EE21 masterclass with Rajesh Yabaji

Rajesh Yabaji, the Co-Founder and CEO of BlackBuck delivered a super charged masterclass on “Building For Grungy Markets” during Extreme Entrepreneurs 2021 and deep-dived with the cohort into the risks and rewards of building the world’s largest trucking network. We’re excited to share some insights from the masterclass. 

Rajesh said that trucking was a difficult market because they were digitizing for the first time. All markets are not created equal, he said. If anything at a micro-scale points to PMF – and at mega-scale, even if 1/3rd is achieved, it would be worth it. That led Rajesh and team to begin the task of building the world's largest trucking system with BlackBuck. 

Rajesh explained that often, the problem is clear but the solutions are not. Early on in their journey, BlackBuck had an epiphany: they moved from solving for shippers to solving, digitising and optimising for truckers. He urged the cohort to identify the core problems of their business as early as possible. 

Rajesh discussed the importance of understanding the industry before disrupting it. In the early days, BlackBuck wanted to rebuild the industry without respecting the decades of offline structures in place. In retrospect, he felt they should have learned from the offline infrastructure and leveraged it more. For differentiation in category creation, Rajesh said it is essential to address the problem that will initiate industry transformation. He advised the cohort to figure out the GTM and build it so that it’s backed by value for customers and the economics of the business. Talking about Growth vs Economics, Rajesh asked the cohort to be intellectually honest: are they spending to cover the lack of value in the product? It’s okay to sandbag your growth, he said, but it's important to skip empty calorie growth where you take out the marketing dollars and the users vanish. 

On getting through tough times, Rajesh said that he spends time with BlackBuck colleagues, who are often more resilient, determined and bullish about the challenges. He listens to customer calls, speaks to truckers in the industry and comes back as enthused as he was in 2015. Entrepreneurship is an unpredictable journey, Rajesh told the cohort. You’re changing the world and then the lows hit. The ability to look beyond the dark clouds is vital. He said that what motivates him is the conviction of WHEN the industry will change, NOT IF it will change.