Rooter went live on 28 May 2016 as a sports fan app, nearly ran out of money more than once, and later became one of India’s biggest game streaming platforms. Founder and CEO Piyush Kumar calls himself a first-time entrepreneur who survived by learning fast.
In this Builders Club water cooler conversation, he explains how game streaming in India took off, what retention taught him, and why he is betting on thousands of small creators rather than a few stars.
How did Rooter build game streaming in India? Piyush Kumar’s core thesis
Piyush’s thesis is that consumer products live or die on retention and unit economics. Rooter’s first sports products attracted downloads but users left within weeks, so the team kept changing the product until it found a category with a real network effect.
He also argues that game streaming can only grow once the gaming market itself is large. Battle royale games brought that audience to India, and Rooter built its own streaming tool to serve it at a sustainable cost.
- Retention first. Early sports games drew users who left in 20 to 25 days, which taught him to treat retention as the core metric.
- Pivot on evidence. Rooter moved from social sports, to prediction games, to sports content, to game streaming.
- Low-cost growth. He said more than 90 percent of downloads came from word of mouth and invites rather than ads.
- Back small creators. Rooter avoids a bidding war for top streamers and builds a base of mid-sized creators.
What is Piyush Kumar’s background before Rooter?
Piyush spent about 14 years in the corporate world before starting Rooter. He studied computer applications at Delhi University, worked in advertising for six to seven years, then moved to marketing roles at Dish TV and the Swatch Group, where he was marketing head for Rado watches.
He credits that consumer marketing background with teaching him to build on insights, and says it carries over directly to consumer products.
- Advertising for six to seven years.
- Dish TV as a marketing manager.
- Rado watches at the Swatch Group.
- Earlier startup ideas on sponsorship measurement and dynamic ticket pricing for sports.
How did Rooter pivot into game streaming?
Rooter started as a platform connecting sports fans. After weak retention, the team built free-to-play prediction games for live matches, then a real-time fantasy product, then sports content in several Indian languages. Each step taught something, but sports stayed a hard category to win.
He describes losing two co-founders along the way and running the company for months without capital. By 2019 the team saw that PUBG was exploding and decided to move into game streaming after the IPL.
- Social platform for sports fans.
- Free-to-play prediction games during live sports.
- Real-time fantasy.
- Sports content with live audio and video.
- Game streaming and esports.
How fast did Rooter grow after launching game streaming?
In March 2020, with sports halted, Piyush convinced his team and investors to commit to game streaming. They built their own streaming tool in about 45 days and tested it by the end of April.
He said the app had never exceeded 5,000 downloads a day in its first four years, then reached 25,000 a day in the last week of June 2020 at a cost of about one rupee per download.
- Daily downloads later rose to 80,000 to 90,000 at roughly 1.5 to 2.5 rupees each.
- Month-one retention reached about 43 percent, with month-six around 29 to 30 percent.
- More than five lakh people were creating gaming content.
- The app crossed 10 million downloads around the time of the talk.
How does Rooter compete with Loco on creators?
When asked about Loco, Piyush said Loco builds a top-heavy community by paying large streamers, while Rooter builds from the bottom. He believes a price war for the top 50 to 70 streamers would mostly benefit the streamers, and the audience would stay fragmented.
He compares this to TikTok, which he says succeeded by building a community of many creators and giving them tools, not only celebrities.
How will Rooter make money from creators?
Brand revenue comes from the audience, not from top creators. On the user side, Rooter planned gifting, in-app purchases and a super chat feature, with small amounts, and noted that on global streaming platforms most revenue comes from users rather than ads.
What is the future of gaming and esports in India?
Piyush argued that streaming needs a large gaming base first. By the time of the lockdown, he said India had about 350 million gamers, of whom around 150 million played battle royale games, the section that supports streaming and esports.
He sees esports as still mostly offline and half-tech in India, and expects sponsorship-led tournaments, backed by game publishers, to lead because money-based esports faces legal limits.
- Compared India with Huya and Douyu in China, which grew as the gaming market grew.
- Said battle royale games have shown Indian gamers will spend money.
- Called real money gaming booming but capital intensive.
What practical startup lessons does Piyush share?
He says to keep a lawyer from day zero, and to read contracts for termination clauses after he signed one without a termination clause. He also urges founders to treat any funded company as a real business with HR, accounting and processes.
On tech cost, he says streaming costs can sink a business, so his team works daily on optimizing them. On acquisition, he warns that relying only on Facebook and Google ads will not scale a consumer app in India.
Further reading and sources
Frequently asked questions
Why is retention so important for a consumer app?
Piyush’s early sports products brought downloads, but users left within 20 to 25 days, so growth stalled. He learned that acquiring users without retention wastes money. Track cohort retention before scaling spend.
How can a startup lower user acquisition cost?
Piyush says Rooter’s cost per download stayed around 1.5 to 2.5 rupees through growth hacks such as gamification, invites and word of mouth. He believes depending only on Facebook and Google ads does not scale a consumer app. Build a built-in referral or sharing loop.
Should a streaming platform pay top creators?
Piyush believes a bidding war for a few top streamers is expensive and can fragment the audience. Rooter builds a larger base of small and mid-sized creators first. He expects to onboard bigger names when revenue and funding allow.
Conclusion
Piyush Kumar’s story shows how persistence, honest metrics and willingness to pivot can turn a struggling app into a category player.
Before your next growth push, check your month-one and month-six retention and your cost per active user.
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