What a failed water-vending business taught me about changing the model early

In 2006, Sandeep Grewal left banking to launch a water-vending-machine venture. It failed. That is a founder recollection reported by Digital News Asia, not a polished success story.

The enduring lesson is about adaptation. An attractive concept does not survive merely because time and capital have already been invested in it. Evidence from customers, unit economics and operations must be allowed to change the plan.

That discipline later mattered when SubHome stopped pursuing indiscriminate inventory growth. The situations were different; the operating principle was the same: do not confuse persistence with refusing to learn.