Source.One - Category Lead - Recycled Paper

Category Lead - Recycled Paper

Source - SourceOne SourceRe SourcePlus SourceIntel

India's largest tech-led B2B industrial-materials distribution platform - Pune, India

About Source:

Source (source.one) is India's largest and fastest-growing technology-led B2B platform for industrial materials currently ~7,000cr ARR across Polymers, Chemicals, Minerals, TiO2, Solvents, Recycled Polymers and Compounded materials, and expanding into new verticals. Source is profitable, among the largest players in Indian industrial-materials distribution, and backed by India SME Investments and Param Capital (Mukul Agarwal family office).

Distribution runs on two brands: SourceOne, an asset-light, back-to-back distribution business for virgin/commodity materials material owners quote prices, and Source orchestrates the trade so buyers transact at one best price, entirely digitally, without Source owning inventory; and SourceRe, which extends the same trust and technology to recyclables and reprocessed materials.

The Iron Triangle: Commerce, Logistics, Finance:

Source's core thesis is that no back-to-back trade is complete on price alone it has to be orchestrated across three legs at once: Commerce (sourcing, pricing, matching buyer to seller at the best landed price), Logistics (freight, routing, delivery reliability) and Finance (credit, insurance, working-capital funding of the trade cycle). Most traditional trade channels are strong on one leg and weak on the other two; Source's moat is running all three together, in-house and at scale, for every transaction. A new vertical only becomes defensible once its own iron triangle is stood up which is exactly what this role is accountable for building in Paper.

Intelligence: SourcePlus & SourceIntel:

Alongside Distribution, Source runs an Intelligence pillar that turns the platform's pricing, market and transaction data into monetisable products. SourcePlus (plus.source.one) sells real-time price-discovery and market-insight subscriptions to buyers and sellers (~20-25L/mo today). SourceIntel (intel.source.one) is a GST/entity-level intelligence product PAN/GST-wise visibility into what's being bought and sold still in build and not yet monetised. Both are proof that Source's data, not just its distribution volume, is a standalone asset; a mature Paper vertical is expected to eventually feed this same intelligence layer.

The Opportunity:

We are hiring the founding P&L leader for Paper an Entrepreneur in Residence who will own the vertical end to end, from zero. Paper meets Source's core entry criteria: a large, fragmented base of buyers and sellers, a market measured in millions of tonnes, product values that support a healthy ex-works+freight+margin stack, and a credible path to a 100cr+/month business at 1-2% margin. This is not an advisory or strategy mandate it is hands-on 0-to-1 building: first sellers, first buyers, first trades, first team.

Where it sits: Paper can enter through SourceRe (recycled/recovered fibre Source's stated top-priority new category, building on the trust already established through recycled polymers) and/or SourceOne (virgin/finished paper trading). The right segment(s) will be defined jointly with you as part of the first 90 days.

Where You'll Take Us Next:

- Build the Paper P&L from zero define the segment (recovered fibre/waste paper vs. finished paper/board), validate unit economics, and run the first back-to-back trades personally before hiring a team around proven volume.

- Extend Source's trust playbook into a new category - SourceRe has established buyer/seller trust in recycled polymers; you will carry that credibility into Paper, particularly if entering via the recycled/sustainability route.

- Plug into Source's growth levers credit (Source's 150cr credit capacity and upcoming anchor-led SCF), logistics, and awareness the same lowering-buyer-price-to-drive-volume flywheel that runs Polymers, Solvents and TiO2 today.

- Own the roadmap with the CEO - report directly to Arun Singhal, Co-founder & CEO, with full P&L accountability and a seat at the table shaping how the next vertical gets built.

Key Responsibilities:

- Market thesis & segment selection: Define and validate the Paper vertical thesis: sub-segment (recovered fibre vs. finished paper/board), target end-use industries, and volume/price-band economics against Source's own entry criteria.

- Map the competitive landscape and identify where Source's back-to-back, tech-enabled model creates a genuine edge over existing paper trade channels.

- Sourcing, sales & execution: Onboard the first sellers (mills, recyclers, traders) and buyers; run the initial trades hands-on sourcing, pricing, negotiation, execution.

- Build pricing/quoting logic (seller price + freight + margin, one price to buyer) in partnership with Source's product and tech teams, replicating the model that runs Polymers, TiO2 and Solvents.

- Team & scale: Hire and build the founding Paper team (account managers, operations) as volume scales past initial proof points.

- Institute the same post-order operating discipline Source is rolling out platform-wide a single Order Manager owning fulfilment end to end, rather than fragmented seller/buyer back-office and transport roles.

- Reporting & ownership: Report directly to the CEO with full ownership of the Paper vertical P&L revenue, margin and volume.

What You'll Deliver in the First 12 Months:

- A validated Paper segment thesis with the first cohort of sellers and buyers live on-platform.

- First back-to-back trades executed and a repeatable pricing/quoting model in production.

- A monthly volume run-rate that proves the path to a 100cr+/month, 1-2% margin business.

- A small founding team (account managers, ops) hired and operating, with you transitioning from personally running trades to leading the vertical.

- A clear recommendation on whether/how Paper expands additional sub-segments, credit-enabled trades, or cross-sell into Source's existing 22,000+ buyer/seller base.

Who You Are - Must-Haves:

- Minimum 8-10 years in the Paper industry on either the Raw Material side (waste paper, pulp, recovered paper trading/recycling) or the Finished Product side (paper mills, paper trading, paper converting/packaging). This is non-negotiable.

- Proven P&L ownership not a functional role (pure sales or procurement), but someone who has run a business unit, division, or independent trading book with real revenue and margin accountability.

- A strong, activatable network existing relationships with paper buyers and/or sellers (mills, traders, recyclers, converters) that can be brought on-platform quickly.

- Founder-mode comfort genuinely at ease in a lean, high-ambiguity, 0-to-1 environment; this is building a business, not inheriting one.

Nice to Have:

- Experience in a distribution, trading, or marketplace model, rather than pure manufacturing.

- Exposure to GST-era organised trade in commodities similar to how Polymers, PVC and PET consolidated post-GST, which Source rode early.

- A prior entrepreneurial track record has started or scaled a business or division before.

What Will NOT Work Here:

- A functional paper-industry executive (sales/procurement head) who has never owned P&L and expects a ready-made team on arrival.

- Someone who needs an established playbook, big budget, or large team before they'll start moving - this role starts with the founder doing the first trades personally.

- A brand-chaser rather than a value-for-money operator Source's model wins on price leadership and trust, not premium positioning.