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Shift 5 of 9

One person, one phone, a real capability.

FromFirst build a digital businessToTell us what you do

A network can be technically open but economically closed if joining needs a website, a catalogue and a marketing budget. The test of openness is one person with a phone and a real capability, who should be able to join by talking and be found when she is genuinely relevant.

Level 1 Concept3 min readLooking for a pilot partner

A home baker in Dehradun

A home baker in Dehradun has a smartphone, three products and twenty loyal customers illustrative. She has no website, no app, no catalogue, no photographer and no marketing team.

She opens the app and says: “I make eggless birthday cakes from home in Dehradun. I specialise in children’s themes, I usually need two days’ notice, and I deliver within about five kilometres.”

The AI turns it into a profile. She checks it. She’s in.

Websites, social media, search listings, marketplaces and payment apps have given small businesses more ways to reach customers than ever. Using them together is a lot of work, though, and many people with real skills never get there. A network presence can do that work for them.

The Minimum Viable Seller

  1. Identity. Who are you?
  2. Capability. What can you provide?
  3. Availability. When?
  4. Service area. Where?
  5. Transaction method. How can people pay?
  6. Representation. Why might someone choose you?

Six things, and nothing more to begin. No website, catalogue or marketing expertise is required. A carpenter with no fixed products can be found for what he can make, through requests, conversations and custom proposals.

Onboarding by conversation

The seller speaks, and the AI asks the right follow-up questions: do you deliver, how far, what notice do you need, would you accept protected payment?

AI proposes. The participant confirms. The network records. She always sees what the network believes she offers, and can correct it.

Updating by talking. “I’m fully booked this weekend.” “I’ve started making sourdough.” “I now deliver 15 km.”

Progressive verification. Identity, then payment, capability, licences where needed, first transactions and reputation. She participates early, and trust grows with every order.

An AI digital team handles the cataloguing, content, customer replies, availability, quotations, protected payment requests, order updates and feedback that once needed an organisation. The seller speaks human. The network understands machine.

Go deeper

Already started

ONDC has begun to build in this direction. Sahayak, a WhatsApp chatbot launched in July 2025, handles seller onboarding and service queries in five Indian languages[1]. Saarthi, a reference buyer app built with Bhashini, launched in 2024 with a voice-first approach, five languages and a plan for all 22[2].

Scope. Both are described in coverage of ONDC’s own announcements. We haven’t tested either, and neither is the full conversational onboarding described here.

The 15-second equaliser

A reel won’t make a home baker equal to a national chain. They will still differ in scale, capital and reach.

Don’t equalise sellers. Equalise the opportunity to be discovered when relevant.

Instead of the scale loop, more transactions, more reviews, more visibility, she gets a relevance loop: capability, relevant intent, discovery, her story, a first order, reputation and more discovery. An honest “New participant” label informs buyers without excluding her.

A network presence, not a marketplace account

Her identity, evidence, reputation and relationships belong to her, and travel across every discovery app.

A website tells the internet where you are. A network presence tells the market what you can do.
Getting it right

AI never invents the business. It can structure, translate and tidy, but never fabricate experience, reviews, credentials or customers. Photos can be improved without changing what the product looks like.

Claims wait for evidence. “I’ve made cakes for 200 customers” is published only when it can be supported.

Voice-first, local languages, any phone.

Licensing help built in. A home food seller needs an FSSAI registration or licence. One tax-advice site describes a basic registration for annual turnover below ₹12 lakh and a state licence for turnover from ₹12 lakh to ₹20 crore[3]. Onboarding can help her complete the right one.

Scope. We haven’t read the FSSAI regulations themselves, so the thresholds need confirming before a pilot relies on them.

What could go wrong

  • Dropping out half-way.If onboarding takes more than a few minutes, the people it is for won’t finish it.
  • A confident wrong profile.The AI could misstate what she offers, so she confirms every line.
  • Orders she can’t fulfil.Visibility without capacity harms a one-person business, so availability and limits are part of the profile.
  • Compliance as a barrier.Licensing could stop the smallest sellers at the door, so help is built into the journey.

How we’d test it

100 micro-sellers with no prior digital presence, onboarded by conversation alone.

The test
Onboarding by conversation
What we would measure
Measure time to join, profile accuracy, first orders and earnings after three months.
What would end the idea
Few micro-sellers can finish onboarding unaided, or few receive an order in the first three months.

Sources

  1. [1]Elets eGov, ONDC launches Sahayak WhatsApp bot to support sellers in Indian languages (23 July 2025)Checked; coverage of an announcement
  2. [2]CXOToday, ONDC introduces Saarthi, a multilingual reference application powered by Bhashini (11 September 2024)Checked; coverage of an announcement
  3. [3]ClearTax, FSSAI registration for home bakers (updated 14 June 2024)Checked via a tax-advice site; the FSSAI regulations themselves not read

Spotted a source we missed or a rule we misread? Tell us what we got wrong.

Once the smallest seller can join, the question is how buyers and sellers find the right fit with each other.