Build Better Products

I’ve seen this phenomenon time and again.

A few years ago, there was a surge in popularity for the homegrown social media app Koo, pitched as a competitor to Twitter. It wasn’t just another startup trying its luck—Koo was embraced by government officials and the public alike, especially under the “Make in India” wave. At its peak, it had 2.1 million daily active users. So clearly, traction wasn’t the problem.

Still, the app faded into irrelevance. Why?

Fast forward to today, and we're seeing a similar wave around Arattai and the broader Zoho ecosystem. But here’s the thing: a wave can get people to install your app, maybe even try it out—but it can’t make them stay.

Zoho is not new. I first used it back in 2015, not because it was a popular suite, but because it was one of the very few companies that allowed you to set up a custom domain email (like contact@adviks.in) for free.

Even back then, Zoho was being touted as the “Indian Microsoft.” The resemblance went beyond the product suite—even its logo reminded you of Windows (It was trying hard to be Microsoft). Today, it has the resources and attention. But attention is fleeting. Unless you build a great product, people won’t stick around.

Koo had two big problems:

1. A substandard app experience

2. Trying to do too much at once

It honestly baffles me how a company backed by millions could offer such a clunky, inconsistent user experience. A college student learning front-end dev could probably have built a cleaner interface (okay, maybe an exaggeration—but you get the point).

And now, Arattai seems to be walking down a similar path. It’s trying to be everything at once: WhatsApp, Slack, Zoom, you name it. They look at WhatsApp's feature list and think, “Let’s build all of that.” But that’s a poor strategy.

When WhatsApp launched, it did one thing exceptionally well: simple messaging. No noise. Just text and calls. That simplicity was its strength. It’s only much later that it became bloated (and arguably worse for it). But it earned its user base by focusing on doing one thing well.

Some of you may remember Hike-- another homegrown contender. It failed for the same reason—it couldn’t resist trying to be everything instead of doing one thing right. It did have cool stickers though.

Sure, these “wave” help with visibility and give companies a springboard. But the momentum won’t last beyond the hype cycle unless the product is genuinely good.

So if you're building something—especially something that competes with global platforms—remember this: people won’t stay because it’s Indian; they’ll stay because it’s better.