Beyond: January 5
Timur Daudpota
Founding Partner at 2080 Ventures | Investing and Accelerating Startups
In This Newsletter, We Will Talk About
4 Strategies Glock Used to Transform the Firearms Industry
Did you know that Gaston Glock, used to make curtain rods before he decided to manufacture guns?
The company Glock was founded by Gaston Glock, an Austrian Engineer, who ironically had no experience designing or manufacturing firearms, even until their first pistol, the Glock 17, was being prototyped.
In the early 1980s, the Austrian Army announced its requirement for a new generation of service pistols to replace their World War II-era sidearms. This requirement specified several performance criteria, including reliability, capacity, and durability.
Glock, having known of the Austrian Army’s procurement notice, seized the opportunity. His expertise in synthetic polymers and mechanical engineering laid the foundation for his entry.
He assembled a team of Europe’s top handgun experts, belonging to military ranks, police forces, and civilian sport-shooting enthusiasts. He developed the first prototype, the Glock 17, in 1982.
Glock’s approach for this new pistol was sharp and design-driven. He prioritized simplicity, reliability, and ease of use.
One of the most significant innovations was the use of polymer in the construction of the firearm’s frame. This decision was groundbreaking, as traditional pistols primarily used metal and wood. The use of polymer made the Glock lighter, more durable, and resistant to corrosion.
The Glock 17 prototype underwent extensive testing, both by the company and the Austrian military. It performed exceptionally well in tests of reliability, accuracy, and durability. It exceeded the Austrian Army’s specifications. It was capable of firing many rounds without failure, easy to disassemble and reassemble, and had a higher magazine capacity than most competitors.
The Glock 17’s success in these tests led to its adoption by the Austrian military in 1982, marking a turning point in the company’s history and its rise to Global success.
The Austrian trials piqued interest in Western Europe and the US, where efforts to replace the M1911 had been underway since the late 70s. Glock targeted US law enforcement agencies directly, and understood their need for reliable, lightweight, and high-capacity sidearms.
It gained widespread adoption by two-thirds of America’s police forces, including New York City’s, as well as many federal, state, and county agencies.
POP CULTURE reference:
The Glock also found a place in US pop culture. “Get yourself a Glock and lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol,” actor Tommy Lee Jones said in the 1998 movie US Marshals.
American rappers Snoop Dogg and Wu-Tang Clan also used the gun in their rhymes.
The weapon was also featured in Hollywood blockbusters including action films Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and The Matrix Reloaded. Though specific revenue figures are confidential, Glock’s share in the law enforcement market skyrocketed in the 1990s, with the company capturing 65% of the market in the U.S. alone. Forbes estimated Glock’s fortune at $1.1 Billion in 2021.
But over the years, Glock’s journey hasn’t been one without challenges:
Glock guns gained a lot of traction by displaying their uses and capabilities, during the gun shows held across the United States, these gun shows are also called as “Tupperware parties for criminals” by Gun control groups.
Despite the popularity of his creation, Glock has been described as a reclusive billionaire who spent most of his time at a lakefront estate in Austria.
He was rarely in the news, only making headlines when a book about his business was published in 2012, and once when a business associate tried to have him killed in the late 1990s.
Deck that got KONG $43 Million in a VC Round
Kong is a service connectivity platform that provides the modern enterprise with on-demand services, using the most popular cloud technologies.
Industry: Software, Cloud, Open-Source, IT
Customer: B2B
Business Model: SaaS
Round: $43 Million
Investor: Angel Investors, VC
Year: 2013
Muscle Cars Are Dead! Here Are The 3 Things That Killed It.
Dear Muscle Cars RIP for NOW! This is it, the last its generation, Dodge Challenger & Charger will no long be coming in 2023 and 2024 marks the last model year for the sixth-gen Camaro.
Do You know that contrary to popular opinion, the Famous Ford Mustang, is actually classified as a "Pony Car" on its sales documents and not a Muscle Car?
January 2024, will be the last time, a gasoline-powered Muscle car (a Ford Mustang) will roll out of the Production floor. The era of cheap horsepower and roaring engines is coming to an end. It created a world of car fans with no clear successor. For car enthusiasts and Motorheads, this will be the end of an era, when they will be bidding goodbye to their beloved Mustang. An era that is often known as the "Muscle Car Era" The muscle car era unofficially began in early 1966 in the United States. Its beginning is often marked by American-made cars with powerful engines, (often) V8s, designed for high-performance driving.
