It's no longer enough to simply build a product or service. Today, the real money is in creating ecosystems—a bouquet of offerings, each feeding into the other. Consequently, press releases and pitch decks are liberally sprinkled with references to mythical ecosystems, all incredibly lucrative but almost always largely hypothetical.
While an ecosystem is the Holy Grail for businesses, building one is usually a Herculean task. Not just for startups fueled by moxie and investor dollars, but equally so for large conglomerates such as Reliance Jio and the Tata Group. In consumer tech, it could be argued that the only truly successful product ecosystem out there is Apple's. Many have tried to emulate it, many have failed.
While this could seem to be a deterrent, Carl Pei, founder of London-based consumer tech startup Nothing, saw it as an opportunity. And Pei, who previously founded premium smartphone brand OnePlus, believes he has the right strategy to successfully craft a consumer tech ecosystem.
While the company has been notoriously tight-lipped about the road ahead, Pei's earlier success with OnePlus, coupled with whatever he's pitched to investors, has led the likes of Google Ventures, iPod inventor Tony Fadell, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, and Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman to invest in Nothing. In just one year, it has already raised $74 million.
Interestingly, Pei believes that India will play a big part for Nothing's success. On the surface, this seems obvious enough. India is a gargantuan market with a young populace. Crucially, it's one Pei has already cracked with OnePlus. However, even Chinese brands like Xiaomi have not tried to replicate their ecosystem plays in the country. Consumers are price-sensitive, high-speed broadband is scarce, and 40% of Indians don't own smartphones—the lynchpin of most consumer tech ecosystems.
*HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL**
