On September 27th, my harmless tweet – “Arattai’s problem isn’t the brand name, it’s quite cool. I downloaded the app and there’s no one from my contacts on Arattai to message. That’s also fine as the network will grow. @Arattai‘s only problem: What is the ONE strong reason to use it instead of Whatsapp? @svembu” went viral.
My post, which was in response to an earlier tweet by Sridhar Vembu (co-founder and CEO of Zoho) announcing the launch of Arattai (meaning chatting in Tamil), Zoho’s WhatsApp-like messaging platform, attracted over 600 replies, 450 retweets/quote tweets and 4,500 likes. Outraged folks responded that Arattai will succeed because it is proudly made in India and Indian consumers want data privacy.
Zoho has gone where leading software services firms like TCS, Infosys and Wipro haven’t – which is to build world-class products out of India. Zoho is deployed at leading global brands, and it successfully competes against world-class products like Microsoft Office and Google Workspace because it offers enterprise customers unique and tangible benefits.
Start-ups call this as achieving PMF (Product Market Fit). A market is a group of customers having an unmet need or problem, a product addresses this problem, and a fit is achieved when customers are willing to pay regularly for this solution. Sometimes, a new product can also offer a superior benefit as compared to existing products in the market, which is what Zoho did. In ‘Failing to Succeed’ I have explained this using the BFC (Better, Faster, Cheaper) theory, which says that any company’s product must always exceed competition on at least two of these three parameters to compete successfully. One is not enough and all three are hard to achieve.
What’s new?
Right now, Arattai is getting millions of downloads and love from India. However, made in India is only a feature and the tangible benefit is data protection and privacy. On the BFC scale, Arattai isn’t better or faster and Whatsapp being free means Arattai can never be cheaper. Arattai’s current positioning seems to be a mix of patriotism and privacy.
Truth is, all of us have given over our privacy to digital platforms long back. Under the circumstances, how long will consumers use this platform purely on nationalistic grounds, especially if growth stagnates? Is data privacy strong enough to retain Indian users for long? Will the network effect kick in if most users are only from India? Folks point out that China achieved success with WeChat but they ignore that China banned Whatsapp to help WeChat flourish, which India is unlikely to do.
For sure, Arattai will quickly match Whatsapp feature for feature but they must also figure out the one unique benefit Arattai can provide. After the initial euphoria, start-ups can succeed only if they achieve PMF. Here’s wishing Arattai good luck and Godspeed and hey, I am also on Arattai. Next fortnight, we shall discuss how start-ups can take steps to achieve PMF.
Vaitheeswaran K is a serial entrepreneur and best-selling author of the book “Failing to Succeed” He tweets @vaitheek
Published on October 13, 2025
