Scrappy Entrepreneurship At Its Best: Fresh Diet CEO Zalmi Duchman (Part 5)

Sramana: So you took out an SBA loan for $900,000 and used that to acquire operations in Chicago and New York, and to expand your Florida operation. How much did you have to put towards the SBA loan? Zalmi Duchman: I had to put $200,000 toward it, which meant I had to mortgage my condo.

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Scrappy Entrepreneurship At Its Best: Fresh Diet CEO Zalmi Duchman (Part 4)

Sramana: What did you put on your menus? Zalmi Duchman: We bought all the Zone Diet books and did our own twists on those menus. We tried to stick to the 40/30/30 concept [eating 40% percent carbohydrates, 30% percent protein, and 30% fat] back then. Today we have moved away from that. The menus back

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Scrappy Entrepreneurship At Its Best: Fresh Diet CEO Zalmi Duchman (Part 3)

Sramana: How did you get your first clients? Zalmi Duchman: Mostly through Google AdWords. I also put a $150 advertisement in the Miami Herald which ran only for a particular neighborhood. At that point I was focusing only on Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Boca.

Scrappy Entrepreneurship At Its Best: Fresh Diet CEO Zalmi Duchman (Part 2)

Sramana: What year was it when you finally decided to leave real estate and start Fresh Diet? Zalmi Duchman: It was November 2005. I was 25 years old with a 4-year-old daughter and a pregnant wife.

Scrappy Entrepreneurship At Its Best: Fresh Diet CEO Zalmi Duchman (Part 1)

Sramana: Zalmi, let’s start with your personal story. Where are you from? Zalmi Duchman: I was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1980. My parents moved to Miami Beach before I turned a year old, so I pretty much grew up there. I went to an Orthodox Jewish high school in L.A. at 14. I

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Building The Largest Online Bus Ticketing Company in India: redBus.in Co-founder and CEO Phanindra Sama (Part 12)

Sramana: What you describe about the call center and the home delivery service is OK for India. In countries that have low-cost labor, there are more opportunities for mixing high tech efficiencies with high-touch customer service. That becomes harder in countries where labor is more expensive. It is an interesting model. Phanindra Sama: It can

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Building The Largest Online Bus Ticketing Company in India: redBus.in Co-founder and CEO Phanindra Sama (Part 11)

Sramana: What percentage of the bus operators ticket business do you have now? Phanindra Sama: We are at 1% of total business. We have 70% of the automated bus ticket business.

Building The Largest Online Bus Ticketing Company in India: redBus.in Co-founder and CEO Phanindra Sama (Part 10)

Sramana: How did you achieve an industry-leading conversion rate? Phanindra Sama: We have taken our analysis down to fine details. We have a specific orientation for the bus on the entry page.