Although the term was not used for another fifteen-plus years, General Motors introduced the 303-cubic-inch (5 L) with Rocket V8, which was then used in the Oldsmobile 88 models into the smaller and lighter 88 models. This formula was later evolved into the “muscle car” category.
Car Experts believe, the term muscle car came to connote high performance at lower prices, where powerful engines were put into relatively basic-trimmed intermediate-sized cars and marketed at more affordable prices.
This approach was exemplified by the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner and Dodge Super Bee which were meant to undercut more expensive, more stylish, and better-positioned models from General Motors and Ford.
The 1964 Pontiac GTO is frequently credited as the first true muscle car, packing a powerful engine into a mid-size, affordable car.
In 1966 the muscle became an “industry trend” as the four top US automakers “needed to cash in on the muscle-car market” with pathbreaking designs, and heart-stopping cars.
Muscle cars gained popularity rapidly, appealing to a younger demographic drawn to power, speed, and an all-American image.
Models like the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger, and Dodge Charger became household names, embodying the spirit of the era.
The popularity and performance of muscle cars grew further, as Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler and Ford battled for supremacy in drag racing.
Marketing campaigns also emphasized power and masculinity, aligning muscle cars with a lifestyle of excitement and freedom.
领英推荐
Pop culture references The film "Bullitt" featured one of the most famous car chase scenes in cinema history, with Steve McQueen behind the wheel of a dark green Ford Mustang. The scene through the streets of San Francisco showcased the raw power and agility of the Mustang, cementing its status as a pop culture icon. Perhaps the most iconic muscle car reference in pop culture is Dominic Toretto's (played by Vin Diesel) 1970 Dodge Charger, in the Fast and the Furious Franchise. The black Charger, with its supercharged engine and blower sticking out of the hood, symbolises raw power and Toretto’s rebellious nature. It's featured in the final drag race of the first movie, showcasing its incredible speed and power. Some of the notable pop culture references of Muscle Cars:
Although muscle cars sold in relatively small volumes, manufacturers valued the publicity created by these models.
During their peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, muscle cars saw significant sales. For example, the Ford Mustang sold over 400,000 units in its first year itself.
Competition and marketing frenzy created between manufacturers led to a horsepower war that peaked in 1970, with some models advertising as much as 450 HP.
As time progressed, optional equipment and luxury appointments increased in many popular muscle cars. With the added weight and power-consuming accessories and features, engines had to be more powerful to maintain performance levels, and the cars became more expensive.
3 Key Challenges that destroyed Muscle Cars
Sadly, it was right around this time that Americans, consumers and producers started losing interest in normal passenger cars.
Manufacturers discovered that starting with a run-of-the-mill hatchback and then adding some plastic cladding was a guaranteed recipe for big profits. Muscle cars, which relied on selling huge numbers of base models at discounted fleet prices, are not so profitable. Several muscle cars bore the brunt of this changing landscape and were unfortunately phased out:
In recent times, Ford was the first of the Big 3 to transition its long-standing muscle car to new EV designs. It introduced the Mustang Mach-E, which has been well received, but with a pinch of salt.
This all-electric vehicle drives well and offers good range (up to 312 miles). The Mach-E gets to 60mph in 3.5 seconds, almost a second quicker than a 2023 Mustang GT.
But it doesn’t strike the same emotional connection with the car enthusiasts as its predecessor- Mustang did.
This all-electric vehicle drives well and offers good range (up to 312 miles). The Mach-E gets to 60mph in 3.5 seconds, almost a second quicker than a 2023 Mustang GT.
But it doesn’t strike the same emotional connection with the car enthusiasts as its predecessor- Mustang did.
Both the Challenger and its peer, the Charger, were still decent sellers and haven’t taken a huge dive in sales. But flat sales in the Auto market aren’t a healthy sign and that is probably what drew the curtain on these symbols of true American Muscle.
By January 2024, the Ford Mustang will be the last gasoline-powered muscle car in production. The Chevy Camaro’s production line will shut down that month and both the Dodge Charger and Challenger ended production in December 2023.
But that isn’t necessarily the end!!
Dodge has already announced that an electric muscle car will fill their roster. As for the Camaro, rumors have been circulating since the launch of the Mach-E that it will see the same treatment as part of 30 new electric vehicles General Motors is launching by 2025. The plan for all these new EVs hinges on GM and LG’s new battery plants being built in Ohio and Tennessee.
