starlink tried entering India in 2021 and even took pre-orders from customers. But, it had to issue refunds after failing to secure the necessary approvals due to India’s strict data localization and security regulations. This time, regulatory clearance is still pending—so let’s see how it plays out.

How will the Airtel & Jio partnership work?
The major telecom boys will sell Starlink’s equipment through their retail networks and handle installation and activation. The goal is simple: expand Starlink’s reach to businesses, schools, and healthcare centers in rural areas, bringing connectivity to previously uncovered regions. Ideally, this will find a stronger product-market fit (PMF) in B2B (business-to-business) and B2G (business-to-government) rather than the mass-market B2C (business-to-consumer) segment.

What about the pricing?
Back in 2021, Starlink estimated the first-year subscription cost at around ₹1.5 lakh—nearly 10 times the price of regular WiFi. But this time, things could be different. How? Telecom giants could get creative by bundling Starlink with existing services, offering easy installment plans, and rolling out discounted multi-year deals for businesses and governments.

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UC launches 15-minute house-help 🧹

First, some context.
Urban Company has stepped into the quick commerce game—not with food, but with house help. They’ve launched a 15-minute househelp service, currently being piloted in Mumbai. The idea? Get a househelp for household chores within 15 minutes at a starting price of ₹49 per hour. If the pilot goes well, Urban Company plans to roll this out in other cities soon.

Is the demand there?
Hell yes. We've all been there—your cook or househelp cancels last minute, and you're stuck doing everything. The way they are solving this in 15 minutes is interesting, as they know that their ICPs (ideal customer profile) are those folks who are always on the run. These users don’t have time to plan this few hours in advance. Btw, this launch received a polarizing response from the internet. But the bright side is that the company said partners are getting free health insurance and on-the-job life & accidental insurance.

Will we see more of this?
We’ll see more of this in blue-collar job aggregators. There is demand, and there is ample supply. And if there’s one thing that’s clear, it's that customers want quick fixes to all these problems—the same reason we’re seeing such a great response to 10-minute food deliveries. Plus, the fact that companies are starting to offer much-need insurance to these workers is something that is opening.

Fun fact: Zepto Cafe recently crossed 1 lakh orders per day. If anything, this proves that a large group of users is already conditioned to expect quick solutions to their everyday problems.

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Pizza Bakery’s ₹80 Cr. Playbook.

First, some context.
Pizza Bakery, the homegrown pizza chain, makes ₹80 Cr. annually with 15 stores in Bengaluru and 1 in Colombo. Over the last 8 years, they’ve built a loyal fanbase. So, what did they really crack?

Finding the whitespace.
India’s pizza market has long been dominated by Domino’s and Pizza Hut. Domino’s still holds a 50% share of the organized pizza market and accounts for 70% of all pizza deliveries. But founders AB and Nikhil saw an opportunity—a homegrown brand serving artisanal pizzas. Inspired by the wave of artisan pizzerias in Delhi like Fat Lulu’s, Tossin’s, and InstaPizza, they decided to bring something new to Bengaluru. And they did it while positioning themselves as a pass-premium brand—striking the balance between affordability and indulgence. This gives them a much larger TAM (total addressable market) than going too niche.

Fact.
India is Domino’s second-largest market globally after the U.S. Plus, according to Zomato, pizza is the most delivered food item after biryani.

Cracking experience.
The company has nailed the dining experience—something only a few brands have managed to do. Their spacious stores, Italian gourmet aesthetics, and wood-fired ovens make customers feel like they’re in a place that truly understands Italian food. Plus, they later expanded their menu with garlic bread, wings, and even soft liquor (beer) in select stores to perfect the niche experience. The playbook is simple: take the offline experience as seriously as you can → nail user engagement and retention with it → create massive word of mouth.

Cracking product depth.
They’ve put in the work to ensure the foundation of their product is top-notch. Pizza Bakery uses a 24 to 48-hour fermented sourdough base, giving their pizzas a light, airy texture and a richer, more complex flavor compared to regular dough. Plus, according to them, their sourdough base is made from 100% natural flour, free from additives and enzymes—helping build trust with their customers.

Nailing a hero product.
They’ve also nailed a hero product—garlic bread—which has built its own loyal fanbase and become a signature item for the brand. Proof that having a hero product can be a game-changer. The garlic bread has become the perfect hook, drawing in new customers at a lower price point and making customer acquisition a cakewalk.

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Btw, we hosted AB Gupta, the founder of Pizza Bakery, on our inner circle podcast. Check the episode here.

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Also, we just dropped the latest episode of GrowthX Wireframe, diving into the tariff war between India & the U.S.

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At last, we have something special for you 💫

At GrowthX, we bring top industry leaders from Swiggy, LinkedIn, Razorpay, and more to solve real-world growth, marketing, and product problems. Our deep dives dives gives our members access to structured, actionable learning from the best in the industry. Now, you can start learning for free with GrowthX.

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