SoleSearch: 350,000 members and almost no paid traffic

At SoleSearch, almost none of our traffic was bought.

We averaged 250K monthly sessions and peaked at 310K. We had 60,000 registered users and an average order value of ₹15,000. Between 2022 and 2024 the marketplace did $6M+ in GMV and $1.2M+ in revenue at a 20% take rate. The peak month passed ₹2Cr.

The traffic came from community, drops and earned media. We built a 350,000 member community because it was the cheapest way to acquire a customer. Then we converted it into repeat purchase through member-first access.

I was co-founder and CEO. Growth, brand and the P&L were mine. At peak we were 40 people across marketing, design, engineering and ops, and we raised $795K from Venture Catalysts, Anthill and Cornerstone.

Press included VICE, CNBC-TV18, Economic Times, Inc42 and Business of Fashion.