The real question is, will you ever pick an All Electric Muscle Car over a V8?
5 Strategies That Made Haldiram a $10 Billion Global Brand
Initially, started as a small shop, selling traditional Indian sweets in 1937, Haldiram’s was founded by Ganga Bishen Agarwal, affectionately known as Haldiram, in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.
The roots of the family business are in bhujia: a skinny little addictive snack made of wheat and lentils.
Contrary to popular belief, Haldiram (Ganga Bishen Agarwal) did not invent Bhujia: sweet and snack sellers in Bikaner had started making bhujia many years before Haldiram was born in 1908.
Did you know that the secret recipe that made Haldiram’s Bhujia an instant hit, was invented by his aunt and not Haldiram himself?
But what Haldiram did, was invent a new formula for making bhujia, which became an instant hit and brought early fame to the young Marwari.
The secret recipe was made by Haldiram’s aunt, and it would not be wrong to argue that Haldiram’s business owes a large part of its success to her culinary prowess.
For many years, Haldiram sold Bhujia out of a tiny shop in Bikaner. At that time, Bhujia was sold in paper cones and paper bags. Haldiram was the first sweet seller in Bikaner to make a brand out of his sweets and snacks. He started this business practice with his bhujia when he named it Dungar Sev.
Dungar Singh was a popular ruler of Bikaner and the brand gave it a royal association.
It was at a wedding in Kolkata, that Haldiram got the idea of expanding further into eastern cities of India. Hence he planned the family’s move to Kolkata, where he started with a pushcart laden with his trademark bhujia that would “sell like hotcakes” in Marwari neighbourhoods. Despite hardworking and having sharp business acumen, Ganga Agarwal (Haldiram) gradually slowed down with time and was content with being a top seller of sweets and snacks in Kolkata
It was his grandson who first saw the vision of Business growth in practices like franchising, packaging and product diversification.
His grandson, Manoharlal Agarwal, is often credited with the company’s further expansion in Nagpur, Maharashtra in 1970 by opening a shop there, placing them strategically to cater to a larger market in India.
The Agarwals expanded further up north and established their first shop in Delhi, in early 1984, But: Did you know that Haldiram’s first shop in Delhi was burnt to the ground, in the first year itself, in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984?
But the new captain, Manoharlal Agrawal persevered and restarted operations from scratch to build the biggest sweet shop brand of that decade in Delhi.
Alongside traditional sweets, Haldiram’s began offering a wider range of snacks, catering to diverse tastes and preferences. From the outset, Haldiram’s emphasised quality and hygiene, a significant differentiator in the unorganised snack market.
It was his grandson who first saw the vision of Business growth in practices like franchising, packaging and product diversification.
His grandson, Manoharlal Agarwal, is often credited with the company’s further expansion in Nagpur, Maharashtra in 1970 by opening a shop there, placing them strategically to cater to a larger market in India. They are often credited as pioneers in the Industry for using advanced packaging techniques to increase the shelf life of their perishable food products, making them suitable for long-distance distributi
In its early days, Haldiram's faced stiff competition from local sweet shops and snack producers. These competitors often imitated Haldiram's products but couldn't match their quality and hygiene standards. Haldiram's always stayed ahead of them by investing in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and ensuring consistent product quality. The entry of international FMCG giants into the Indian market, in the 1990s posed a significant challenge to their business expansion plans.
When global FMCG giants like PepsiCo, entered India with their snack brand Lay's and brought in substantial marketing budgets and established distribution networks. Haldiram's smartly countered this by staying true to its roots and positioning itself as an authentic Indian brand with a blend of traditional and modern snacks.
Haldiram’s saw a steady increase in revenue as it expanded its product line and distribution network. By the early 2000s, it was already a well-established brand in the Indian snack market.
Haldiram’s expanded its brand presence across various segments, including restaurants, casual dining outlets, and ready-to-eat products.
By 2017, Haldiram’s reported revenue of over ?4,000 crores (approximately $560 Million), outpacing many multinational competitors in the Indian market, scaling to $10 Billion in 2023.. The latest generation in the family business, further expanded the business by leveraging digital tools and international distributors, thereby successfully entering overseas markets, catering to the Indian diaspora and local populations with a taste for Indian snacks.
5 Things That made Haldiram A Household Name
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