DINR CASE SUMMARY

Issues Identified:

1. Limited time spent on Ideation process: Dinr was incubated within a month of idea
generation and from website to targeting the right customer base, all the steps were
conducted based on flawed, biased and limited data collected from the sample.

2. Solo founder: Since Berger lacks technical expertise required for website development and
is handling all the operational issues on his own, having another founder will help him
delegate few responsibilities which are now acting as a huge burden for Berger.

3. Biased expert interviews and market analysis: Since the survey conducted on 10,000
population consists of people from London business School, they might be biased by each
other’s opinion and this might effect the data collection’s quality and reliability.

4. Ignoring the root cause leading to marketing myopia: After the first iteration of delivery
when the repeat sales were extremely low, instead on focussing on collecting customer
feedback from the website, he instead focussed on making the website more appealing as he
was convinced that the best way to attract the customers is to invest in website. This is
marketing myopia.

5. Overutilisation of Crowdfinding: Considering that the business is struggling to seek

funding, the funds should be optimally used but instead is being recklessly spent on hiring
expensive developers to revamp the website.

Alternatives:

1. Revamp the model: The entire model is centralized around the idea of capturing more
customer base and retaining existing ones. However, the repeat business is at 1.5 and the
founder has been unable to understand the real cause of the problem which is wrong
value proposition. The underlying assumption that only the age groups from 25-35 and
“well off professionals” are target customers for ready-to-eat ingredients is flawed. The
results of the survey show that only 9% were definitive about using the services and 25%
were not impressed by the idea of Dinr. In response to question “how many times during
the work week do you cook dinner” only 43% cook 3-5 meals per week which is required
to call a customer repeat. Also, 15% customers don’t appreciate cooking at all and
another 15% cook only once a week. These 30% are the market segment who would most
likely not buy the product. The model should be revamped to find the correct target
segment who will find most value through Dinr.

Pros: This solves the major problem of the business- Identifying the right customer
catering to your product. Once the right customer base is explored through market
 research and observing the trends, product positioning should be done through the
website.

Cons: There is a risk of losing business as this will engulf up the $20,000 funding
received which was aimed at beautifying the website to attract customers.

2. Business as usual: Investment on website has been an appealing factor in bringing more
customers for Dinr. The $20,000 investment should be used in improving the service
based on customer feedback. As a lumpsum amount has been spent on introducing new
dishes and revamping the website, the focus now should be on getting repeat customers.

Pros: No additional investment required, with more customer centric approach, Dinr can
continue to maintain the position in the market it currently resides in.

Cons: There is a risk of losing business as the costs are rising and the funding is limited.
The repeat customers are very low and no action is being taken to understand the gap.

3. Pause and act: Another option is to pause the operations for few months and fresh start
with an app which is user friendly and can be substituted for the website as users prefer
smartphones to order online as compared to website. Only a small portion of investment
of $20,000 should be used to create the basic app, more features can be added later on
based on consumer’s response.

Pros: This will buy some time to understand how to manage the finances better and how
to proceed further in the business as till now Berger was following his intuitions to run
the business.

Cons: The risk of losing established customers as the business will be halted for a small
period to understand all the pain points and take required action on the same.

4. Perish: The last alternative is to shut the business down as there has been enormous
investment done and the current valuation is still very less as compared to the
competitors. Lack of repeat customers and very minute increase of new customers,
Berger’s focus on providing competitive advantage on website’s and recipe’s selection is
not proving to be successful. The best approach at this stage will be to shut the business.

Pros: A safe bet to ensure the flawed business model is not propagating and inducing
more troubles. Wrong customer value proposition has created enough hurdles on the way,
closing down gives a new opportunity to explore new idea.

Recommendation:

After careful evaluation, it makes sense to close down Dinr due to failure at multiple
levels. A failed value proposition, enormous spending of funds on website, unnecessary
 expenditure on new recipe and hiring of expensive developers have altogether reduced
the valuation of company and as a result the company has derived limited profits.

APPENDIX:

Increase sales and get repeat

business from existing
customers

HYPOTHESIS: Dinr took all

factors into account before
starting the business

Seek suggestions
from unknown
industry experts
Search Trend Analysis for more
Landing page constructive
Expert interviews opinion
Customer interviews
Validation testing

Reconduct
the survey
with more
diverse
population

Analysis done with biases.

Only considers students Expert interviews conducted
Customer feedback not
and people from same with known people; data
taken after low repeat
college unreliable diminishes the
sales
constructive feedback

Collect
Hypothesis failed customer
feedback
after every