Trial & error: How India's new unicorn Meesho cracked social commerce code

Born in December 2015, Meesho's goal is simple-to help small businesses get online and sell through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram

Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi batchmates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal always wanted to solve problems.
 
Years after graduating, the two took the entrepreneurial plunge and founded Meesho in December 2015 with a simple goal — to help small businesses get online and sell through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
 
The start-up on Monday became the fifth Indian uni­corn of 2021 after raising $300 million from Softbank, a little over five years after inception.
 
“We just started with one format of enabling women to start their next fashion boutique selling on social platforms, and