Building Azurro: Foundations and further.
"The only way to do great work is to do what you love." - Steve Jobs.
I explored various startup ideas until I found the right one. I posed to myself the contrarian question from Peter Thiel's Zero to One: What important company is no one building? My response was a platform for booking football turfs(I know this is silly).
Some might question the actual value of a turf booking app within its specific sector. At a glance, it appears to merely facilitate a single user booking a time slot at their preferred location. However, this can be seen as an opportunity in a space that India, as a nation, has largely overlooked or neglected in terms of development and growth.
To clarify, this essay isn't about justifying the importance of Azurro as a company but rather discussing why the sports infrastructure sector in India remains underappreciated. It is evident from recent budgets how much the Indian government has prioritized infrastructure development. Therefore, it is reasonable to anticipate future advancements in sports infrastructure, including international and domestic stadiums and smaller-scale sports facilities. Currently, the valuation of this sector is approximately $12 billion.
When we discuss startups and their respective sectors, we refer to the future and emerging markets they create and the growth they stimulate. Household names like Zomato and Swiggy began with the food delivery market. Today, they have expanded into new markets, such as cloud kitchens, B2B supplies for restaurants, groceries, dining out, and live events. Startups often begin in small or niche markets and subsequently drive growth and value in adjacent sectors.
Azurro's vision starts with helping friends book turfs via mobile phones and assisting turf owners in automating turf management. Azurro has the potential to organize the sports sector in India, much like Paytm, Zomato, and Flipkart have done for finance, restaurants, and e-commerce, respectively. Armed with a laptop for coding and a few insightful books, I am excited to see where this journey takes me.