What Went Wrong Before iD Fresh Worked For the First Time Co-Founders Tell Their Story

Where did the journey of iD Fresh start? It began when a 19-year-old Abdul Nazer decided to run away from home to Bangalore with ₹100 in his pocket. He did any job that came his way: cook, cleaner, conductor and sold anything he could, from clothes and vegetables to spices and peanuts. Along the way, he brought his three brothers to Bangalore. Even with huge losses in business, they never stopped looking for new opportunities. Their first real glimpse of success came from a tea stall run out of a rented room that cost ₹80 a month. Despite strong demand, the tea business was still running at a loss. The turning point came when they started opening the stall at 2 in the morning: a disruptive business model, says PC. Those ₹2 cups of tea taught them lessons they would carry forward. Abdul Nazer and PC Mustafa together share these stories for the first time. Their journey reminds us that no success is overnight, especially not for these brothers. It was at their kirana store in Indiranagar that the idea of iD Fresh was born. Five brothers with no background in food technology spent six months experimenting with recipes before finding their hero product. This is the story of five founders who pushed past their circumstances. Today, iD Fresh is at a scale the founders never dreamed of growing up in Wayanad. 00:00 – Trailer 00:55 – Dropping out of studies 02:32 – 19 Year Old that Runaway to Bangalore 04:35 – First job as a cook 11:25 – When Nazer decided to become an entrepreneur 14:01 – Huge loss in Vegetable business 16:15 – Starting the kirana store that led to iD 18:00 – On the verge of shutting down 20:10 – How Lambu Tea Stall became profitable 24:16 – When PC decided to do business with Nazer 25:14 – All the (failed) businesses that led to iD 27:04 – Why PC decided to come back to India 28:23 – The origin story of the idli batter idea 31:40 – The first $50k investment 32:57 – Cracking the batter without any food tech expertise 34:38 – The first recipe that became iD’s hero product 35:35 – Why iD failed to sell 100 packets in 6 Months 41:15 – The first customer approval 43:06 – Building awareness was the biggest challenge 44:35 – Lack of cold storage in supermarkets 45:22 – The inventory model of iD 46:25 – How the initial team was built 48:35 – Story of team spirit 50:15 – When iD Fresh Chennai & Mumbai Failed 52:27 – How the chemistry worked between the five brothers 56:52 – The buyout offer of ₹20+ crores 57:35 – How founders build the mindset to hire experts 1:00:50 – Did the runaway child achieve his dream? 1:03:09 – How Nazer’s choices directly led to iD 1:04:45 – Building within value systems 1:07:26 – Summary: what really worked for iD Fresh ------------- India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it. This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India. What is Neon Fund? We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.

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What Went Wrong Before iD Fresh Worked For the First Time Co-Founders Tell Their Story is an episode from 100x Entrepreneur by Siddhartha Ahluwalia.

This episode is 54:41 long.

This episode was published on Jan 15, 2026.

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