NextBigWhat’s Ashish Sinha warns Sridhar Vembu against 'nationalism-driven growth' for Arattai. See post

In a recent exchange on X, Ashish Sinha, the founder of NextBigWhat, publicly shared strategic advice to Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu regarding the early direction of Arattai, Zoho’s India-first messaging app.

His advice was clear: Arattai had the potential to be an 'India-first product in infrastructure, scale, and philosophy.'

Sinha began by praising Vembu’s influence on India’s startup ecosystem: “I have a lot of respect for you – you inspire a whole lot of bootstrappers like me. Your recent hustle has been all the more inspiring!” He then offered a cautionary note: over the years, many India-focused consumer apps have relied on nationalism-as-go-to-market (GTM) strategies — for instance, Koo, regional versions of maps, or TikTok clones like Josh and Chingari.

Sinha argued that while such approaches can drive download volumes, they may not attract the kind of long-term, loyal users that define sustainable success. He warned: “These users rarely convert into long-term loyalists.”

“They push the narrative towards ideology, not product excellence.”

“Eventually, they drain focus away from solving for the actual mass-market user.”

His advice was clear: Arattai had the potential to be an “India-first product in infrastructure, scale, and philosophy,” but Vembu should resist the temptation of applause-driven validation, and focus instead on building for the silent majority who will stick around.

Vembu replied to Sinha’s message and wrote: “Thank you! Yes, we want Arattai to offer the best experience in the world, and be the most trusted.”

Arattai — meaning “casual chat” in Tamil — is Zoho’s homegrown instant messaging platform launched around 2021. In September 2025, the app saw a spike in traction, with reports of a 100× jump in traffic within three days. Such growth, partly fueled by endorsements from government officials, prompted Zoho to quickly scale infrastructure to manage increased load.

A debate around Arattai is its name in Tamil. Some users, especially Hindi speakers, have argued the name is difficult to pronounce, arguing for a more “generic” name to improve pan-India adoption. At the same time, this has reignited debates over language, identity, and messaging in digital India.

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